Yes, I know I only get 5 points....

But, unfortunately, due to the rate I have to stay here... and besides, they allowed us to have our two cats.


On the order form, it asks for your Rewards number.

If I get him the credit card, it will still allow me to put my Platinum number in onder the order form for the certificate?

Sorry for all the questions.

William

First, a nice benefit of Marriotts is that they officially allow "spouses" to combine points for awards. In practice though, it seems that they will allow just about any two members to combine points for an award.

So what does that mean for you? What I would suggest, is that instead of getting your partner a companion card off yours, why not just apply for a brand new card? That way your partner will get 15K bonus points, a free night certificate, etc. If you are worried about paying for an annual fee, don't go for the Premier Signature card, just apply for the base Signature card. Your partner will still get the 15K bonus points and free night cert, but the 1st year is free. Then you can cancel the card before the annual fee, and re-apply for a new one next year and get a new round of bonus points and free night cert (and another free year.) :cool:

If you do it this way, your partner will accrue points and you can accrue points. Once the two of you together have enough point for an award, just call Marriott Rewards and they can move the points from one account to the other to get you the award you have worked toward. ^

Also, when you order any award, the award certificate can be ordered in anyones name you choose. Just tell the Marriott Rewards desk whose name to issue the cert in.

Plus now you can effectively double the potential Gift Card bonus. Since there is a maximum 25K bonus with the card (which translates into just over a $2000 gift card) you both could potentially order one thus each of you get the 25K bonus. Then when it comes time to pay, just let the front desk know that instead of charging your CC, have them debit one of the gift cards. Once one of them is used up, have them debit the other card. I do believe that even if they debit your partner's gift card, you can still get the normal "stay" points and the nights associated with the stay.

Information like this is why I love Flyertalk!

Thank you so very much!

William

I understand completely ;) :D

The gift card play and Premiere VISA will more than make up for the lousy earn at the RI. Hope you and the cats enjoy your stay!

Pat

Problems using Gift Cards
 

I too got the maximum $2000 in gift cards for the triple play.
Has anyone else experienced problems using the cards?

Problems:
So far only one day has posted for the visa promotion out of 17. Most of the properties didn't even know how to use the gift cards and had to call Marriott for help and two of them completely emptied my cards. I would suggest that everyone use the link on the Marriott site to check the value of each card after each transaction.

https://gifts.marriott.com/

Dennis

Just out of curiosity what kind of properties are you staying at. Full service, or more along the lines of FF and SSH? I would think that Full Service, and especially resorts, would be more used to seeing Gift Cards that say Podunk Fairfield Inn. I am not implying that they do not accept these, just that they would be less familiar and don't remember gift cards from the training they got a few month or years ago. I also think that higher end hotels would generally attract more astute employees. JMO.

I will be using my $2100 gift card all at one hotel so that should reduce the likelihood on encountering problems.

This is probably a good idea in general and one I do believe I will make sure to do after my upcoming Ren. Chanc. Court stay. Being a FS property, hopefully there won't be any issues, but your suggestion is a good one anyway. ^

Also, not a bad idea to utilize when receiving the card ;)

Pat

I'm in for the full $2085 as well
 

Just ordered a few cards for the wife and I. Selected USPS, they upgraded the shipping to DHL for free.

Thanks to Counsellor for the great find, and thanks to aaupgrade for the heads-up about DHL requiring a signature!

Has anybody's bonus points posted yet??:confused:

No points yet. But Marriott may be waiting until the promo is over to post points and since it has been extended to the end of the year, we may have a couple more weeks to wait.

[Edited to add]Just checked the Marriott T&Cs and they state that all points will be posted within 6 weeks of the promotion ending (Dec. 31st). So we probably may not see the points until sometime mid-February.

Can the gift cards be used at international properties?

They should be usable at any Marriott property in the world. In fact, I'm flying to London tomorrow and planning on using mine there. :cool:

Yes. I've used mine outside the US on occasion.

Caveat: You may run into problems if the hotel charge is not in US dollars, since at the time you check out the exchange rate that will be used by VISA (it's a pre-paid VISA card, you know) is uncertain. This can cause a problem if, for instance, you want to pay partially by the gift card and partially with a credit card (e.g., you have a $100 gift card and the charge is €200), since the hotel cannot easily figure out how much to charge the credit card (i.e., how much the balance is after the $100 is deducted) unless they use the very unfavorable (to you) cash rate to calculate the value in Euro of the $100 from the gift card.

However, if the hotel is willing -- and able under local law -- to bill in dollars the problem disappears. Also, if you have a gift card that has a value well in excess of the bill (e.g., a $1000 gift card to be used to pay a €200 bill), the whole bill should be able to be charged against the gift card and you can find out how much it reduced the amount on the gift card by using the link on the Marriott site to check the value remaining on the card a few days later.

Cards usable at Ritz-Carlton Properties?
 

Just wondering if Marriott gift cards can be used at Ritz-Carlton properties. They're not listed in the T&C so I figure the answer is no, but thought I'd check. Thanks.