Where do the hotels get their exchange rates for premium pounds. I redeemed one yesterday, I looked up the exchange rate in the paper and it was $1.98 USD per $1.00 UK pound.

Yet when I checked out I received a $1.81 exchange rate.

I do realize that the newspaper rates are so called "best" rates, but still a 17 cent per pound difference is quite a bit.

I think that was a normal spread. I redeemed one earlier this year at the Fairview Marriott and got $1.733 when a pound was $1.87-$1.88. You have to look at it from a percentage basis.

Some hotels will give you the rate in the WSJ, but I would not expect that all the time. I did get the Forex rate ($1.908 at the time) at the Washington Dulles Marriott Suites for a long stay earlier this year.

It is very clearly laid out on the back of the certificate that the exchange rate used is the one that the hotel is using.

...But the certificate doesn't clearly define the computational rules for what the hotel is using. Besides, there are usually multiple rates in play - including one on Marriott.com that usually isn't quite so bad.

A lot of hotels will give you a rate that you'd get if you actually did a real currency conversion. That's the "bad" rate we frequently see. I use enough of these certs that I've just given up on arguing the exchange rate or how they post the certificate. (The back of the cert clearly states that is should be posted as a credit, but at least half the time they get posted as an adjustment. Since in most cities the hotel taxes are in the 15-20% range - roughly the same percentage I would have earned in MR points on the revenue - I consider it a wash and don't fuss about that either.)

I used a �100 PP coupon at the NY Marriott Financial Center in October and got the (rather poor) hotel exchange rate. They did, however, post the coupon correctly as a credit to my bill and it paid for one of my nights so no complaints.

Really? That's kind of interesting...I've used around 15-20 PPs and have always had them post as a credit

i think the more important question whether you prompted them or asked them to do it that way or whether they were forthcomign in doing it.
the 2 times i used the certs(courtesy of holtju2 ), i told the the hotel to do it as a credit and not rate adjustment so that it is reflected in the bill.

it didnt post to MR so had to fax which wasn't a big issue.

I usually just give them the PPs and make sure they know that it is british pounds and not USD. They've always just applied it as a credit, not an adjustment, without any prompting needed. I would imagine they post it the same as they post BBs, so i guess it depends on if the hotel posts those properly too.

Fremont Marriott gives $164 flat..same as last year even though the pound has come up quite a bit. But its better than nothing.

Stays always post and I always pay the balance after PP using a Marriott gift card (recently been purchasing them from marriottgiftcardoffer.com - 10% off)

The hotel can use it's own exchange rate, but I've rarely seen this posted (the Marriott Biscayne Bay in Miami is an exception). What I usually do is print out the currency conversion from Marriott's site on the day I check in and hand it in with the Premium Pound certificate:

https://marriott.com/reservation/displayCalculator.mi

FANTASIC idea. I never used a PP in the US yet, but have used them overseas and always got pretty close to the WSJ rate.

Make sure that you have the top line in the URL you provided say 'British Pounds' and Not US Dollars, otherwise you will be short changing yourself by alot of $$$$. as has been posted by someone recently.

At first, I actually prompted them that it should be a credit - they'd nod and say "Sure, of course it's a credit" and than post the adjustment. I stopped bothering.

If they ever did this in a place where hotel taxes were very low, I'd probably make sure they got it right. In Seattle, where this usually happens, hotel taxes are around 15% Technically, them posting it as an adjustment probably works out in my favor by a couple of pennies on the dollar. (I value a Marriott point at about 1 cent.)

Mine (PP) showed up as a credit on my folio which was good

It actually states:

Date Cash MR Pound (where the room # goes) and in the credit column 181.14

The thing that brought this to my question though is that the night I checked out, I went to the currency converter that is linked above and found a $1.98 USD > GBP exchange rate. Since it was on the MR currency converter this is what I thought I should get.

So tell me, does the hotel make the spread as profit on the $198.00 vs. $181.14 that they credited me?

Although it does have this disclaimer below:
Note: Converted amount is based on the exchange rate from the close of business of the preceding day and is for comparison purposes only. All charges are subject to the hotel's exchange rate at check out.

As I understand it (although I have never seen confirmation by a Marriott spokesman), the Marriott folks credit the property that accepted the PP, BB, or EE at a slight discount to the "official" Marriott rate -- 80% was once mentioned -- so in a way the property would gain (through having to absorb less loss) if the rate they give you is lower than the Marriott rate.

As noted, the certificate says the conversion will be at the "hotel's current exchange rate" which many properties interpret as meaning their rate for converting cash at the desk. Arguably that rate isn't the proper one to apply, since the rate for cash is necessarily lower than the interbank conversion rate to account for the conversion charges levied by their bank (the PP, BB, and EE don't have to be converted by a bank and thus do not attract the conversion fee).

Other properties give you the rate on the Marriott currency converter program, and some will give you the rate as set out in the WSJ or Financial Times for the day. I like those properties.

Ren LHR posts as an adjustment; just their policy I guess. Now I don't hand over the cert until check-out, so that the folio under my door before check-out shows what the bill actually was. So far I've just used them in UK, but they would certainly come in handy domestically. Thanks for the link to the Marriott conversion site. Cheers.

FYI, according to the T&Cs on the back,One is suppose to hand the PP or BB over upon check-in and Yes once I had a Hotel that refused to accept it although 99% of the time its not a problem. But if you wait till check-out and they wont take it, they are within their Rights.