MR Systematically short-changing points for foreign stays?
 

I did a quick search on the topic and nothing has been written since 2005... so I figured it was time to re-open the debate. Being a platinum based in Singapore my stays are almost exclusively outside the US... but I'm using the Marriott credit card - and find that I am consistently being short-changed on points credited per stay.

So before I take this up with MR support - what is officially not counted towards the points earned?
- Taxes?
- Service Charges?
- Internet?
- Car/Local Transportation?

Food/Accommodation are a no-brainer to me.

I stayed at the Sydney Harbour Marriott for AU$1423.94 - posted to my CC at US$1113.27 - the base earnings for MR were 7958.

I highly doubt that US$318 of that bill was taxes (itemized GST on the bill was AU$129 - so I feel that I've been short-changed ~2000 points here.

Then I stayed at Renaissance Makati for PHP 18966.28 - posted to my CC at US$414.50 - base earnings for MR were 2200.

Another big discrepancy that cannot be explained by taxes - but 25% of my bill was transportation - so I'm not sure if that's eligible.

Most recently I stayed at the Putrajaya Marriott for RM2824 - posted to my CC at US$833.17 - base earnings for MR were 6106.

Another case with a lot of transportation.

I haven't done an exhaustive analysis of each and every stay and trying to analyze the points posted... but I have all of the bills for the past 12 months - and if I can get a clear understanding of what is/isn't eligible - I'm going to run the numbers and see if my theory has backing...

If so - it would be quite infuriating for MR to be 'skimming' off the points credited via some opaque/non-public exchange rates!

You are right on the GST and probably the transportation doesn't count either, but it might. One thing you have to keep in mind is that anywhere from 4.5% to 5.5% of your bill are a variety of fees; Sydney Harbour Marriott charges 1.5%, Visa standard FX fee is 3% and then the issuing bank of the CC may add 0.5-1%.

FWIW, my stay this past December at the Sydney Marriott came out just fine point wise, and did not have any transportation charged to my bill.

Now I have run into blatant short changes on stays, but IMO MR is not to blame. The blame rests on the individual Hotels as they submit the eligible charges to Marriott Rewards for posting and they pay for the points. There is no motive for MR to short change anyone.

My bet is that transportation is a "Paid Out" and as such are charges that do not qualify for points earning per MR T&C.

If you think you are short changed, then call MR and have them check it out adn be prepared to FAX them the folio form the stay in question. I have done this a number of times. About 50% of the time they have been easily explained and other times the points were corrected. FWIW I have experienced this much less in recent years (and actually been traveling more internationally), than I did 5-10 years ago.