I’m told by Marriott Titanium CS that spend paid for with gift card does not earn points. Is there any truth to this! Would be news to me.

That is not true.

Complete claptrap.

Unfortunately, I've called Titanium CS now five times to chase this up and each time I have gotten this answer. (I suspect they are reading from the same notes.)

Sixth call. "It says plainly you do not earn points on stays when using a gift card." This might be tattooed onto my profile now.

Hi stvr,

We would like to provide some relevant Gift Card information to you.

• Gift Card Payment for a Stay at a Hotel:
  Room Rate was applicable for Marriott Bonvoy® Points; the Room counts as a qualifying charge and they can earn Marriott Bonvoy® Points
• Gift Card Payment for Food and Beverage at a Hotel:
  Food/drinks which qualified for Marriott Bonvoy® Points and were charged to the Room folio and the Gift Card was redeemed at the front desk; those are qualifying charges and they can earn Marriott Bonvoy® Points
• Gift Card Payment for Meetings and Events:
  Meeting contract included earning Marriott Bonvoy® Points; the Meeting Room charge (event charge) counts as a qualifying charge and they can earn Marriott Bonvoy® Points
• Buying a Marriott Gift Card with a Co-Brand Chase/American Express credit card earns Points to the Co-Brand Credit Card.
• Marriott Gift Card purchases do not count as qualifying spend for an Ambassador whether it be with a Co-Brand Credit Card or just a regular credit card from any bank.Best Regards,

If there is anything further we can assist with, please let us know.

Best Regards,


Maria J.
Specialist, Social Media
Marriott International
[email protected]

This is what your folks on Twitter just told me:

“We are sorry for the continued frustration. The following payment do not qualify for Loyalty Earning:

Cash, traveler check, check, bank wire, paid out, city ledger, AX, VS, MC, DC, JCB, Discover, Union Pay, debit card, advance deposit, GIVEX, corporate gift card sales, redemption.

We wouldn't be able to override the policy and decision that was made.”

So now they’re saying you can’t earn points if you use an AMEX or a Mastercard. I wonder what your banking partners would say about that?

Supervisor “just checked with her higher ups” and confirms that GC usage nixes points earning. I think this canard must now be written in my middle name field on my account.

FWIW, I have always earned points and spend credit on gift card portions of my bills - just as recently as yesterday. I’m sure like with everything, it’s up to the property if they choose to be stingy or not.

everything generally go smoothly for marriot gc purchases from topcashback? was going to pick some up for a trip next month have been nervous to sit on them too long in case they get drained

if you don't use the entire gift card on one stay, will you be able to use the remaining balance on a future stay? is it better to buy one large $ gift card or multiple smaller ones if I plan to use all on one stay?

Also any problems using gift cards in Europe?

The balance will remain on your card. I recommend that you register your card on the Marriott website (see wiki) and check the balance after any transaction. The exchange rate is very close to the XE rate so you should be able to calculate what the approximate balance should be. (I’ve had one instance where the front desk accidentally zeroed out my card, but they noticed it before I did and gave me a new card.)

In the past, I might have recommended smaller gift cards because of the chance of someone stealing your gift card balance, but the last time I logged in to the gift card website, I saw that Marriott introduced an option lo lock your gift card which is a huge improvement to prevent fraud. So I would prefer to have a larger value gift card now.

I’ve used gift cards on all continents (except Antartica) and rarely have issues. I recommend never waiting until the last minute to pay your bill because sometimes only the mgr knows how to process gift cards, or the accountant, or the guy who has the password, etc. If I’m checking out early in the morning, I pay my bill the night before.

Hope that helps!

Hi redfrog,

The gift card may be used multiple times until the entire value has been redeemed.

We recommend you contact the hotel directly to inquire about the use and acceptance of gift card for your stay.

Best Regards,

Christina Z
Specialist, Social Media Care
Marriott International

[email protected]

Haven't logged into my registered card account in a while... but today I noticed that you can now 'lock' your registered cards. This should prevent them from being used without your permission. Great addition!

Ron.

I mentioned it in post #387.