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American Express has a new offer that can be found (if you were targeted) by logging into your Amex account and looking under “Amex Offers for You”.
Spend $200 or more at Marriott, get $50 back:
This is exciting because they ran a similar promotion in August with their Courtyard chain in which I found that one could buy gift cards and still get the rebate. That offer was: Spend $100 and get $20 back. During that promotion, I went to a nearby Courtyard hotel and bought $100 gift cards (good at any Marriott property). I paid for each $100 gift card with a separate enrolled Amex card and I got back $20 for each one. In other words, I bought Marriott gift cards for 20% off. Details of my experiment with that prior deal can be found here.
This deal is better. Assuming it works as before, this deal will give you 25% back for each $200 of spend at Marriott. It may be a week or so before I get a chance to test this one out, but I think its very likely to work. If anyone tries it, please comment below with your result. If you get an email from Amex thanking you for using your enrolled card, you can assume that the deal worked.
Here’s a critical part of this deal’s terms and conditions (bolding is mine). Note that most Marriott properties are excluded:
Offer valid only at Marriott® Hotels brand properties. Must book directly with Marriott Hotels. Reservations must be made online at www.marriotthotels.com. Offer valid only for charges to the room, including room rate, in US and Puerto Rico only. Offer not valid in Guam. Offer excludes the following brands: The Ritz-Carlton®, EDITION®, AC Hotels by Marriott®, Autograph Collection®, JW Marriott®, Renaissance Hotels®, MOXY(TM) Hotels, Courtyard®, SpringHill Suites by Marriott®, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott®, Protea Hotels(TM), Residence Inn by Marriott®, TownePlace Suites by Marriott®, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Gaylord Hotels® and Marriott Vacation Club®. Enrollment limited.
My guess is that they have no way of enforcing the terms that say that you must book directly with Marriott Hotels (I think that is there to ensure that payment of your room is charged by Marriott, not by a travel agency). I also doubt they can enforce the part that says the offer is valid only for charges to the room (I think that one is there because credit card charges made in a hotel restaurant, for example, will often not appear to be directly from the hotel itself).
Before you enroll in this offer, make sure to read: Maximizing Amex Sync offers. Part 1: sync multiple cards.
Hat tip: Travel with Grant
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Are these gift certificates usable at other brands, specifically Ritz Carlton?
Short answer: Yes
Long answer (from Marriot T&C): Marriott GiftCards may be used at participating JW Marriott®, EDITION℠, Autograph Collection® Hotels, Renaissance® Hotels, AC Hotels by Marriott℠, Marriott Hotels & Resorts®, Gaylord Hotels®, Courtyard® by Marriott, Fairfield Inn & Suites® by Marriott, SpringHill Suites® by Marriott, Residence Inn® by Marriott, TownePlace Suites® by Marriott and Marriott Vacation Club℠ and participating hotel outlets: retail, spa, golf and food and beverage. Marriott GiftCards may also be used at participating Ritz-Carlton hotels.
[…] a few of our friends such as Frequent Miler and The Free-quent Flyer have suggested a workaround to this restriction — simply head over […]
Stopped by the local Marriott and bought a gift card, immediately got the email from AmEx! Worked for me!
Great!
@Brian: Which city/Marriott did you buy the gift card at?
Livonia
I wonder if it has more to do with the way Livonia handled it vs. the way most Marriotts handle it. There were a couple of reports above saying it worked. I am planning on doing it x4 next Thursday in Atlanta. Then I will have another result to add.
Bought $200 from Marriott yesterday at the guest services desk. Didn’t get my “thank you” email and when I look at the pending charge it shows as “Category: Merchandise & Supplies – General Retail”. Doesn’t look like $25 credit is going to post 🙁
@Justin. I mistakenly did not read the T&C at first and bought a $200 GC at a Courtyard. When I didn’t get a confirmation email, I figured I did something wrong.
@Justin. Yes, we have confirmation that it won’t work at non-Marriott branded hotels (like Courtyard) since it is in the terms and conditions. I doubt anyone would be stupid enough to “experiment” with that. I know I wouldn’t do that just to confirm it doesn’t work! I will just go to a Marriott property.
Do we have any confirmation that you can buy gift cards at non Marriott branded hotels (like courtyard) and still have the transaction work for the 25% off?
Anyone knows if buying hilton GC at Waldorf will trigger the credit back offer? We will be traveling to one close by soon. thanks!
It should work if they sell gift cards at the hotel, but I’ve never tried
@kv: No. You must get it at the Marriott hotel.
@Spud: Depending on where you are, the percentage is actually not so low. Take a look at https://www.marriott.com/hotel-search/marriott-hotels-resorts-and-suites.hotels/
I can also confirm that the gift cards bought at a Marriott hotel will work. Used 6 of my cards (bought $200 each) and got confirmation for all 6 of them.
Stopped at a Marriott Hotel and bought a gift card. Got confirmation email right away.
Moe,
Did you go to a plain ol’ Marriott or was it one of the brands listed above where it might not have worked?
Can the gift card you purchased be used outside US and Puerto Rico?
Yes. I’ve used them in Europe and Canada in the past.
Awesome. Thanks for the info!
It seems like there are so many chains excluded: Fairfield, courtyard, renaissance etc. What percentage of Marriot hotels are actually left?
is possible to get the giftcard from the marriott.com instead go to the hotel?
No, you most likely won’t get the cash back from Amex that way.
I just checked my Amex account… My Hilton American Express card was targeted for both Conrad and Waldorf Hotels offering $100 off $500 at Waldorf and $75 off $400 at Conrad. FYI Hilton has offers out too.
Yep, but I haven’t yet found a Hilton hotel that will sell me a gift card at the hotel. It’s worth checking around though.
Thanks for the hat tip Greg, but I got the original idea from you, so it should go FM to GT to FM 🙂