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Marriott is once again offering a discount on gift cards for those members in the US and Canada: get 15% off when you purchase Marriott Bonvoy gift cards from 7/20/20-7/24/20. While not quite as generous as the last sale they offered (which was good for 20% off back in May), this can nonetheless be a good deal for those with Marriott travel plans.
The Deal
- Marriott.com is offering 15% off on eGift Cards from July 20-25, 2020 issued in the following denominations:
- Buy a $50 gift card for $42.5
- Buy a $100 gift card for $85
- Buy a $250 gift card for $212.5
- Buy a $500 gift card for $425
- Buy a $1,000 gift card for $850
- Direct link to this promotion
Key Terms
- Valid on eGift cards purchased via Marriott.com only (not at properties)
- eGift Cards are all in U.S. Dollars and can be purchased by residents of USA/Canada only.
- Valid July 20-24, 2020
- Gift cards do not expire and can be used worldwide except at Bulgari and Design Hotels and The Ritz-Carlton Residences and Homes and Villas by Marriott International
- Gift cards can’t be used to pay for advance purchase rates
- Max purchase of $5,000 worth of gift cards per person per credit card per day
Quick Thoughts
As I noted the last time Marriott gift cards were on sale, obviously gift cards carry some risk. You can misplace your gift card, it can get hacked (though I’ve not heard of any widespread issue with Marriott GCs), or if Marriott went bankrupt, your gift card could become worthless. Is the discount worth the risk? Personally, I doubt Marriott will go out of business entirely and I know that I’ll stay somewhere when I eventually travel again (and given that my Titanium status is locked up until February 2022, there’s a good chance I’ll travel to a Marriott property). I think if you know you’ll stay at a Marriott in the future, it could make sense to lock in a discount.
Personally, I like the ability to stack gift cards with shopping portals and promotions. Now that Marriott is back on shopping portals, it should once again be possible to stack a shopping portal with a good rate and a discounted gift card. Keep in mind that you can not use a gift card to book an advance purchase rate, so that is a drawback for some travelers. Also note that these gift cards can not be used to pay for the Marriott Homes & Villas that Greg wrote about last week.
Since these gift cards are sold directly by Marriott, you’ll earn 6x Marriott Bonvoy points on the purchase if using a Bonvoy credit card. Using a card like the Bonvoy Brilliant might be a good idea (I’ve successfully gotten the $300 in Marriott hotel credits from that card by purchasing gift cards from Marriott.com in the past even though it “shouldn’t” work).
Overall, it’s great to see a gift card promotion return. This might make a difference for some considering mattress runs for Platinum or those who are starting to consider travel again this year or whoa re making plans for 2021.
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So… Since these code as a Marriott purchase, do you think it’d be worthwhile to purchase through Rakuten?
Sorry, I missed this comment. I doubt that would have worked, but it would certainly have been worth a shot!
They code as marriott but GiveX are the vendor. Useless company. I had issues also and ended up doing chargeback on them last time out. The other major downside is DCC if you are using these outside of US. There also have been reports where some properties were not able to process these e-gifts. 15% is not enough of a discount IMO
While you do earn 6pts/$ on gift cards, it is also worth noting that you do not earn the bonuses associated with elite status (as I learned the last time discounted FC’s were sold). Unless perhaps you purchase the GMC at a Marriott desk.
No, you wouldn’t earn either base points or the elite status bonus points from Marriott when buying gift cards at the front desk, either (unless someone makes a mistake). You’ll earn those elite points when you use the gift cards to pay for a stay.
To clarify: when you stay at a Marriott, you earn base points (that everyone in the loyalty program gets) and elite bonuses for elite members. If you pay with a Marriott credit card, you also get points from the bank (Chase or Amex), including their increased bonus categories for Marriott spend.
When you’re buying a gift card, you’re just earning the credit card points from the bank, not base or elite points from Marriott. Again, you get those base and elite points when you redeem the gift card to pay for a stay.
The key here is that buying gift cards online won’t always count as spend with the given merchant with other companies/retailers. For instance, Best Buy doesn’t process their own online gift card transactions – the transaction posts to your credit card as being from Cashstar when you buy a Best Buy gift card online (you would therefore not earn any extra points you may be entitled to from whatever credit card you used as though it were a Best Buy purchase because Best Buy didn’t actually process the transaction).
In the case of Marriott though, these do appear on your statement as a Marriott charge and you therefore will trigger the Marriott bonus category on credit cards that bonus Marriott spend (or travel spend in general to my knowledge).
Then I guess I lucked out twice! Last year I bought GCs at at the Boston Ritz Carlton when they ran the promo and got pts before I used them. This year I bought them during the 20% off sale. I haven’t used them yet but I got my points when I paid my credit card bill.
Yes, exactly. That’s what I said — you get points for the credit card spend, not the base or elite points for spending at the hotel.
I recently used a 20%-off card at a property. Because of covid precautions, they were encouraging the email of my receipt.
After several days, I did not receive any credit for the stay in my Bonvoy account, so I called Plat c/s. They also could see no record of it so sent a message to the property.
After 10 days & no postings (the max for reporting stays), I called the property directly. What had happened was my $1,000 card was completely drained by the front deak (though my receipt was properly credited), so I actually had a credit in my account & why the stay never reported since the property owed me money.
Good thing I registered my card in advance, but I am done with the hassle of using at Marriott properties. I asked for points back instead to make me whole. The stay still has not posted so I still have work to do!
they teach you to hate papers & co2, always get a paper printed in hand.
I received an emailed invoice indicating the proper amount had been deducted from my gc. I added that comment about the discouraging of paper invoices more as an aside so others would be aware of Marriott’s current paper-shaming policies in the name of covid.
Just as soon as you receive the e-gift card, though, register it. I would also encourage taking a photo & storing it in your phone for future reference if you lose your own paper.
Without registering, I couldn’t have seen how much was actually deducted from my card (which did not agree with the hotel invoice) or who did it!
Unfortunately, Marriott does not seem to include the redemption of gift cards in front desk employee training. I didn’t think to mention it here again, but I’ve often said that I make it a point to head to the front desk early on the morning of check out to approach them with a gift card because I find that the agents often don’t know how to redeem them and need help (at the St. Regis Bora Bora, I headed down before breakfast around 7:30am on the day I was checking out at 1pm and sure enough they needed to take the gift card for a few hours to figure it out). But I’ve never run into your issue exactly — I did once have someone redeem too much, but he realized right away. I can’t remember the steps to get it fixed, but luckily he took action then and there.
Good thought on getting the paper copy for situations like this I suppose!
These gift cards are NOT sold directly by Marriott and are instead processed by a company called GiveX. During the previous 20% off sale in May, I tried purchasing several gift cards only to have them cancelled more than two weeks later with a nonsensical email explanation. Calling customer service was also a complete waste of time. I will never attempt to purchase Marriott gift cards again. Buyer beware.
Sorry to hear that you had trouble with it! I don’t know about GiveX, but for the purposes of credit card rewards, I do know that buying gift cards directly from Marriott codes as a Marriott purchase and earns rewards just like paying for a stay.
Mine was coded as Marriott & I got 3X hotel bonus points as well.
heard there are some implications about using them overseas with exchange rate & some places (domestic) dont award points on gc stays.
You should always get points whether you pay with a gift card, cash, or credit card. The instances where you may not get points would be on some types of convention rates I think. If you paid with a GC and didn’t get points, I’d follow up with Marriott. Payment method shouldn’t make a difference.
Re: exchange rates, it’s certainly possible that you’ll get a poor deal on exchange. YMMV.
can you book AAA rate online then pay with egift card at check out?
Yes, absolutely. That’s what I usually do.
Note that sometimes there is a AAA “hot rate” that is prepaid. You (probably) can’t book the prepaid rate. But a AAA rate that does not require a 100% deposit can definitely be paid for with a gift card at checkout (I’ve done it many times).
I say you “probably” can’t book the prepaid rate with “probably” in quotes because I have heard some anecdotal stories of people who got the front desk to agree to refund a prepaid rate and re-run the charge on a gift card. I would never count on that, but it may not be impossible.
great info thx!