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Marriott has offered sales on their gift cards a couple of times this year already and they’re launching another sale on Cyber Monday, offering a 15% discount which can be stacked with other offers for even more rewards.
The Deal
- Save 15% on Marriott gift cards.
- Direct link to offer.
Key Terms
- Offer valid November 30-December 1, 2020.
- Limit $5,000 worth of gift cards per person per credit card per day.
Quick Thoughts
Locking in a 15% discount on future Marriott stays is a decent deal, especially now that there’s a little less uncertainty about the company’s future like there was when they offered a 20% discount in the earlier days of the pandemic.
One of the nice things about Marriott’s online gift card offering is that they process the payment themselves rather than using a third party like CashStar or Buyatab. That means you can potentially stack the discount in a couple of ways.
First of all, buying Marriott gift cards directly from them triggers the $300 Amex Bonvoy Brilliant statement credit. If you’ve not used up that benefit this year already, buying $350 worth of gift cards will pretty much max that out seeing as that’ll cost $297.50. Update: Just to clarify, the terms of the $300 statement credit state that gift card purchases aren’t eligible. However, there have been multiple data points suggesting that online Marriott gift card purchases do indeed trigger the statement credit.
You’ll also earn bonus points when paying with a card that earns more on travel purchases or with a Marriott credit card. Amex Marriott cards will earn 6x, while you can earn 10x on Chase Marriott cards on up to $3,500 of spend per card if you’ve registered for these spending offers. Note that the discount means that you can buy ~$4,100 per Chase card to virtually max out the $3,500 limit of 10x earnings on Marriott spend.
One offer that probably won’t stack is the Marriott Amex Offer giving $75 back when spending $250. I’m going to buy $300 worth of gift cards on the cards where I’ve loaded those Amex Offers anyway just in case that works as the $300 cost will be reduced to $255 with the 15% discount. If that doesn’t trigger the $75 statement credits then so be it, but I’ll still earn 6x points on the purchases as that Amex Offer is loaded to our Marriott credit cards.
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Just checked my Bonvoy Brilliant and the purchase triggered the $300 credit. Bought $350 worth of giftcards for $297.50 on Dec 1 and the credit for $297.50 posted on Dec 3. Thanks Stephen for the original post.
Fantastic – thanks for confirming that it still works 🙂
Maybe too early to tell, but seems this didn’t trigger the $300 Amex Bonvoy Brilliant statement credit. Or did anyone else have luck with that?
Credit wound up posting right after I posted this. Nice! Thanks Stephen!
Awesome!
thank you Stephen! Used my gift card to buy blankets from St. Regis Boutique.
[…] Marriott: 15% off gift cards: As noted in our post, this deal will likely stack with the current Chase Marriott offers to earn 10X at Marriott. […]
The few times that I had the AMEX offer trigger was by going to a JW Marriott front desk (even if I was not staying in the hotel) and purchasing a Gift Card there and charging it to the AMEX card. They enter a few codes when they enter the purchase as if you are staying there, thus the AMEX offer triggers, Best guess is purchasing the e-gift cards would not trigger the AMEX but would love to know if someone had success.
Any word on if the $75 off $250 worked out? I have it on my Platinum card and am tempted to use it, as I will most likely not be able to use the benefit otherwise before it expires.
I made a mistake on my first purchase as I bought a $250 gift card, forgetting that the $212.50 I’d be charged wouldn’t be enough to trigger the offer. I bought another $50 gift card to push the total over $250, but I’m not sure if multiple transactions work for the offer. It might still work, but I’ve not received an email from Amex confirming I’ve used the offer; that isn’t always sent though, so that doesn’t necessarily mean anything one way or the other.
AMEX list the purchase as MARRIOTT GIFT CARDS so I doubt this triggers the amex offer of $75 off of $250 at marriott, I purchased a $250 and $50 gift card and will update if I get the amex offer
My GC purchase posted as being from MARRIOTT GIFT CARDS MIDVALE UT, so I have some doubt it will trigger the 300 AMEX credit
Please tell me if I’m missing something. It appears that Marriott gc’s are only for cfixed denominations of $1000, $500, $200, 100 and $50. So if i want to purchase $350 to use my $300 statement do I have to buy 3 cards totalling $350? Using gc’s can be a bit of a pain. Can’t imagine trying to use multiple cards on one stay will make it any easier.
They have $250 cards rather than $200 cards, so you could buy $250 + $100. I’ve used more than one gift card at checkout before; while that’s not ideal, it only takes an extra minute.
What about the travel credit for the Citi Prestige? Do you think this purchase would trigger the $250 credit?
It should do.
Are we buying eGift Cards or a physical ones here? Is these GCs valid for payment at Marriott’s international locations?
They’re eGift cards. I think they can be used at international locations, but I’m not sure how favorable the conversion rate would be.
How can we figure this out? We’re going to Aruba and would like to save 15%, but would we be charged in USD or local currency?
The best thing would be to call the hotel and find out if they accept gift cards. If they do, they should be able to advise whether you’d be charged in USD or local currency.
Thanks Stephen. I just called them and they accept GCs AND charge in USD! Score!
Nice!
In some locations, the exchange rates on these cards are horrible. Recommended to use them only in US dollar-denominated hotels.
I used mine at multiple hotels in China. I told them at check in I would be using GC. Check outs did always go smoothly but ultimately they were accepted.
Do you think it’s possible to go through a cashback portal to buy the GCs from Marriott?
It’s doubtful it’ll track, but it’s certainly worth trying – you wouldn’t be missing out by clicking through from a portal.
Will platinum elite members get the 75% bonus points?
That’s only earned on base points when paying for stays. You therefore won’t earn a bonus when buying the gift cards, but you will when redeeming the cards for paid stays.
Should this stack with the Chase 15% off offer (up to $53 back) that I have on my Sapphire card?
Is that for Marriott or Gaylord Hotels? If Marriott, it might work, but I suspect it’ll be the same as Amex Offers which aren’t likely to work. If that Chase Offer is on a Marriott card, it’s worth a try as you’ll still earn 10x.
Any update? Wondering the same thing about Chase/BofA offer
Chase offer worked. $400 e-gift cert for $289 ($60 Marriott disc; $51 Chase offer reimbursement).
Nice!
For what it’s worth, I bought Marriott e-gift cards back in June and it coded against the $300 credit on my Brilliant card.
Question: what makes you think that the amex offer ($75 off $250 spend) won’t trigger?
I’d seen data points in the past that it didn’t work. People have tried buying Marriott gift cards even when there hasn’t been a sale to try triggering the Amex Offer but it didn’t work whereas the Bonvoy Brilliant statement credit did.
The Amex Offers are therefore presumably set up to only trigger when an actual hotel takes payment, but I’m hoping I’m wrong 🙂
I gave it a try: absolutely did not work for $75 off $250 spend.
[…] Save 15% On Marriott Gift Cards (Nov 30-Dec 1) […]
Are you sure about the statement credits for gift cards. From the AMEX site: “Online purchases of Marriott branded gift cards and purchases at Homes & Villas by Marriott International home share properties do not qualify as eligible purchases for this benefit.”
Although there’s that wording, data points from cardholders suggests that the statement credit is earned. I’ll add that info to the post though just so that people are aware of the risk.