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Quite shocked. Recently took out the Marriott Amex as had a large stay coming up. Just spent £6k at an international Marriott hotel but told I don’t qualify for 6x points as the bill was in the local currency of the hotel. This can’t be true can it? Seems like a worthless card without this benefit.
- This topic was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
I think from memory it does exclude foreign currency transactions, which does limit the scope of it somewhat!
It does not. I have received 6x points on all foreign transaction in various currencies across the globe. Most recently at various hotels in Peru which were charged in PEN.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
This is what I must be remembering, don’t know whether it’s current though.
The link says foreign exchange transactions, not foreign currency transactions. It’s a small detail, but important one.
I’d call and speak to Brighton, some new hotels are not on Amex systems. They’ll ask you to provide a link to Marriott site and will be dealt with promptly.
Just to add, I’ve had stays at Marriott properties settled in EUR, USD, DKK, CZK and other currencies on my MB AmEx, all tracked and posted as 2+4 MB points.
Can confirm, I’ve had numerous recent stays and paid for in euro and all have received the extra points for the transactions.
Thanks for this thread. It prompted me to check my statements and the credited points are shambolic. Nothing like 6 points per £1. I’ll have to call Amex for a full reconciliation
Thanks for this thread. It prompted me to check my statements and the credited points are shambolic. Nothing like 6 points per £1. I’ll have to call Amex for a full reconciliation
Kindly remember that you only receive the 4 bonus points from Marriott purchases.
I would also recommend checking your Marriott statement too for correctly awarded points. I’m down from 9 out of 10 stays that aren’t awarded correctly (in my disfavour) to 4 out of 5. I’ve dropped staying at a couple of properties that never got it right even though I gave them 5-6 chances. The worst one was Courtyard Heathrow which a couple of times awarded me less than 1/30th of what they should. Shame really as it is nice hotel.
Thanks for this thread. It prompted me to check my statements and the credited points are shambolic. Nothing like 6 points per £1. I’ll have to call Amex for a full reconciliation
Kindly remember that you only receive the 4 bonus points from Marriott purchases.
I would also recommend checking your Marriott statement too for correctly awarded points. I’m down from 9 out of 10 stays that aren’t awarded correctly (in my disfavour) to 4 out of 5. I’ve dropped staying at a couple of properties that never got it right even though I gave them 5-6 chances. The worst one was Courtyard Heathrow which a couple of times awarded me less than 1/30th of what they should. Shame really as it is nice hotel.
That happens to me all the time. I’m the last 10 stays no more than 1 or 2 posted correctly. Most of times is only few thousand points less, but some times is a huge difference. Sometimes is due to exchange rate and sometimes, even being billed in usd, the points are incorrectly posted. This doesn’t happen with any other hotel chain… I had complaint multiples times to Marriott and nothing… the last time they gave me 5k extra points as compensation, but that definitely doesn’t compensate all the time I had to spend reviewing every transaction and claiming it.
Thanks for this thread. It prompted me to check my statements and the credited points are shambolic. Nothing like 6 points per £1. I’ll have to call Amex for a full reconciliation
Kindly remember that you only receive the 4 bonus points from Marriott purchases.
I would also recommend checking your Marriott statement too for correctly awarded points. I’m down from 9 out of 10 stays that aren’t awarded correctly (in my disfavour) to 4 out of 5. I’ve dropped staying at a couple of properties that never got it right even though I gave them 5-6 chances. The worst one was Courtyard Heathrow which a couple of times awarded me less than 1/30th of what they should. Shame really as it is nice hotel.
That happens to me all the time. I’m the last 10 stays no more than 1 or 2 posted correctly. Most of times is only few thousand points less, but some times is a huge difference. Sometimes is due to exchange rate and sometimes, even being billed in usd, the points are incorrectly posted. This doesn’t happen with any other hotel chain… I had complaint multiples times to Marriott and nothing… the last time they gave me 5k extra points as compensation, but that definitely doesn’t compensate all the time I had to spend reviewing every transaction and claiming it.
It’s a serious hassle sometimes 😞 I would recommend you demand your folio sent to your email (they sometimes forget that too) and check your statement 10 days after checking out. It is usually pretty straightforward when you claim your missing points attaching the folio. I must have claimed and received at least 100k over the past 18 months. So be persistent and let Marriott CS know that you find having to claim points after your stay seriously tedious.
You can definitely get x6 on all Marriott spend, regardless of where you are in the world. If someone told you otherwise, I’d be interested to know who they were!
You even get the multiplier on the foreign exchange fee that is levied on non-GBP spend. Meaning that on a £6k spend, you’d be charged £180 of foreign exchange via Amex, but that’s included in your total spend which is then multiplied by six.
The only times I’ve seen the bonus not trigger is on new hotels. A quick call to Amex resolves this, usually.
Here’s the response to my formal complaint…??????
I’m writing in response to your recent complaint with American Express® which you raised on 25th May 2022 to let you know the outcome of our investigation. Thank you for allowing me the time to look into this matter and bringing your concerns to our attention. This letter provides my understanding of your complaint, together with my final conclusion.
I understand your complaint is in relation to Marriott Bonvoy American Express Credit Card. One of the benefits of the card is that you earn 6x points for spend with eligible Marriott properties. You spent £6,017.44 with an eligible property on 20th May 2022, however, you were disappointed to learn that the 6x points would not be awarded due to the payment being a foreign exchange transaction. You were offered 5,000 points as a gesture of goodwill, but you declined this as you felt the full amount of points should be awarded.
Firstly, I am very sorry to hear how disappointed you are by your experience. As per the Terms and Conditions of this benefit, this additional points bonus is not earned on foreign exchange transactions. Whilst I apologise for any frustration this has caused, as no error has occurred on the part of American Express, I am unable to uphold your complaint.
Regarding the previous offer of being given 5,000 points as a gesture of goodwill, I would like to explain that our Customer Care Professionals/Duty Managers do have some leeway regarding goodwill offers to Card Members to quickly resolve a complaint before it takes the formal complaint route. If the offer, which has been made without the benefit of a full investigation, is not accepted, then, in line with our policy it is retracted. This is because under the guidelines provided by the Financial Conduct Authority, any offer of compensation for a formal complaint must be fair and appropriate, and this cannot be assessed until a thorough investigation has been completed. As my investigation has established that no error has been made by American Express, you should be aware that our previous goodwill offer of 5,000 points will not be honoured.
Whilst this may not be the outcome you had hoped for, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you again for your patience whilst this matter was being investigated.
This is because you or Amex incorrectly interpreted/said it’s a foreign exchange transaction instead of foreign currency transaction.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
This is because you or Amex incorrectly interpreted/said it’s a foreign exchange transaction instead of foreign currency transaction.
Would it be possible to elaborate on the differences so I can go back to them, please?
It also has the same conditions attached for 2x points but I received them. Hmmm…
This is because you or Amex incorrectly interpreted/said it’s a foreign exchange transaction instead of foreign currency transaction.
Would it be possible to elaborate on the differences so I can go back to them, please?
It also has the same conditions attached for 2x points but I received them. Hmmm…
You get points on an actual purchase in a foreign currency.
FX transaction would be something like loading up money in an OANDA Forex account using CC. These kind of transactions never produce points because the MS possibilities would be unlimited if that were the case.
- This reply was modified 55 years, 4 months ago by .
FX transaction is basically buying foreign currency, I’d think.
Great, thanks all for your advice. Have passed this info on and hope for a favourable outcome. I’m confident, thanks to you all.
Amex CS seems to be going downhill fairly rapidly. I am still waiting for the outcome of my complaint about not getting the extra 4 points/pound a few weeks ago, but for a transaction in £ – they seemed completely incapable of understanding the problem, or that the hotel listed in the details of the transaction was a Marriott hotel. I’ve had 2 holding emails so far about the complaint – no idea why it’s taken them more than 5 minutes to fix.
@danyal Yes, FX transaction would be exchanging money at a Marriott hotel rather than paying for a room and F&B and services at the hotel in a foreign currency. I would spell it out to them like that.
I once had a clearly a purchase transaction processed as a cash advance. It was resolved when I supplied them with a copy of the receipt, so you might want to send them that too.
Hi all,
For those of you still following this thread, I can confirm that you are correct.
I took this to FOS who agreed with me (us) and have asked Amex to credit 6x per £1 spent on these transactions and pay a fair amount of £ compensation as well.
Thank you all for the advice on this and hoping nobody has to go through the pain of the complaints process with them as I have.
Can’t believe Amex didn’t budge and had to go to FOS for this…
You got a resolution to your case at the FOS in under one month?!
You got a resolution to your case at the FOS in under one month?!
Yes, 27 days in fact. It was a fairly straightforward case for them although they told me it would take around 4 months for it to be allocated so I was pleasantly surprised last week when an Investigator emailed me to say he’s been allocated it.
Can’t believe Amex didn’t budge and had to go to FOS for this…
I agree, it’s shambolic. 5 separate agents, including senior, didn’t even know the meaning of their own terms and despite explaining to them the difference following the advice here they still wouldn’t change their decision.
I’ve read that it costs them £750 for it to go to FOS, plus the time spent dealing with it, and the comp they have been asked to pay, it has ended up a sizeable mistake for them. Of course bigger picture it’s pocket change for them but nonetheless it’s highly embarrassing.
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