[Guide] Strategies and Tips for achieving Marriott Platinum Status

Marriott Hotels is launching a new promotion from February 7 to April 23, 2023, offering 1000 bonus points and double Elite Night Qualification (EQN) for each revenue night stayed. This could be a potentially lucrative opportunity and will help in achieving Platinum status faster. But first,

Why Platinum Elite Status?

Marriott has Silver, Gold, Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador elite status but the status worthwhile having starts from Platinum. Some of the benefits that Platinum members get:

• Free breakfast (at most Marriott hotels)

• Room upgrades, up to suite, if available

• 50% more points (15 points per 1USD)

• Club Lounge Access, where available

• Late checkout till 4 PM. Subject to availability at Resorts and Convention centers

• Welcome gift (500/1000 bonus points, breakfast or amenity)

Platinum Challenge Basics

Typically, Platinum status requires 50 nights per year, but the Status Challenge allows you to achieve this status by staying only 16 nights within a 90-120 day period (from the end of the enrollment month plus three months). Upon completion of the required nights, the status is valid for approximately 24 months (until February 28, 2025), which is until the end of the year the status was earned plus the subsequent 14 months.

Call Marriott Toll-free at 1800 258 2555 to get enrolled.

Please see this article Guide: Marriott Platinum Elite Status Challenge for more details.

Strategies and Tips

We will explore strategies to maximize value or cost-effectively complete the challenge, whether your stays are organic or through mattress runs.

Doing the challenge in conduction with a promotion

Current Promotion: 1,000 bonus points & 1 bonus EQN per night

This latest promotion, if maxed out, gives us a maximum of 75 extra nights (total 150 nights) and 75,000 bonus points (apart from the base and elite bonus points). So, this presents these opportunity:

• 16 nights to Platinum with challenge (total 32 nights and 16,000 + base points)

• 13 nights to Gold Status

• 25 nights to Platinum Status

• 38 nights to Titanium Status

Annual Choice Benefits

We get some additional benefits once we hit 50 or 75 nights in a calendar year. We get the following for 50 nights:

For staying 75 nights, you receive the above benefits along with two additional options: a free night (up to 40,000 points) and gifting Gold status. You can choose only one of these options.

I have selected five Suite Night Awards as my 50-night stay benefit. This promotion will assist us in achieving it with half as many nights stayed.

Splitting the Stays

When pursuing status, it may be beneficial to split up stays, as you receive bonus elite points when you reach lower statuses such as Silver and Gold. If utilized with this promotion, consider staying in 5-8-3 night increments.

The first five nights (10 without the promotion) will earn you Silver status.

• The next eight nights (15 nights without the promotion) will earn you Gold Status and an additional 10% bonus points, for a total of 11 points per $1 spent.

• The final three nights (25 nights without the promotion) will earn an additional 25% bonus points, for a total of 12.5 points per $1 spent, plus 250-500 bonus points per stay, depending on the hotel brand

By doing this, you will earn 10% bonus points and 25% bonus points plus 250-500 points per stay, compared to if you stayed in a continuous block.

Club Marriott

Club Marriott is the dining and stay program for Marriott hotels in South East Asia, including India.

There are complimentary memberships (available for HDFC Infinia, DCB, and Axis Reserve cardholders) and paid memberships. The biggest advantage of the paid membership is the free night stay certificates, but we are interested in the voucher that provides a discount of 30% on the Best Available Rate (BAR) for up to 2 nights stay, or 20% on BAR for unlimited stays. The hotel where you obtain the membership may also offer a 50% discount.

Having this membership will result in cheaper revenue stays, lowering the cost of achieving Platinum status.

The membership fee varies from Rs 12-15k for the lowest level and depends on the hotel where it is obtained. You can buy the membership here.

Best Rate Guarantee

Marriott claims that booking rooms directly through them will be the most affordable option or they will compensate you if a cheaper rate is found elsewhere. If a cheaper rate is found and approved by Marriott, you can choose between 5000 points or a 25% discount on the cheaper rate.

The best way to check for a cheaper rate is to search on Google, which will display a list of potential websites where you can book a cheaper rate.

Cashback or Shopping Portals

Any Marriott rate that is “commissionable” will earn cashback. Booking through cashback site like TopCashback or through airline shopping portals like United will result in additional cashback or miles.

The Club Marriott rate mentioned earlier is commissionable, allowing for discounts as well as cashback.

Lifetime Status

Marriott offers the easiest way to achieve lifetime status among all hotel chains. With lifetime status, we no longer have to worry about re-qualifying for elite status each year. The new promotion for 1000 bonus points and double EQN can greatly help in achieving lifetime status faster, making it easier for us to enjoy these benefits for years to come.

Bottom line

Aiming for Platinum status (with or without the challenge) can be potentially lucrative when done along with a decent promotion. I was able to achieve Platinum status during a promotion that offered 2000 bonus points and double EQNs. It was an excellent offer, especially since it was during the Covid-19 pandemic and rates were reasonable. With the bonus points, it was almost like achieving Platinum status at a very low cost. I regret not taking advantage of the opportunity to go for Titanium status when I had the chance.

If your travel patterns align with that of the offer, this is a no brainer one to try and get some bonus points and those EQNs.