Marriott has an internal Platinum/Gold challenge that is not published publicly wherein we can earn status for lesser stay requirements. Ordinarily Platinum Elite status requires 50 nights however Platinum challenge requires us to stay 16 nights so about a third of the stay requirement.
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)
Important points to note:
- 16 revenue nights required for Platinum and 9 nights required for Gold
- Direct Revenue rate (that is bookings from Bonvoy App, call center or Website) is counted. Some other rates like Club Marriott, STARS & Luminous Programs rates would be eligible. You may want to check with Marriott in case of any doubt
- Time duration for the challenge – Remaining days of the registering month plus 90 Days. Let’s say we register on 9th July then we would have time till 31st October
- We can do either of the Gold or Platinum challenge. Say if we register for platinum challenge and do 9 nights then we won’t get Gold status
- Challenge is available only for Gold & Platinum Elite Status. Not challenge available Titanium or higher status
- Existing members up to Silver can take up Gold or Platinum Challenge and existing members up to Gold can take Platinum Challenge
- Revenue booking needs to be done only after the Challenge has been registered with Marriott Bonvoy support for the nights to be counted
- Only nights stayed after the enrollment will be counted towards the Challenge.
- This is a status challenge and not a status match and thus we won’t have status till we complete the requisite nights
What is not counted
- Award stays (booking made with points)
- Elite Night Qualification (EQN) offers like double/triple credit per stay. Let’s say we have a 2X elite night offer, we still would need to do a 16 night stay and not eight nights.
- Bonus Nights / Promotional Offer Nights or Free Night Awards
- EQNs from credit cards
- Third party/Online travel portal booking
- No previously stayed nights before registration
Bonus Tips:
After we have registered for the challenge and due to some reason, we aren’t able to stay, then we can call Marriott and ask them to remove/withdraw from the challenge so that we can do the challenge when we are ready to travel.
While I believe that we should try and have elite status only if it fits into your travel pattern, sometime it may be worth timing the status or doing the stays when it is a targeted offer or a global promotion.
We can also request for Platinum Challenge through Founder’s Card route. Here the stay requirement is only 15 nights. I personally value Platinum status conservatively at Rs 2,750-3,000 (~$35) per night at full-service Marriott hotels and I’m a teetotaler! If we time the challenge well, we can have close to two years of elite status. Based on your travel pattern, it may be worthwhile having status.