Marriott Rewards (including Ritz-Carlton) - Elite nights

Have only signed up to the Marriott/Ritz rewards recently. Have been credited with some 'Elite nights' - what do these mean/count towards?

paid stays that count toward your status (silver, gold, platinum). Or nights for signing up for an appropriate credit card.

nights stayed from redeeming points, and some select paid stays (depending on the rate or situation), don't earn elite nights.

If you've signed up for access to your Marriott Rewards account on line, go to your account, click on "Rewards Account Activity".

When you get to that page, you'll see a box titled "Nights Earned". In the box you will see how many are "Nights Stayed" (those are the paid stays), and "Bonus Nights" (these are the nights you get from various sources, such as credit card nights, roll-over nights, etc.). The "Bonus Nights" are further broken out into the subcategory of how you earned them.

Oh ok. I wanted to book a stay using rewards but voila! the hotel was unavailable when I looked again the next day. Typical.

Was this for a super desirable property on peak dates? Of all of Marriott (many) faults, I can honestly say that given the millions of points I've cashed in redemption certainly isn't one.

Oh ok. I wanted to book a stay using rewards but voila! the hotel was unavailable when I looked again the next day. Typical.

You saw you're new - and you're already disparaging the MR program?

Or was it a comment about how ironic things get?