As a former multi-year Plat (and Hilton Gold, and Hyatt Diamond, and IC Ambassador), I think that the value of Marriott Platinum is completely a matter of personal choice and priorities. Yes, there are significant benefits, but as many have pointed out, those benefits can be hit-and-miss depending on the properties you stay in.
From my personal experience, Hyatt's properties (at least, the ones I've stayed in) are generally nicer than Marriott properties (especially if you add in CYs, RIs, SHSs and TPSs). And the Hyatt FFN promos are very generous and attractive. But stacked up against Marriott's network of locations, Hyatt's relative scarcity doesn't make it a good long-term choice for me.
The Priority Club family of properties enjoys relative ubiquity when all the product lines are added in -- I can generally find a Priority Club property in places where Marriott hasn't even
thought of moving in. But some of the HI and HIEX properties are serious fleabags.
BLECH.
Hilton used to suffer from Hyatt's problem of too few locations, but the recent proliferation of HGI properties is beginning to address that. Still, those HGIs can be hit-or-miss, IMO. So Hilton's not a good choice for me, either.
From my perspective, Marriott offers the best combination of property lines (from bare-bones places like TPS properties all they way up to Rens and JWs) in pretty much all of the places I'm likely to go. And when I walk into a given property, I pretty much know what I'm going to get, depending on whether the property is a SHS, a CY, a JW, etc. It's not the ubiquity I like (because Priority Club has Marriott beat on that) and it isn't the generosity of bennies (because Hyatt's on top there). It's the relative *standards* of the Marriott properties that I like. Not to compare Marriott to McDonalds, but if I order a Big Mac anywhere on earth, I've got a pretty good idea of what I'll be served. And if I walk into a Residence Inn or a Courtyard anywhere on earth, I have a pretty good idea of what the facilities and rooms will be like.
I like that. ^
I don't like the 2009 changes to the MR program, but we're still processing that and trying to decide if going for Gold Emeritus is still going to be worth it for us, let alone Platinum Emeritus.
Long story short, I think the OP should give due consideration for the value proposition that Marriott presents to his/her set of circumstances and then consider whether the Plat level is a worthwhile investment of time and money. If nothing else, it would set the OP up for a future shot at Platinum Emeritus one day.
Plat's nice while you have it, but IMO it's not especially valuable if you're not in a position to take full advantage of the benefits. And only you can decide on that score.
