Was Silver last year with 23 nights mostly if not all at a high-end high-rate JW property ...

Called MR and requested a status match or challenge late last December.

I was immediately given gold status with the challenge of staying 25 nights by March 31 in order to retain gold for the rest of 2010. As the others stated, if I didn't meet the challenge, the status would reverts back to Silver.

13 nights rolled over to this year so I was half way there. In Feb/March my stays were:

• 1 night at Costa Mesa Marriott (to trigger megamiles earnings).
• 7 nights at JW Marriott Bangkok
• 3 nights at Marriott Resort & Spa Hua Hin
• 4 more nights at JW Marriott Bangkok

for a total of 15 nights + 13 nights rolled over = 28 nights and clinched the Gold status. I called and asked for MR Platinum tier challange. I was told that I was only entitled to one challange per year but I also was told that my Gold status was good until Feb. 2012!!! Plus I earned about 13K AA miles with megamiles promo.

Thank you Marriott Rewards ^^^

IMHO, other than earning more points and dedicated line there isn't much difference between MR's Gold & Platinum status. At the above properties, as a Gold, I was upgraded and given access to executive lounge including full breakfast, happy hour, tea time, etc.

Check out the properties:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalboz/...7622147537990/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalboz/...7623373807859/