Originally Posted by
abhilife2001
I understand, but hv more than 18 days planned in the coming 2 months as of now, so this should not be a problem..
hv posted another thread to know about the validity of the membership.. if u hv any info on that kindly post about that..
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...taken-now.html
Btw.. since u have gold now ^ and its valid till next feb.. what happens after that if u hv not stayed 50 nights this year and even 15 (which is for silver) ? Does it change straight from gold to base level or is there a soft landing facility with Marriot ?
That is a interesting other thread, talking about the challenge lasting until Feb 2013 instead of Feb 2012. From what I have read (and people, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), it seems that if you do a platinum challenge, it only lasts for 12 months once you do the 18 nights. I wonder if it was a typo in your letter. If not, that's really good.
About your question though, since I have the Marriott Premier card, I'll go back from Gold to Silver, since the card gives you 15 elite nights, and Silver status only requires 10 nights.
That Marriott Premier card is really good, the annual benefit is a free one night stay at a cat 1-5 hotel. Cat 5 hotels you can find in the big cities, and sometimes they cost around 200 bucks. Not bad at all for a $65 annual fee.
I don't think I'd use my Marriott card for anything other than staying at Marriotts though. I value each Marriott point as .88 of one cent to one cent, and I have the old Schwab Visa which gives me 2 cents per dollar spent. Cash is king there. But I'd still keep the Marriott card for the annual benefit, plus it gives me some variety on where to stay as opposed to just Starwood hotels.