She does, at the least she should be willing to do a fast track. At Marriott the status that starts to count (Gold) takes 50 nights, which at 4 nights a week is still 3 months away. I've had hotels offer colleagues gold in as little as 6 nights, or with confirmed bookings for months. I believe that Platinum Premier is the only publically available level at Marriott (excluding whatever the name is that means you are a friend of the actual Marriott family) that can't be offered as an incentive by an individual hotels - all others can be. In the recession I had a hotel give a colleague Platinum (from silver due to the credit card) with 10 nights.

The first thing I did as diamond was change my 'MyWay' preferences to earn the extra points. Then I just continued doing what I was doing previously. I'm HH Diamond and Marriott Plat Premier. As such I space my stays out throughout the year at both chains, it tends to be Marriott gets more of my business with Hilton getting a stay a week. I stay at Hiltons for a few bonus airmiles and Marriotts for the majority of my points for holidays. When Hilton have a good promo (e.g. the Q3FNs) I tend to stay there more frequently than I would otherwise (if stay based I'll try and do 4 stays/week, 1 night each). I agree with other comments here though - its a PITA to start again at a new chain with no status, I miss the lounge and the potential of an upgrade, hence why I haven't got SPG Plat/IHG ambassador. It would feel like too much trouble for very little benefit (I get perhaps 150-200 nights/year so could easily spread out my business more if I was really keen) and its better to have a big chunk of points in one program for holidays.

Having said that, I started staying at Hilton a few years back when Marriott devalued their programme and as I realised that I wanted to have at least some choice in the cities in which I stay - rather than being stuck at Marriotts. This is particularly advantageous on leisure breaks where the rate, or points cost, is more important to me so it is better to have some choice.