Originally Posted by
padirescu
I do agree though that MR should establish another official tier above Plat given what I believe are saturated ranks these days.
They're not saturated enough until *I* get there, then we can talk about it.
Seriously, though, I'm sure they wanted increased numbers (saturation) to result when they repeatedly reduced the criteria for LT status. You'll recall that it used to be:
1. having 12+ years as a member;
2. having 600, 800, and 1,000 personal nights, respectively;
3. Having earned 1,500,000, 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 lifetime points, respectively;
and
4. Having at least one earned year at the level at which you're seeking LT status.
And those nights didn't include such non-stay nights as roll-over nights; 15 bonus nights each year for having the Premier VISA card; one bonus night for every $3000 charged to the VISA card; and Happy Birthday bonus nights (since none of those had been invented at that time).
Not only did they over time reduce (or eliminate entirely) each of those criteria, on the 20th anniversary of the program they granted all (or most, see
this post) of the 1984 charter members LT Platinum status.
They've pretty clearly been trying to expand the numbers by lowering the bar. Maybe you're right that they now need to add a new layer for the over-achievers but apparently they don't see it that way (yet, at least).