Originally Posted by
pinniped
Marriott has lifetime at all levels and it's a combinations of both nights stayed and points earned. That prevents either an all-credit-card or all-cheap-stays backdoor. From the LT thread over there, most FT'ers seem to hit the points threshold first, then the nights requirement second.
I hope eventually HH publishes something similar.
Marriott nights vs ponts is very nonlinear: 250 nights and 1.2 million lifetime points for Lifetime Silver, 500 nights plus 1.6 million lifetime points for Lifetime Gold, or 750 nights plus 2.0 million lifetime points for Lifetime Platinum.
So most people get to 250 nights way short of 1.2 million lifetime points, but by the time they get 750 nights they're likely to have 2.0 million lifetime points. So whether they get to the points threshold or the nights threshold first depends on which of the three status levels you're talking about.
SPG's lifetime status (the other major one to compare) is much simpler, based on nights and years (no points). However, there are very few midscale properties in the SPG family, and that may be why they don't need a points factor.
Hilton is more smiilar to Marriott than to SPG in the mix of brand levels they have, and so it's possible they may want to go more like Marriott just to avoid cheap stays at Hamptons only giving the same lifetime status as the same number of stays at Conrads only.
Of course, if Hilton is willing to give HH Gold just by holding one of two credit cards, maybe they don't care if people get lifetime HH Gold only on cheap Hampton stays?