All's well that ends well. The front desk manager at the Marriott Cambridge checked me out this morning and I asked him about my waitlist status. (It was probably my 5th or 6th inquiry at the front desk this week.) He looked in the reservations system and opened something up for me. Said something like "we like to take care of our Cambridge customers."

Re: elite status: I have black with Marriott and it didn't help me at all. Every time I called reservations and told them I was black, they said it's platinum you need for the guaranteed room reservation. Gold status at Starwood didn't help, either.

IMHO I think elite status in hotel programs isn't that special. I get seriously better treatment from the airlines for being an elite, relatively less from the hotel chains. But then again, I've never been a top level elite.