Oh yes, LexPassenger and I have done a few otherwise unnecessary Marriott nights in most years to top up our Platinum.

We once drove from College Station to Austin, TX (about 2 hours) and back the next morning to get our 75th Marriott night - there was no Marriott any closer, and it was the absolutely last night of our year. The night before, we'd been booked into the Memphis Marriott, but after driving through a tornado (close enough, anyway; we are still here to tell the tale), we arrived about 11pm to find NO ROOMS, not even for Platinums, and were accomodated at the Omni down the road. (It took us a long time, but Marriott also finally coughed up the $200 "walk" compensation.) Had we known then that Marriott counted the "walk" as a Marriott night, we wouldn't have had to make the trek in Texas.

DOC 2 BE - perhaps women do more packing and unpacking on the average than men? As you can see from LexPax's post, some of us females go along with the check-in/check-out bit, if there are good reasons.