You need to ask about the "Road to Challenge", not Taste. Also, don't mention status match or the word status as Marriott doesn't do that & so the denial is probably based on the status match verbiage. It confuses the issue a bit.

The taste of challenge has basically gone away, and was only granted by HQ & not the Marriott cust svc reps. Taste of gave you the bennies whilst you completed the challenge.

With the road challenge you won't get any of the bennies (other than i-net) until you meet the requirements of the challenge.

It also helps if you have some Marriott reservations already made when you request the road to Gold or Plat challenge so they can see you'll be staying. Might help them to a yes answer. You might want to ask for Gold challenge. A few less stays to get to it, you get most of the bennies & based on your stay pattern you'd hit Platinum anyway. I think it's easier for someone who's a basic member of Marriott to ask for Gold vs. Plat.

Be polite, don't do the you'd think you'd want my bizness thing, etc. Whether true or not you could say you're a bit disillusioned w/ Hilton & have heard good things about Marriott, etc.

I think this is the number for Marriott Rewards cust svc # in US/Canada 1 801 468 4000

Cheers.