The other thing silver members get over blue is 0.6 points bonus (0.3 for Ibis family hotels) per euro spent at the hotel. This is automatically credited by the system, and I think (again not 100% sure) to earn this bonus your status must already be silver when you check in. So, if you also want this points bonus in addition to welcome drink and 2 pm check out, you will need to go with the first method: break the stay in the middle.