Even though it is silly I always worry doing something like that is going to flag my account. I'm definitely not entitled to gold based on my stays last year and I would rather show as marriott gold based on my marriott account vs showing as matching from a credit card. In the end I'm thinking it may not matter in 2019? Or is there a risk that marriott is going to review all their accounts and on 8/1 if my plat card status isn't linked in I could lose gold based on lack of stays next year, instead of their usual waiting until February to calculate status?