Huge shout out to this thread! I'm a long time Starwood member and will end this year with 850+ nights and 9 years platinum in SPG however haven't had any status in Marriott before. I signed up for the Marriott credit card for 15 nights and worked with a hotel to do six 30 min meetings over the last two months for only $53.5 after tax per meeting. Grand total to get a year of Marriott platinum and ensure I get LPP status was only $321! Well well worth the time it took to find a hotel who would do this for me.