How often are you planning to stay at marriott in the future and do you like them? I would say do what's convenient for you after hitting your yearly metric.

Right now, I have lifetime plat, but keep a Hyatt CC to get upgraded status there (not worth that much but a guaranteed 2pm checkout) and get Hilton Gold with the AMEX Plat (also can get that with the AMEX ascend card). I am considering going to the AMEX Aspire card for Diamond. Both the Hyatt and Aspire have yearly benefits to offset the annual fee. Basically you can easily 'buy' meaningful status with other brands, but Marriott Gold is not that great. Getting status above what you can simply get with a co-brand credit card will be tough if you still put in nights to get to your yearly Marriott requal.