I couldn’t disagree more about exceptions to the $20K spending requirement. The cost of offering Ambassador service should be met with spending concomitant to that cost. Marriott decided that $20K spending was the threshold to offer the Ambassador service—both to justify the cost of Ambassador services and benefits and to cull the number of Ambassador guests in the elite ranks.

For legacy Marriott customers who stay more than 75 nights and don’t reach the $20K Ambassador spending, the new Plat Premier/Titanium benefits still vastly outstrip those enjoyed under the old Marriott Rewards program before the SPG purchase. And those are still better than anything offered by Hilton or IHG or Accor. Hyatt offers the same and even more, but it is much harder to get 60 nights in the tiny Hyatt portfolio.

I believe few or no exceptions should be made for anyone traveling to lower-cost destinations for exactly the same reason that I believe few or no exceptions should be made for anyone staying in lower-cost hotels anywhere.

Your logic follows that exceptions therefore also should be made for those unlucky enough to not travel much in the first place—100 nights being so difficult to attain in such circumstances. Let’s provide exemptions to people who don’t travel for work and therefore can’t reach 50 or 75 or 100 nights? I don’t think so.

If one wants to qualify for Ambassador service, one needs to stay a lot and spend a lot. If one stays more often in lower-cost Asia, then one needs to spend more on food/beverage or more expensive rooms or otherwise find ways to reach the $20K spending like everyone else.

Traveling to lower-cost Asia already provides the obvious “benefit” of having less expensive stays with better service in the first place. Not to mention a lot less competition than N America and Europe for upgrades and other perks associated with being elite. So chances are good that a Plat Premier/Titanium in Asia might proportionally be as elite or more elite than many if not most Ambassador guests who largely stay in N America or Europe.

I’m also surprised when people complain about not getting additional incentives after reaching the final threshold in any loyalty program. If you stay more, you actually get to enjoy the benefits you’ve earned. My incentive for staying 235 nights and counting in 2018 is the actual enjoyment of my Ambassador elite status for the last 100+ nights. Getting more suite upgrades. Getting elevated treatment. Having my Ambassador available to help when needed. Getting to enjoy the types of hotels I actually prefer. I could have switched to Hyatt, but then I’d have had trouble finding the upscale and luxury hotels I like in the places I travel. It doesn’t much help me to switch and spend 55-60 nights in hotels that don’t make me as happy. I could have switched to Hilton, but I’d have had even more trouble finding upscale let alone luxury hotels I like in the places I travel.