Unfortunately, with the merger, Marriott took away just about every way of earning status faster that existed on the Marriott side before the merger. They took away getting elite nights from multiple meetings. They took away getting multiples of 15 nights from multiple Marriott credit cards. They took away rollover nights.

So Marriott went from one of the easiest programs in which to get status without staying much, to one of the hardest.

And the funny thing is, they did this at roughly the same time that Hilton debuted a credit card (the Aspire) which gives top elite status (Diamond) in that program. So as Hilton made earning elite status without staying easier, Marriott made it harder.