Originally Posted by tcook052
So, with 20 Million members in MR, I would think the number of Plats to be a very small number of that total. For debate sake, let's say .25%, which would make 50K Plats worldwide, though most of course would be in the USA. Anyone think those calculations even close?
I wouldn't put too much reliance on the 20 million number as being reflective of what we might call "current frequent stayers".
I suspect a large percentage of the total is comprised of folks who are no longer active, and another large percentage is composed of folks who (like some of us) have membership in lots of hotel programs (and earn airline miles in the ones we don't consider primary) so that no matter where we wind up staying we'll probably get some sort of credit for the night. And then there are those who signed up just because the sign-up form was in their room.
Once you set those aside, the number of current frequent stayers is going to be low. Under 5 million, I'd bet.
Then you have to factor in the fact (as noted elsewhere in this thread) that Marriott requires a lot more than most chains to get the top level: 75 nights as opposed to 50-some for the other chains (and if you do it right, you could earn SPG Platinum for only 25 nights). You're probably going to find a lot more Silvers (10 - 49 nights) and Golds (50 - 74 nights) in the Marriott universe than in Hilton, SPG, Hyatt, etc.
All in all, I would be surprised if there are much more than 5K "earned" Marriott Plats worldwide.
On the other hand, Marriott reportedly recently comped lifetime Platinum to anyone who signed up during their first year of operation. That would be a lot of comped Plats!