Originally Posted by
mfirst
so the choice - for 50/75 milestones is 10 EQN that have limited value other than a trace closer to lifetime status... and if you are that close, does it even matter? A FNA valued at 40k which, if you are staying 75 nights, you are probably getting tons of points - and do you really want/need to get a free night? SNA which everyone says is worthless...as I tend to agree....... and, let's be honest - does a $100 donation really make that much of a difference?
...maybe at least with a discounted mattress you can pretend to a rock star and light it on fire and toss it our of a 2 floor CY window that you cant open?
I'm not even sure the EQN is worthwhile considering you need 10 years at Platinum. Assuming you have any level of organic spend at all, you'd hit the 600 nights requirement well before the 10 year mark (as I will, at 241 EQN to 2 years Plat+). i.e. if I hold the Brilliant for the 8 years I need to earn LTP, I'd accrue 200 EQN from CC nights alone (not counting the 120 from Biz). I could pretty much never stay in a Marriott again and hit LTP by 2030, assuming it's still around by then.
At least with SNAs you have a non-zero (if infinitesimally so) chance at some kind of residual value. I imagine the $100 "donation" is just a tax writeoff for Marriott, so I object to that option in principle. Let charity be charity, and rewards programs be rewards programs.