Originally Posted by
yscleo
I'm watching this thread with interest. I'm chasing LT Plat, having just re-qualified for Plat for 2024, I need 3 more years (will have the nights).
I find the benefits of Plat in many Canada/US properties not as good as in other countries. Since Covid, many properties are staffed by employees not too knowledgeable, and often just shrugged when I ask if there are upgrades for Plats, many don't even ask if I like the points as welcome benefit.
The best benefits to me are the hotels with lounges because you can get snacks/drinks in evening, but during Covid the lounges were closed and many didn't reopen, and many are doing away with lounges.
To us in Canada, one other issues is there's only one card, Amex Bonvoy, that gives hotel nights/points. No others. So to get nights/points we are stuck with Amex Bonvoy.
I was fiercely loyal to Starwood chasing the coveted lifetime Platinum status and in some years, I even did December mattress runs to re-qualify for Plat. What I failed to consider in doing so was how loyalty program benefits inevitably get diluted. I saw the light when they announced the merger and I realized that the word "lifetime" applies to the life of the program, not the member. The addition of the Titanium status level and the massive size increase of the pool of elite members that happened when they merged the programs made Platinum status way less valuable than it had been previously as can be seen in the examples you mentioned, among others.