My instinct is to agree that there are too many Platinums and above, but all these elites are loyal to Marriott and it does seem to me that the chain uses that to charge higher room rates than any other chain for comparable properties, including Hilton and Hyatt. However, if Marriott degrades the benefits for the higher tier elites, there is little benefit to stay loyal because you'd then get comparable treatment at Hilton for (often) lower prices. So if Marriott wants to keep a lot of loyal elites to boost room rates, they'll have to maintain most of the current benefits.