I suspect most of the frustration stems not from people not knowing the rules, but just from the experience of bonus points/nights posting at the same time as the base points. Having been used to (spoiled by???) this in all the past Marriott promotions that at least I can remember, it seems odd and even somewhat counterintuitive that now they decided to hold off and batch post bonuses some time after the promotion ends.

In addition, this system would actually materially affect those who don't have some higher status in 2026 but would have expected to qualify for such in the course of the promotion. Those people would have had higher benefits sooner in 2026, had Marriott followed their pattern from previous years.