Originally Posted by shinbal

I'm a Hyatt Diamond and an SPG Platinum. I made Marriott Silver through staying 10 nights. Other than the bonus points, I don't see any benefit to being Silver.

What is simply amazing to me is that I did five stays to get the ten nights needed, WITHOUT a status match request. lol. I reserved, checked in, and stayed with the masses - though I must say that Marriott makes it relatively easy to buy a room on the club floor at reasonable rates.

Though I have been on the receiving end from the airlines a few times, I am personally against status comps. There is tremendous dilution of programs. The expense of those benefits just leads to their ultimate reduction. And, as many a hotel manager (and some airline execs) will tell you, they don't always lead to increased revenue - or even revenue to match the benefits offered.

What I like better are advance revenue commitments. United has done it with the $20K travel card for 1K status, or something like that. If you put your money up, here's the status in advance. Then, you have the benefits to use while you actually earn the status for the future.

I do appreciate how Marriott makes its top levels tough to achieve. Maybe I'm living in a dream world, but it seems that the top level isn't diluted like it is at a lot of other chains.