And those of us who are true plats wonder why there is no availability for an upgrade or we can't use other "optional to the franchisee" benefits because the pool of platinums keep getting larger. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for your good fortune. I choose Marriott for the vast majority of stays of my 100 plus a year nights in order to maintain status. But if this is really the case I could spread my year of stays over two programs, get mid-tier status, be automatically upgraded and then have top tier status in two programs. I'm cheating myself by remaing totally loyal. If Marriott wants to use Platinum as an incentive such as this, then they really need to consider lowering the qualifications for true platinum, or create another tier with different benefits for those who are truly loyal to the chain.