Hi,

I've been lurking on FT for about a month now, and I wanted to tell you all how informative it has been for me. That said, I was wondering if maybe you could provide some insight on some trouble I've been having.

My father joined Marriott rewards in 1985. That puts him at 23 years of membership. He only has 178 nights, but 365,853 lifetime points earned. At one point he was Marquis Black. He was laid off from his job in '95 and started a small business. Needless to say, most of his travel stopped. Just recently he has taken a sales job again and he is traveling more. He has already worked his way up to Silver Elite (in the first 2 months of the year), but considering his long history with the program, previous elite status, the fact that he JUST missed being made Lifetime Platinum during the 20th anniversary, and the fact that he has created a loyal customer in his son (I'm silver), I was hoping they would at least let him challenge towards gold. I called up the Silver MR line, and they referred me to the Salt Lake City line where they essentially told me that they cannot offer a challenge because he has never had "Gold status" with them before.

I guess its a question of "What have you done for us lately?"

I was wondering if anyone here had any tips for me to maybe help him at least challenge for gold so he can enjoy lounges a little bit earlier. He taught me everything I know about frequent traveler programs, so it would be a nice little gift to him if I could figure this out.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Sincerely,
Matthew Gulino