Same gold member here. Called Marriott customer service saying I had 15 nights cancelled in March and asking if they could extend the challenge deadline. They said no, but if you wish, we'd cancel your challenge so that you could reapply whenever you want.

P.S. Noticed it's the first post for both of us here ;)

Translating that into "time to take hilton up on status match promos and jump ship!" This is super frustrating with all the PR saying we care and want to give you flexibility!

isn’t it 16 nights to challenge to platinum?

i guess it depends on how many nights you had in the challenge already

It is. So far, I've spent 11 nights and my Platinum challenge deadline is April 30th. I had 15 nights canceled in March (conferences, personal trips, etc), otherwise I'd already have 26 night by now (excluding my 15 elite nights from the Brilliant card).

I think a better approach for me right now would be to get Amex Business card, and have 30 nights combined from personal + business cards. Then a total of 50 nights by the end of the year would be quite feasible. I hope it'd still be worth to work towards Lifetime Platinum.

Hi Pazza2000,

Your status probably shouldn't have gone down. If you send a Private Message with your Marriott Bonvoy number and full name, we can look look into this for you.

Thanks,

Robert Vleck
Social Media Liaison

Can the Platinum challenge be retroactive? Say if I call to register now (in April), can all my nights in March and February be counted as well?

Thank you kindly, will do so now! Guest assist. had also confirmed to me last year that the status would run through to March of 21 having earned it in 2019

No, they make that clear on signup. Other hotel and airline chains are offering flexibility around promos and status challenges. I can only imagine Marriott doesn’t think they will get much bad press from not altering status challenges.

I don't think so, as you need to call Marriott to get enrolled in the challenge. And unfortunately, their website has no option to enroll in it or track your challenge progress online.

Quick question for the forum... I completed the challenge last year and qualified for platinum. I expected my status to be carried forward to the following year (you usually start the next year with the status you earned the previous year). That didn't happen. Has anyone else seen that behavior? It seems it should based on the snippet from the T&C's below. (I was also hoping that 2020 would count toward lifetime status... but based on the below as well - that likely won't happen)

Only a calendar year in which a Member achieves Silver Elite, Gold Elite, Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite, or Ambassador Elite Status, as described in the prior sentence, will count as an Eligible Status Year, regardless of the length of time that such Member will retain the benefits of Elite membership Status. For example, if a Member meets the Gold Elite Minimum Requirement during the 2019 Eligible Status Year by earning twenty-five (25) Eligible Nights and becomes a Gold Elite Member for the remainder of 2019 and for all of 2020, 2019 will count as a single Eligible Status Year, but 2020 will not count as an Eligible Status Year unless the Member meets the Gold Elite Minimum Requirement during the 2020 Eligible Status Year.

Thanks

Jeff

there have been reports of this happening to some. PM the Lurkers here I am sure they will help.


Marriott IT is what it is 😁

Can confirm the response from Bonvoy CS - no extension and no reduction in requirements, allowed to cancel challenge. Pretty frustrating given I moved a Hyatt stay over to Marriott earlier this year so I wouldn't have to mattress run, and had the final stay I needed booked before quarantine shut down everything.

At this point I only need 3 nights but probably won't bother given the current travel uncertainties and that Marriott's customer service increasingly seems to be utter #*@&!.

Agree this is rediculous for those that have already moved a significant portion of nights and cost over from another chain. Moving everything to bonvoy makes sense if you can make the challenge work, other chains are going above and beyond to make accomodations right now and bonvoy is digging in not to help. Unfortunately this is my last straw and with Bonvoy.

I've finally been Bonvoyed.

Agreed. Even BA, which is hardly an airline known for great customer service (after all, AFAIK they haven't even extended elite status yet) was awarding elite credits for flights that customers booked but canceled due to the quarantines and travel restrictions. (There is a more pressing need with BA due to rolling qualification periods, but so too are challenges.) And I would have been happy with just an extension, to be honest.

All the major US airlines have extended their eilte challege periods where they have offered them, HIlton has offered more flexible challeges and extended promo periods as well.

This is a great way to piss off people that are actively trying to move between loyalty programs. Back to hilton gold life (and likely better that bonvoy'd platinum, just a longer commute to the office when the world returns to normal!)