Silver Elite benefits
 

(Decided to create a new thread on this, since the only related one I found was pre-merger, from 2007-2011.)

I'm usually a Hilton guy, and I rarely stay at Marriott/SPG.
But I happen to have 3 stays coming up at SPG (Sheraton, Tribute, Westin) properties over the next few months.
I have no status with SPG/Marriott. I'm thinking about getting the SPG AMEx card, primarily to get Silver Elite status for these stays.

I have no illusions of getting an upgrade or anything like that.
However, it would really help to get late checkout.

With Silver Elite, what's the chance of getting a late checkout?
At a resort hotel with checkout time of 12pm, how likely is it that they could get us a 3pm checkout with Silver Elite status?
Or do non-status people have just as good a shot at late checkout as Silver Elite?

Small. There are 4 more levels above Silver. In this forum probaly nobody has just silver. Minimum gold. Everything else useless.

Resort hotels don't have to guarantee a late check out even to super VIP Platinum Premier / Titanium / whatever.

The chances of a Silver member getting one is pretty slim.

Is Titanium a hidden status above PP+A or LTPP , or another hidden VIP?

Titanium is the new PP....or so we think... and PP+A = AMB

Check out the https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...gram-leak.html thread. While it has lots of posts, a search of "titanium" should point you in the right direction. :)

I wouldn't get SPG AMEX (nor any card) just for three stays. Especially since the benefits are minimal. There are much better cards out there these days since they reduced the points accrual on non-SPG spend.
That's not really a fair comment, most Marriott/SPG properties are very good about honoring the late check-out benefit. At least as good as Hyatt where it's supposedly "guaranteed."

If you're usually a Hilton guy, why don't you try for a status match challenge?

As a Plat / PP sure... But there's unquestionably a difference between "resorts" and regular hotels.

But the OP is contemplating Silver. Nothing even hinted at on the late check-out front for Silvers, so it's hard to imagine a resort giving a complimentary 3pm check out unless it is truly empty / generous.

Thanks for the responses thus far. I know it's only 3 stays. But on 2 of them, it's a ski stay where it would help a lot to have the room until ~3pm since I'd like to ski till mid-afternoon that final day. It'd be a pain to have to scramble to pack up and check out first thing in the morning before hitting the slopes, then in the afternoon to have to go to the hotel gym to change and shower (provided the property will even let me do that, as Hilton and Hyatt always do) and then repack. So if chances of late check-out are great, then I'd like to go for it.

I'm not familiar with Marriott/SPG. I know that, with Hilton, chances of 3pm checkout are slim at most properties even as a Diamond. As a Diamond, even 2pm checkout is a crapshoot. On the other hand, I just have that Discoverist status with Hyatt, but the one Hyatt property I always stay at will always give me 2pm checkout without hesitation no matter how busy the hotel is (I've never asked them for anything later than 2pm).

But priority late checkout is a stated benefit of Silver Elite, though.

But it's "based on availability". Busy resorts are less likely to have availability.

Overall, Marriott is very very good, in my experience, in regards to late checkouts. But I rarely request them at resorts, it's more often for work travel at CY's, Springhills, FS Marriotts, etc. So I think there's a chance you'll go to the trouble of getting a credit card and be disappointed with late checkouts. Or you might get them anyway even without status...but unlikely at a ski resort during high season.

A ski resort is unlikely to give a late checkout to a Platinum Premier, much less a Silver.

It's something that almost everybody with status would want, and everybody with status also wants to arrive in the afternoon to a room that is ready. No hotel can handle both contradictory desires without being half empty, which isn't going to happen during ski season.

I understand what you're saying.
Just trying to get a sense of how Marriott/SPG is with regards to handing out late check-out, relative to other brands I'm more familiar with.

Even if I could get a 2pm checkout (instead of 3pm) on those two occasions, the card would be worth it.
I've been a Plat and now Discoverist at Hyatt for a while, and my sense is that 2pm checkout at Hyatt has been almost a guarantee.
On the other hand, Hilton is more of a crapshoot and is highly property-dependent (and somewhat variable each time even at a given property).

Do you guys think SPG/Marriott is closer to Hilton or closer to Hyatt, in terms of late checkout?
(Kacee's comment seems to imply the latter.)
Or maybe the answer is "it depends"?

As a Silver elite member, you're not entitled to free breakfasts, lounge access, or even late check out. The only benefit that's unique is that you'll get bonus points for your stays. MarriottSilver elite benefits compared to other tiers.

If you look at https://members.marriott.com/benefits/ you'll see that Silver doesn't even have a time, whereas Gold's "get" 2pm and Platinums 4pm. I interpret that as nothing "guaranteed" at all for a Silver late check-out, but completely up to the hotel to give an hour or two.

In my experience, SPG was almost as good as Hyatt for guaranteed late checkout. But Marriott has a very firm distinction between "resorts" and regular hotels, essentially adding a "subject to availability" for any hotel that manages to call itself a "resort".

Any time you don't have published guaranteed benefits to point hotel staff towards, you are subject to their whims and "we're too full" excuses.