Flying for Fun

I am also showing spend towards Ambassador. I was closer in 2019 with 103 nights but under 12K spend spread acrosd 6 continents. This year through March 4th, I was at 38 nights and added one more in SEA on April 3rd across 4 continents.

I actually had 44 room nights but a 6 night revenue stay overlapping a stay 5, pay 4 redemption at the same property meant only 6 EQNs.

15 Credit Card Nights
17 Award Nights
12 Revenue Nights
44 Total Room Nights, 39 Elite Qualifying Nights.

Total Spend: USD $1,562, average $130/night based on 12 revenue nights.

Protea 6 nights, CPT,* Marriott 3 nights HKG*, LAX*, SEA, Le Meridien 1 night SIN*, Courtyard 1 night, ICN* & Fairfield Inn 1 short overnight at JFK.
* denote full suite upgrades.




I haven't seen consistency in the value of Ambassador Elite Status so I would agree with Kacee . I have had some amazing upgrades and recognition as a Titanium and have no desire to spend more for what could be a disappointment.

James

Travel6ix

Hey Everyone,

Wondering if someone can shed some light on the ambassador spend requirement. Most of my stays are in Canada, and as such, priced in Canadian dollars. The qualifications for ambassador status are in USD. Does anyone know what the conversion rate marriott uses for CAD to USD? Does anyone have experience with this? TIA



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dcmike

Don't know the conversion rates, but you should be able to calculate. The app shows how much you've spent in USD year to date. Look at your spend before a stay, look at it after the stay registers and they you should be able to see what the conversion rate is.

craigthemif

Presumably the same as dividing the number of base points earned by 10...

Travel6ix

I did not want to make the post longer than it needed to be, but I did not mention what would make that rather difficult. The dollar figure on my stays has not moved since March 2nd, despite spending over 4k since that time. I don't know what Marriott has included in my spend or not. I have not kept in mind when the counter stopped moving.

For the 'lurker' in the group, there is more to my life than babysitting Marriott. I have time and again tried to find the silver lining or a reason to be grateful. This is making me feel more than a little resentful.

I'm somewhere in the 5-6k CAD spend range YTD with a spend of ~2.3k showing on the app as styas, but not points register. I still have a 7 day stay from March 5-12th that has not even posted yet. This is turning into a lot more work than someone would expect to have complete when buying into a spending inducement program like Bonvoy.

I do appreciate the suggestion dcmike.. Marriott has made your suggestion exceedingly difficult to quantify or make possible at this time.

Travel6ix

This works as a baseline based on my current situation. Thanks for the suggestion

dcmike

Sorry about that! I hope the Lurker can help!

MSPeconomist

IIRC there are some differences in what counts for the AMB spend requirement versus what charges are eligible to earn points.

Perhaps more importantly, don't forget that some properties (primarily extended stay brands) earn points at half of the normal rate.

craigthemif

For sure. But as a rough-and-ready shortcut it should work well enough...

Of course, the irony is that many people wanting Ambassador want one because they have better things to do with their time than manage hotel bookings, requests, etc. Yet they have to spend their time tracking silly stupid things such as points / stays posting...

MePlatPremier

For points postings (and also for the spend-tracker, which relies on the same underlying data) Marriott uses the same conversion rate as the one on their website’s currency calculator, which is updated daily.

Kacee

And if "tracking" means altering spend in any way to reach Ambassador, well that is a virtually guaranteed path to disappointment!

Marriott Bonvoy Lurker II

Could you please enclose the missing stays’ folios and screenshot of app on the page of Eligible spent as attachments and send to [email protected] so we can check for you?

Kindly also mention your Flyertalk username in the email.

Please let us know if you need further assistance.

Best Regards,

Abbey L
Specialist, Social Media
Marriott International

Jiatong

Same issues, but prefer to postal mail the copies to Mrt in May.

goodison

Hey folks, I'm slowly closing in on Ambassador but never seem to quite receive the qualifying spend I'm expecting. I suspect F&B is part of what's missing out on. A couple of questions that would help me here:

1. Is there a way to determine if spend will qualify ahead of time? Marriott.com states: Qualifying charges "may exclude charges incurred at outlets that are not managed or operated by the Participating Property" but is there an easy way to tell that? I've had a few times where meals in a restaurant or room service do not seem to have qualified.
2. Is there a way to view qualifying spend? I can't see on bills / online / in app but is it available on request?

I should also add that most of this spend in not in USD, is there a chance the exchange rate is the issue!?

Thanks!

1200GS

Someone will chime in with more experience, but, its very hard to track qualifying spend, IME. Technically F&B should count - most will count correctly, and some doesn't post at all. I spent a year trying to keep track, and gave up. I've had laundry/dry cleaning count.