GetSetJetSet

The strategy I have been working with is:

- IF there's a Bonvoy option I am pleased with, use that up to 35 paid/points nights a year at minimum + the 15 nights from the card = Plat which gives me enough status and perks to be good.
- Maintain LHW Leaders Club (in the last year, have been upgraded on EVERY LHW stay, def worth it)
- In certain cities "bite the bullet" and stay at hotels you really want to stay at Peninsula, Aman, Four Seasons, etc... even if it won't earn points.

puchong

Not a "benefit" per se, but there are many of us who prefer Coke to the awful Pepsi

Hotel Points Guy

TechnoTourist

Where does that leave Dr Pepper?

ftaus

I'm 55 nights, ~11k USD YTD... Generally on track for 100 nights = 20k.

JBord

In Texas

uscgto

I was in your shoes early this year.

Thanks to Amex Platinum I am at Hilton Gold and now with all the nights I am at Marriott Titanium. The double point promotion from Marriott pulled me in. Infact, I am booked for pretty much the next 6 weeks with Marriott. Both work and couple vacations.

I am strongly contemplating going for Hilton Diamond if Marriott's next promotion is lack luster.

On a side note, lately (maybe its a titanium thing) Marriott has not only been beating prices at comparable Hilton properties but it's also beating AAA and my corporate price.

kaizen7

The only tangible benefits are those 50/75 choices.

I dont have any LT status yet, so my strategy would be try to reach at least 75 ... which is my current average night/year (did some multi room booking that will make spending average looks pretty high)
$9500 for 21 nights ... which comes out to around $450/night

Currently I have platinums for GHA discovery (very limited footprint although they do have some interesting properties) and also Gold with Accor

I use these 2 as back up for location that dont have viable Marriott hotel nearby.
And since their status can be earned by spending instead of night, it was very easy for me to reach them

Last year I did have the opportunity to keep these back up plans at their current tier due to multiple room credit at SPG.
However with the removal of that benefit, I might have to ditch these two.

And for Bonvoy, there still 10 night meeting I could use this year and also the availability of a nearby Moxy for $30/ night can be an interesting place for a mattress run

krakendown

Interesting numbers here. I'll throw mine in currently at 98 nights and 9k spend. Comes out to ~90/night. I've had quite a bit of reward stay plus of course the credit card stays but the rest BIB. I'll hit 20k but like others have mentioned not sure if it is worth attaining personally for other reasons besides the normal perks.

ftrichard

I've always justified reaching Platinum at 50 nights to interested colleagues by calculating that around 10 of those nights will be free on points (which has historically been the case) and I've spent an average of $125 a night on the remaining 40 nights so a total spend of $5000 a year for 50 nights that include tangible cash savings of (2 x breakfast @ $15 each) + (2 x 5 alcoholic drinks @ $5 each) + (2 x evening meal) (maybe 50% of the time) and the intangible benefits like 4pm late checkout and suite upgrades which means the actual room rate comes down quite considerably to *free* if the food is good or certainly less than $50 a night if we just hit the booze for a few hours.

Of course, I'm in Asia so get these benefits at Le Meridiens, Westins, Sheratons, Marriotts, Courtyards, Ws etc. on pretty much every stay. And I've hit 75 nights the last few years with ~75% leisure at these hotels and rates. And I'm now redeeming points on more aspirational hotels like the W Samui which would have cost $750 a night when I was there and seemed a good deal at 60k points so I have fewer free nights.

My average spend is also increasing a bit now because I have some work travel to Europe where room rates can be $350 a night or more and skew the actual results. But when anyone asks about the value of being Platinum I run through the numbers shown above.

Ryno1234

I am currently at 25 nights and $6,526 in spend. I have hit Ambassador ever year since its inception with Marriott a few years ago. I will hit the spend pretty easily(or at least i am on pace to) , but the nights are going to be stretch. Most of my travel is in the NYC/BOS, DC area so rates are pretty high. I paid over $600/night for a friggin Courtyard in NYC a few weeks ago.

Just an interesting data point.

lexdevil

If you don't have a Marriott credit card, you should get one, as it would bring in an additional 15 elite nights per year. The annual fee is made up for by the value of the free night certificate (worth up to 35k points), assuming you have use for a Cat 5 stay. And sometimes you can get them to waive the annual fee...

YEGAccountant