I got promoted to Platinum Elite for no reason.
 

Hi, I guess Marriott is making mistakes again.
I received an email saying i am 60(or 50) nights away from Titanic Elite. then i went to my account found myself to be a Platinum Elite.
I did not do anything this year with Marriott. Last time I was in a Marriott was April 2018.
What could be the reason other than a simple mistake?
I had been gold because I have many Marriott credit cards including Ritz Carlton, but gold is worthless.

Thanks for help.

In the Rewards program before the August 2018 changes, Gold Elite was the 50-night tier and was quite valuable. Back then, Gold Elite provided the lounge/breakfast benefit at five full-service brands, among other benefits.

In August 2018, the elite tiers were renamed to align SPG and Rewards. The new name for the 50-night tier became Platinum Elite, and it remained quite valuable.

Whatever qualified you to be Gold Elite in the old program might now qualify you to be Platinum Elite in the current program. That could be a credit card, Marriott Vacation Club status, lifetime status, or something else. If you're still 50 or 60 nights away from Titanium Elite, it's not your hotel activity this year. But it's also not necessarily a mistake.

The last people who achieved that status didn't have such a great travel experience.

I also want to be Titanic Elite

:D. An excellent metaphor for the sinking state of the loyalty programme, elite benefits, etc.

OP - is it possible that you qualified for a lifetime status? If you had been Gold for a number of years in the old Marriott program and accumulating nights through the credit card as well as stays, it's very possible you made lifetime Platinum.

I went from being about 10 years away from LT Platinum, under the old program, to basically automatically "earning" it earlier this year. If an average customer like me could achieve that, I assume there are a lot of others out there too.

Only thing I can think of is what you said about the Gold Elite from OP Ritz Carlton Card. It was the only card that gave true Marriott Gold before the merger. All the other cards gave Gold to SPG, in which people matched to Marriott to get Gold. Since the August 2018 merger, anyone that was Gold Elite through credit card or other promotion should have stayed platinum but I thought they were only extended that until end of February. Maybe they just gave OP the status for the rest of the year because the Ritz card was the only card out all the other CC that gave true Marriott Gold before the change.

It depends on what your status is *within* that level. A 100-nighter gets a guaranteed seat in a lifeboat even if they have to walk someone else.

I have a colleague who stayed 0 nights last year. He was Platinum some time in the past (SPG) for a couple of years, but nowhere near to Lifetime status.

He logged into Marriott today to check his balance, and it is telling him he is Platinum. He cannot figure it out, but says he will burn his miles while he still can get lounge access and other benefits.

That and a bag of chips...

Hi, thanks for all your thoughtful replies.

I never had anything to do with the Marriott Vacation Club, certainly nowhere close to any lifetime status of any kind.
I only stayed a few nights last year, 0 nights this year so far.
Many people like me are holding the Ritz Carlton card and many other Marriott credit cards and I have not heard any unexpected Platinum Elite status like I got.

I guess it is a simple mistake, I don't know how long it will last, neither do I know if this status is usable.
I will try to use it to see what happens.

Enjoy the status for as long as it lasts!

My understanding is that Platinum is now the name for the new entry level tier and they'll shortly be introducing a couple more tiers above Ambassador :D