Jiatong

Well said, but would also add arrival day & time , can vary on business days, & yet totally different at resort properties.

CIT85

If you are staying at mostly US based hotels, then there will be no difference, in fact other than free breakfast there may not be much of upgrade. I have never received meaningful room upgrades in the US. If you are staying at Asian hotels, then there will be real tangible benefits for both Plat and Tit. Some hotels have higher numbers of top elites (example is JW Marriott Shanghai Tomorrow Square, that had lots of Marriott Plat before launch of MB), so Tit will be preferred than Plat.

Personally I wouldn't stretch for Tit beyond Plat. Maybe I'll see benefits of LT Titanium in a few years.

Long Train Runnin

I think one thing that is being over looked her is Titanium gives you United Status.

For me this is what makes it worth having Titanium over Platinum.

I live near EWR and while my main status chase is on AA. Having even Silver status makes flying United a little more tolerable vs having a Chase card. In the pandemic I have even cleared in F a couple of times. In the "before" times I was always able to snag E+ at check in.

So, for the ~15 times or so a year I find myself on UA I am happy to be a Silver, and that is part of why I reach for Titanium.

That being said in the last ~6 months I have received several very nice suite upgrades before arrival (can see the upgrades in the app pre checkin) with out an SNAs applied.

Would it have happened if I was platinum? I'll never know.

Overall, I am much happier with Bonvoy then I was for the years I was staying at Hiltons all the time.

Of course, everyones mileage may vary, but I for one am a happy Titanium.

kaizen7

Or management policy.
There are hotels out there that won't upgrade you other than 1 category above their base room even if you are frequent guest there.
Frequent as in around 10x 3 nights stays in a year

TGLoyalty

I genuinely wouldn’t return and I’d be focal on why that was. I know upgrades aren’t a god given right and places can be busy but if they won’t reward your loyalty when the room is literally empty as a repeat customer to the establishment then why do they deserve your business.

hdejongh

as far as i understand if you reach titanium this year you will keep your status until feb 2023...

MSPeconomist

Yeah, new status becomes effective shortly after it is earned and for the remainder of that calendar year, but you're really earning status for the following calendar year, as would be the case for someone who is requalifying.

hdejongh

yeah that's why i go for titanium this year. Its only 13 nights extra vs platinum due to the current promotion

Pretzelsandpeanuts

Where does lifetime platinum stand in this pecking order?

skywalkerLAX

At hotels where I stay for years it makes no difference as I get upgrades regardless no matter if Platinum or Titanium. At new hotels I find that being Titanium yields better upgrades, not just to standard suites but also well beyond those. Of course this all comes down to which hotels you frequent, location and the number of other elites on your arrival date.

While there are guidelines for how upgrades and upgrade benefits work, each hotel cooks their own secret sauce on how to apply them. Repeat customers of the property obviously being preferred.

skywalkerLAX

Lifetime or not is irrelevant. You're just Platinum.

EXPLAT

Yea, I was supposed to be Titanium for life as I hit the 10 year mark for Platinum, but Marriott denied me and after numerous appeals, they said no way. So now I don't stay at Marriott, and airbnb it or stay at Four Seasons or other properties with my Amex upgrades. I hit the 10th year mark by booking stays and checking in to a room Dec 28-Jan 1st which I didn't need that last year to ensure I met the number nights requirement, so a waste of $'s as well. It was a once in a lifetime offer from Marriott and still don't understand what happened. Something to do with you made 10 years in the year of the offer, but the status doesn't kick in until the next year, so you actually missed it. So making the 10th year by Dec 31st of that year doesn't count, as it counts towards the following year, or some explanation like that. So even though they announced it and I made sure I made the 10th year that year, I would have actually had to make the 10th year the year prior, prior to them making the announcement. I had the highest SPG status and when they merged programs, it devaluated the status, as Titanium was the SPG highest level equivalent, which is why they were doing it. If this is a reward for years of loyalty, it ran me off instead.

bos_buyer

Thank you for posting this. I was wondering myself as I'm at an extended stay Element. Have 43 nights so far not counting the extra 5 they gave me (didn't do any stays in 2020 at all) so Plat next week. Sucks with extended stay, they don't want to upgrade you on an extended stay because they're essentially taking that room out of inventory for months. I'll be Titanium by the end of my stay, another 120 days or so. I got porked because the Double Nights, Double Points starts Tuesday but supposedly it needs a new confirmation number AFTER registration for the promo. My folio settles weekly and the hotel won't match my rate if I check out and back in. I have a stupid cheap rate so it'd be dumb to do it for the promo. $55 a night vs $100 a night, then you have to factor in the tax exempt issue. I guess I'll just keep quiet for the $55 a night, it's a nice hotel.

bos_buyer

True, just do Platinum every year lol. I think it's mostly those stays that suck without being Plat until you get to it.

Will08

As others have mentioned location is key. I mainly stay in Asia and over the years have seen great upgrades even back when I was silver!

A Marriott hotel in BKK is currently 1,000 thb a night. For someone with zero nights you could reach platinum with the current double nights promotion for 600 quid, effectively 12 quid a night. Obviously doing a plat challenge/ use CC you could get it even cheaper.