Seemingly every Marriott member in China is Platinum or above...
 

During my last few stays with various Marriott brand hotels in China and talking with management. All of them lament to me that it seems like since COVID that every other Marriott member in China are either a Platinum or above, and most of them would all march up to the front desk demanding a suite and other freebies and isn't afraid to be loud about it. A GM told me that this is the "real season" some properties shut down their lounges (and blame it on COVID) as he told me, "I have 200+ guests coming in this weekend, at least 150 of them are Platinum or above)." Not sure what to make out of this.

I have seen random Bonvoy accounts with Platinum status and above to be sold on a few Chinese sites.
If I remember correctly Marriott has always run a few heavy marketing campaigns in China to gain more elites.

Lounge access in Asia in general is used pretty wide to save up on dinner expense.

Staycations on the cheap; and when money and time isn’t being spent on airfare and more expensive destinations far away, there is more money and time to spend at the hotels/resorts closer to home. Perhaps there was also a lot of “home office” use of hotel rooms. Add in status extensions and boosts to the rest and it has some consequences. Having it be more of an issue nowadays on weekends? Not surprising.

Yup. You can buy hotel status for Marriott/IHG/Hyatt/Hilton online in China for very little money. In the west, hotel status seems to be affiliated with business people whose job/bosses mandate some sort of travel; conversely, fuerdai culture in China compels even infrequent Chinese travelers to crave status. There is a real market to buy and sell status.

There are also markets for buying and selling points. China has multiple equivalents of churningmarketplace that are MUCH larger.

Hotels are full, and business travel is almost as usual; our team is even back on 2019 level for travel. MICE and Staycations as well as vacations moved to domestic hotels - with lowered thresholds. For 2022, any status or point roll-overs should be country specific, otherwise the amount of Plat+ here is skyrocketing even more.

(but they must have been cheating, those Chinese :eek:)

Marriott launched tie ups with Alibaba that made it quite easy for China based people to achieve platinum. And since China has mostly been open for travel since March 2020 regular business and personal travelers have also organically achieved status since we can't travel outside easily.

Marriott essentially gives away status (credit cards for US based people) so that now every one is a platinum elite and platinum status means nothing. Neither does Titanium or Ambassador status for that matter as few properties differentiate among the tiers. Give status to everyone and cut back on benefits is Marriott's modus operandi.

It's one reason why I basically have left Marriott for Hyatt Globalist status. Hyatt is great but unfortunately too few Park Hyatts and Andazes. And some properties like PH Hangzhou have been sold out of suites since last March at least when I first checked to long term guests.

There’s also the matter of Chinese tourists with deep pockets, that would otherwise be traveling internationally, are largely traveling domestic these days due to re-entry quarantine/complications.

Impossible for me to say if more people in China cheat the system. It is easier to (legitimately) manufacture status in the US. Take away those avenues and I’m sure these things would be more common here too (and they still exist in the US nonetheless). But I think it is weird how openly some of these accounts and points are sold in China with seemingly no fear of repercussions. I have seen Hyatt accounts for sale where they just list out the full WoH number in the listing…

Yes.

The “skirt the rules” dynamics were around before Covid. But the OP indicated something about the status numbers being an issue “since Covid”.

The “skirt the rules” market dynamics exist around the world, from Marriott’s own backyard in Bethesda to Beijing. Not new “since Covid”.

It’s pretty obvious what’s happening. The Chinese elite status people that would traditionally be traveling internationally are now traveling domestically. Thus, their impact on local hotels is larger lol

https://www.cnn.com/travel/amp/china...cmd/index.html

Also, this is empirically incorrect. The two biggest points/status marketplaces in China did not open until summer 2020 lol (aka after covid impacted the world), presumably as a direct result of desperate/corrupt hotel operators lol

See post #3. ;)

Marriott seems to be more about satisfying property owners more than its customers with the heads in beds. That has consequences in various ways, and see post #3 for what’s the major driver for status numbers coming in on weekends.

It is wrong to suggest that any “cheating” happened at the same level pre covid, as I noted in the post directly above yours

LOL...Of course, they're the clients! I suppose, if I wanted top shelf treatment as a Bonvoy peon (Plat - since apparently almost everyone is one) looking for bargain basement pricing, I'd take my chances at that place you like, the Socialist. Perhaps, they can charge WK and you $1,000, and me $100--this I'm up for!

Buy enough of a stake in a cheap Marriott hotel and get treated as a Titanium even on the cheapest third party bookings.

The hotel companies care so much about Chinese hotel developers + owners for many reasons. The state owned developers don’t need to worry about financing (which makes the process much easier) AND they are able to make a bet on the growing power of Chinese consumers. Not sure if they would influence their ability to crack down on shady/corrupt Chinese hotel operators…

Also, I’m sure this exact thing happens elsewhere. China just seems more open about it

I don’t really care how many platinum or higher there are at the moment. As long as I continue to get lounge, breakfast and late checkout benefits I’m happy. So far I’ve yet to see a difference in that respect pre and post Covid in China. Always happy with my stays, always get the promised benefits.