Taobao Platinum
 

We have included your original post below:
I found that there isn't much coverage of the Taobao programs throughout the forum at the point of writing. Therefore, as a Platinum gained through Taobao, I will write about it in this post. There are a few ways to gain elite status through Taobao, and in fact, the way to gain elite status through Taobao is very different from what Taobao really is to most(Amazon/Ebay like experience).

1)88VIP-Platinum

This method requires you to be a member of Taobao's 88VIP program, a subscription similar to Amazon Prime, 88VIP's enrollment fee is 88CNY/Year if your "淘气值"(Tao Score) is >1000, or 888CNY/Year.



Of the many privileges of enrolling into 88VIP, there are three that are relevant to FF community. The Hilton "One-night gold" perk, gives you sliver status instantly, as well as grants you gold status after your first night has been posted. The second one is the Accor program, granting you a free double breakfast, a complimentary welcome drink, 10% off F&B dining, and late check-out subject to availability (This promotion will end on August 1, 2022). The last and the most important perk is the Marriott "8 Night Platinum" challenge, this challenge grants you gold status for a year instantly after registering(they will give your a new account for this. Therefore, it is advisable to combine your old and new accounts after you finished the challenge). Also, if you stayed more than 8 nights within the 120 days of registering for this perk, you will be granted platinum for at least a year till the next Marriott Status adjustment date of the year(Typically around Feb-Mar) (Do note the 120 days generally won't start counting until the start of next month, but this is only speculated, and have not been verified by Marriott, so only register for this perk before you stay, the processing time for this perk is around an hour). This method is by far the easiest and cheapest way of legally gaining platinum, as purchasing the 88VIP program for 88 CNY/Year is already cheaper than getting an SVIP annual membership for Netease Music(Chinese Spotify) alone, one of the many other included great perks of 88VIP.

*I obtained my platinum through this method pre-pandemic.

2) Fliggy F4 - Platinum

There isn't any direct relationship between Taobao and Fliggy, however, they are both owned by Alibaba, and Fliggy is Alibaba's answer to Trip.com, I will include it as well. This method will only work if you have an F4 membership, and obtaining an F4 membership on Fliggy requires 14,000 CNY(Slightly more than 2,000 USD) spent at the minimum, as well as an invitation from Fliggy but does not require any fees at all, therefore, it is very challenging to F4 just to get the platinum status compared to the above method. However, if you have F4 in hand, this method will be the most comfortable out of all of the legal methods.



The Fliggy F4 challenge for platinum is identical to the 88VIP version mentioned above, however, it grants user platinum status during the 120-day challenge course. Therefore, it is an more comfortable method to obtain platinum as you will enjoy full platinum privilege throughout your challenge.



*I am not an F4 with Fliggy, as I have only purchased a park ticket with them, therefore I can't comment on the other perks.

Does this mean that all the current Taobao platinum members should have their status expire by next Feb/March? Excluding any further status extensions from Marriott, that is.

No, the status challenge is still available today, and you can get it to expire 24/2 even without re qualify.

Thankyou for taking the time to share rt23456p, even if some may feel it devalues the program it is a legitimate way to achieve Platinum, so helpful to share.

I can see the following parts that may benefit from clarifying:
1. The implication is that this is only for a brand new account, hence whilst you could combine accounts later there is no guarantee this would happen so you could lose some existing nights/points/credits towards lifetime. I presume at the moment this isn't a concern but with too much abuse it could be shut down.
2. What does it take to be ">1000 Tao Score"... presumably this helps to constrain the users to those who spend quite a bit of time/money on taobao (i.e. are likely to be living in Mainland China)

I suppose all this does is formalise a Marriott option that has existed for some time offering a status challenge for free (not sure if this is active now of course):
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...d-threads.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...thread-10.html

It is for Chinese resident only.

Even without 1000 tao score, you can purchase 88vip for 888 cny(140 USD), but anyways Tao Score are easy to get nowadays and they run many promotions to get you to 1000 score.

Not really, as long as you can read Chinese, there isn't any pratical isuue stopping you from having all your nights outside of china

Perhaps with the exception of Chinese passports reportedly being snipped when some citizens try to exit, the non-renewal of passports in the Middle Kingdom generally, and the on-going quarantine requirements (which I know are getting better and isn't the point of discussion).

I don't see the Taobao offer as being a threat to anyone outside Bonvoy's China footprint and certainly not responsible for the elite overcrowding that we're seeing in, say, Bangkok (see other thread). The fact is that while the border remains in practice largely closed both ways for large portions of both the Chinese and non-Chinese population we can view any promos or elite overcrowding there as being an entirely separate eco-system from the Rest of the World: Bonvoy with Chinese characteristics, maybe.

And, as already highlighted, there's little difference between the Taobao offer and the regular status challenge regularly offered elsewhere. It just depends how good they are at catching those who will try to game this system and repeatedly qualify with a new Taobao Platinum account each time it runs out. I assume the T&Cs state this is a one-time qualification route only?

Good luck getting the eligibilty then.

Previous thread with screenshots: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...-nights-3.html

I vaguely remember from another thread that there was a potential to sell this account (e.g. someone buys it and then puts it in someone else's name). Can't remember

Yes its possible, on the Taobao portal, it will ask you to submit a name (can be sepreate from the id age check name on taobao) and email to bind the new marriott account to.

Interesting thread
 

Chinese can make simple things complex

the 88vip deal has been around forever and there's thousands of posts about it on the chinese "flyertalk" call FLYERT. You're technically only suppose to signup for this if you're a Chinese citizen and they've been really slack about this between 2020 and last year. However in 2022, there are data points of foreigners getting their Marriott account closed presumably they're able to easily track resident eligibility from your verified taobao account or verified Alipay (which requires +86 phone number or Chinese/HK/Taiwan ID number). Please be careful signing up for this if you're not eligible. I'm dual citizen and actually have two legal names so signed up for this twice since 2020.

Marriott Platinum for US$20 thru 飞猪 https://viewfromthewing.com/marriott...ining-loyalty/

thanks for the article! But not sure how does one go about buying status for $20? Can’t seem to find those who sell an account. Apologies for my ignorance in advance