Status by spend..?
 

Hi there,

Am I correct in thinking that Marriot status needs nights and not just spend?

Im am familiar with Hyatt and Hilton and Accor and if I have a large spend I get status irrespective of nights (potentially lifetime).

https://www.marriott.com/loyalty.mi

Seems to imply I need nights too?

Was thinking of a group Ritz Carlton cruise and spending $160k . With hyatt/linblad (before it ended), that would be 80% of lifetime status, but doesnt seem like it would get me Platinum on Marriot. Am I right?

Thanks
H

The traditional pathway to status requires elite qualifying nights (nights butt in bed or credits from credit cards or promos). Ambassador status is the only status that requires nights in addition to spend, but that spend is per year, not lifetime, and your lifetime spend is not tracked for any public purposes.

Status can also come directly by holding a particular credit card. This is the cheapest way for Americans to "buy" Platinum or Titanium.

There are other pathways to status, like buying a timeshare or doing some curious stuff on Chinese marketplaces, etc, but I haven't heard of coordinating a group's cruise reservation as one.

There have been informal nods on this forum that you may gain, or retain, Ambassador status purely based on spend - but it isn't guaranteed. So if you spend over USD23k on hotel stays but, with credit cards and double nights and so forth, only end up at say 75 nights, you may be granted the status as a one-off "gift". This only really works if you're regularly spending large amounts on your hotel stays, and I wouldn't rely on it. In your case from a single "stay", not certain it would work out really - as your number of nights will be very low even if clearly the spend is high. And you'd be nowhere near Platinum for even a year unless that USD160k is for a three month cruise?

Historically Marriott Rewards lifetime status did (like Hilton) have a minimum number of points earned as a threshold as well, but that was removed a long time ago and now it is (the only really useful one, lifetime Platinum): 600 qualifying nights + 10 years as Platinum Elite or higher

Hence the pure answer to your question is a simple: No. Marriott status is more about "nights in bed" combined with "credit card nights" (US focused). But if you care that much, just max out the US credit cards (business + personal) to get 40nights/year for probably around USD1400/year, and you'd eventually get the lifetime status for far less than your USD160k spend (if you were to move to a small town in the USA Marriott, or a cheap Chinese St Regis and book ~3 years you'd hit lifetime status with far less than USD160k money, but it isn't going to be anywhere near as nice).

Switching this around, despite a huge spend, that I presume is not so atypical of a Ritz Carlton cruise, Marriott would not be doing itself any favours to give a lifetime status from a single "stay". This is similar to events - where I may spend USD100k on a large company event at a hotel, but wouldn't expect to get much more than (specifically negotiated) points for that as it is hardly bringing individual loyalty.

Thank you for the replies.

Non US based so would need to be butt in bed nights then.

Assumed it would generate loyalty - my Linblad cruise got me to Hyatt globalist and now Im on the hamster wheel and about hit lifetime globalist and was thinking the same with Marriot - but its not to be.

Thank you for the detailed replies tho both of you :)
Best
H

Yes, an American can "buy" Platinum simply by holding the Brilliant AmEx card, which also earns 25 Elite Qualifying Nights (EQN) toward annual and lifetime status. Or one could get 15 EQN from any other Marriott personal card, except the no-annual-fee Chase Bold Visa card, which earns 5 EQN. The EQN from two personal cards cannot both be earned in a single year; one gets the highest.

However, Americans can also get 15 EQN from a Marriott business card, which does stack with the personal EQN. So one could have a business & personal card (15 + 15 = 30 EQN), needing only 20 more nights for Platinum. These could be butt-in-bed nights, or if one has the $95-annual-fee Chase Boundless Visa, 1 EQN per $5K spend, or 20 EQN for $100K spend. (!) :eek:

Earning Titanium is significantly tougher; one must obtain 75 EQN. With a Brilliant plus business card (25 + 15 = 40 EQN), one still needs 35 EQN (× $5K = $175K Boundless spend). For any other personal (except Bold) plus business card (15 + 15 = 30 EQN), one still needs 45 EQN (× $5K = $225K Boundless spend).

Selecting 5 EQN as one's 50-night Annual Choice Benefit reduces that by $25K. ;)

Not exactly a "cheap"way for Americans to "buy" Titanium unless they naturally have a very high level of spend already, perhaps business expenses on the personal card.

Even with the legacy Chase Marriott Signature Visa, 1 EQN per $3K spend, getting the additional 45 EQN (assuming 15 EQN from a business card, too) would still require $135K Signature spend.

So there is no cheap way for most Americans to buy Titanium. Some actual stays will be required.

I was always say the criteria on achieving ambassador status should be the same amount of spend regardless of how many nights.

I don't understand the 100 nights criteria, I would love to have a customer that spend 23K on 10 nights rather than 23K on 100 nights.

But a customer spending 230k on 100 nights is even better. Marriott is shooting for the stars.

As others mentioned, "Marriott's customers are the hotel owners" -> Whilst your hotel owner may drool over getting that "average spender of USD2300 per night" (Ritz Carlton, Luxury or St Regis owners more likely), the reality is that a "road warrior" at a 100 nights is more likely to be staying at a variety of hotels, which is what that random Residence Inn in outback Texas relies on for their trade (maximum room price probably USD300/night). And that reflects Marriott property distributions as well, i.e. there are more lower and cheaper brands that need filling up with low costs/room rates with customers who are more price sensitive, and therefore needing a much higher occupancy to break even. Plus those excessive "per night" spenders are already likely to be using a luxury travel agent (or should be) to maximise perks/onsite benefits/already bought the suite, and so don't gain from an ambassador, and aren't going to be that loyal to Marriott since they are probably looking at something like the Four Seasons as an alternative in their price range.

As an ex-road warrior I would say that I had complete discretion on which crappy hotel I could stay in within a 40-50mile radius (since 10s or 100s would be within my expenses limit), so I definitely was an attractive customer for Marriott, whereas now I "barely" do 70 real nights a year but 90% are personal trips so the expenses control is laxer, the average room rate is higher, but I still remain loyal to Marriott chains.

Going back to the OP's post, Hector99 was never clear if this was a very expensive room and cruise, or a number of guests combined into a single reservation, but it probably doesn't matter, as I feel it is aligned with the earlier example above - i.e. very high spend for a short period of time. Longer term loyalty is less important than rewards/perks.

Well, here is an interesting one as an update - you can now buy status, but not as cheap as USD160k. If you buy a Marriott aparment (starting at USD1.3m) you can get two years of Bonvoy Platinum status after you pay your deposit, and then there is some form of "lifestyle" concierge as well...:https://www.travelandleisure.com/marriotts-most-coveted-status-tier-branded-residences-11759806
So conceptually Marriott is breaking down the barriers somewhat, though I presume in the backend the developer is paying them a similar (probably less discounted) amount as their credit cards are

Does Ritz Carlton cruise count for elite qualifying nights and spend?

Yes.

The cash portion paid towards the Cruise Fare and RCYC Hotel Package Rate will be applied to the qualified annual spend requirement for achieving Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador Elite status.
https://www.ritzcarltonyachtcollecti...rms-conditions

Not sure of all the ways spend counts but I can see a lot of one-off scenarios were that happens weddings etc. That has nothing to do with Brand could just be the venue was open at a date that worked.

For example, Accor has their highest status by spending only. No nights required. That should be sufficient for Marriott.

A friend of mine achieved 30K in spending with 98 nights, and Marriott decided not to give him the Ambassador status. This doesn't make any send as if they did give him, he would spend more the following year.

there is no "should" - it's arbitrary rules. "well obviously if they did it like X it would 'make more sense' (and just in a total weird coincidence, benefit me personally but don't worry about that)" is never a convincing argument.

yes everyone has a reason for an exception, and all of them say "marriott will be sorry they didn't kiss my ring" dude they literally do not care.