jjmoore

I'm assuming you mean the announcement that there will be no combining of the programs in 2018?

sdsearch

No, I'm sure they meant this:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marr...r-changes.html

Rollover night changes obviously impact earning lifetime nights for most people.

jjmoore

Yes... I heard this too, and am happy with this. I honestly wish MR would go back and calculate the actual amount of nights that each member has stayed and update to that number (with one caveat - not taking away lifetime status from anyone who has already achieved it by the old system). I would like to know how many nights I have actually stayed. I'm sure my lifetime nights is 30% greater than the actual nights I have stayed because of the massive rollovers I have seen over the last few years.

dcchi

I am a Lifetime Gold and am seeking to reach Lifetime Platinum in 2018, since it is apparently going to be the last year where I can confidently do that under the current (old) MR rules of 750 nights/2mm points. (I realize that, in some views, there isn't all that much difference between LT Plat and LT Gold, given that the main benefit of both is the lounge access, but I'm guessing that, come merger time, Marriott will make more of a distinction and rewards its top tier of Lifetime status with more significant benefits than the middle tier.)

With rollovers, regular stays and credit card nights, I am very confident I will reach 750 in 2018. However, I have about 270,000 points needed to reach the 2mm point level. In a normal year, I don't think I'd reach that. However, I want to proactively take steps to make sure I do.

Reviewing the different options, it seems like credit card referrals and inbound point transfers are perhaps my best route. However, before I embark on this route, I would love to get confirmation that those points would be credited to my lifetimes totals (to reach 2 million). I know there is an annual limit of 50,000 points someone can transfer to me. I understand that if someone (such as my wife) were to transfer 50,000 points, those 50,000 points would be added to my lifetime points total (thus reducing my points needed from 270k to 220k). Is that right?

And, potentially I could ask multiple different family members or friends to each transfer 50k points and they would each count as well. For example, if I asked 3 separate people to transfer 50k points each to me, I would add 150k points (thus reducing my points needed from 270k to 120k) Is that right?

And, if I make credit card referrals (and people sign up), I'd get 20k points for each (up to 5 total) and those points would also count towards my lifetime count? Correct?

Assuming this is right, I'm thinking if I can successfully refer 3 credit cards (20k x 3 = 60k) and find 3 generous souls to transfer 50k each (50k=150k), for a total of 210k points, I'd be sitting pretty in hitting Platinum Lifetime status in 2018. Any issues with my thinking here?

Many thanks in advance for your help and insights.

RogerD408

Just keep in mind those transfers will reduce their LT points. But yes, the limit is 50K between the two accounts per year.

pitflyer

Unless you redeem for an award. I had my wife sign up for a Starwood Amex when it had 35k SPG as their bonus; I wasn't eligible since I've had one long ago in the past. I'm planning to wash them through her Marriott account (where they become over 120k when you add on points for actual spend) and then transfer them to my account for an award. In my case I'll actually find an award we can use, but I see no reason you couldn't a) book a reservation that requires an award (Marriott is nice as one of the few programs that lets you do that without having the points in your account) b) call to transfer points to redeem for that award c) after the award has been redeemed, cancel the reservation which should cancel the e-certificate attached to it and return the points.. back to your account, not all the way back to the transferee.

Caveat: I've not done step c-- again, I'm sticking with the more safe just use the award. The only other thing I'm doing is purposely draining my own Marriott account to SPG (so basically my account has almost zero points) so I can transfer the most to Marriott. Again this should work because Marriott CSRs don't directly have access to my SPG account, and I am actually redeeming my existing Marriott points to SPG awards (that 3k SPG per weekend night Cat 2 has been my sweet spot for redemptions)

jeanie

I didn't realize 3 different people could each transfer you 50,000 points. If it is possible, you could do it twice before the conversion if your family/friends have enough points. Basically, you could get 3 people to each transfer 50K points before the end of 2017. Then you could do that again in January of 2018. So that would be a total of 300K. If you do try this, please post your results. Thanks.

RogerD408

Hmmm, I can see them combining points for an award, but did those points add to your LT number as well? If they don't watch this, people would be transferring back and forth generating LT points with no spend.

osugrad2x

I think the way it works is that the transfer is not a transfer when its used to redeem an award but rather a redemption. But when you cancel, those points hit your account as LT, not sure why. I can see an account being blacklisted for abuse of something like this. I think it was posted on a blog about booking and canceling an award for points was a big no-no. You're too close to mess around at this point, not worth the risk IMO. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

RogerD408

I would think a cancelled award would NOT increase your LT points since they do not decrease them when redeemed. They do reduce the LT points of the sender when transferred to another account, but rightly so increase on the other end. If I read PitFlyer's post correctly, when combining points for a specific award, his wife's LT points did not decrease, but did not state if his increased. They may have a way to transfer points without hitting LT points.

dcchi

I'm getting confused here. Can someone who has gone through actually transferring points from one account to another and who tracked LT point levels please chime in? When you transfer, does the transferred points total add to the lifetime points level for the account of the member that received the points (and lower the lifetime points level for the member that sent the points)?

Many thanks.

imverge

Yes that is correct.

MsEverywhere

Can someone please confirm that "year" is calendar year? So someone could transfer up to 50K points in December 2017, and then up to 50K points in January 2018?

And can the original recipient then transfer 50K points back to the original donor later in 2018, after the recipient accumulates the required LT target + 50K?

txpenny

confirmed
confirmed

pitflyer

I haven't done it myself yet, I'm still saving up for the award. However, several others (including imverge above) confirmed that when you redeem with transferred points YOUR lifetime balance goes up, and the other person's lifetime balance goes DOWN. I don't know if anyone has cancelled after redeeming an award from multiple accounts, but my assumption is it would all go back into the account of the person who redeemed the award, not the original donor account. Again, YMMV. Since Starpoints transfers can be done completely online, the possibility of LT points going up is the only reason I plan to transfer the points as Marriott points, not SPG points. Otherwise a lot easier with SPG.