I need 3 meetings i,e $300 to make plat :D plus triple points with visa ^

Last time I booked a meeting the charge for the projector was more than the charge for the room....

IME projector is typically an extra, and most hotels really milk the extras.

If you know anyone who is involved in local charities or civic organizations- why not see if they need a meeting space for some event? Book it for them and write it off as a donation. I'm the area coordinator for Girl Scouts around here and we always have adult trainings and other such events that we need meeting space for.

A private individual (not a company) could take a room for two hours a few times to get Platinum, and I need to stay many nights ?

Maybe one of those loopholes which will disappear now that it is displayed on FT

sounds that way....but why would that matter to you?

It matters to me if it really works because then I'll be entering this game also.

Any FTers in the Bay Area who want to schedule some "meetings"? :-)

Do the nights count toward Megabonus?

The thread title should be "Platinum Status for $300/year". If you apply for the Chase Marriott Visa Sig Prem card in January, you'll get 15 nights. Then, get six $100 meetings, earn 10 EQNs a pop, and you'll have 75 nights and therefore Platinum status. Do this right in the beginning of the year and your status will last for about two years. Net cost: $300/year for Platinum. If you earn points for the $600 spend, your effective cost is even lower.

Want to take it further? If you have (or will soon have) 12 years of membership under your belt and you have enough lifetime points to qualify, but you are short on nights for Lifetime Platinum, you could quickly rack up nights via these meetings and then have them count double towards your Lifetime total when they roll over to 2011.

It's not a loophole: it's an intentional part of Marriott's meeting room offering (coupled with an intentional promotion).

I like the charity idea. I still think this is visible enough that booking dummy meetings or just showing up alone might be frowned upon by the hotel. I suspect they could legally refuse your payment and cancel the meeting if they felt like you were gaming the system.

Of course, offering up a meeting room for a local charity would be perfectly legit, even if the hotel suspected you were after the EQN more than good karma. Some small nonprofits hold their board meetings wherever they can space for free. (Restaurants, clubs, member's office conference rooms after hours, whatever.) It shouldn't be hard to find someone willing to accept a sponsored regular timeslot at a Marriott. :)

Sorry....I read it as you wanted the loophole closed/didn't like that "others" could do it.

I can't imagine them trying to cancel. If its booked and paid for, IMO, the hotel doesn't care how many/who shows up.

It might be a loophole. As mentioned in post #4 above the FAQ states that rooms must "actualize" with the meeting in order to earn elite credit:

https://www.marriott.com/Multimedia/...Events_FAQ.pdf

Since it appears that folks have been earning Elite Credit without booking rooms this would be the type of thing that MR could want to correct (oops -- did I say that out loud?).

The program details PDF contains this quote:

https://www.marriott.com/Multimedia/...am_details.pdf

I haven't held a meeting myself but it sounds to me like everything is on the up and up and there isn't any loophole that needs plugging.

Its a nice thought but anyone doing this had better plan on supervising it in some way. Chances are that you would be responsible for any damages and/or any extra's billed (some places will charge if they ask for more chairs and so on).