In 2014, the buyback amount for Platinum status for me was 40,000 points. I received an email and a letter in the mail.

I don't know if that will be different for 2015.

FWIW, I was forced to book a conference room at a Marriott just down the street from our office when all of our conference rooms were full. I called the hotel, booked a room for 4 hours, no add ons, nobody stayed and I got 10 nights. Had no clue this "perk" even existed until the nights posted.

Granted, our company does a fair business with this Marriott, but I'm not even sure I told them who I worked for...

YMMV.

Trout

Forgive me for only reading the past ~10 pages...

If I have have Ritz Card and have platinum (assuming ritz and MR are one in the same) via that, does each meeting then get 20 nights? How many points (is it per $) does it provide?

Do the sign up bonuses for ritz card/ marriott card count towards lifetime points?

Do points earned via the ritz card (via spend) count to marriott lifetime? Marriott card?

Does earning plat via 75k ritz card provide any nights towards lifetime? bonus points ?

Getting united silver via ritz/mr plat, does that add 25k lifetime miles to my UA account? (not redeemable points, as I'm sure that doesn't exist).

Basically looking for a path to [lifetime] status without paid stays while these avenues are still available. PM me if necessary. I currently deal with Club Carl and hyatt, but haven't really touched MR. I do a fair amount of [non cat] spend for business, mostly on CC, arrive+, and spg.

Thanks in advance!

No, the program is not tied to any card, so only 10 nights per meeting.

As a follow up to a prior post a few pages earlier...
I learned from the person that I was working with for my meeting that there are two different options for how to post points. One portal is called eBonus, which is what hotels use to provide bonus points. My first meeting was posted using this, and I received 10 points per dollar but no elite nights. The second portal is called the Group Posting Tool, and this is the program that is used that provides 3 pts / $ and the 10 nights. Thus, if you want to be sure you will get the 10 nights, it may make sense to confirm with your rep that they will be posting this meeting using the Group Posting Tool.

Helpful. Thanks!

Thanks for the tip on group posting tool. It was very helpful when I was working with sales director of SHS for a meeting. It posted immediately after I made the recommendation about current tool.
BTW, if anyone is looking for a cheap meeting (50+service charge+tax) in Dallas, please feel free to PM me and be happy to provide the contact name. You might not even have to show up. Not sure if I can post employee's details here.

To add, I didn't have to sign any contract and they were able to use the my card on file for final payment.

I just thought that I would post my experience. Booked a meeting right before Christmas. Others had mentioned a multi-page document to sign, but mine was just 1 page and with no mention of a rewarding event. I was a bit nervous, but went for it, but it was worded as an event. My wife and I went with our son where we finalized our Costa Rica plans. We left after 30 minutes.

When the posting took place, I was pleasantly surprised. They told me that it had to go into a special system. It did go in as a rewarding event, and we received an automated email confirming we had a rewarding event with the proper number of points right after they put it in the system. I was used to waiting a couple of days for stays to post, but this was immediate. I immediately logged in and the points showed up in my total, although it was another 10 minutes for the event to show up. Awesome.

All in all, the 10 nights bumped my wife to platinum, and although it was more than I wanted to spend, the status should come in handy for our personal trips to Asia.

Nice work!

T&Cs require that you have a contract and that you have a paid meeting. I'm pretty sure all meetings count - no need to distinguish as a "rewarding event". Many have it post without a contract, but as the T&Cs say you need one and always best to have proof if in dispute, always get one to be safe. A one-pager is just as good as a telephone directory of a contract, as long as it's clearly a contract for a paid meeting.

Does anyone have any Central NJ hotels they have tried this with recently? I need to book 7 meetings in the next month or two, and would ideally like to spend $100 per meeting. TIA!

Tried to shoot you a PM about the contact for the Dallas location. Would greatly appreciate any info here. Thanks.

I'm doing my first attempt at this week. I'm staying at a Courtyard Marriott for work in Santa Rosa, CA (about 75 miles north of San Francisco).

I negotiated 4 seperate one hour meetings with the sales person here for $75 each. I specified I needed 4 seperate contracts for expensing purposes and said that I wanted to make sure it would qualify as a rewarding event because I first heard information about it on their website (so what if I really heard about it here, right?).

Waiting to get the contracts via email. I'm hoping if it all works out well that by next Friday I will have done what is necessarry to get 40 nights for $300+ tax and fees.

If it all works out, I may do it a couple more times.

Hopefully someone who recalls better then I, will chirp in. From what I recall any meeting held at the same place within 3 days is considered the same meeting no matter the # of contracts, of cause YMMV and they may all post or only 1 may post. Youd do best explaining exactly what you are up to and have them book the meetings 1 week apart from one another and they can check you in and out.Also this way they wont ding you for any set up or clean up fees which are in addition to the room fee itself, and some places will simply charge youa flat fee including taxes once they know what you are doing

If that is the case then I'll space them out for sure. Thank you for the information. Is anyone else aware of this?

I received the contracts and they don't show my Marriott Rewards # nor do they state meeting anywhere. They show "Catering Contract" and "Banquet Event Order."

I emailed the person back, cited the referenced links in this thread, mentioned the Group Posting Tool as well as laid out for them what I am seeking (10 nights per meeting). The total after taxes is 81.56 per meeting. I'm hoping they make the changes as requested. Will report back what I get back from them.

Can anyone point to me where the "any meeting held at the same place within 3 days is considered the same meeting no matter the # of contracts" comes from? I thought I read someone back on page 56 or so said they got 30 nights in one weekend off of 3 meetings.

Thanks so much for your indulgence on a newly more active member.