sophiegirl

Hope one of you mathematical points and miles guys can help with this one.

I am PLAT and will maintain that status. Mr Sophie was GOLD in 2010, but will lose it in 2011.

His account basically hits 15 - 25 nights per year - 5 to 10 are actually his travels, the others are when we have needed a 2nd room for friends and family. (which gives them access to CL as available)

Am I better off just letting his status drop to Silver, and booking the double rooms in my name when needed....or should I spend the 25K to buy his GOLD back?

Obviously I get a higher points bonus than he, but we are often able to hit his mega bonus offers, so that (for example) on the last promo he acquired 2 free nights. If I had booked 2 rooms in my name, we would have lost those AND they wouldn't have counted for me....

I seem to be suffering a blonde moment as I cannot get the math down on this one! TIA for suggestions and recommendations.

djohannw

I think the math is pretty easy. Worst case would be to buy the required points at $312.50 - if the benefit of your husband's account is more worth, buy back status. If its not, let it slip to silver. As simple as that...;-)!

Greetings - Dirk

sophiegirl

dirk, nothing is as simple as that for a blonde on a bad day!

MSPDeltaDude

Why off better booking in your name.

rockchaulk

sophiegirl here's a suggestion for you and Mr. Sophie. They have this challenge to either get a taste of what a higher status would feel like or if you drop off a challenge to restore you back to where you were. If you think you can get (I believe I'm correct on this) 12 nights in the next 3 months on his card then he can receive his gold status for the rest of 2011 and all of 2012. If you think he can do like 18 I believe.....he can have Plat. If you want those certs however the points aren't a bad idea since you're spending 25k to basically get 40k minimum. So if you do spend the points you really do make out ahead if he gets the 2 free nights

sophiegirl

Rockchaulk, thank you for your thoughtful answer. I don't think they will approve the challenge, as that is how he got GOLD in 2009 and kept it all of 2010. Technically, he has been "fool's gold" I suppose!

but i think you right. I was getting caught up in the loss of points (the 50% plat bonus); but i think the addition of free nights with mega bonus, the ability to have additional access to CL when friends' travel with us, et al offset those points.

Again, thank you and safe travels...

rockchaulk

you can actually do the challenge one year after the previous time you've done it. I did that a couple times and never had a problem. It's worth a shot, remember the worse they can say is "no, he's not eligible yet"

iflyjetz

Sophie, quick summary of what I've written below:
1) See if you can get gold/plat challenge again. If not,
2) Buy gold -detailed math below, and
3) Develop a strategy to get Mr Sophie gold next year through the MR Premier Visa.

I'd give the gold/plat challenge a try; worst they can say is no.

As for buying gold, let's say you're looking at 20 nights/yr for your husband. That would be a cost of 25K pts/20 nights = 1250 pts/night cost to buy gold.
Points go from 20% bonus to 25% bonus for gold. Assuming $200/night for the room, you're only talking about netting 100 additional points for gold, reducing your net points cost from 1250/night to 1150/night.
Since you get additional benefits for being gold - free internet and breakfast - it's worth buying gold if all of his stays are at FS properties. At $.01/pt, the net cost is ~$11.50/night for buying gold.

I'd also employ a different strategy in the future to maintain gold rather than buying status. Have your husband get the MR Premier Visa. That costs $65/yr but gives you 15 EQNs. Plus, you get 1 EQN for every $3K spend.
Both Mrs iflyjetz and I have our own MR Premier Visas and we use them for just about all of our purchases. In my case, it's to get enough MR points to qualify for lifetime Plat - I need another 185K pts over the next four years and retired last year so my stays have dropped off a cliff. I requaled for PP this year and my rollover nights + Premier Visa nights this year will likely qualify me for PP next year. After that, I'll drift down to plat then gold before hitting 12 years in the program.
In Mrs iflyjetz' case, she's starting to travel a little bit in her current job but was a silver last year. She had 18 nights rollover and has 1 credit card EQN for this year. I figure that she should get at least 9 credit card EQNs this year plus the 15 annual CC nights, so she only needs 7 hotel nights to get to gold level.
We have a trip planned with her father to San Fran where we booked two rooms, one in her name and one in mine. I don't think that her father will have a laptop so internet isn't an issue. As far as lounge access, we'll just bring him with us to the lounge.

Your husband may have a different rewards credit card so that needs to be factored into his decisionmaking as far as when to use the MR Visa. At a minimum, he should use it for Marriott stays (5 pts/$1 spent) and probably for airline, dining, and rental car bills (2 pts/$1 spent). But again, he earns 1 night credit for every $3K he spends on the credit card.
... final note: my wife and I always pay our credit card balances. If your husband doesn't, that's a pretty big negative for the card as it charges 13.24%.

Michilander

One other thing to consider is that I think if you book two rooms you are only supposed to get EQNs for one (although, I have gotten them for both on occasion.) If you book one and he books the other, you should both get EQNs. A few less points since you won't get your platinum bonus on the second room, but extra EQNs.

sophiegirl

iflyjetz and michilnder -

Thanks...both responses make sense. I have the visa Premiere, never really thought about Getting another, but that could make a difference.

i will let everyone know how it goes...