I'm going to be about 8 days short of hitting gold before the end of the year. Trying to figure out if it's worth it. Any perspectives?

In addition to the MR bonus, access to the Concierge Lounge in most Marriott and Renaissance properties is a big perk. It's worth it if you are at or near 50 nights/year.

Yes, yes, and a thousand times yes. I was silver for years - Marriott was my "3rd" choice - but I took them up on a Gold challenge and I am impressed. So much so that I'm going to be a few short and will do a mattress run just to make sure I keep it. The free internet and concerige lounge are valuable enough to me.

You can apply for the Chase Marriott Visa and get 15 of the nights right off the bat.

Yes, worth it. But you should have a lot of rollover nights carrying over to 2012 if you fall just short of 50 this year. That should get you Gold earlier in the year next year, which would be good through February of 2013. I think that is the way I would go for Gold.

following this OPs advice, just keep in mind that they'll first take 10-nights from your rollover to make you silver so you'll only have 42-10 in rollover nights.......

Yes it is worth it IF you stay at full-service properties. A lot of the CY, FF, and RI properties already have free internet and none have concierge lounges.

Also you get a higher point bonus if you are gold (maybe 25%? I can't remember exactly).

several asian CYs, especially those in China, have CLs

^ Best answer. It's worth it if you stay at full service properties with lounges. I don't think it's worth it if you stay at US based non-full service properties - and as Boca Boy stated, your rollover nights should get you to Gold after not too long in 2012.

is the OP going to stay a FS Marriotts next year to take advantage of Gold? Will OP stay at international FS marriotts to take advantage of weekend free breakfast and free booze at night (for the most part)? Full disclosure: I am at the AMS Marriott enjoying the free booze.

Upgrades are a crap shoot.

the answer is ...it depends on the OP

I actually got comped to Plat a few years ago. Essentially all my stays were in CYs and FIs and, other than the plat arrival gift and maybe my name on the daily Welcome board, nothing much different.

But ...

My whole purpose in getting the Marriott points was so that I could take nice vacations in Europe, and there it absolutely makes a big difference. Unfortunately, I've had no stays in the past two years, so Marriott let me keep Plat for one year and then gently dropped my to Gold this year. That was enough.

We recently had a trip to France/UK, and my Gold status got us everything we wanted at the Marriott in Monaco and full breakfast/CL admission at the Heathrow Marriott, so I'd say it was certainly worth it for me.

As others have pointed out, it depends on where you stay. If you frequent FS marriotts and like nice props ex-US, I'd go for it. If you're mainly a CY/FI guy and have no exotic vacation plans, let it happen with the rollover.

while this doesn't apply to me, I was wondering if he did this and got the 10 nights, then got the credit card in early 12, would he be starting at 10+15 or 25 nights?

if the OP doesn't use Marriott for the rest of the year then of his current 42 nights they'll take 10-nights and make him silver next year with 32-nights rolling over........ if he then gets Visa w 15-nights then he'll have 32+15 and only need 3 nights to make gold in 2012

That would be true if he were silver this year, but the OP's profile says Marriott Gold. (I assume because of qualifying in 2010.) Doesn't that mean that only nights over 50 will roll over from 2011 to 2012?

I've been more than satisfied with Marriott at gold level as my first choice in recent months. It's been a much nicer experience than Marriott as a last-resort choice at silver. (Though I'd probably go back to SPG platinum if they promised to drop FaceBook/social requirements.)

If the silver vs gold difference is minor at lower-end Marriott family hotels, and the OP will uses his Hilton and Hyatt status during luxury/vacation stays, is Marriott gold still worth 8 extra nights?

if the OP earned gold the old fashioned way in 2010, then his nights in 2011 are being earned as requal for 2012........... if thats the case, first 10-nights go to silver for 2012 and over nights should roll over

The question here is if Gold is worth busting a gut to put 8 more nights Marriotts way before the end of the year.

Undoubtably the answer to this depends on the stay pattern.

1. The main guaranteed bennie of Gold is the Lounge access bringing with it free continental breakfast, though only on weekdays. Alas this is only available at FS hotels, so if OP only does CY and FI there's probably little real chance of this being worth much.

2. The other guaranteed Gold bennie is worth very little, an extra 1/2 point per $, yes thats right, an extra 1/2 point!! So if you stay 50 nights averaging $100 night as silver you'll receive 60,000 points. Your gold status will garner you 2500 extra. It cant be worth putting those extra 8 nights MR way for such scant reward.

3. The final "guaranteed" benefit is the BOGOF. I place this bennie in quotation marks as whilst it used to be the MAJOR gold bennie it has now been so watered down that its almost worthless, and for the last 3 months of the year is totally worthless as its been suspended. Latest indications are the BOGOF may return in March 2012. In years past I have made good use of the BOGOF's making savings of several hundred $$$ per year. In fact this year I did manage to make use of 1 BOGOF, but as that was in London, it was a great offer. The BOGOF (aka EEO) could be worth the effort on its own, if its rumoured return does occur next year and if its genuine.

4. Room upgrades are the other benefit but are not guaranteed. In reality my experience has been very strong on room upgrades both as Gold and Plat, though these have been mainly "soft" upgrades (corner rooms, larger rooms) and in my experience are far more likely in Europe than in USA.

5. Discretionary extras. Although not formally a part of the scheme my experience, in the UK and EU has been almost universal offerings of full free breakfast at weekends, with free drinks (once) and even a free minibar (again, once, but that was during a week award stay, so I made good use of it). The value of these alone make qualification worthwhile, however you do need to be in Europe to really see that.

In summary therefore, the lounge access is worthless to a FI or CY regular, but worthwhile if you stay mainly FS. BOGOF can be great, but are being overhauled and its not easy to foresee their future worth. The room upgrades aren't much but do ensure dumpster free views, and sometimes can be a real treat. The discretionary extras can be fab, but are far more miss than hit. The extra points are derisory!

As they say, the choice is yours...