Is there really a point in being Marriott Platinum?
 

I have now been Marriott Platinum for 2 years and in the same time have also been SPG Gold... and honestly think SPG treats their members much better. The option for late check out is usually only extended till 1pm and only very rarely till 2... with SPG I get 4pm checkout everytime!

Also, there are never any room upgrades, almost makes me wonder why I continue to stay with Marriott.

Is there really any point to staying Platinum with Marriott?

Yes there are, and if you do a search the topic's been asked many times & the reasons why it is have been outlined so no need to rehash it all again.

You're right on one thing though - Starwood has a better late check-out policy than Marriott.

Cheers.

As a Marriott and SPG Platinum for many years, both approaching lifetime PLT status, I believe there are various reasons to maintain status in both. If you have to choose one, your preference and stay patterns/locations dictate which is better. A 1pm checkout at a Marriott is better than a 4pm checkout 20+ miles away because there is no SPG property nearby, a not-uncommon occurrence.

Just different.

Nope. No benefit at all. Much better to be King Kamehameha with Motel 6.

None whatsoever. I recommend you give SPG all your business.

I have never been denied a 2pm checkout at any Marriott property that I can recall.

Also I have asked (and been offered a few times at airport properties) for 4pm and been granted it a few times.

Actually, one of my pet peeves with SPG is that I have never, not once, been granted any late checkout at all. Even when I was platinum, the one time I asked for it I was told that it's not really a guarantee and that I had to check out on time because the hotel was full the next night.

Even though there's no late check-out "guarantee" with Marriott, I've had much better luck.

When I was a plat I was denied late checkout by the Pere Marquette in New Orleans.

My biggest beef lately is that Hilton seems to have way more properties than Marriott, especially where I seem to need to be lately.

Absolutely!!
- Guaranteed room when hotel sold out - used this benefit several time and it is very convenient when booking at the last minute.
- Lounge access and free breakfast - very convinient in US properties but especially in properties overseas as their breakfast is much better. Also, cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in the evening (some times even a full dinner buffet).
- 50% points bonus
- amenity gift

These are some of the benefits I really enjoy.

Well be sure to tell Marriott where you're going to be in the future so they can build or buy a property for you :p :D

Where I travel, there's usually a Marriott AND a Hilton property. There usually aren't Starwood or Hyatts at all, or if there are, there might be 1-2 & Marriott/Hilton will have 8-10.

Cheers.

Yep. Not to beat a dead horse (and I do like Starwood in a lot of cases on a property-by-property basis), but the lack of guaranteed lounge access and free breakfast easily tip the scales when I have a choice of either Marriott FS or Sheraton/Westin. Downscale (Fairfield/Courtyard versus 4-Points) the difference isn't as great.

And so far as actual room upgrades are concerned, my percentage with Marriott as a Platinum is much higher than my percentage with Starwood as a Gold.

First, I do like Marriott (and I'm a LT Plat with well more than 1000 nights in Marriotts.)

But I do want to make sure we give out correct info and are comparing the same things:

1. An SPG Plat is guaranteed lounge access (if the hotel has a lounge). (Though a smaller % of SPG hotels do have a lounge than FS Marriotts.)
   
2. An SPG Plat is guaranteed free breakfast at every hotel 7 days a week. Marriott used to have a winner on this, but Starwood leaped them.
   
3. Comparing Marriott's top tier status (Plat - 75 nights) to SPG's mid-tier status (10 stays or 25 nights) is not even close to an apples-to-apples comparison. I do believe most tend find that SPG's top tier (Plat - 25 stays or 50 nights) will tend to provide better upgrades than Marriott's top tier.

Now if you want to compare the mid-tier status on both, I'd agree that Marriott Gold blows SPG Gold out of the water. But for virtually the same amount of stays/nights, I could get SPG Plat rather than Marriott Gold.

I think you first need to figure out which benefits matter to you and which don't. Someone who needs hotels at the last minute in booked-up places may feel very differently than someone who never does.

Second, you need to figure out what the alternatives are for you. In other words, if focusing only on Marriott Gold as opposed to Marriott Platinum would allow you to get higher status in another hotel program, the question is not whether Marriott Platinum is worht it as much as whether the difference between Marriott Gold and Marriott Platinum for your needs is bigger or smaller than the difference between whatever status level you're getting elsewhere vs whatever status level you could get elsewhere with 25 more nights.

Finally, are you getting your Marriott nights the easiest way? If you're based in the US, by holding a "negative net annual fee" credit card you could have a "head start" of 15 nights:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...mier-visa.html

That doesn't change the absolute difference between Marriott Gold and Platinum (it's still a 25-night difference), but it does magnifiy it (it changes it from being 50 vs 75 nights to 35 vs 60 nights; ie, it makes a much bigger percentage dent in Gold than in Platinum.

My biggest complaint for everyday stays is the lack of benefits at Courtyard properties. I travel to a lot of smaller cities that don't have full service Marriott's and except for the Plat arrival bonus, I get little to any benefit during my actual stay. A free breakfast would be nice, but I know this has been discussed at length.

I do travel to Asia on occasion and even the Courtyard properties there blow away anything we have here stateside. Most of the Courtyards even have full lounges with food and alcohol complimentary.

My biggest problem is that I never want to use my free night certs as I barely cross the 75 night threshold every year and every night counts. I have a ton of unused points and ever expiring cat 1-4 certs from bonus promotions.