Does Marriott ever comp an elite level - matching status?
 

I'm a loyal SPG (platinum) and HHonors (gold)person, but there are some Marriott properties that looked appealing and convenient for some travels coming up, so I emailed the Marriott program to see if they can offer any comp status, at least temporarily, to try the program and properties. The answer was no. Period. Has anyone had a different experience?

Yes.

I was able to get a "Platinum challenge" last year. After staying a certain number of days, they bumped me up to Platinum.

Easybay

Sorry, but that is the typical answer from Marriott. They will not just plain "comp" you status. I am not aware of anyone who has been successful with this.

Even the Platinum challege is rare. Marriott is one of the last programs where they require you to do the full stays. However, in my opinion, the benefits are worth it.

No offence is intended, but I am glad they do not dilute the upper status levels with comps from other chains.

well a couple years ago i was a few days short of platinum, and wrote them a very nice letter with copies of my hilton and starwood platinum cards,and they comped me. if you have very few stays with marriott in your profile, even if you are highest status with other hotels, the best you should expect/ask for is gold and not the highest elite status. at least its better than nothing. i would say writing a letter with copies of your cards is the best bet. email is kind of a cop-out i think.

[This message has been edited by youngflya (edited 01-09-2001).]

I'm about to call and ask for a bump up to Gold. I had 37 stays + 3 Execustay months in 2000, all in the latter half of the year. Although the Execustay nights don't count towards status, hopefully this combination will be worth Gold status. I thought I had a rolling-year to earn 50 nights, but I guess not... If they refuse to consider my case, I'll probably switch to another chain.

I contacted the MR service center in year 2000 regarding getting a comp status as I was HH Gold and SPG Gold. I also had about 14 to 16 nights, but just missed getting Silver out of it because the stays took place nearly exactly 12 months apart, so the last stay nights were lost as the new one's were posted. The best they would do for me, and this took several phone calls, was to give me Silver. The people I talked to said that MR (unlike the rest of the industry) did not comp status. I believe that if you get the right person/circumstance at MR they would comp status, but it is probably not as standard an operating procedure as in the other programs. And once they note your record that "we're only giving you X," then it might be that much harder to get Y which is really what you want, e.g. Gold/Platinum. I would also tend to guess that as a Silver, if one asks, you can probably at least sometimes get upgraded despite the terms. Heck I've been upgraded to concierge level as a mere regular member just by asking (works sometimes not other times). I will typically be at these hotles for conventions, etc., and its always nice to have that concierge level. At one hotel where I stayed two years in a row, I got the business card from somebody, and they were able to upgrade me on my next stay. In this business, one must be resourceful. Hey, can you buy those Swiss chocolates online?

I am on a "Gold Challenge" right now. I was 12 nights short of my Gold elite membership before the end of the year so I called up Marriott and struck a deal with them. I told them that I would complete the 12 nights before the end of January 2001 and they agreed .
Try out something similar to that.

Jetsetter: As a Silver member, I've found that I do, in fact, get upgraded occasionally. Once I got a concierge level room at a regular Marriott (although the room itself wasn't that large). Even better - for about half of my Residence Inn stays, I've been bumped up from the studio to the full one-bedroom apartment (a significant upgrade in both square footage and quality of the unit).

Of course, many other times (especially at Marriotts popular with business travelers), I get no upgrade at all.