It takes 50 nites for Gold status at Marriott
 

I have Gold status with HYATT, Hilton, and Starwood with next to NO stays.

Have been loyal to Marriott for over 15 years and have over 1.2 million points total, but only a Silver. Get nothing from being Silver on Checkin. No upgrades, no breakfast, no concierge lounge.

I am wondering what good is being loyal to Marriott now a days??

You should be able to get Gold by staying 12 nights in 3 months if you call customer service and explain your plight.

RoadRunner --

If you search the Marriott board for my name in the past 30 days, or so, you will see my running battles with some here over that very issue. I am glad that someone else sees that Marriott, far from being an industry leader, has now fallen way, way, behind, IMHO.

I only wish that they would do something to make them more competitive, as I did enjoy staying at their properties, but I would be foolish to even consider their hotels when I had a similar choice presented to me by Hilton.

Could you please elaborate on this. Have you done this in the past,etc?

This is MAJOR weakness in the Marriott program. There is a huge leap from 15 nights to 50 nights a year, yet the benefits for GOLD are minimal over SILVER! I have been SILVER for a few years and really don't see any reason whatsoever in going for Marriott GOLD. An extra 5% in bonus points--pinch me! "Upgrades" when available--I have heard of very few who actually get an upgraged room--many Marriott hotels have no suites--only one kind of room, just on different floors. Concerige level--yes, but that's about it!
Once I hit my SILVER level, I look around at my choices of hotels other than Marriott.

Snacky --

I agree with you, wholeheartedly. However, with the other chains out there and their promotions, I feel Marriott has fallen way behind, and I have said so here on many occasions, and have had to endure the slings thrown at me for good measure.

However, if you are so intent on becomin a Marriott Silver, and in light of the other promotions I do not know why, then why don't you do it the easy way and just get the FUSA credit card for $30? You get automatic Silve status, and if they were to pull that away from you, you have leverage by just canceling the card. That way you do not have to spend 16 nights at Marriotts, and you can concentrate on increasing your stays at hotel chains where you have a real chance of increasing your elite status.

I can only assume that Marriott tightened up its requirements this year when it changed colors - Black card = Gold card. They sent a warning notice to my husband who had been Black for years, never having a year qualify with 50 nights. This is a huge number compared to any other program. Black card was very worthwhile over the years, however, and we always were comped into the lounge. Best deal was in San Antonio: for a senior rate of $59, we were given the Governor's Suite for my birthday! And the lounge...

Now that most lounges are closed on weekends, Gold does not have much meaning for leisure travelers looking for weekend getaways.

JamFlyer - I was Gold until 01/31/01 when they demoted me to silver and then began staying regularly at a Marriott property again this month. I called Cust. Svc. and eventually asked to speak to a supervisor who offered me this challenge (probably because I am Gold at Bass and threatened to stay at the Crowne Plaza down the street). Not sure if they will do this unless you have similar status in another program, although she never asked me for proof.

The only reason that I stay at Marriott properties is their RIs and SHs. If I can't get the Suites then I stay at Hilton.

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Al

Part of the confusion is that "gold" used to be the entry level in Marriott's program. "Black" was the second level, which required 50 nights a year. Gold is no longer the entry level... silver is. Gold now replaces Black, and requires the 50 nights.

I don't think this is unreasonable for the second level. Compare it to second level airline programs that generally require 50k actual miles every year. To those of us who travel a lot - and we are the ones to whom the second level is primarily directed- the concierge lounge upgrade is important. I think it fair to say most of us would not like to see this benefit diluted. I say that even though I am about to become primarily a "leisure" traveller, and will probably move from Platinum to Silver. Even so, I don't think 20 nights a year or so should entitle me to the second elite tier. Many of you say "Starwood does it." But Marriott does not appear ot have lost significant numbers to Starwood. And one must ask precisely what the Starwood gold provides.
The bottom line is that many of us who travel a lot do not think we are crazy for staying at Marriott, are well satisfied with the Marriott reward perks and with the awards themselves.

Phil --I don't disagree with you if you are one of those who travel a great deal, but the operative word here is the amount and frequency that you travel. However, you are wrong on your beliefs as to the qualifications for the Starwood levels. Their 2nd tier -- Gold -- only requires 10 STAYS.

Their top tier -- Platinum -- only requires 20 STAYS.

Thus, at a minimum, if a stay was only for 1 night, you would be top tier in Starwood after only 20 stays, whereas you would have barely passed the threshold of Silver -- the bottom -- at Marriott.

If, however, you had spent a couple of days at a hotel for each stay, then you might perhaps have reached Marriott's Gold level by the close of the calendar year, but you definitely would be classified as a SPG Platinum, by that time.

Given those, numbers, I think that is something to really ponder.

Thats why I prefer Marriott, unlike Hilton with its watered down Golds, because MR members earn their status. Therefore there is less of us to compete with and I feel that I'm taken care of better by Marriott than I am at hilton. I'm Plat here, and Diamond there and It's no contest. MR hands down and I hope that they keep the levels the way that they currently stand. Actually the Silver should be at 25 nights IMHO. Status should be earned not given away then it no longer is a status.

TrojanHorse --


I guess that you have been mighty disappointed of late, with most of the hotel chains and many of the airlines now lowering their "standards." Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the hotel chains have been on a building spree of late, and they need someone other than just hard core Road Warriors to fill their rooms? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

DOC 2 BE:

Forget Marriott. Forget Hilton. The best program "hands" down is the Wabbitt Inn "Fur Hat" elite level.

All I had to do was to call them, tell them that I breathe air and they awarded me "raccoon hat" level for free, PLUS, all I had to do was to stay once up the street from them, buy a candy bar in their gift shop, show my card, and I was awarded 100k bonus points!!!!!! Compare that to that HHonors Gold Challenge!

I recently made it to "fur hat" level by doing my third stay, and I got upgraded to the "Davey Crocket" level for free without even asking .. this was on a priceline stay I paid $12.43 for .. and I may have overpaid at that. Somebody in the club room told me they only paid $12.22 for their stay. What a rip off!

Have you ever stayed on the "Davey Crocket" level? Much nicer than the ground floor!!! I was really impressed. It had a huge mud bath and came with clean towels too!

Does anybody know if the Wabbit Inn in Lansing has a "Davey Crocket" floor? I'm planning a stay there with my friend Daffy, and I'm hoping we can both get an upgrade. I heard it was closed for fumugation last month. Has it been recertified by the health department yet?

Anyway, DOC 2 BE, I'm fairly confident once you try it, you'll love this, because this is definitely the program for "people" like us! Please, tell all your friends about it, but not too many, because I'd hate to dilute the "fur hat" benefits too much. I just can't imagine staying in a ground floor room again. So, please, don't go posting this in every thread in every forum remotely related to this, because if you do that, well, what will happen to our beloved "Davey Crocket" upgrade?

Thanks,
PP

Porky Pig,
I think I just figured out your gig!

You want it all! And you are very clever in thinking up ways to convey it. Or is it just a rouse of the other postings about getting everything possible? Even when you don't earn it. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif