Marriott's Answer to Extending Status
 

Just saw a new promotion on the Marriott Rewards website. For those who are earning Marriott points, and who pay with Visa, and who register, they will give *double* points *and* double nights, starting with your second stay between 10/15 and 3/31. Also, you have until 3/31 to finalize your status for next year.

I think this is a pretty good solution. It rewards those who are returning to travel, gives more time, and makes it easier to qualify (double nights), without just giving it away to people who earned their status through promotions, etc.

[Edited to correct end date of promotion]

[This message has been edited by sbrower (edited 10-10-2001).]

I disagree from the perspective that Marriott's competition has extended current status through 2002, which in my mind makes this offer extremely poor. Especially since many companies have travel restrictions through the rest of this year and in many cases will extend through the 1st Qtr of next year -- which makes this offer weak at best.

And how exactly does Marriott "give" status through promotions? Never heard of any.

FYI Starwood, for one, has not decided yet:

URL: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/002435.html

I think it is "good" from the perspective of someone who wants the benefit of earned status. If it is just extended for a year, then a lot more people will be competing for those upgrades who "don't" deserve them. At the same time, this special offer is a challenge to those who actually do a fair amount of travel.

And Hilton, for another, has apparently not announced any extension of elite benefits. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum57/HTML/002740.html

And Hyatt, according to a USA Today article, has apparently decided to give extended status to less than all of its elite members. No criteria announced as yet.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum60/HTML/000540.html


[This message has been edited by Dave M (edited 10-10-2001).]

Scoured Marriott's site, can't see the offer. Any pointers? (I'm starting a 4 day stay on Oct 15, looks like I'll need to stay at two different properties to cash in).

jb

The "Double Points! Double Nights!" offer is here:
https://member.marriottrewards.com/secure/PromoDPDN.asp

[This message has been edited by Dave M (edited 10-10-2001).]

Thanks for bringing this promo to our attention and for posting the link.

I can't find a button to click on to register on the site. Can someone direct me please?

Thanks!

you have to sign in (to your Marriott account) and then click on promotions and then click on register. That's it.

Perhaps "good for me" would have have been a more appropriate comment for you to include in your post.

Many deserving Platinum customers will lose their status (yes, that includes me as well) due not to their unworthiness but rather the unusual restrictions that have kept them from traveling this particular year.

Thanks, sbrower, for the heads up, and Rudi for the pointer.

Thinking - I understand this may not meet everyone's request. But when you say "this year" I assume you mean "since 9/11". I think that the promotion responds very well to 9/11. That is, as of 9/11, you only had 3 months to make renewal. Now, you have almost 6 months (until 3/30) and it only requires that, in those 6 months, you stay 1/2 as many times as you originally planned to stay in 3 months. I realize this may not work for everyone, but I think that Marriott chose an intelligent response to a difficult situation.

My question is this:

I just pulled up my Marriott account online, and I have alraedy stayed 88 nights this year - far more than the 75 required for Platinum.

Since Marriott is giving people until March 2002 to qualify, shouldn't my nights at this point start qualifying me for PLT in 2003?
I would think that at least the nights from January - March 2002 should?

Thank you Rudi! You are right and I wish I had figured it out earlier. I appreciate the time you took to help me!

sbrower,

As I mentioned in an earlier post, many companies have restricted travel for cost cutting purposes and in many cases this restriction started much earlier than Sept 11. Of course the events of Sept 11 made the situation even worse. And most of those companies have restrictions in place through the rest of this year and very likely through 1st Qtr of 2002, which in effect makes Marriott's offer (though nice) worthless.

I did find it interesting that Marriott has not publicly announced this offer -- not sure why they would keep it low-key -- it was good of you to post the info here.

Freeupgrade,

Probably a valid request (and in years past I would be right there with you asking for it), but I'm sure difficult for their systems to handle (knowing Marriott and their unwillingness to move to more advanced technology -- ex. Paper award certificates verses providing instant e-awards). Perhaps it would be better if Marriott advertised and enforced a lifetime status based on # of nights that is reasonable (similar to the airlines). I hear they have one but for most may take a lifetime to get there.