Very valid points here - my frustrations are definitely also because i'm 100% exclusive to hotels in the US (often small towns) and i rarely do 25% at FS - more often lower price hotels that don't see people of my status. So some of my context is likely jealousy of the folks in Europe or NYC-LA that get to actually "feel" some value of the PP tier.

Good context - i agree.

You'll be given a 20% off card for food & beverage and a free golf club rental card, assuming that 2011 remains the same as 2010.
It doesn't specify number of people eligible for the food/beverage discount.
Fine print on the food card: not valid at resorts and expires Dec 31, 2010. I used mine for a couple of meals after New Years at the Vegas JW (a resort property) and they honored the discount. Also, only valid at Marriott, JW and Ren in North America.

For that large a party, I'd coordinate in advance with the restaurant manager. Simply tell him that you'll have everyone eat there as long as they honor the discount for the full bill.

I understand COMPLETELY. I had 178 paid nights in 2010.
All company reimbursed rooms (approx 150 nights) were in RI, FI, CY, SHS. And since I was long term, I wouldn't even see a room upgrade.
I think that all of the stays out of my pocket were at FS properties.

This is a common theme. It appears that, for the most part, the key to PP is making Plat three years in a row. If you're able to get enough nights for plat this year, you've got a good chance to get PP next year.

In that case, Marriott is now getting us coming and going on PP. I just made PP this year, but my rollover appears to be based on 100 nights. I had 141 nights last year. 21 were from roll over. 20 were from the VISA card. 100 were actual room nights. My account currently shows 20 room nights.

That checks with what I've posted.
2010 nights: 100 actual nights + 20 CC nights = 120
Rollover into 2011: 120 - 100 (threshold for PPs in 2010) = 20

The 21 rollover from last year would only have gotten credited to your status for 2011. If you needed to use rollover to maintain status, you would have zero rollover.

Example:
Let's say you had 70 nights in 2010 (actual, CC, etc) plus 35 rollover from 2009.
Your 2011 status would still be PP.
70 - 100 = -20 +35 = 0 or more, keep PP.
If you had 70 and 20 rollover, the math would be:
70 -100 = -30 + 20 = -10. Missed PP but qualified for Plat. (Although I think that Marriott has a soft landing anyway).

Rollover Nights
 

I just got off the phone with the PP line as my correct number of nights hadn't posted. They said they are aware of the error and by Feb 1st the correct amount of nights will appear.

We'll see:confused:

Not the case for me :(

I made Platinum the last thee years in a row, all on a pretty high average rate, and just got my regular old Plat material on Saturday. Just looked at my account and I rolled over 151 nights to 2011.

I was referring to your statement that rollover was based on 2010 status. I was a mere Plat in 2010, so if you are correct, I should have rolled over 45 nights (based on 75 night threshold for Plats in 2010). It appears, therefore, that the rollover was based on 2011 status, or that someone made an error in calculating mine.

I made platinum the last 3 years in a row. I am at 639 BIB nights for the past 3 years, with an average of $218 per night across the three years.

Sadly, I got my regular old Plat material on Saturday. I just looked at my account and I rolled over 151 nights to 2011.

That's definitely a mistake.
If I recall correctly, it took several days to work out all the bugs.

Call and ask why you didn't make it; possibly speak to a supervisor to look into it. You should have made PP with those numbers, especially since business and leisure travel has been down for the last couple of years.

While I don't care particularly as I have LT Plat, I would add that the "100 night rollover for PP" clause is simply wrong, and MR needs to change it.

PP is not a published level. It has no published criteria. No one has any way to know if they will be "elevated" and accordingly punished by losing 25 rollover nights. Anyone following the rules that MR puts out there is absolutely just in being upset by this. (I'm pretty savvy about such things, and even I didn't realize this was the case until I checked yesterday trying to figure out what was going on with my rollovers.)

Having been PP for a year (and apparently just renewed), I chime in with those that say there isn't much meaningful difference. If I was worried about my requalification, there's no way I'd trade 25 rollover nights for PP. Unless they're going to come along with something that guarantees that if you lose PP you soft-land to Plat the following year, they should reset the rollover counter for PPs to 75.

If they want to apply a different set of rules here, they need to publish it. Though, it seems a bit absurd to target your highest value customers with an unpublished, punishing "surprise" like this. Baffling.

Hold ther Train
 

So I logged on this morning and was thrilled to see that I am PP. But wait, my rollover balance is severely diminished. I had 140 nights last year, but show only 14 rollover. On the line with Marriott now and they are saying, "well, you are PP, so that requires 100 nights, so your rollovers would only be the nights ion excess of 100." Whaaat? never have heard of PP being 100 night minimum. Also, even if that were true, 140 minus 100 is still 40. What gives. I am on to my call back now.

IMO - very well said!

Give it a few days. They had problems last year also.
I've seen others post that Marriott's aware of the glitches and will have it ironed out soon.

If there's one thing that I can say about Marriott, it is that they are one of the most ethical companies that I've ever dealt with. If they make a mistake, they make sure to fix it.