Talked to a MR agent today about my status for 2004. I'm a platinum now, but only have 25 night ytd. I will probably have another 25 nights in 4Q. I asked if there was any type of challange to maintain PLT. What MR agent told me was that I would probably go down to gold and can ask for the PLT challange in January 04. The agent believes the PLT challange would be 15 nights in the next 90 days. Bottom line, I have to wait until I am downgraded then ask fo rhte challange.

I did not know that MR had a challenge. How do I sign up? Just call and ask?

Marriott does have a challenge - they just don't advertise it. I did the Platinum challenge a few years ago and at the time it was 30 stays in 90 days which I easily did. You need to ask for it and if the person you speak with doesn't know about call back or ask to speack to someone else. After being Plat. for a few years I am going to drop down to Gold as I don't see any difference in the two status other than a few more points per stay.

Thanks. I called, asked about the challenge (for GLD) and after conferring with a supervisor, the agent signed me up. I need 12 stays in the next 3 months. At the moment, I have 9 reserved. Five more will be just a few days after the 3 month deadline. Hoping I will end up with a couple more or that they will cut me some slack. Worth a try.

Wow, thanks for sharing, though you probably didn't realise it. I have been a silver member for 3 years and had no clue that Marriott did challenges... I shouldn't be surprised, if AA does it, why not others, but it just did not occur to me. I am going to sign up soon too!

Is the challenge based on Stay or Nights?

Nights...I just signed up this morning(coincedentaly). My challenge is 18 nights in the next 90 days for Plat.

I did the Gold Challenge (12 NIGHTS in 90 days) They only let me do the challenge because I had 45 nights in 2002.

12 or 18 stays in 90 days would be a stretch for even the hard-core road worrior.

BTW, does anyone know if you get to Gold via the challenge one year, can you go for Plat via the challenge the following year?

*sigh* [shoulders slump] as he comes to the horrible realization that he is in fact a hard-core road warrior.

At least you avoid the traffic when not in Chicago

For the record the challenge is still out there. ALthough it took quite a lot of time to get to a Supervisor.

I just lost my status (down to Silver) for 2004. In 2003 I had to choose btwn SPG, Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott and Marriott got short stick.

Called MR to ask about options, Agent says please hold---
After about 3 mins-
Agent say
1) OK "Sir"�(always love that). �You can buy back Gold for 35k pts� (yeah right)
Or
2) �You can challenge back to Gold for 12 nights in 90 days� (already have 15 booked).

I of course ask what about the Plat Challenge of 18 nights in 90 days. If you are going to give me a challenge give me a tough one with a bigger payoff.

Reply- "Sir you can only challenge back the level you lost, please make a choice".

I reply that I do not understand why my choices are limited and that I would like to understand the 18 nights in 90 day option if that is open to me and if it is not why I am not eligible for it. Do they want to see the competitor status to match via challenge?

Reply-�Sir- This is MARRIOTT you do not get to pick and choose what you can get, these are both gifts to you� (someone remind me what a gift 35K pts for Gold) is.

Again I ask why newbie�s with no status on Marriott get challenged to Plat and please allow me to speak with a supervisor or check with one yourself.

Reply- �Please hold�

After 5 min hold, "My supervisor says no way that you are asking to go from Zero to Plat".

I ask how 22 nights is Zero (and they were all at very high value properties but lets not confuse the agent) and again compare it to newbie�s.

Of course I try to explain (very politely) the logic of this vs. someone with no status getting a Plat Challenge. We go around for 5 mins, the agent gets hostile (raises her voice and says �I have been here 2 years and I KNOW that this never happens- are you calling me a liar?�). I remain calm and continue with basic logic, asking what I should do, quit my account (agent replies if you want to forfeit 500k pts go ahead) and ask for the challenge on a new account, send in faxes of my other status? What could I possibly do to make me eligible for a Plat Challenge.

Very important to note that never once did I get excited or angry, although I think my calm disturbed the agent. Did not even take offense figuring that the agent was either misinformed or playing her role. I asked on more than one occasion to speak with a supervisor to short cut this but she kept putting me on hold to �check with her supervisor�.

Eventually the agent says fine if you do not believe me talk to my supervisor.

2 mins later Supervisor gives it to me but first- Supervisor asks what he can do for me, he understands I have a concern about challenges. I explain the dilemma and ask him what to do.

Reply- �Our agents are not empowered to offer the Plat challenge to existing MR customers, but I am� (I did not tell the Supervisor about the agent getting hostile- no upside for me).

Supervisor asked me
Q- �xxx (uses my first name) how many total nights did you have in Hotels last year�
A- � more than 175� (did not get my 200 for the first time in many years).

Long Pause from Supervisor,

Q- how come we only got 22 of them?
A- Cities and availability was my answer (not sure competitive promos would have worked in my favor).

Supervisor ��Hmm so if we give you a challenge, do you plan on switching some of that to us�
A-,�if you earn it you get it, I am not sure what Plat is worth compared to SPG, Hyatt, Hilton�

Supervisor said �Fine, you can have a 90 day challenge for 18 nights, we look forward to having you as a continued MR Plat member�

Good with me Good with Marriott

Now to go get the 18 nights, 12 was just too easy and I wanted Plat to round it out this year. I have a 15 nights (should have called 30 days ago) that will credit in late Feb but somehow I bet those won�t count.

Valid for 2004 only must qualify the �Hard Way� for 2005 (according to the Supervisor). Now we will see if Plat is really better than Gold J and how it compares to SPG Plat, Hyatt Diamond. If it really is better than Gold then Marriott will get some more of my $$ if not it stays with SPG, Hyatt, Hilton

Whole exchange took more than 20 min..... Hope Plat is worth it.

You are correct "The Challenge" still exists. I thought I would make Plat. easily in 2003, but had to take some extended time off to care for a sick relative. The short story was that I didn't call the MR line but instead responded to that "Thank you from Bill Marriott, Jr." message at the end of last year and asked for my Platinum status to be extended. Here is the response:

Thank you for contacting Marriott Rewards.

I apologize that you were unable to stay the required amount of nights in 2003 to renew your Platinum status. We had and will receive many requests such as yours and have put into place a few options to help our members keep or renew their current status.

The first option we made was that we offered the members who contacted us that we would lower the required amount of nights needed from 75 to 70 for Platinum members who fell a little short. Not all members were able to stay at least 70 nights and so this option did not work for all, but was most appreciated by many.

Secondly, if members were unable to stay a minimum of 70 nights in 2003 and their account is downgraded in February of 2004, for 50,000 points, members may buy back their Platinum status. The status would be valid for all of 2004. If members choose the buy back offer, it would be a final, non-reversible action and the points would not be able to be given back. This option is only available after the account is actually downgraded in our system in February of 2004.

Thirdly, as you know, the Platinum level requires 75 nights per year. This means that Platinum level members stay an average of 18 nights every 3 months. If your account is downgraded in 2004, due to your past achievement of the Platinum status, we can make an exception and only require your account to have 18 Elite nights within a 3 month period in 2004, instead of the required 75 nights in the 2004 calendar year, to renew your Platinum status.

We would like to thank you for your loyalty to Marriott and hope that one of these exceptions will help you continue to be a Platinum member even though you were not able to renew the Platinum level with the set forth requirements.

Sincerely,
Marriott Rewards

Needless to say I chose option number three and am working on night number 25 as I write this. Their follow up response noted that they saw all of my future reservations and would keep an eye on my status so it wouldn't downgrade when it normally would. Also, I recieved new Plat. credentials a few weeks ago.

Hope this helps someone.

200 ngts/ 200 legs/year -

Sorry to hear that you had to go through the conversation with the agent until you got to talk to the supervisor.

I was short even for Gold last year - mostly due to the competitive promotions (FFN from Hyatt, Free Weekends from Starwood). I called MR Platinum Desk on top/Jan - the agent offered me Plat Challenge right away. Since I completed 18 nights in Jan, I was never downgraded to Gold or Silver technically.

I received MR Gold card a few weeks ago, but Plat card is on the way - the web site shows me as Plat.

Really unacceptable. I'm not speaking of whether the agent had good info or bad, just the arrogance and lack of respect for what should be a valued customer. Certainly doesn't sound like the Marriott culture Socrates frequently mentions, and which should distinguish Marriott from competitors. But how can this be corrected if you are not willing to mention the name of the agent to a manager? I assume the agent will just treat the next customer in the same way.

[This message has been edited by ohmark (edited Mar 02, 2004).]

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[This message has been edited by socrates (edited Mar 23, 2004).]