So I am traveling a lot this year and through rollover, credit card bonus, and stays I will requal as Gold well before 6/30/14. I'm not tied to Marriott; I had Hilton Diamond for 6 years until this year and dropped to Silver. So I'm trying to figure out the best plan of attack for the remainder of 2014. My choices:

- Go "all in" on Marriott and qualify as Platinum sometime in Q3 or early Q4.
- Stay 70+ (but not 75) times and stay Gold with some decent rollover.
- Requal as Hilton Diamond with 25 more stays (of which 10 can be burning some Cat 1 points redemptions).

Having not been a Platinum before at Marriott - other than the bonus points, does it really make much of a difference? Gold seems to get me most of what I care about - is there a noticeable difference between the levels? What are some of the elite gifts that can make it worthwhile?

I have to admit that I miss being Diamond at Hilton for the times I do need to stay there. But redemption-wise, Megabonus and other factors make Marriott preferable....

Thoughts?

Dave

To answer your question directly, no. The welcome gifts are gone and replaced by a $10 F&B credit that barely buys a drink. Marriott has minted so many platinum over the past few years that it means nothing as far as upgrades without pushing the issue.

I made an effort to make PLT for the first time in 2006 rather than spread out my stays, enjoyed 1 1/2 glorious years, then it was downhill from there.

I don't know the other programs that well so I can't comment.

I am Platinum Premier and it means absolutely nothing. I am seriously starting to think that Hilton's program is better and I really do not like Hilton.

in the grand scheme of things, gold is probably fine, but here is why I like the platinum -- More bonus points --50%, rollover nights, and most importantly the ability to get a room when the hotel is sold out.

Now I may be a little jaded, because I am almost at 1000 nights, and will qualify for Lifetime platinum next year, and while upgrades in the rooms are nice ( been in the presidential suites in Monterey CA and Edmonton AB), but for the most part marriott has been good to me.

My only wish was that they would comp the parking for plats, but I can always wish...

You get more points with Platinum. You get United Silver if that is important to you. The new welcome gift is insulting IMHO. I have been upgraded to United first class to Hawaii on United due to the silver status. And, the free bags are good for me on vacation and my employer when I am traveling on United for work.

I am a PP this year. It has come in handy, but getting to this level means I basically have no life Since my newly minted PP, I have received a nifty phone charger from Marriott because they love me now, a few upgraded rooms, a few free Courtyard breakfasts, some candy and a cookie, and was able to use some certificates when I couldn't use them at the same facility before I got the PP status. (I tried as a lowly platinum in January and got "sorry Charley." I tried again a few weeks later with my newly minted PP and got, "Thank you for being a loyal Marriott member Ms. Nightowl, I am sure we can arrange that. Let me call the hotel. Do you mind holding for a few minutes Mrs. Nightowl?" )

Congrats on that! I've been PP for the last 3 years and outside of the annual $10 or so gift, I don't see any difference or freebies.

I wanted to comment on this last point... The ability to get a room when the hotel is sold out has opened up LOTS of LNF opportunities for me in the past

It should be noted that the $10FB cert is for domestic properties. Int'ly they still do an amenity (wine, cheese, cracker, etc) for Plat arrival gift.

Is there a huge dif btwn Gold & Plat? No. I've found upgrades (int'ly at least) seem to be better w/ Plat, there's the 50% bonus points, ability to get room if fully booked, make Plat worth it.

I guess the question for the OP is, will s/he be able to qualify for Plat next year? If not, s/he might want to stick w/ Gold & get the roll-over.

Cheers.

Thanks for the info, all of you.

Note that I don't fly UA; if I did that might be a real selling point but I'm covered with DL and AS. Good to know about the Welcome Gift not being worthwhile in many cases.

Since Marriott Gold and HH Diamond are both within reach, I'll likely go that route instead of hitting Platinum. The one change that would make Platinum worth it personally would be if they restricted lounge access to Plats. But we aren't there yet and hopefully won't get there any time soon.

Dave

International is where it is at. Domestically you may get an upgrade, and the perks are not stellar, but internationally I have had huge upgrades on each trip.

Standard room to Cabana, standard room to R-suite, etc

I am very disappointed in Platinum with Marriott. I get treated very well in hotels in out of the way towns but don't seem to ever get an upgrade at larger propertied. Even late check out elicits an eye roll. I think my upgrades are much higher as a mid grade gold at Hilton.

Sounds like a good plan.

Larger properties in larger cities probably have a greater # of Golds & Plats than in out-of-the-way towns.

Cheers.

Probably true. But I was treated very well at JW Grosvenor House. Big property. Big town. Best upgrade I ever had. ^

The only other Marriott where I was upgraded to a "real" suite was one I stayed at very very regularly. (150+ nights in a year)

In fairness, Grosvenor House has 72 suites so a bit easier to upgrade. Not all major metropolitan propeties have that many suites & a # of them do have a lot of elites checking in daily.

Cheers.

You seem to be thinking there's Silver and Diamond at Hilton HHonors and nothing in between.

80% of the Diamond benefits are available to Gold. And Gold can be had with 0 stays with a credit card ($75/year Amex HH Surpass or $95/year Citi HH Reserve, neither requiring any spend for the HH Gold status any more), or with one of several "stay 4 times in 90 days, get Gold" promos. So HH Gold is 95% easier to get (for those based in the USA) than HH Diamond.

So is it worth putting 25 stays toward HH Diiamond when you can get HH Gold for a fraction of that effort? (I guess it might depend on how much you stay at places that have lounges that are open to HH Diamond only and how much you use those lounges. HH Gold still sometimes get access to lounges, for example if they get upgraded to the lounge floor.)

Meanwhile, back to your original question: Marriott Gold is the "sweet spot" is the Marriott program. Platinum gets you slightly more points, slightly higher priority on any upgrades, etc, but it's not a very "obvious" difference.

However, what are you long term plans? Marriott has a lifetime status program, while Hilton doesn't. (And at Marriott, you can't earn second-tier status from just a credit card, while at Hilton you can.)