I'm finally at a point where I travel significantly amount for work so I'm trying to maximize my trips. I've tried to look up as much info to this effect as I can but wanted to run my scenario by you experts.

I'm in Santa Rosa, CA until at least mid-April. I chose the Courtyard Mariott over the Hyatt across the street after reading program comparisons on the board...I also go to Vegas several times a year and figured I could use the points for Cosmo stays.

As of when I check out on Friday (02/20/15), I'll have 31 nights this year on two stays (this current stay will be 26 nights consecutive). I started the year with zero status. During this long stay, I've had them hard post the week to my account each Sunday for expensing purposes so even though I currently only have 5 nights posted to my account, I was able to call MR cust service and get them to bump me to Silver. I understand that the hard post does not count as a stay but I wanted to at least start getting the silver points bonus.

I've already signed up for MegaBonus.

I am waiting on contracts for 4 seperate "meetings" at $75 (+ tax) each to get an additional 40 nights (10 nights per meeting). I'll do 2 meetings this week and 2 next. I chose to do this so I could get to Platinum faster and get the extra bonus points for my remaining actual nights.

Based on my time here between now and mid April, I'll accumulate at least 40 more nights staying at the hotel (probably about 5-7 stays for those nights). Probably more if I stay here for some weekends but I'll be flying back home more to close out my time here so at minimum I'll get at least 40 more.

Taking that all into account, I'll have at least 111 nights (31 + 40 from meetings + 40 more from nights in the hotel) by the end of April.

My question is what else can I do to maximize my time and points here?

I'm not interested in the credit card option. I usually book all of my rooms with the front desk because they will book me even if the website shows sold out but if I could keep the same rate by doing it online via one of the cash back rebate sites, I'd consider that route.

Would it be beneficial for me to do a Gold Challenge starting with my stay this coming Sunday (02/22/15) when I check back in? My thought is bumping up to Gold faster would allow me to take advantage of those bonus pts sooner and then from there, push on to Platinum. Or should I just wait since, in theory, I should be gold after the 10 nights per meeting post following my 4 meetings?

Anything you can think of that would allow me to garner as many pts (or are stays better?) as possible would be more than welcomed. Thanks for reading and willingness to help.

kep in mind at any Hotel other then a Full Service (Marriott,Reniassance,JW etc) you dont earn pts for any charges made to your room other then the room rate itself

I'll definitely keep that in mind. Unfortunately I don't have the option of a full service location where I am. Good to know for other stays elsewhere though. Thanks.

Why not? The credit card would be one of the best ways to boost point earnings. 5 additional MR points per dollar spent will net an extra 35k room points (assuming $100/nite) not to mention the current 70k signup bonus.

Absolutely! Fully 1/3 of my points or more come from the CC.

If you visit Vegas frequently and wish to use your points for stays, I recommend you look into the Fairfield Inn on Paradise Road. At 15k points per night, it's a bargain. I stayed there a year ago when nothing else was available and was pleasantly surprised at the property. It seemed very new and was nicer than most CY or FI I stay at when I travel. Rooms were quiet and free breakfast was far better than any other FI I've had. Parking was free and easy to get in and out. It's the nicest FI I've been in, likely due to location, but one I think is a great use of points since its rated at a level 4 property. It's not a resort obviously, but depending on your needs it may fit the bill nicely.

Sounds like you are doing all you can do to max it out.

Sure, a gold challenge will get more points faster but only available once but if these meetings post quickly, you won't need it.

I think you need a checkout for all the room nights to post and bump you up to the next level, so you might want to monitor that closely and do a checkin / checkout rather than run 26 consecutive nights.

But if you stay 30 or more consecutive nights, you could get the occupancy / sales taxes refunded, which could be a chunk of change if you are paying for this personally, the extra points would pale in comparison.

You are leaving a ton of points on the table by not charging your stays to the credit card though but perhaps there are reasons like being forced to use a Company card or credit issues.

Good luck with your new hobby!

Thanks for the info. That's what I gathered when I called as well. Going forward I will be just doing 5-7 night stays instead of the long term consecutive ones. As joshua said, the credit card option is not available to me.

We are required to use a company card for our lodging, has nothing to do with credit issues.