Hi,

I am on a gold challenge, which was to do 12 nights in 3 months, but I'm only going to manage 10. Has anyone had any luck phoning up and sweet talking/begging for completion of the goal despite not quite making the criteria? I'm only bothered as we will be honeymooning this year with a few stays at marriott in the US.

As an aside in a recent work trip in China I was informed at check-in as I was achieving 40 nights with marriott that I would receive a gift, I didn't get anything. Has anyone experienced this "40 night gift" and you think it would be worth complaining about?

In eight years, I never received a gift for 40 nights.

Maybe forty nights in China?

I don't have experience trying to get Marriott to let me have Gold even though I didn't quite meet the "Fast Track" requirements. My best guess is that if you don't get the nights, you won't get the status. I'm not sure why Marriott would want to give out the status unless you can show you can meet their requirements.

As for the 40 night perk, are you talking about 40 nights at that specific hotel? 40 nights in a single year? 40 nights ever at Marriott hotels? I've never heard of the 40 night thing, but I have heard of some hotels providing small trinkets for persons who have stayed a significant number of nights at that hotel. I had that happen to me at the Wuhan Ren after I had stayed there about 75+ nights in about a year's period. But that is up to the hotel itself, not Marriott and there is nothing forcing them to give you anything. So if they do, great. Enjoy it and thank them. If they don't, enjoy your stays and thank them for those instead.

Find the cheapest property/rate you can find & do 2 more nights. I've never heard of them granting status if you didn't hit the criteria for the challenge. Good luck.

Cheers.

Did you, by any chance, hold a meeting at the hotel?

Elite nights from meetings don't count for challenges.

No, but it might explain the 40 night "gift" if he had 4 meetings.

Where are you located? We might help with good regional deals.

^ I've never read of anyone not meeting a challenge with any hotel chain and being given the status challenge.

In a case like yours, where I'm scrambling to get a few extra nights to complete a promotion, I think up discretionary trips:

• 1-2 nights each
• Someplace I'd like to visit-- in a city, on a beach, near a park, near a friend
• Priced reasonably for me

These mini-vacations are enjoyable and help me complete the promotion.

Not often but I've had to do a couple nights (not necessarily consecutive). I just find the cheapest place close to home that don't require travel. Book it, check in, go home (or stay at hotel if you want to), head home the next day.

Cheers.

Thanks for the replies guys!

Based in Glasgow, Scotland so the closest marriotts are in Glasgow and Edinburgh and are looking about �80 a night before my challenge expires mid feb so I'm not sure it's worth it for the gold status? Totally understand marriott won't just give it away but sometimes you get lucky!

In terms of the 40 nights thing it was my 40th ever night as a member and 40th night in Shanghai but split over 2 hotels. The one which mentioned the "gift" was the Pudong East. I thought it very odd as well but didn't push them at the time as had a good stay there.

If you're going to be staying at Marriotts in the next year, having exec lounge access for free brekkie, beer/wine, appetizers or free brekkie in the restaurants if there isn't a lounge could be worth the �160 investment.

The challenge is one of the few things that Marriott is pretty firm on; you don't hit it, you don't get the status.

Cheers.

There are two ways to look at what you're getting for �160.

One, if you're doing what Sharon suggested above, is known an mattress run. You don't care about staying at the hotel; you're just in it for the status and/or points. Then the full cost of those nights is simply the price you pay to buy status.

The other, if you take my approach above, is to actually go somewhere and enjoy your stay. Then the cost of the hotel bill is not simply an exercise in buying status. You're getting the value of the trip itself. The cost of status is merely the difference between the MR hotel bill and what you were otherwise willing to pay for that trip (e.g., maybe you would have stayed at a cheaper hotel for �120 instead of �160 for two nights, making �40 the price of status).

That would be my solution - a quick weekend getaway somewhere. It's off season right now so rooms aren't priced too high. If you can find a cheap flight, make it a mini-vacation. London, Paris, Brussels, etc.