Hi All.

It doesn't make any business sense to me, but Marriott refuses to grant any sort of Status Match Challenge.

We are Hilton Diamond and already have over 20 nights this year. I asked Marriott for some sort of status challenge and they refused.

I wasn't asking for a status match.... just a challenge.

At the pace we are at now, we will have 240 nights at the Hilton properties.

I would have thought Marriott would have liked to try to steal us away from Hilton....... but no dice.

Anyone else been turned down for a status challenge ?

Sounds wrong - have you called them to ask about a "Taste of Platinum" challenge?

No. I didn't speak to them on the phone, it was via the Marriott Rewards Forum Board.

They were very "matter of fact" about the refusal. Not nasty... but firm.

What number can I call to try to get to someone who has some business sense?

Besides the pretty large number of nights they will miss out on, we always have a fair amount of spend at the hotel.

We have a Hilton Citi visa card and spend $40K-50K every year on the card and would consider getting the Marriott card, but they have to "want" us.

Even if we can't get a challenge for a Platinum, we wouldn't mind the Gold level, as those perks are pretty close to the Platinum level.

Thanks !

It's nearly impossible to get the taste of platinum challenge these days. But you can definitely still get the road to platinum challenge

So who do we need to call to get the platinum challenge ?

Is there a special rewards program number ?

You need to ask about the "Road to Challenge", not Taste. Also, don't mention status match or the word status as Marriott doesn't do that & so the denial is probably based on the status match verbiage. It confuses the issue a bit.

The taste of challenge has basically gone away, and was only granted by HQ & not the Marriott cust svc reps. Taste of gave you the bennies whilst you completed the challenge.

With the road challenge you won't get any of the bennies (other than i-net) until you meet the requirements of the challenge.

It also helps if you have some Marriott reservations already made when you request the road to Gold or Plat challenge so they can see you'll be staying. Might help them to a yes answer. You might want to ask for Gold challenge. A few less stays to get to it, you get most of the bennies & based on your stay pattern you'd hit Platinum anyway. I think it's easier for someone who's a basic member of Marriott to ask for Gold vs. Plat.

Be polite, don't do the you'd think you'd want my bizness thing, etc. Whether true or not you could say you're a bit disillusioned w/ Hilton & have heard good things about Marriott, etc.

I think this is the number for Marriott Rewards cust svc # in US/Canada 1 801 468 4000

Cheers.

OP, I'm in the same boat as you (see my other thread). I have called multiple times but no luck (they were polite but also very firm, no wiggle room). Do post on how your call goes -- hopefully you have better luck.

Sharon, Thank you for the number.

I called and was politely told that Marriott considered itself a much better brand than the Hilton Chain and therefore they would not consider offering any sort of challenges to Hilton Honors members.

WHAT !!?? This is crazy.... why would you leave money sitting on the table when you have absolutely nothing to lose except a great customer.

Maybe it was just that rep, so I may try back again in hopes of getting a different Rep. But the response almost seemed scripted.

Ok, when you call again don't mention Hilton (or any other chain). Don't mention status match at all.

Make some reservations (even if they're dummy ones you can cancel) so they can see you have stays coming up & say you'd like to do a gold challenge, as you intend to stay at Marriott in the future a lot.

BTW - not all hotel chains do status matches or challenges, so if Marriott has decided not to do so now it's not alone.

But good luck!

Cheers.

Thanks again Sharon !

I'll report back after the next call.