IMO, being granted Plat while being a few nights short isn't a whole lot different than a LTP that hasn't come close to earning it "the right way" in 10+ years or whatever (especially since most of the stories of people being granted Plat despite not fulfilling the BIB night requirement are only a few nights short and typically had been Plat for a few years prior, and thus would have still at least qualified for Gold which of course still has Lounge access. Unless your argument is that Gold should not have lounge access).

The fact that LT status exists is likely just as guilty of clogging up lounges as some of the other reasons. I mean it's common sense...as more time goes on, there will be more and more people with LT status. And thus likely more and more people using the lounges.

Definitely some good points made. Although I'd like to argue that 20 years of 100+ BIB nights should count for something.

Can't speak for everyone but since retiring from business travel almost 2 years ago, I've had exactly 10 FS Marriott nights. No upgrades and poor quality lounges / closed lounges - no weekend breakfasts for my troubles. Woe is me!

You don't even have to be close, sometimes.

I earned BiB PLT in 2013 for 2014.

In 2014, I got to 75 nights by way of BiB, rollover, and the credit card, so PLT for 2015.

In 2015, I had 18 nights total, made up of 15 from the credit card, 1 for the credit card free night, and 2 nights on an award stay. So no paid nights at all. And they still extended me PLT for the 2016 year.

I think the "clogged up lounge" is more of a property issue than anything. I feel like I'm in an overcrowded lounge on maybe 1 out of 10 full-service stays. The rest of the time, the lounge is semi-busy in the morning and pretty empty at night.

Sometimes I'm the only person in the lounge. Or it's me plus one hotel employee.

Either there are fewer total elites out there than Flyertalk thinks, or most elites simply don't care to spend a ton of time in the lounge. I suspect it's a little of both. I also think that when you *do* run into a crowded lounge, the crowd is almost 100% actual frequent travelers who have "real" status. The comps are an edge case, statistically-speaking.

Once you hit Platinum Lifetime your always gonna be Platinum Lifetime unless you start transferring your points to a spouse. You don't need to have any stays.

I'm nowhere near lifetime platinum, unless they've changed the requirements. I'm over 600 nights, but only 750K lifetime points.

That seems hard to do! Mostly Execustay? Or a really good rate at Residence Inn?

We have to start by building a real platinum program. A big, beautiful, powerful platinum program. Nobody builds a real platinum program better than me, believe me. And I'll build them very inexpensively. That will be yuge.

And make the Golds pay for it!

Not terribly. Majority of stays in half-point properties (e.g. RI, as you mentioned, as well as TPS), perhaps on Gov rates. No MR credit card, and maybe only sporadic Megabonus quals. I really upped my point game there for awhile, but was in a similar situation not too long ago.

FTFY.

Do you have the new Chase Sapphire Reserve card? It has a 100,000 point sign up bonus you can transfer to Marriott Rewards. In order to get the 100,000 points you put $4,000 on the card in 3 months, BUT be sure to go into a Chase branch office to apply. The online offer is gone. If you want that card I think the in branch offer for 100,000 points goes away after March 1st. Someone here might know for sure. I got the card myself when the offer first came out and LOVE it