I woke up to a nice surprise this morning. It seems that Marriott really does use a "rolling year" to calculate your elite status.

I only had about 50 nights in Marriotts last year. I've been doing more international travel for the last couple of years and couldn't stay at Marriotts nearly as much as in the past. I have about 16 nights so far for this year and just had my new Marriott Premier Visa post the extra 15 nights for a total of 31 for this year. According to the Platinum help line, I now have more than 75 total nights within the last 365 days.

And this actually answers a couple of my questions around the 15 nights for the Visa card. It seems they treat those nights just like any other night. They count toward elite status and toward those lifetime goals. I now have enough points and nights for lifetime Gold. And only lack a few points and nights for lifetime Platinum. Though I have to wait until next year for 12 years in the program.

So I'm in a fairly good mood to start this week off.

Chip

You're not the only one in a good mood...I had 38 nights from July-Dec of last year and hit my 12th night of this year last week. Just got gold for the first time this morning...platinum, here I come!

See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=398326

Mods - I recommend merging this thread into the already long one discussing this topic.

This morning, login into Marriott.com, silver status has been changed to platium, so far this year 43 night, not too much last year. I was thinking how and where to get 7 nights more to become a gold, but suddenly without any effort it turns to platium.

Please see my post in the thread about the new Visa card:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...47#post5531747

WOW! Same here. ^

I had missed requalifying for Gold last year by just a couple nights, so sank to silver on 1 March but have been continuing to stay at about the pace from last year, so had about 48 nights on the "rolling year". The 15 nights from the Premier card pushed me to over 60, and maybe that's why they gave me Platinum instead of Gold?

Well, whatever the reason was, I'm delighted! Just hope it stays that way.

Well, then, I guess you'll soon be changing your info:

Congrats!

OH-so-thank-U for the reminder, Counsellor !
However, it reminds me of last Halloween when we were all 'upgraded' to PC Royal Ambassadors for 24 hours by a computer error . Now Marriott does this in the week of April Fools' Day!

Uuuhhhhhh.... I just checked into a Marriott about 20 minutes ago. At check-in, they asked me "Would you like bonus points or your Platinum Gift?"

I'm thinking "I'm Gold, and I have no idea what the gift is." So I say "bonus points", thinking maybe they're just being nice to me since I stay here all the time.

On a hunch, I decided to log in to my account and see. Sure enough...Platinum! ^ My 15 nights posted about a week ago, but those 15 nights don't give me 75, even with rolling calendar. Only thing I can think of is that the 15 nights do give me about 40 nights since about October, so maybe that triggered a bump in status.

I had been beginning to "sleep around" on Marriott a bit with Starwood: this will certainly cause me to be more faithful.

So what is that gift, anyway? (Yeah...I know...I'll do a search. )

I guess

Well, so far, it's looking like the best $65 I've spent in a long, long time.

It'll be even better if I can find my way to Doral at some point in the next few months...

Congrat's on your new status!
The Platinum gift is a choice of beverage....beer, wine, water or soft drinks as well as a choice of snack.....usually cheese, fruit, nuts, pretzels or something unique to the location.....delivered to your room.
I always chose the Platinum gift as I've got mega points and prefer the beverage/snack.

Cool....that's good to know. When we do our next weekend getaway at a Marriott, we'll opt for the gift - from my searches, it seems that a half-bottle of wine is a common gift. ^ This time, it's just me traveling alone...on business...so 500 Marriott points is fine with me.

Ooo...just updated my FT profile. Platinum!

OK, today I'm Gold again.

In the past calendar month, I've been Gold, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and now Gold again.

Anyone else get busted down to Gold today?

The Silver demotion was incorrect, so I wrote them an email and they fixed it.

Now I'm guessing that the Platinum promotion might have been by accident, so I don't think I have much of a case to email them about it. I probably should have taken that 1/2 bottle of wine yesterday, as I doubt I'll ever see the 500 points.

Arggh...I'll have to edit my profile. Again.

Just noticed that I am also back down to Gold... When I first noticed Platinum, it said "30 nights so far, 20 more to maintain Platinum". Then it was "45 more to maintain Platinum". (ok, they got me -- but at least I'm still Plat!)
Now the status says
Elite membership level: Gold
Additional nights needed to maintain Gold: 45
Additional nights needed to achieve Platinum: 0
Nights stayed this year: 30

Obviously this is a work in progress.