I'm pretty seasoned when it comest to frequent flyers programs, but I'm a frequent stay virgin. I rarely stay at hotels, and when I do I shop mostly on price.

Now however there's a possibility I'll stay at at a Fairfield Inn property for about 22 nights. I've read the MR website and have the following questions:

1) It seems I would get 10 MR points per "dollar spent on room rate only". Will I get points for the taxes as well, or just for the base rate? If I use some premium pounds certs, will I get points based on the rate before or after applying the PPs?

2) I would get silver status after 10 nights. I assume the status kicks in immediately and I would start getting the 20% bonus from the 11th night. Is this correct?

3) Considering I would stay for over 20 nights, is there any chance they will advance the silver status? Failing that, is there any chance to have my 1K status on United matched?

Thanks in advance .

1) Room rate only - not taxes sorry, PP certs will not reduce the amount of points earned
2) I'm not positive but I dont believe the bonus will kick in until your next stay
3) doubtful

1 You will only get points for money spent not on tax. If you are like me and visit the pantry and buy ice cream you do get points for that.

2 simply ask the front desk after you 10th night to settle your account. They will be able to post points and nigths for you.

3 You may want to call customer relations and ask them for a Platinum Challange. They will some times give you a challange if you stay 18 nights in 90 days you can be given status.

Good luck and welcome!

Another option to fairly quickly getting Silver status is to get one of the Marriott branded CCs. The regular Visa and the Business card come with an automatic upgrade to Silver and the Premier Visia comes with 15 nights added to your yearly total (so you get Silver automatically there also, plus your well on your way to Gold.)

Plus if you get the CCs and use them to pay for your stay, you will get even more points. ^

Including the taxes.

As this member is staying at a Fairfield Inn, they will not earn any incidental credit.

Thank you all for the replies ^

Unfortunately I'm not currently residing in the US so it would be difficult to be accepted for a MR visa. (I do have a SSN and some US credit history, in fact have a bunch of Chase CCs. So I might give it a shot).

You can get a UK MR Visa...

Definitely pick up the Visa - that'll push you up to 16 pts/$ (using rough 2-to-1 exchange rate), assuming you get the card before your stay. You'll be Silver from the get-go, not that it really matters a whole lot at FI.

The whole "base rate" stuff means no points on incidentals at FI - not really a huge issue as you can't really do much incidental volume at an FI anyway. Candy bars? Sodas? I think that's about it. (Do any of them charge for WiFi?)

They should post Premium Pounds as a credit, thus you'd earn points and pay taxes on the full base rate of the stay. Sometimes they goof and post it as an adjustment - which means you earn points and pay taxes on a lower amount. In most places, this is roughly a wash - I don't bug them about it because it simply causes more confusion at check-out. The Premium Pounds itself will likely confuse them. I've actually had to explain the concept of foreign currency to front desk clerks in the past.

To apply for our Marriott Rewards Platinum Visa card you must be over 18, have a permanent UK address, a good credit record and regular income

Its earning potential looks to be more than the base US Visa but less than the US Premier Visa. Overall, not a bad compromise and with no annual fee to boot.

Unfortunately I'm not a UK resident either. I've applied for the US card - I doubt I'll be approved but there's nothing to lose.

I have another newbie question. The corporate rate I'd be using is cheaper than the regular weekday rate, but more expensive than the regular weekend rate. Is it possible to book weekends at the weekend rate, and weekdays at the corporate rate? (if necessary all the stays could be booked independently, but would be consecutive).

I was upgraded to gold on Tuesday of last week in the middle of a Sunday - Thursday stay and received the 25% bonus instead of my previous 20%. Didn't need to check out/in

If you get a gold (12 nights) or platinum challenge (18 nights), they will give you silver while you complete it. email flyertalk at marriott.com

Yes, you can do that. It is easier if you call the reservation line.

If you want to do it online, you can make each reservation separately. (i.e. weekend with one rate, weekdays with the other rate under a separate reservation.) After that you can call Marriott reservations and have them plug the two reservations together under one reservation #. Or if you want, you can wait until you check in and let the front desk know that you have two separate but contiguous reservations and don't want to have to check in/out during your stay.

Either way shouldn't be too big an issue.

You could also ask them to do this at the front desk when you check in, and they'll probably do it for you. In any event, you should be able to accomplish this one way or the other.