I stand corrected - thanks! There are definitely references to "Marquis Platinum" in that thread by people wondering what would happen to them. I remember red/gold/black, and striving for black as (I thought) it was the highest level, which was in '99/00 - the last year of the Marquis program. But apparently, there was another magical level still above me at that time .

Thanks for the info everyone!

So next year when I get my 12 year's I'll get downgraded to Life Plat?

Interesting point is that my father who used to travel extensively (every week) and has only traveled 1 -2 weeks a year for 10+ now was given a Life Plat out of the blue. He was also an original program member.

Based on the facts I can travel zero nights next year (i.e. I've got all the other stats already) and get Life Plat status, which is kind of ironic.

What you might not have realized is that your father might have attained the last criteria that he needed to "get him over the top" for Lifetime Platinum. It was not that he was only staying small amounts in the last few years, maybe it was his 1000th night, or maybe it was his 3,000,000th point, or maybe it was his 12th year as a member of MR. If you really want to know, call MR and ask.

The answer is "none of the above." It was reported in this forum that any of the original Honored Guests members that signed up in the first year were granted Lifetime Platinum by a one-time decree of Mr. Marriott. This happened a year or two ago.

Hey, I did say "MIGHT"

Lifetime Plat is crazy!

Seems like I've spent more then my fare share of time in a hotel (except this last year was light) and I'm at:
596 nights
just under 1,000,000 points
but my start date is 2000 so I've got 5 more years to go. I'm sure I'll be past 800 nights by then but 2 million points will be a stretch (too many cheap hotels).

I just called MR and they could only tell me my sart date (1997) but could not tell me total nights or total points. Was it just the MR person or am I missing something?

And Plat is 3 million points I do believe. Also, even though a lot of folks here lament the bonus offers (or lack thereof) from Marriott, they do roll a couple of those out a year. So 70-100K bonus points a year shouldn't be too hard to drum up.

In the last year alone, and not counting the 500 pt Plat bonus, the 30% Plat bonus or the currently running Megabonus promo, I have a little more than 100K of "bonus" points. And those points aren't really tied to "higher" end properties. If you are staying enough to make Plat each year, then you should be able to reach Lifetime Gold easily by your 12th year in the program.

Call again. Whoever you talked with probably didn't know how to look it up. I have call in a number of times to find my lifetime totals.

Lifetime Gold seems achievable if someone does 12 years of earning Platinum the "hard" way (i.e. by staying nights), but Lifetime Platinum is pretty much unobtainable without some additional earning mechanism like the Visa card, which at present is only available in UK, USA and Canada (and most people agree the Canadian one is not a great value).

Greg

Good point on the CC. I have to admit that I do make quite a bit extra using the Premier card. ^

But I do have question (and I have no idea what the answer is.) Can persons outside of your listed countries optain a Visa card? I'm not talking about a Marriott branded one. I'm just wondering about any old Visa card. If so, then given that the last few years, Marriott has been running about 2 Megabonus promos each year, 40 nights during the right time of the year, should net an extra 70K to a Plat/Gold. Over 12 years, that alone will almost make up the 1 million extra points needed for LT Plat over LT Gold. Granted Marriott may very well not be running the Megabonus twice a year for the next 12 years, but there is a good chance that they will have other bonus point promos to take their place. So even without a Marriott branded CC, with today's bonus point promos, LT Plat is doable over a 12 year period. (Though I don't argue that it would take a lot of nights in hotels and some bonus point planning, but it should be doable even if one is not staying at FS properties all the time.)

I don't disagree with you; I will make it next year (with 5 more stays) with just a little extra help - the 15 night bonus for the credit card for a couple of years. Otherwise I did it all "the hard way".

Bruce

If room rates continue to go up each year the number of points earned on a constant number of room nights will increase over time. Five years from now we might expect that a $200 per night room rate will be considered very cheap. The average might be $350. If that is the case you would earn 13 points per dollar or 4550 points per night. In other words inflation will make the points easier. The 1,000 nights will remain hard to achieve.

No one said that you HAVE to become LIFETIME PLATINUM! It is certainly not a requirement! Becoming LP is voluntary, with the main benefit being that after achieving LP, you no longer must maintain 75 nights per year in order to retain your Platinum membership/benefits. There are lots of people who have attained LP, and lots who feel it is not crazy, and by the time that they reach 12 years, they have already far surpassed 1,000 nights and 2 million points.