At SPG, you need 10 stays or 25 for all but the last year of your life to get lifetime gold. Or buy an SVO timeshare and pay maintenance fees for every year of your life. Same for Hilton.

Marriott is a better deal.

Odd - this is what I got when I emailed Marriott today. It looks like we have gotten different answers from the same people.



Thank you for contacting Marriott Rewards regarding Lifetime Elite status.

We have an Emeritus (Lifetime) status that offers Elite levels after certain criteria have been met.

Emeritus Platinum status is offered after the following qualifications are met:

Guest has been a member of Marriott Rewards program for 12 years, with at least one year at Platinum Elite.
Guest has stayed 1000 nights over the history of the Marriott Rewards account.
3,000,000 total points earned during the history of the account.

For Silver, the night requirement is 600 nights and the point requirement is 1,500,000.
For Gold, the night requirement is 800 nights and the point requirement is 2,000,000.

There is no way to request this status unless the qualifications have all been met.

So, having been marriott elite for the last 7 yrs, i still need to maintain some level of elite status for the next 5... even though have most likely already stayed >1000 nights (several stays at residence inns in which i went months on end without checking out - including >200 nights so far this year)?

Yes, every requirement for membership time, points earned, and nights stayed must be reached for lifetime elite status.

It does appear, however that the 12+ yrs can be non-consecutive; is that correct?

I don't think so. My understanding is you have to have made the elite status for only 1 year during the 12 years.

So if you were plat on year 1 and non-elite for the rest of the 12 years but somehow made the night and point requirement you would receive the emeritus status.

cool, thx. Sounds like my biggest challenge is actually the points-earning since so many of my nights have been at Residence Inns at deeply discounted rates.

You only need one year as a platinum member. It is mathematically impossible to qualify for lifetime status after twelve years without averaging more than 75 nights/year for twelve consecutive years. Of course, you could do this by spending 800 paid nights in 4 years and doing the additional 200 nights over the following 8 years. This is just one possible example where you might be silver for most of the time and still be able to get lifetime platinum, assuming you also earned 3 million points in that time period.

How do you check your lifetime points and night?

Call Marriott. In my experience it's better to call after January 1st as they have a running total that doesn't include the current year and that must be manually added. It's not a big deal but I figure to get the most accurate number it's easier to call after Jan 1st.

You need to call Marriott Rewards and ask them. They have all your stay info.

Marriott only updates their nights running total once a year, but you can figure out your night total by asking for the number of nights stayed at the end of 2006 and what your current night amount is for 2007. Then, you just add the two numbers up.

The lifetime point balance is constantly updated as you earn points.

You can also ask through the website, so you don't have to wait on hold. I got a response back in a few hours.

Another 'back door" opportunity toward "eternal" Starwood Gold status is keep paying $450 per year for an American Express Platinum card.

Also--just want to confirm that 15 nights per year towards elite status for Marrriott Visa card holders DO NOT count towards Marriott lifetime status?

Finally--has anyone come up with another way to get nights toward lifetime Marriott status without "heads in beds"? For example, do free nights using Marriott Reward points count?

Award stays do not count towards elite status (lifetime or yearly). The 15 nights received from the Premier card do count towards lifetime and yearly elite status. I assume the same is true if you have the regular Marriott card since it now gives 10 nights towards elite status. I don't think Marriott will let you earn 25 nights from having both cards.