Potentially a sily question, but if it is possible, I know that someone out here will have the answer! I have a Marriott credit card and earn a lot of points, so whenever I stay at Marriotts, I use my points as opposed to paying. Unfortunately, as far as I know, these stays do not count towards my Silver/Gold/Platinum status. Does anyone know how I might be able to acheive a higher status in my situation? Or, are there other hotel programs where I might be able to be recognized as a "preferred status" when using points for all of my stays? I usually reserve 50 - 100 hotel rooms per year. Thank in advance.

Both SPG and HHonors offer mid-level status for minimum spending levels on their Amex credit cards. HHonors is the only program where award stays count toward status qualification.

As UpgradeMe states, both HH and SPG cards can, if you spend enough get you to their mid-elite level. I do believe that just like the Marriott CCs get you Silver status, HH and SPG will bump you to at least their first level elite status as well (Silver for HH and Preferred Plus for SPG).

My suggestion is if you are getting points primarily through CC use, then you might find your best rate of return with the SPG Amex card. There is an active thread in this forum right now where some are actually discussing the benefits/differences between HH/SPG/MR and the discussion includes the use of CCs.

BTW, how much are you spending on your CC to get 50-100 free nights a year? Even a lowly Cat 1 hotel costs 40K for 7 nights. For 100 nights a year that is 14 of those award or 560K points. If you are spending more than 500K or more a year on your card, you might want to really look at other non-hotel affiliated cards (i.e. AmEx, Diners, etc) to see if one of those might actually get you more than a hotel affiliated card will.