CJKatl

But the quote does not mention benefits, only qualification and notice. While PP is mentioned in the qualifications section there is nothing in the benefits section indicating the level receives PP benefits; only the rule that LT status gets "only" S, G or P benefits.

To avoid having MR LTP being given the same title as MR LTG. Putting the question the other way, why would Marriott create a level with better benefits for those who have already achieved LT status while not allowing those still working towards that status to ever achieve the better benefits? That never made sense, but if the benefits are actually the same it makes more sense. Why would Marriott have not originally included SPG members in LTPP? If there are no additional benefits it makes more sense.

Marriott is notorious for being lazy, careless and casual with assigning level names. Why did they use PP to mean what it does in the new program when it meant something else in the old program? Why did they stick to "Gold" when it meant one thing in one program, a different thing in the other program and something else in the new program? Why didn't they just start from scratch with Bunnies, Elk, Bulls and Vultures or whatever other than recycling names?

Again, what we need is clarity, not additional assumptions where people rationalize why what Marriott has not stated is correct and why the consistent information put forward is wrong. Until Marriott gives a clear statement I'm going to pay attention to what they have stated and not what others assume without proof.

MSPeconomist

CJKatl

Just to state the obvious, your PP with Ambassador is based on current, not LT status. I have no current status, only LTPP and it shows I have P benefits. That seems to be the consistent experience for those without current PP status.

phltraveler

PP was an unpublished status that most hotel staff were not educated about. People joked about how the PP benefits page was a 404 (HTTP error code for "file not found", as in the document linked didn't actually exist). This is different. The 75 night level as a distinct level with published criteria to qualify and benefits to exist is now public as new PP, unlike old PP. It's not even like there was a page under legacy MR saying "The exact benefits of PP are not published, but it's invitation only and provides exclusive invite only benefits to our top customers". A lot of hotels didn't just know any better.

New PP provides for a few things under the terms, namely for now, the Mileageplus status match to silver (under the RewardsPlus terms), the 75% bonus on points vs. 50% on plat [50 night level], upgrade consideration at Ritz Carlton (only mentioned in the T&Cs, not the benefit charts), and the 48 hour guarantee virtually no one uses because $$$$ rack rates.

To try to argue the migration of the 75 night level to a new name with published benefits/existence is the same about the double secret probation secret unpublished status of PP which had no published benefits or existence and they just sent you a solar charger or whatever once a year is apples and oranges...

Yes, the debate is not current status showing properly, it's over what level should be showing to LTPPs who have not hit the current PP criteria of 75 nights a year.

To be clear to others: @CJKatl position is per terms, that by the "letter of the law" (de facto), there may be a higher rank in title only (LTPP vs LTP) where LTPP only confers the benefits of current plats, minus the SNAs/choice benefit, and therefore LTPP confers no benefit over LTP. If this were true, it would serve as an explanation as to why many people have reported showing as current plat/LTPP, and that this may be an intended behavior explicitly sanctioned and intended by Marriott.

MSPeconomist

lockman21

I earned natural Platinum for 2018 in 2017 and am still showing as regular Platinum.

I've spent literally hours on the phone yesterday and now today trying to correct this. Normally I would give it some more time, but I have quite a few stays (including one I'm checked in to currently and another one tomorrow) over the next few weeks, including a vacation with my girlfriend that I want to ensure we have the right status so I can hopefully be upgraded (and I want to have the 48-hour guarantee as I'm not quite sure where exactly we're going yet...)

It took quite a while for me to actually get someone on the phone that understood the error. I got the same from multiple people - "Well, you only have 51 nights so far this year, so you're a Platinum, not Platinum Premier". I had to articulate multiple times that I earned the PP status last year for 2018. Finally, I got someone that understood, and she said she noted in the system that I should be PP, but she believed that all I had to do was combine my SPG and Marriott accounts and the system would click over to show my PP status. So I did that late last night...it still shows the same Platinum.

I just now spent 45 minutes on hold before getting someone that told me Platinum Premier doesn't even exist anymore unless you achieve it with lifetime status. Since I don't have Lifetime yet, she said Platinum is the highest level I can achieve. She said 10 nights is Silver, 50 nights is Gold, 75 is Platinum Elite and PP is only if you have 10+ years and achieved Lifetime status. So, it seems like they didn't even properly brief their own employees with what the new program is.

kmersh

Not just Marriott almost all companies do not properly train their front line folks.

AndWhatsYourPoint

Another Data Point...

I'm a legacy Marriott Lifetime Platinum Elite (2M Points/750 Nights) and I also have 14 years as Marriott Platinum. By any measure I should now be Platinum Premier Elite, but everywhere on the Marriott site and in the App I show as Lifetime Platinum Elite.

So I called the Platinum line and was lucky enough to get someone in Salt Lake City. She told me that she shows me as Lifetime Platinum Elite but does see all of my points/nights/years and said I should be Lifetime Platinum Premier Elite. She said they are hoping most of the issues are resolved automatically by the end of the week and the agents have been instructed not to change anything in the users accounts.

I asked her what was going to be done if my upcoming three stays are credited incorrectly when it comes to bonus points and she said if the issue isn't resolved before my stays that once the system is stable it's going to go back through and look for stays since the software merger and make retroactive adjustments where necessary. She said if that fails we'll fix them manually once they're brought to our attention.

I asked her about the rumors I'm hearing online that the upgrade to LTPP for those that had already earned LTP prior to the merger, or those that make it by the end of the year, is nothing but in name only and they are not going to receive any of the upgraded benefits and she chuckled and said no, LTPP is no different than any other lifetime status, and that you get all of the benefits of that status unless a particular benefit has additional stipulations, like the 50/75 qualified night Annual Gift Choice.

She really felt good about most of the big issues being fixed by the end of the week and then the agents could dig in and fix individual issues that the system missed. She told me if my account status isn't resolved by the start of next week to give them a call back and see if the agents have been given more leeway to make adjustments.

So that's what I was just told. Is any of it true? Only time will tell.

UA-NYC

This is why you can treat nonsense like "marketing materials" and non-updated T&Cs as gospel...

RobOnLI

Not to mention that Marriott would not have left the door open for additional Lifetime Platinum Premier Elites through the end of 2018 (to be notified in January 2019) if there was no additional benefit to Lifetime Platinum Premier elite.

I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume that whoever programmed the switch to Lifetime Platinum Premier Elite also programmed the switch to "current" level elite and that all of us who are Lifetime Platinum Premier Elite will get notified in January...meaning we stay at Platinum unless we already have over the requisite nights for Platinum Premier (75+) or Platinum Premier + Ambassador. Someone is going to go have to write code to do a full database sweep now and figure out that all of us who show Lifetime Platinum Premier elite should be elevated to that status TODAY.

I'll give them until the end of the week but I have non-stop travel still occurring and while Plat vs Plat Premier hasn't gypped me out of any benefits yet (e.g. upgrades), once my stays start posting I will be expecting the 75% bonus.

Properties cannot see lifetime status without manually checking your account. They can only see "current" status as dictated by the Marriott Rewards system. Therefore, again, no reason to designate anyone Lifetime Platinum Premier if their current status isn't going to match that.

Lastly - as someone else rightfully pointed out, the whole point of lifetime status is so that you have it and receive the benefits of it regardless of how many stays you make in a year. Our lifetime Plat status ensured we never dropped below Plat. The same will be true for Lifetime Platinum Premier once they fix this error.

-RM

jeanie

Thank you for your post. I am in a similar situation. I have over 750 nights and 2 million points in the old MR, and my lifetime status is showing as Lifetime Platinum in the new program as well. They accidentally listed me as PP with Ambassador at first. But they fixed that mistake, and now I am PP. But they haven't fixed the LTPP status yet.

Please post updates on what happens with your status.

msp3

I wasn't thinking clearly at the time. 25 is only old Gold at SPG, not old Gold at Marriott now that I think about it...

MSPeconomist

C17PSGR

There seems to be a lot of postings on different threads for people seeing a status showing they have an ambassador when they didn't qualify and at least a couple showing a rollback. Curious on that Five Star status as well to see if it gets rolled back.

UA-NYC

PLEASE do not believe this FUD spread by a single poster on FT...no basis in reality. LTPP has PP benefits (save SNAs).