Not traveling that much any more except for personal trips I find I am unable to gain status worth anything from CC points only. I do have SPG Gold and Hilton Gold but that isn't really anything to write home about. With an annual spend of around $800,000 I sure would like to find a way to funnel these into earning status somehow. Any ideas?

HILTON surpass card - with 40k spend you get diamond status.

IC Priority Club gives you Platinum just for having their credit card.

Which is worth even less than SPG Gold or Hilton Gold...

Hyatt card gives Platinum and Fairmont card gives Premier and also some other bennies after spending $12,000. Also, with a spend like that you could hit HHonors Diamond after putting $40,000 on Hilton Surpass, though. Platinum Delta Skymiles has Mile Boost feature that gives you extra 20,000 MQMs if you spend over $50K a year (if memory serves me). I'm sure there are some others.

You also get PLT status by accumulating enough points.

During a recent bonus offer I paid for 40K points, received a 20K bonus, and voila! I was a PLT.

AmEx Centurion charge card gives DL PM and SPG Gold.

The statement about DL is correct, plus you get one redeemable mile per dollar spent, two for DL purchases. The DL Plat AmEx credit card also has a lower threshold of 10,000 MQMs for $25,000 spend.

The DL Reserve card allows you to get 15,000 MQMs for $30,000 spend or 30,000 MQMs for $60,000 spend in a calendar year.

As others have pointed out, many cards grant you status based simply off of spending a certain level, you don't even need to use the points themselves to "buy" the status, which is a plus.

Marriott is great as well since you get one night credit for every $3,000 you spend.

Plus since they have a lifetime program, once you receive their plat status you have it for life and can move all your spending elsewhere. (provided that you have had 10 years in the Marriott program.

As far as airlines go you can just worry about racking up the miles instead of status since when you book C or F awards you pretty much get all the best benefits anyway.

I didn't realize that Fairmont received status with simple spend. Marriott's is way too high for $3000 = 1 night credit to get anything significant IMHO vs the Hilton is relatively easy at 40k for Diamond.

SPG to date doesn't have above Gold (Amex Platinum card with 30k spend).

Best way to Hyatt is 40k spend on Hilton, status match diamond, then get hyatt card for 2 free suite nights

Would love to hear more on the Fairmont status and nights.

edited

If I had 800k SPG points rolling in a year, I'd burn some to get to Diamond. I'd figure out how many nights shy of 50 I was and get to a town that has a Cat 1 hotel that offers 250 points/ night for declining housekeeping and book 3 rooms using points, checking in on a Saturday and phoning in my checkout. It would cost 17.25k (19k - 1750) points to earn each 7 nights toward Platinum. Given the SPG Amex gives you 5 nights toward status, the most points this strategy would cost for a 15 night Sat-Sat stay would be 108.75k. (Beforehand I'd chat with a hotel manager to ensure there's no issue with holding a room I'm paying for but unsure how long it will be before I return.)

After achieving Platinum I'd probably burn points on a local Cat 2 because I'd need a lot fewer nights to maintain the status.

If I had $800,000 to spend each year on credit cards, I'd pay out of my own huge pockets for my hotel rooms instead of worrying about how to get a free one. But that's just me.