As we approach the end of the year, many people are reviewing their hotel stays and checking to see if they’ve achieved the desired status level with their award program. If they haven’t, they may be considering a “mattress run” to earn the necessary points to reach the next status level.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a mattress run is not actually running with a mattress (although I bet there are more than a few people who would do that for certain hotel statuses). It means booking stays at a hotel, that you otherwise wouldn’t have, to get the stay credits and qualify for loyalty program status. In short, it’s paying for status.
Reading social media posts, many people are asking if it would make sense to do a mattress run if they’re only a few nights short of the next tier.
While many people will give advice about how to achieve those nights for the least amount of spending, there are more important questions:
- Which program are you talking about?
- What level are you looking to reach?
- How much time and money will it take to reach your goal?
- How often will you stay with that hotel chain in the upcoming year?
- What will you get out of the status?
The incremental benefits of each status level are different for each hotel chain. There’s a big difference between Hilton Silver and Gold status, while not much difference between Gold and Diamond. While there’s a big difference between Marriott Gold and Platinum status, some frequent travelers will also benefit from being Titanium instead of Platinum when it comes to getting a better room. Here’s a post with what I feel are the sweet spots of each hotel loyalty program.
Hyatt’s Globalist status is highly sought after by frequent travelers. To achieve this status, individuals who plan on staying with Hyatt frequently in the upcoming year may benefit from paying for a few nights at a lower-priced Hyatt before the end of the year. This will result in attaining Globalist benefits on every stay in 2024. Additionally, Hyatt Globalist members also do mattress runs to earn additional milestone awards, as shown in this example by Nick from Frequent Miler.
If you’re wondering, spending money to reach low-level status with any hotel program is rarely worthwhile.
Unless you’re a frequent traveler or road warrior who spends months of the year in hotel rooms, I can’t see how spending money for status makes much sense. For the occasional upgrade, you could always pay for a better room or lounge access instead of doing a mattress run for status and hoping for an upgrade. But if you’re close to the valuable status level you’ll use next year, it makes sense to book a few cheap stays before the end of December to reach that next level.
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1 comment
The AX Marriott Business + Chase Ritz-Carlton cards each give me 15 elite night credits and 1 free night certificate, equalling 32 qualifying nights. That means staying 18 nights, paid or on points, give me Platinum status each year. I was Titanium for 3 years but saw no improvement over my 11 years as Platinum.