We never planned on getting Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite status. I was proud that we weren’t limited by having status and could book whichever hotel was the best for every trip, independent from worrying about losing out on a complimentary breakfast or suite upgrade.
Over the years, we ended up having limited hotel status from holding certain credit cards, but I did nothing to earn it besides paying an annual fee. Since lower tier status provides little more than free Wi-Fi and not getting a room over the dumpster, I didn’t base my hotel decisions around it.
In 2018 Marriott Rewards (now Marriott Bonvoy) merged with the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) loyalty program. With night credits from having both SPG and Marriott credit cards combined with our hotel stays that year, we reached Platinum Elite status.
We enjoyed the benefits of that status for the rest of 2018 and all of 2019, including five nights at the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel London, where I used our suite night upgrade to stay in a Junior Suite on points.
I knew we’d be nowhere near the 50 nights required to requalify and was ready for the downgrade. It never happened.
Just as we were due to drop back to Gold Premier status, Marriott Bonvoy issued additional night credits to members during the pandemic. This gave us enough nights for status in 2020.
In 2021, Marriott made it even easier to keep Platinum Elite status. We received an automatic 25-night bump for having Platinum status and 30-night credits for having both a personal and business Marriott Bonvoy co-brand credit card. That gave us Platinum Elite status for all of 2021 and 2022.
Once again, it looked like our status merry-go-round would end in 2023. We wouldn’t have enough night credits to requalify in 2022 so our status would end in early 2023. That was until Marriott announced that a new benefit of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant AMEX was 25-night credits (up from 15) and automatic Platinum Elite status.
While we’d already have Platinum Elite status, there are some perks for meeting the 50-night threshold. With a free night stay from our credit card, we just hit 50 nights.
We’re officially Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite through the end of 2023. That may finally be the end of the line.
I don’t plan on keeping the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card as it’s not worth the increased annual fee. We might be able to squeak an additional year of Platinum Elite status since Marriott credits the credit card nights at the beginning of the year, so we’ll be starting with 40 nights in 2023 and will only need an additional 10 paid or award nights.
Considering I’ve put little effort since 2018 into keeping Marriott Platinum Elite status, it’s not hard to let it go. I’ll have to see if we notice any difference without having status to know if it was worth it.
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