Got Marriott status? It seems you will get a soft landing for 2023

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• Michael says:

  4 Jan4 January 05:44

  Off topic, I am an IHG Diamond Elite. If I book a room for a family member (I won’t be travelling with them), can they also benefit from Diamond status (free breakfast, upgrade etc)?

  • Rob says:

    4 Jan4 January 07:56

    Not if the hotel realises they are not you, no. Only Hyatt allows sharing of elite benefits and that is only on reward nights.

  • Dominic says:

    4 Jan4 January 08:29

    Slightly annoying as I’ll be committing a lot of nights early this year to gain Platinum, but I guess I’ve benefited a lot over COVID (and each of these years has counted towards Lifetime status, though you still need to make up the nights for that).

    • Harry T says:

      4 Jan4 January 09:03

      The years requirement is very annoying for lifetime status. I have over half the nights for LTP but only three of the years.

      • Rob says:

        4 Jan4 January 09:10

        Because of some weird counting when SPG was merged, I have the years but not the nights. I will hit 400 nights for Lifetime Gold this year (yay). I’ll be around 60 when I hit Lifetime Plat on this basis so the value won’t be huge!

        We need a Marriott Business Amex which would allow doubling up of card free nights as they have in the US – 30 free card nights per year would mean Plat with only 20 paid nights, which is a no brainer, and would quickly get me to LT Plat too …..

        • Stu P. says:

          4 Jan4 January 09:30

          The last few years both of my credit cards, the Amex and the old one which I can’t even remember who it was through (MBNA?) have added on 15 and 10 nights but this year only the AMEX. I guess they have got wise to this.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          4 Jan4 January 09:43

          Creation. And yes you’re only meant to get one set but never know could be more to come

        • Pangolin says:

          4 Jan4 January 14:15

          Similar with me. Double counting of SPG/Marriott means I’ve got 9 years as Platinum but just over 300 nights, so I’m barely halfway towards the target in terms of nights.

          I also get 15 nights from the CC each year.

          Given that I’m guaranteed to be Platinum for this year I’ll make it to 10 years LTP at the start of 2024 but am unlikely to be above ~350 nights.

  • JPa says:

    4 Jan4 January 23:59

    No problem for me in the Kimpton in New York earlier in the year. Wife is Diamond Elite, put myself as additional guest and didn’t even question if my wife was joining us and for the free brekkie.

    At a London Hilton booked a redemption for my daughter and got gold breakfast. That one is easier with digital keys and UK hotels don’t generally check ID anyway.

• Harry T says:

  4 Jan4 January 07:37

  Hopefully this is the last year where airlines and hotel companies extend status or prevent people from dropping very far, if they don’t put in the flights or the nights. Demand is very high anyway, so getting upgrades at hotels is fairly hard. I don’t think it’s fair for people who earned their status the hard way to be competing with people who barely exhibit any actual “loyalty”.

  Platinums are screwed anyway, as the Americans can get it from a credit card now.

  • Stu P. says:

    4 Jan4 January 09:07

    I know what you mean, however I think most, like myself, who “earned it”, would have ended up with a higher status due to the many promotions (double nights etc) and therefore still get the upgrade over someone who didn’t?

    Bit disappointing reading your second sentence though.

    • Rob says:

      4 Jan4 January 09:11

      To be fair, anyone who earned Plat has the Suite Night Awards which a soft lander will not.

• Norsksaint says:

  4 Jan4 January 08:54

  “Ambassador members had been told last year that their status would be protected and they wouldn’t drop further than Titanium.”

  We were?
  I must have missed that announcement. I know they have increased the thresholds this year to requalify as ambassador; didn’t realise I was protected – that’s why I love this site!

  • Harry T says:

    4 Jan4 January 09:02

    I wasn’t informed at all about the soft drop to Titanium. Luckily I got the required nights for Titanium in stays I actually wanted to do. I had no interest in requalifying for Amb.

    • Thegasman says:

      4 Jan4 January 10:04

      60 nights is a solid effort for a leisure traveler! I do think hotel programs have very heavy qualification stay criteria for status levels they give away with certain credit cards.

      35 nights for Platinum (assuming have Bonvoy Amex) is most peoples entire annual leave allowance vs an equivalent in airline terms of BAEC silver which is ~ 2 long haul business returns/year. If you can’t realistically achieve something then it’s not worth striving for.

      I actively choose BA to maintain BAEC Gold whereas I have no loyalty to Bonvoy as I get Gold through Amex Platinum (which gives no meaningful benefits to secure my booking) & Platinum is out of reach.

      • Pangolin says:

        4 Jan4 January 14:20

        Platinum is within reach for me each time but only if there is at least one 2x nights promotion.

        Last year I got to 58 nights by May, thanks to the 15 CC nights and the 2x promo. After that I didn’t have a single stay with Marriott because there was no worthwhile promo.

• Ben says:

  4 Jan4 January 09:21

  Off topic – I received IHG Diamond Elite thanks to the offer a few months ago, but was due to lose my status 31/12/22. How long will it take them to upgrade the status in their system? – per the website I’m still Diamond Elite

  • Rob says:

    4 Jan4 January 09:22

    With the exception of Accor, which is instant, I think all other major schemes reset on 1 March.

    • lumma says:

      4 Jan4 January 09:55

      I’m interested to see what happens in March. I also had the free upgrade to diamond elite but my account on their app still says “IHG Rewards credit card holder” despite it being closed by Creation ages ago. Hopefully will still keep Platinum

    • LittleNick says:

      4 Jan4 January 13:11

      So what happens on stays between now and March, will the IHG hotel recognise us as Diamond or not?

      • Rob says:

        4 Jan4 January 13:15

        Yes

    • Pangolin says:

      4 Jan4 January 14:21

      Doesn’t Hilton reset at the *end* of March?

      • Rob says:

        4 Jan4 January 14:39

        Not sure TBH.

• Taylor says:

  4 Jan4 January 11:07

  OT – I am trying to transfer a few thousand MR points to Bonvoy. When I go to MR page bonvoy isn’t listed as a hotel partner, I can only see Hilton and Radisson? It doesn’t appear in a search for it either?

  • Rob says:

    4 Jan4 January 11:21

    It has been temporarily pulled due to IT issues which are stopping transfer requests going across.

• Blair Waldorf Salad says:

  4 Jan4 January 11:41

  Any hardened points and status collector would long ago have engaged in the DP method – identify willing accomplices in low cost developing countries, pay for the deed poll paperwork to change their name to match the collector’s, and then sit back while status is achieved on one’s behalf from £20pn stays abroad. Really surprised this doesn’t get talked about more on HfP. But make sure to only refer to it using the code word DP method; otherwise every average joe collector will be doing it. If in any doubt that this works, just call up Marriott and ask them what their policy is on you having 3 simultaneous stays in 3 different cities on same night.

  • Magic Mike says:

    4 Jan4 January 12:35

    Plenty in the 40-50 quid a night bracket, pre covid that was the Moxy LHR pricing. 20 is pushing it (on non corporate rates), maybe Indonesia?

    Bonus points if you have all your stooges using your Marriott Amex.

  • davedent says:

    4 Jan4 January 12:46

    Are you joking ! Easier just to book a few nights in the HIE Bradford.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    4 Jan4 January 12:52

    Marriotts policy on 3 overlapping stays is only one gets nights. Two completely different time zones might get around ie it’s not then the same night.

• davedent says:

  4 Jan4 January 12:44

  Doesn’t this mean that if I’m platinum I end up as gold which I get free with my Amex – so no change for me. Marriott’s too expensive on points anyway.

  • Magic Mike says:

    4 Jan4 January 13:33

    Yes, you will soft land from Plat to Gold.

• G Flyer says:

  4 Jan4 January 13:46

  After 8+ years as either British Airways Gold or GGL, BA downgraded me to Silver on 1st Jan 2023.

  I think this is a really SHORT-SIGHTED move by BA with a recession looming. I know they won’t want to extend statuses for ever, but work travel only really begun starting revving up again 6-7 months ago. Not sure if this is the same for others, but I would have easily requalified for Gold had they extended status for 2023.

  Anyway, now I’m more of a free agent, I don’t think I’ll be so ruthless in selecting BA or One World for all my work flights… Granted, I will probably do the minimum to maintain Silver, but now I’m much freer to try out Virgin, Emirates, Turkish, Swiss, Delta, United, Lufthansa. Not sure the premature downgrades are the best way to drive loyalty?

  • Rob says:

    4 Jan4 January 14:40

    What have you lost? First Wing and Galleries F, but you’ve kept fast track security, priority boarding, free seat selection and lounge access.

    • G Flyer says:

      4 Jan4 January 15:28

      True, but what I think I’ll miss most is the extra redemption availability (at least for Europe/RFS). I found this very handy for booking last minute short breaks in Spain and Netherlands.

      • G Flyer says:

        4 Jan4 January 15:29

        And I almost forgot: the Cathay First lounge in T3 😉

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