Marriott Bonvoy offers a status challenge. You get the Gold status after 8 nights in three months, and if you manage to stay 16 nights, you even get the Platinum status. Unlike other status match deals, you won’t get the status when you apply, but only after you completed the challenge. To do this challenge, however, you don’t need to have a status at a different hotel chain!
The three months start at the end of the current month, e.g. regardless if you start on January 1st or 31st, you’ll have to complete this challenge until April 30th. This means that it makes sense to apply for the challenge at the start of the month, as you’ll have more time. What matters for the challenge is the check-out-date, not the booking date.
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In theory, you could directly stay 8 or 16 consecutive nights and then get the gold or platinum status within 24 hours. After 8 nights you’ll receive the benefits of the gold status, and can then still make it to the platinum status.
The status is then valid for the current calendar year + another calendar year.
How to Carry out the Challenge
You need to call Marriott Bonvoy and request a status challenge. Make sure to get a written confirmation and the terms & conditions (per email).
Qualifying nights are only given on stays that were fully booked and paid directly at Marriott
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. Award nights or nights that were paid with points & cash do not count toward the challenge!
As Marriott does not publish the information online, not all details are known. For instance, some comments have mentioned that the account apparently has to be at least 90 days old to be able to participate.
Hint:You can enter a country as destination on Marriott.com and then sort all Marriott hotels in that country by price (for the dates that you’ve chosen).
By the way, you can only participate every three years. So, only apply if you are certain that you’ll achieve the required nights in the three-month period.
Benefits
When Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards merged, Marriott Bonvoy added a new status tier, and many of the former gold benefits were placed in the platinum tier:
Gold Status
Usually you’d need 25 nights in a calendar year to receive the gold status. This would get you the following benefits:
Upgrade based on availability without suites
25% more points
Priority check-in
250-500 points as welcome-gift at check-in
Faster internet
Late Check-out until 14:00 based on availability
The “old” Marriott Rewards program already gave you lounge access with the gold status. However, you used to need 50 nights instead of 25.
Platinum Status
With 50 nights in a year, you’ll now get the platinum status with the following benefits:
500-1,000 points as welcome gift at check-in or free breakfast (depending on the hotel brand)
Lounge access (if available and open)
Upgrade based on availability incl. suites
50% more points
Late check-out until 16:00 based on availability
The new platinum status is mostly identical to the old Marriott-Gold-Status, just that it now has a new name.
Translated by: Ditmar Lange
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