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Get SPG Platinum with just 9 stays
I’m back with the transitive property of BALLERNESS =) This Marriott/Starwood merger is ripe with great opportunities. Most of what I’ve talked about in the past few days is what can be had by already having SPG status. I’ve written about how Amex Plat can get you Marriott Gold, how SPG Plat can get you United Silver, but today I’ll show you how to get SPG Platinum with just 9 stays.
What is the transitive property of ballerness, Miles?
Funny you should ask because it’s one of my favorite properties. It’s essentially like this:
If A = B and B = C then A = C
So how do we use this baller property to our benefit?
Marriott offers a Platinum status challenge.
What is the Marriott Platinum Status challenge?
You can achieve Marriott Rewards Platinum Elite status by completing 9 stays in 90 days. While challenging you do not get temporary status, but you will get status for the rest the challenge year and the following year. If you’d like to challenge you can either call in ( 800 – 468 – 800) or use this link to request a challenge
- 9 stays in 90 days
- Can only be done once every 12 months.
- This is pretty amazing and far more generous than competing brands
It’s worth noting that it is conditional and must be approved. This is to attract current Marriott guests to stay more or lure loyalists of other brands over, so if you have a brand new account and suddenly you challenge for top tier status…you may not get approved.
The challenge also requires STAYS not nights. This is different than how you earn Marriott status otherwise which is based off of nights and not stays. To earn Platinum the good old fashioned way it’ll take 75 nights. PHEW that’s a lotta nights.
Can I challenge for other elite status levels?
Yes you can
- Gold = 6 stays in 3 months
- Silver = 3 stays in 3 months
I still don’t get it…explain the how we apply the transitive property of ballerness
We will use this property in the following way:
If I can Status Challenge to Marriott Platinum and Marriott Platinum = SPG Platinum, then I can status challenge to SPG Platinum with Marriott terms.
OR
9 Marriott stays = Marriott Platinum and Marriott Platinum = SPG Platinum then 9 Marriott Stays = SPG Platinum
Also don’t forget that award nights count towards elite status. So you could use points to qualify for status as well: 
And the chart for point redemptions:
This means that you could earn Platinum status for as little as 54k Marriott Rewards if redeemed at a PointSavers rate.
If you signed up for either the personal or business Marriott Rewards Premier credit card from Chase you could have 26k points left over
Or you could even transfer SPG points at 1:3 to Marriott and earn Platinum status with just 18k SPG points
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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