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Marriott Bonvoy Status Match HAS ENDED
*The promo featured below has ended
I recently posted about the St Regis Maldives having Super Off Peak award space available, and a ridiculous 2 bedroom beach villa. It got me thinking about the Marriott Gold Status I carry as a benefit of my Amex Platinum. Is it good enough if I were to take advantage of this St Regis Maldives deal? It used to be the case that you could do a Marriott Status Challenge, but those are suspended. If I could snag Marriott Platinum status I would get free breakfast each day of my stay, and that could save a ton of money. Marriott usually requires 50 nights to hit Platinum Status and I’m certainly not going to stay that much. So it got me thinking about a Marriott Status Match.
I recently acquired Hyatt Globalist status through 2/23 and had intended to levy my hotel stays to get milestone rewards: free nights, suite upgrades, etc. But, what I were to put those towards a Marriott Status Match? Right now, I could match my Hyatt Globalist status to Marriott Platinum, and as long as I stayed 15 nights within 90 days of registration, I’d keep that status until at least 2/23, but the terms also stipulate you keep it a year from when you fulfill the stay requirements. So technically if I signed up today, and fulfilled my 15th night on the 90th day of the challenge, I’d get it for almost 15 months. Not bad.
I haven’t made my mind up yet, but I’m quite tempted to go for it.
What do I get with Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status?
Here’s a look at how they break down status. Personally, I think the real bump up is at Platinum because you get Lounge and Breakfast
Difference between Status Match and Challenge – what is this?
Usually a Status Match is granted by one brand based on your status at another brand to entice you to stay or fly with them instead. Usually Status Matches will last for the qualifying period you do them in.
A Status Challenge is usually a promo whereby a brand will allow you to reach elite status by completing a reduced amount of stays, nights, or flights in a reduced period of time to reach status with that brand.
This is a combination of the two. You will get the status during the promo period, but in order to keep the status you’ll need to complete a certain amount of night.
Which status you will be comped during the promo period
Two things stick out to me that could help you in your quest
- The Chase IHG Premier includes IHG Platinum Elite as a card benefit – this matches to Marriott Platinum
- Amex Hilton Aspire includes Hilton Diamond – matches to Marriott Platinum
How many nights to do you need to stay?
It can take up to 10 business days in order to register, but once your status match beings you will have status for the full 90 day period. There are restrictions on these nights – see below
- Marriott Gold Status Match – 5 nights in 90 days
- Marriott Platinum Status Match – 15 nights in 90 days
Ok, I’m in…How I do I register?
Here are the Marriott terms to prove your Status
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Proof of your current Elite status in the program you selected and a stay with them within the last 12 months.
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Make sure the screenshots show only your first name, last name and status level.
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Acceptable file types are JPG, PNG and PDF
What are the terms?
Here are the Full Terms but these are the ones I consider most important – must show a stay in the last 12 months, and you must stay on an eligible rate: primarily no reward nights, 3rd part, Vacation Club, etc
- Simply show proof of your Elite membership in Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt, IHG® Rewards Club or Accor Live Limitless and a stay within the last 12 months within that program to get upgraded. Then, stay the required number of Nights within 90 days to keep your new status through February 2022.
- Nights consumed prior to registration approval are not eligible.
- Credit toward this promotion is given for eligible paid nights consumed at participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels that occur within the earning period.
- For a list of current Marriott Bonvoy participating brands, visit https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/earn/hotels.mi.
- Only one room per hotel or resort is counted toward a member’s nights.
- Paid nights at a qualifying rate count toward the promotion. Nights spent while redeeming an award are ineligible and do not count toward the promotion.
- Rooms booked through most third-party online retailers and select travel agency bookings are ineligible to earn for this promotion.
- Marriott Vacation Club® owner-occupied weeks are not eligible for credit.
- Stays at Marriott Executive Apartments® and Homes and Villas by Marriott International are not eligible for credit.
- Promotion is nontransferable. Promotion is valid for one-time use.
- This promotion is subject to modification, cancellation or limitation at Marriott’s discretion, with or without notice.
- Void for Marriott International, Inc., employees.
- Promotion is applicable to individual members only and not to groups.
Recap
I know I have a few stays coming up as a result of a move I’m in the midst, and I’m really leveraging the idea of acquiring Marriott Platinum status to extract more value out of a future, aspirational, travel experience. I haven’t made my mind up yet, but I’m leaning towards going for it.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. 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.
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