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Update: Get SPG Platinum with just 9 stays
Yesterday I wrote Get SPG Platinum with just 9 stays – the article is below if you missed it. I’m writing a quick update as some new information has come to my attention and doesn’t invalidate the post, but brings to light some variance to people’s experience. The 9 stay challenge ( as I mentioned in the post is conditional) is not only conditional and must be approved, but it also varies per challenger. Some people have received this exact challenge, while others received “9 Paid stays,” and other people received challenges with different requirements ( more stays or nights). Others, without any Marriott stays/nights recorded this year, have tried to Challenge and have been denied or given a Gold challenge instead.
Also, I had used anecdotal information that award nights could be used to Challenge. This seems to be very YMMV. Award nights qualify for Elite status normally, but it seems variable with the challenge. Some have reported they worked earlier this year, while others are saying their Status challenge was PAID stays. One report was an individual who used award points for only a couple stays and the rest were revenue. The one thing I would underline is to make sure you completely understand the terms.
What Miles and I will do
For me…I’m currently Hyatt Diamond, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum. I’m really weighing my options as to whether I want to try and leverage one of my two Diamond statues to go for Marriott Platinum. I’m a huge fan of Marriott. My family has stayed in their properties for a long time, owns timeshares, and we are all happy about the merger. I love JWs in particular and think their Autograph collection is dope too.
With all of this attention around the merger it’s hard to not jump right on a deal, but I’m going to bide some time. I regret applying for the Reserve card on the first day. A lot of great anecdotal evidence developed the following week that helped give people their best shot at approval. So I’ll let things evolve more. Assuming the deal stays the same as it is, I could actually Challenge for Marriott Platinum in the beginning of 2017 and it would last through the end of 2018. That’s what I’m hoping for: nearly 2 years of Marriott Platinum, SPG Platinum, and United Silver for a 9 stay challenge.
Anyways… wanted to give you guys the most accurate info I have
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
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 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)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 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℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
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® is exceptional 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: 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.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.