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Update: Get SPG Platinum with just 9 stays

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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: screen-shot-2016-09-25-at-11-08-42-amscreen-shot-2016-09-25-at-11-09-57-am

And the chart for point redemptions:screen-shot-2016-09-25-at-11-11-07-am

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

screen-shot-2016-09-25-at-11-20-05-amscreen-shot-2016-09-25-at-11-20-19-am

Or you could even transfer SPG points at 1:3 to Marriott and earn Platinum status with just 18k SPG pointsscreen-shot-2016-09-25-at-11-25-04-am

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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8 Comments

  • Sam December 11, 2016

    if i challenge this now but don’t complete the 9 stays until 2017 will i get the platinum for 2017 and 2018? or is it just for 2017 ?

    • Miles December 11, 2016

      Hey Sam – The terms will be explicit but I believe the standard would be til january of 2018…

  • Sam December 7, 2016

    Do you think it’s worth booking a cheap hotel just to get the status? i saw some good deals on UR portal and it would cost me 45k for 9 stays.

    • Miles December 7, 2016

      Totally depends – if you’re looking to stay at SPG properties and match to SPG Plat – you’ll reap some increased benefits. If you’re going to be staying at Marriott properties I’d just pick up an Amex Plat which gives you SPG gold and match into Marriott Gold. If you do it before the end of the year you’ll pick up $400 in airline credit ( $200 per calendar year – google amex plat aa gift cards) Gold will give you guaranteed club level, late check out, etc etc. http://monkeymiles.boardingarea.com/use-american-express-platinum-get-marriott-gold/

  • Sam December 6, 2016

    Are you saying that points+ cash count towards the 9 stays ?

    • Miles December 6, 2016

      Hey Sam – if you’re approved for the Platinum challenge the terms should stipulate what counts and what does not, and it’s highly YMMV. I assume you are referring to SPG Cash + Points and not Marriott Cash + Points. The 9 stay Challenge is for Marriott so you would need to stay within the brand’s portfolio of hotels. By my understanding you couldn’t complete 9 stays at Westins and qualify whether they were cash, cash + points, etc. But rather, you could complete 9 stays at Courtyards to satisfy the terms given in the challenge. At this time, even though the companies are under one umbrella, benefits are not extended across loyalty. You must match to the commensurate status and then you will receive those benefits. The Status match is the crux of achieving SPG Platinum by Challenging Marriott Platinum. Hope this helps.

      • Sam December 6, 2016

        Got it. Thank you. I love your blog. Keep it going.

        • Miles December 7, 2016

          Thanks so much Sam! Means a lot!

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