Marriott Platinum: What You Need to Know – NerdWallet

Odds are you’ve seen a Marriott property or two, even if you never stray too far from home. As the largest hotel chain in the world, Marriott can offer accommodation almost everywhere you go. It also features a relatively robust rewards program, called Marriott Bonvoy, with benefits that can net you perks such as complimentary breakfast, suite upgrades and more.

Let’s take a look at Marriott Platinum elite status, its benefits and how to earn this level of status.

Marriott Platinum benefits

Marriott has a total of five published elite status levels; Platinum is the third level you can achieve, coming after both Silver and Gold status. You’ll find a variety of perks, including:

• 50% bonus on points. Platinum members will earn a 50% bonus on all points earned during Marriott stays.

• Room upgrades. Those with Platinum status are entitled to room upgrades, including suites.

• Welcome amenity. Choose from complimentary breakfast, additional points or other welcome amenities during your stay.

• Executive lounge access. Platinum members receive executive lounge access regardless of the room type they book.

• Late check-out. You’ll receive up to a 4 p.m. checkout as a Platinum member.

• Annual choice benefit. Upon earning 50 elite night credits, Platinum members can choose from a variety of benefits, including:

  • 40% off a mattress purchase from Marriott.

  • The ability to gift Silver elite status.

  • Five elite night credits.

• Complimentary Wi-Fi. All Marriott Bonvoy members receive free Wi-Fi.

• Fifth night free. Marriott Bonvoy members are entitled to their fifth night free on all award stays.

How to become a Marriott Platinum member

Unlike other hotel chains, there is just one way to become a Marriott Platinum elite member.

If you’d like to earn Marriott Platinum elite status, you’ll need to collect a total of 50 elite night credits in a year. Luckily, there are multiple methods you can use to earn elite night credits.

You can always opt for the traditional method of acquiring these credits by spending 50 nights in a Marriott-branded hotel. Once you’ve hit 50 nights, you’ll automatically be awarded Platinum status.

You can also choose to earn elite night credits via Marriott’s co-branded credit cards. Marriott has a handful of credit cards that can earn you up to 25 nights per year by simply holding the card. It’s also possible to spend your way to status.

Marriott has a few different credit cards that’ll help you earn elite status.

The following cards award you with 15 elite night credits each year:

It’s important to note that for the most part, you cannot stack your elite night credits. This means that if you hold both the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card and the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, you’ll still only receive 15 elite night credits for the year. Terms apply.

The only exception to this is the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card. If you hold both a consumer version and business version of the co-branded credit cards, you’ll receive a total of 30 elite night credits each year towards elite status. Terms apply.

Finally, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card allows you to earn one elite night credit for every $5,000 that you spend.

How much is Marriott elite status worth?

NerdWallet conducted a thorough review of different hotel chains to determine the value of their elite status programs. Among these, Marriott Bonvoy scored third behind Hyatt and Hilton. To calculate the value of elite status, we compared the different tangible benefits you’ll receive as an elite member, such as suite upgrades, lounge access and complimentary breakfast.

What else you need to know

It’s possible to achieve lifetime Platinum elite status, though it’ll take a while. In order to meet the qualifications for lifetime status, both of these things must be true:

• You must have 600 qualifying nights.

• You must have 10 years of Platinum elite status or higher.

Marriott isn’t currently offering a public status match to its Bonvoy program, though it’s still possible to gain Marriott Silver status if you’re a United MileagePlus elite member.

If you have United Gold, Platinum or 1K elite status, you can match over to Marriott Bonvoy Gold status without needing to meet a challenge.

Marriott’s elite status is usually valid during the year in which you’ve earned it and the year afterward. This means that if you earn Platinum status in June 2023, you’ll have it for the remainder of 2023 and throughout all of 2024.

Is Marriott extending Platinum status to 2023?

If you had elite status in 2021, Marriott automatically extended it to 2022. However, there are no indications that the hotel chain will further extend elite status.

Marriott Platinum elite status, recapped

As the third level of elite status that Marriott offers, you can expect some pretty significant benefits with Marriott Platinum. These include benefits such as late checkout, free breakfast and room upgrades, among others.

While there’s just one way to earn Marriott elite status, you can help ease the path by holding a co-branded Marriott credit card. If you’re a small business owner, you can stack cards to earn an automatic 30 elite night credits each year — getting you more than halfway to the 50 nights required for Platinum status.

To view rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express Card, see this page.

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