August is only a few months away which is a big month for Starwood and Marriott – at that point their loyalty program will be fully merged! It will also be a big month for many loyal Starwood and Marriott members as “lifetime” status numbers will be combined, meaning many folks will be eligible to earn Platinum Premier status for life. 2018 is also the only year that someone can earn this status – it is a one time opportunity and I’ve been told many times that starting in 2019 this status will no longer be available. So if you are on the cusp of being able to earn this status, you might want to think about how you can earn the number of nights or stays through December 31, 2018.
I currently have approx $1.3 million Marriott points towards lifetime status AND 739 nights. To earn Marriott lifetime Platinum Premier status, Marriott members have to have 750 nights at Marriott hotels + 2 million Marriott points. To earn this status, my original plan was to transfer 700,000 Marriott points from my husbands account to my account. All points transferred INTO your account count towards lifetime status. Keep in mind that points transferred out of someones account will go against their lifetime status numbers. While Marriott caps the amount you can transfer between accounts at 50,000 points, IF you have a point reservation already booked that requires more points than you have in your account, they will allow a 1 time a year exception where you can transfer the number of points required from another persons account into your account to fulfill that point reservation (over the 50,000 point mark). To get the extra 11 nights, I put in some RFPs to a few local Marriott properties to host a meeting at their property. Hosting a meeting earns you 10 nights towards status! I was able to get a hotel to give me a meeting room for $150 if I wanted it. So getting this Platinum Premier status wasn’t going to be too challenging and wasn’t going to cost me that much money.
But… it has now gotten even easier. Back in May, Marriott announced that Starwood members would also have the opportunity to earn lifetime Platinum Premier status. Originally, loyal SPG folks were excluded from earning this status. To earn this status, SPG members need 750 nights at Starwood hotels + 10 years of Platinum status with Starwood (does not need to be consecutive). While this was great for Starwood members, it still wasn’t helping me out. Until a few weeks later… Pizza in Motion reported that they were actually going to COMBINE Marriott and Starwood lifetime numbers. So as long as you had 750 nights at Starwood AND Marriott properties as well as 10 years of Platinum status with Starwood AND Marriott, you’d earn the Platinum Premier status. Although there has been no formal announcement from Marriott, I reached out to my contact at Marriott and was able to receive confirmation that this was in fact true. This was amazing news as it will actually allow me to earn Platinum Premier status automatically – I do not have to transfer any points into my Marriott account or book a meeting room! I currently have 739 Marriott nights + 205 Starwood nights – which gets me way past the 750 nights needed! I also have 7 years of Marriott Platinum status + 3 years of Starwood Platinum status – this gets me the 10 years of required status needed right on the nose! This blog post details out for you how to figure out the number of points, nights, and years towards status you have at Marriott and Starwood. Of course combining accounts isn’t going to work for everyone, but it definitely should help those who have been loyal to both brands throughout the years!
Two Ways to Earn Platinum Premier Lifetime Status
1. Earn lifetime status under the CURRENT Marriott requirements through December 31, 2018
Marriott is one of the few programs where ALL points earned count towards lifetime status. This includes points earned from hotel stays, purchased points, points transferred from another person, points transferred from another program such as Chase Ultimate Rewards, credit card bonus points, etc. The one exception is that points transferred from your Starwood account will NOT count towards lifetime status. And similar to the Starwood requirements, only stays at Marriott properties will count (you cannot include Starwood stays).
- Lifetime Platinum = 750 nights + 2 million points –> this will transfer over to Marriott Platinum Premier Elite once the programs combine
2. Earn lifetime status by combining Starwood and Marriott nights and years towards status through December 31, 2018
If you’ve been loyal to both brands, this could work great for you! You can combine the number of eligible nights and years of status between both programs.
- Lifetime Platinum Premier = 10 years of Platinum status combined between Starwood and Marriott AND 750 nights combined between Starwood and Marriott.
While I wouldn’t spend a ton of money to earn this status over just Lifetime Platinum status, it is nice to have in my back pocket. There really isn’t a huge advantage, but you never know what benefit changes in the future might hold. Related post: Is Earning Marriott Platinum Premier Status Worth It?
Congrats to those earning this status!
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Ruh-oh. I am SPG Platinum for 9 years and am very close to qualifying for year 10 (5 more nights). I asked specifically whether I would get Lifetime if I made it to year 10 under SPG rules and was told yes. I am some 50 nights short of 750 combined, so I could be totally screwed if SPG was wrong about Lifetime qualification.
@Sam – If you earn that year of Platinum status this year plus 750 combined nights then you are good. So you’ll need those 50 nights.
How much would you value lifetime Platinum over lifetime Gold? I can make it work, but not sure at what price it’s worth it.
@Sean – I’d value Lifetime Platinum over Lifetime Gold more then I’d value Lifetime Platinum Premier over Lifetime Platinum.
Other points which do not count toward status are points earned via Social Media,
“I currently have approx $1.3 million Marriott points” —
You are rich my friend.