Yesterday I wrote about the official date when the loyalty programs of Marriott and Starwood become one. August 18th incase you didn’t read that post! While the loyalty programs will be combined and all points will pool into one account, if you are a Starwood person, you still have the opportunity earning elite status with the current requirements.
When the programs combined, Marriott will be rolling out new status requirements. The good thing is that all stays at Marriott AND Starwood properties will count. The requirements include:
- Silver Elite status = 10 nights
- Gold Elite status = 25 nights
- Platinum Elite status = 50 nights
- Platinum Premier Elite status = 75 nights
- Platinum Premier Elite 100 status = 100 nights + $20,000 qualifying spend at Marriott and Starwood properties
But for you Starwood folks, this is going to require significantly more nights to earn a desirable status then you are used to. And not only that, the option to earn status based on stays is going away – just nights will count in the future. Fortunately though, for this year only, Starwood will allow you to earn status based on what you are used to. The only caveat is that only stays at Starwood properties will count, you cannot combine Marriott and Starwood stays.
Earning Status with the Current Starwood Requirements:
- Gold status = 10 stays or 25 nights
- Platinum status = 25 stays or 50 nights
- Platinum 50 = 50 nights
- Platinum 75 = 75 nights
- Platinum 100 = 100 nights
And remember, both Starwood credit cards give you 2 stays and 5 nights towards status. If you have both cards that equals 4 stays and 10 nights towards status. This benefit can still be used for earning status in 2018.
Now, once the programs merge, Starwood status will be converted to a new Marriott status level. Or, once you receive a new status level at a later point in 2018, that status level will also be converted to its respective Marriott status level.
- Starwood Gold = Marriott Gold Elite
- Starwood Platinum = Marriott Platinum Elite
- Starwood Platinum 50 = Marriott Platinum Elite
- Starwood Platinum 75 = Marriott Platinum Premier Elite
- Starwood Platinum 100 = Marriott Platinum Premier Elite
For those that earn status solely based on stays and not nights, earning with the current method will be significantly easier then the new method. You can earn Marriott Gold with just 10 stays, NOT 25 nights and you can earn Marriott Platinum with just 25 stays, NOT 50 nights. Just make sure to continue staying at just Starwood properties and you can still earn that desired status!
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Thank you for this important point and post. What is not 100% clear and where I am not sure: will you become platinum elite with ambassador when spending 100 nights at SPG properties without having meating the 20.000$ spend requirment?
E.g. presently I am Platinum 75 at SPG, but I will have 100 SPG nights this year in October. Will I then still be upgraded to Platinum Elite with Ambassador, even without having spent 20.000$ ?
@Pallachs – Yes, if you have 100 nights with SPG you’ll receive Platinum Elite with Ambassador.
Hi! As the year is winding down, I want to confirm my understanding of the way the SPG and Marriott Elite programs are merging, and I found your article which was incredibly helpful!
I wanted to confirm my understanding through: for this year, through exclusively SPG stays, I will have incurred 9 actual stays and 2 from my SPG credit card. Given that Marriott is honoring the old SPG method, this provide me with enough stays to hit SPG Gold for the year, correct?
@Trisha – Yes! That will give you 11 stays which means you’ll receive Gold status. Just making sure it is 9 stays you have, not 9 nights, right?