Back in April I wrote about the future of Marriott and Starwood and more specifically about earning yearly and lifetime status with the program. Marriott’s initial communication on earning lifetime status was actually pretty generous. Both those who have earned lifetime status with Marriott and Starwood would have their status in tact and you’d even be able to combine your “points/nights/years towards lifetime status” to see if that earned you lifetime status under the new requirements. Overall, everyone was pretty happy – except one group of people!
For Marriott folks who have already earned Platinum lifetime status or will earn Platinum lifetime status by the end of 2018 (with the current Marriott requirements) will be upgraded to Platinum Premier lifetime status. This is pretty awesome on Marriott’s part due to the new tier structure. And going forward there will be no way to earn Platinum Premier lifetime status (just Platinum lifetime status), so getting it now is really the only way. While this was great for Marriott folks, they fully left out Starwood top tier lifetime members. Starwood Platinum lifetime members were to stay at the Platinum lifetime status and were not to be upgraded to Platinum Premier lifetime status. To earn lifetime status with Starwood is significantly easier then it is with Marriott, so I understand where they were going with that. But, there are many Starwood folks that have stayed above and beyond the lifetime status amount and if they were Marriott loyal instead of Starwood loyal for all of these years would have most likely earned Marriott Platinum status for life, thus being able to earn the top tier status for life going forward.
Starwood Lifetime Members CAN Earn Platinum Premier Lifetime Status
Fortunately, Marriott listened to the many complaints and are making good to those Starwood members who have earned Starwood Platinum for life plus more. If you have 750 or more “lifetime” nights with Starwood plus 10 years of Platinum status by the end of this calendar year, you will earn Marriott Platinum Premier Lifetime status. To compare, Marriott members need to earn the same 750+ nights and 2 million points.Â
From Marriott directly:
“We’ve heard from many of our members who have questions about lifetime status, especially Lifetime Platinum Premier, and we want to provide answers. First and foremost, members who have accomplished lifetime by the end of 2018 will keep it as part of the new program.
In some exciting news, SPG members can now earn Lifetime Platinum Premier Elite status, and Marriott Rewards members will have an additional way to achieve it in 2018. Members who have reached 750 nights and ten years of Platinum status by the end of this year will qualify. This is the last year Lifetime Platinum Premier Elite status will be offered.
In addition, members can qualify for all lifetime tiers through the end of 2018 under the current criteria in both programs as well as the new unified program rules. Members also can accelerate lifetime by combining their accounts in August, because nights stayed at any of our 29 participating brands in 2018 will count toward elite status.
Another way we are potentially accelerating lifetime is counting previous years across both programs. For example, a member with Silver status in Marriott Rewards (25-49 nights) for three years and Gold status in SPG (25-49 nights) for two years by the end of 2018 would qualify for Lifetime Silver Elite status.”
Remember, this is the last year that you’ll be able to earn Platinum Premier Lifetime status, so if you are on the cusp, you’ll want to work hard this year to get it. To recap:
- Starwood: 750 nights at Starwood hotels + 10 years of Platinum status with Starwood (does not need to be consecutive). Do not combine Starwood + Marriott nights/years of status, only Starwood numbers will count.
- Marriott: 750 nights at Marriott hotels + 2 million Marriott points. Do not combine Marriott + Starwood nights/points, only Marriott numbers will count.
Now if earning Platinum Premier status is out of reach, they are making it easier to earn Platinum lifetime status come August. They will combine your Marriott + Starwood numbers and the requirements are actually pretty obtainable. This will be awesome for many.
I am actually extremely close to earning Marriott Platinum lifetime status (most likely within the next two months), so am very excited about my Marriott Platinum Premier lifetime status.
How will this change help you? Will you now be able to earn Platinum Premier lifetime status?!
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Where did you read that you can’t combine SPG and Marriott to get the 750 nights? It says “In addition, members can qualify for all lifetime tiers through the end of 2018 under the current criteria in both programs as well as the new unified program rules. Members also can accelerate lifetime by combining their accounts in August, because nights stayed at any of our 29 participating brands in 2018 will count toward elite status.” How does that mean that you have to earn them in one program or the other?
@Barry – You can earn lifetime status by either the CURRENT requirements or the NEW requirements. With the NEW requirements you can combine all your stats.
Lemme get this right. Im 10 years with spg platinum, and 493 lifetime nights with spg. But no nights with marriott historical or planned currently) in 2018. I have perhaps 5 pre-2018 nights at marriott properties over last 15 years.
So when things combine in August, and assuming no spg or marriott stays between now and August, I will need 2 more nights at either dog or marriott properties to make marriott platinum lifetime.
If I want marriott Premier Platinum Lifetime, I must stay the 2 planned plus another 250 nights to achieve Lifetime Premier Platinum.
Am I right?
@ken – So under the new requirements in August 2018 you’ll need 600 nights (combined with the two) and 10 years of Platinum status to earn Lifetime Platinum. So that means you’ll need approx another 100 nights between the two. For Platinum Premier you’ll need 750 nights + 10 years of Platinum status by December 31, 2018.