I’m not the least bit surprised…
In this article
The Backstory on Marriott Elite Nights for Meetings
Since at least 2010 (if not before) until the SPG/Marriott combination was effective, a great many people manufactured Marriott Platinum status simply by having 8 “meetings” a year. Meaning that they scheduled 8 small meetings they did not need and may have not attended to get 80 elite nights.
A thread on Flyertalk detailed it and had over 200 pages of posts on the subject.
I wasn’t a “Marriott guy” then and paid no attention to it all until my beloved SPG got in bed with Marriott. I regret this greatly, as I would have “earned” Marriott Lifetime Platinum status by now and instead I have 6 years to go.
Rewarding Events Changes at the Marriott/SPG Merger Completion
Mid 2018, Marriott changed the terms to allow only the first meeting to earn 10 EQNs (Elite Qualifying Nights) and then subsequent meetings would earn 1 EQN per 20 actual room nights consumed in conjunction with the meeting. It created a bit of confusion as if you had an event with 400 room nights, you’d still only get 10 EQNs if it was your first of the year.
But it was a clear nod from Marriott that they knew what was going on and wanted to curtail manufactured status. This correlated with a move on the entire portfolio of Marriott Bonvoy Credit Cards from American Express and Chase to limit the maximum number of credit card elite nights to 15. You get that from one card and having multiple cards, even from the other bank, does not confer any additional.
The End of 10 EQNs for First Marriott Meeting
It appears that starting January 1, 2020, this is done. You’ll still earn 1 EQN for every 20 room nights consumed (sorry, industry jargon) but no more 10 at once.
This news comes from Marriott’s internal MGS system and was posted earlier in a Marriott Bonvoy group on Facebook.
This means that you have just two shortcuts to Platinum elite status, which is the lowest tier with free breakfast and guaranteed 4pm checkout:
- Have any Marriott Bonvoy credit card, all of which which confer 15 elite nights a year, and then stay 35 nights
- Spend 75,000 on the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card, with its $450 annual fee, which will get you Platinum status.
I can’t think of any other shortcuts now. Let me know if I am missing anything.
How Marriott is Handling This – Fair or Unfair?
I’m not at ALL surprised this is ending as blog after blog has covered this in dedicated posts and I have a feeling that events managers have been overwhelmed by members calling trying to suss out a cheap meeting venue. I have a feeling it may be as much that as the awareness of the trick, as Marriott already knew people did it.
Here is what is not fair:
It appears that people that have already booked meetings for 2020 will be subject to the new rules. It’s December 19th already and this hasn’t been officially communicated yet. So I have to imagine that many have booked events for early next year already expecting 10 EQNs.
I personally already booked an event and am disappointed that it won’t be at the terms booked. I doubt it would be easy to pursue, either, as the coding is done at the Marriott Bonvoy level – not the property. So the EQNs just won’t post and no Marriott rep will be able to just post these for you.
Here is what is totally fair:
Ending the practice. I don’t like it myself. I was Titanium this year. I *should* re-qualify for Titanium next year but just barely – with 10 nights from meetings + 15 credit card elite nights + 5 elite nights from my 50 night Platinum “Marriott Choice Benefit” gift + a 5 night mattress run.
But loyalty programs are and have been, for as long as they have existed, a game of cat and mouse. We find ways to maximize our benefits and loyalty programs close loopholes.
What has changed, though, is scale. Blogs and groups have made these little tricks so much bigger. And don’t think for a second that your “closed community” doesn’t have people from various loyalty programs lurking – even under assumed names. They do.
So both the numbers of people doing these things has scaled and the loyalty program’s access to learning about these things has grown.
At least Marriott is simply making the change as is their right. They aren’t doing anything insane like banning people for life from Bonvoy for booking a meeting as allowed by the rules, even if the intentions were grey area.
So, there’s that.
The game will keep changing and we’ll keep adapting.
What are your thoughts?
Tell me here, on Twitter, or in the private MilesTalk Facebook group.
You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards.
New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.
