Several hotel loyalty programs offer lifetime status for those who have been exceptionally loyal over the years — in separate posts, I’ve written about the programs offered by Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt.
In this post, I want to take a closer look at how you can earn lifetime status in the Marriott Bonvoy program. The good news is that this is probably the easiest lifetime hotel status you can earn.
In this post:
How to earn Marriott Bonvoy lifetime status
Marriott Bonvoy has a pretty robust lifetime status program, in the sense that you can earn either lifetime Silver, Gold, or Platinum status.
Below I’ll talk about the qualification requirements for each status, which is based on a combination of a certain number of elite nights plus a certain number of years of elite status.
Lifetime Marriott Silver status
In order to receive lifetime Marriott Silver status you need to earn both of the following:
- 250 lifetime elite nights
- Five years of elite status
Marriott Silver status ordinarily requires earning at least 10 elite nights per year. Marriott Silver status offers basic perks like 10% bonus points and priority late check-out.
Lifetime Marriott Gold status
In order to receive lifetime Marriott Gold status you need to earn both of the following:
- 400 lifetime elite nights
- Seven years of elite status (minimum Gold status)
Marriott Gold status ordinarily requires earning at least 25 elite nights per year. Marriott Gold status offers perks like 25% bonus points, enhanced room upgrades, priority late check-out, a welcome gift of points, premium Wi-Fi, and more.
Lifetime Marriott Platinum status
In order to receive lifetime Marriott Platinum status you need to earn both of the following:
- 600 lifetime elite nights
- 10 years of elite status (minimum Platinum status)
Marriott Platinum status ordinarily requires earning at least 50 elite nights per year. Marriott Platinum status is where perks really start to get valuable, as it offers benefits like 50% bonus points, suite upgrades, 4PM late check-out, complimentary breakfast and/or lounge access at most brands, and more.
Marriott Bonvoy lifetime status FAQs
Perhaps it’s best to explain some of the other nuances of lifetime Marriott status in the form of some frequently asked questions.
Is there a way to earn lifetime Marriott Titanium status?
Unfortunately not anymore. When Marriott and Starwood introduced a unified loyalty program in 2018, the company offered lifetime Titanium status to those with 750 elite nights plus 10 years of Platinum status between the Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest programs.
This was offered as a one-time courtesy, but unfortunately isn’t offered on an ongoing basis. On top of that, just to be thorough, I’ll mention that there’s no way to earn lifetime Ambassador status.
Do you earn Choice Benefits with lifetime Marriott Platinum status?
Marriott has the Choice Benefits program, whereby you can select certain perks when passing 50 and 75 elite nights each year (these perks include Nightly Upgrade Awards). Note that lifetime members don’t get to select these unless they would otherwise earn 50 or 75 elite nights in a year.
Do you get elite nights that correspond to your lifetime status?
I hinted at this above, but I get this question often, so I think it’s worth addressing. If you have lifetime Platinum status, for example, does that mean you get 50 elite nights posted to your account annually, and only need 25 more elite nights to earn Titanium status?
Nope, unfortunately not. Lifetime status gives you a certain status tier, but you get no elite qualifying nights to go along with that. So if you want to earn a higher status tier, you’ll have to qualify by whatever the criteria is for that.
How can you see your progress toward lifetime Marriott status?
It’s very easy to track your progress toward lifetime Marriott status. Both Marriott’s website and mobile app show you your elite nights and number of years of elite status once you log into your Bonvoy account.
Do Marriott credit card nights count toward lifetime status?
Marriott’s co-branded credit cards can indeed help you toward earning lifetime Marriott status:
- You can earn up to 40 elite nights per year with Marriott credit cards, and those count toward the lifetime status nights requirement; for example, I have the combination of the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (review) and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (review), and together they earn me 40 elite nights per year (15 from the Bonvoy Business and 25 from the Bonvoy Brilliant)
- If you earn status with Marriott entirely or partially through a credit card, that would still count toward the requirement for number of years needed for status; for example, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card offers Platinum status for as long as you’re a cardmember, so each year you have the card would count as a further year toward lifetime Platinum
How soon does Marriott lifetime status post?
When you pass the threshold to earn lifetime elite status, how long does it take for your lifetime status to post to your account? It’s usually pretty quick, but it depends on your qualification method:
- If you were waiting to earn enough elite nights for lifetime status, you can expect lifetime status to post within days of the elite nights posting to your account
- If you were waiting to earn enough years of elite status for lifetime status, you can expect that your account will update in January to reflect the additional year of elite status
Bottom line
Marriott Bonvoy has the most achievable lifetime status of any major hotel loyalty program. Not only can you earn three different tiers of lifetime status, but elite nights and status earned through credit cards also count toward this requirement.
Most loyal Marriott guests should have no trouble achieving lifetime elite status over time with a bit of effort, especially when using Marriott’s co-branded credit cards. Lifetime status with Marriott is much easier to earn than with Hilton or Hyatt, for example.
What do you make of Marriott Bonvoy’s lifetime status program? Are there any questions about this you have that aren’t answered above?
When do the cards' elite nights credit your account? Say you signed up in October, I assumption would be you get the CC elite nights immediately and then would re-receive in January since elite is calendar year based?
I think getting to lifetime platinum is enough because that is where the benefits really start to kick in, but on the other hand I also am considering keeping two premium Marriott credit cards because the benefits outweigh the annual fees, at least for now. If this changes I might cancel one or both of the cards.
I,m a Life time Titanium (pre merger person) and they have no idea when I check in that I am lifetime. Sometimes I point it out to them and they seem shocked. Also i never get any decent upgrades. Usually when I ask, they tell me how many other Titanium's they have staying....
Now luckily I never chased it. I just naturally progressed into lifetime over my long career.
Hotel perks are just not...
I,m a Life time Titanium (pre merger person) and they have no idea when I check in that I am lifetime. Sometimes I point it out to them and they seem shocked. Also i never get any decent upgrades. Usually when I ask, they tell me how many other Titanium's they have staying....
Now luckily I never chased it. I just naturally progressed into lifetime over my long career.
Hotel perks are just not as good anymore just like frequent flyers programs. You can get Hilton diamond by just paying for the Amex card for example and AA Executive Platinum with CC spend.
Never chase status, personally if I wanted the benefits I would just sign up to the hotel credit cards respectively and pay the annual fee. Sometimes that cheaper then one more night at hotel to cross the line...
@Ben does “number of years of elite status” relate to earning or holding elite status?
Ie if I earn Platinum in 2024 and therefore also hold it 2025, does that count as one or two years? (I only earned it during one year but I have held it for two).
That’s one year. You were qualifying for Platinum for the 2025 year. Doesn’t matter whether you qualified in Feb or Dec last year.
@Ben does “number of years of elite status” relate to earning or holding elite status?
Ie if I earn Platinum in 2024 and therefore also hold it 2025, does that count as one or two years? (I only earned it during one year but I have held it for two).
When does your "year" as elite change (i've seen indications it is in Jan or March) and when it changes is the increase going up for the prior year or the next coming year? In other words, if I hit platinum status in 2024 and on 1/1/25 my years as platinum increased by 1 year, is that increase for the year then-ending (2024) or for it for the upcoming year (2025)?
My updates on elite years normally occur around March rather than January. In a couple of months I should get my lifetime Platinum so I can avoid Marriott more readily given the perpetual worsening of their loyalty program.
Do you not see the irony in your anticipation of LTP just so you can "avoid Marriott more readily"?
There are bunch of people like this.
One consultant I know have lifetime with the 3 chains. He switched chain immediately after reaching LT status.
Never understood why just see the irony.
This seems to be surprisingly common. People seem more invested in winning the "prize" of status, rather than actually enjoying the (pretty limited) benefits that come from it.
Seems pretty logical to me. Earn the lifetime status so that you will always have perks at future personal stays. Meanwhile move on to another chain for their lifetime status and your company is still paying for the cost value of those perks on your current stays. Or move on to whatever hotel you like best without worrying about chasing status anymore since you have lifetime status with all of them and you'll always get the perks.
I’m a LTT and Marriott is backup only for me. Hyatt all the way for better loyalty benefits.
I agree. Marriott is the best option in so many markets even when I'd rather go somewhere else, it's nice to have lifetime status so you're not as mad about having to stay at the Marriott.
I think it also worths pointing out that Marriott system doesn't actually indicate lifetime status to front desk, and it's hard to get additional recognition comparing to a normal Platinum. So with Brilliant, and Titanium & Ambassador, the relative easy to acquire status is also relatively useless.
Not everyone lives in the US, where you can get a passable status just by having the right credit card. In Europe there's no way to game status and for Asia in particular Platinum still goes a long way.
Personally, I've never seen that much of a difference between Platinum and Titanium (I've held either status for about the same length of time as a member), so LTP still seems like a worthwhile thing to aim for.