Questions and Answers

I am new to Marriott and have no current status, nights, or points. I am considering the Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card as it comes with great perks. I have a quick query concerning platinum status through this card that I didn’t see addressed anywhere in your articles.

If I don’t want to spend $75,000 in annual purchases, how many additional paid or award Marriott qualifying nights would I need to get to Platinum once I get this card?

As the card already comes with Gold and 15 elite nights, I am assuming I would need 10 additional nights to get to the 25 additional nights beyond Gold to upgrade to Platinum. But calculating using the total nights required yields a different result. Since 50 nights are required for platinum and the card comes with 15 nights, I would then need 35 additional nights. So which is it – 10 or 35 nights?

The Gold status that comes with the card I believe is independent of any elite nights earned and the 15 nights that come with the card are not additive, so any other status beyond that you would need to qualify in the traditional way. So if you are trying to get to Platinum, you would need 35 nights to add to the 15 you get for having the card. It would not be 25 for having gold status + 15 from the card + 10 real nights to get to 50.

@Weymar is correct – the status you get through the card does not give you the elite nights equivalent and you essentially have to start from scratch if you want a higher status.