As we mentioned in our introduction, this card automatically gives you an elite silver status and 15 elite nights. Before we go on, let's just highlight some of the benefits of having elite status.
 

• Elite Reservation Lines - Elite members get access to exclusive toll-free reservation and guest services lines. You are also guaranteed your room reservation and in the event that Marriott is overbooked, you will be compensated if they move you to a nearby hotel.


• 20% Bonus Rewards - Silver Elite members get to earn 20% more points at Marriott Hotels


• Free internet Access at some Asian Hotels - if you only travel domestically, then this will be irrelevant. But if you travel to Asia, this is a great perk to have.


• Priority Late Checkout and Gift Shop Discount - You will also get priority late checkouts (except Marriott Vacation Club). You also get 10% discounts when you shop at Marriott's Gift Shops.

So now that we have just briefly gone through the perks when you become a silver member, let's look at how you can qualify for gold elite status just from your credit card spending.

Spend $3,000 and earn 1 elite night - Aside from getting Silver status and 15 elite nights, you can also spend your way to a Gold Elite Status. To qualify for Silver status, you need to earn 10 elite nights a year. This is taken care of by the 15 elite nights you will get every year with this card. For Gold status, you need 50 elite nights. Since you will already get 15 elite nights, you need 35 more. Because you can earn 1 elite night with $3,000 in spending, that means that if you spend $105,000 a year on the card, you would have earn enough nights for Gold status.

With Gold Status obviously comes with increased perks like free internet, room upgrades where available, guaranteed lounge access and breakfast, free local calls and fax, discounted long-distance calls and even a Hertz Gold Membership.

Lifetime Elite Status - But perhaps the biggest benefit of these elite nights earnings with the card is that it helps you to achieve lifetime status. Unlike other programs, Marriott allows you to accumulate nights not just through actual stays but also through things like credit card spending, buying products from their mall.
 

	Silver	Gold	Platinum
No of Years	12 years	12 years	12 years
No of Points	1.2 million	1.6 million	2.0 million
No of Nights	600	800	1,000

 

You must also have achieved that level of status once during the program membership. That means if you meet all the criteria to get lifetime Gold status, you must have got Gold status at least for a year.

It is difficult to earn lifetime Gold and Platinum status because of the number of points and night stays. But the points you earn from credit card spending and elite nights you get with this card all count.

So having this card in your wallet indeed will help you towards this.
 

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