Agreed, it's just not worth it with dynamic pricing for rewards (read: expensive), the $25 monthly credit (that's not enough for a place in my wallet), the general terrible state of all hotel chains, Marriott included. 9 times out of 10 not offering the daily $ credit for F&B, my folio consistently wrong the past year, etc.....
I get triggered just thinking about Marriott nowadays vs 10+ years ago.
In addition to the above differences between Platinum and Titanium, Titanium also has an additional choice benefit* (I usually pick the free night certificate, which isn't available as a 50 night choice), a 48-hour guarantee (if I book by 3 PM today, I'm guaranteed a room the day after tomorrow), and a 75% bonus instead of 50% bonus on room charges. (*Choice benefits for status are only available when you actually reach 50 or 75 elite nights each year; status from CCs or spend on CCs alone does not unlock them, although the Brilliant card next year does have additoinal choices when you reach $60k spend.) The reservation guarantee discussed above is not a distinction between them - both Platinum and Titanium include that.
I'm very glad they're still not offering Titanium status by simply paying an annual fee. As alluded to above, when everyone has status no one has status. There have certainly been some undesirable changes to the program and it's far from where it was during the days immediately before the SPG merger was finalized, but I don't really see anyone with a better program that comes anywhere close to Marriott's footprint. For those of us who actually stay at Marriott properties, it's still pretty difficult to beat this card. The free night certificate more than covers the annual fee as it is, and while I'll certainly miss the easy $300 statement credit I have been getting for my first stay after each renewal, it's not too difficult to remember to use the card once a month to reload $25 to my Dunkin balance in the app.
