@ngerasimatos wrote:With the recent Marriott status downgrades is it possible to change from AMEX Bonvoy to another alternative? I am hoping I dont have to cancel the card and then apply for another and can instead just do a product change?
As stated, you can only PC within the same family on Amex cards. So up to Brilliant from regular Bonvoy or vice versa.
What status downgrades are you talking about? I've not heard of any changes and as a Titanium I do try to keep up with these things.
@ngerasimatos wrote:I have been a Platinum Elite for nearly 3 years and last year just barely missed the mark due to not enough spend even though I hit the minimum number of nights. Marriot was delayed this year in downgrading many peoples statues: https://onemileatatime.com/marriott-downgrade-status/
Unfortunately, I was downgraded to Gold status this year even after I requested an exception. You would imagine someone who stays 75+ nights annually would be highly valued but apparently Marriot has forgotten what a valued customer looks like.
Based on this, I dont really see the reason to keep the Brilliant product as Hyatt and Hilton are both offering me top tier status, better than Marriot, if I am willing to start using them exclusively.
Okay, I see that there was a delay in downgrading people who had not earned status for 2020 based on 2019 stays, but I really don't understand the rest of what you are saying as it's not how elite status works with Marriott. The ONLY status with Marriott that requires a level of spending to obtain or retain is Ambassador Elite, which requires 100 nights and $20,000 of spend. You can literally pay $0.00 for the entire year and by earning 75 nights or more (including any credit card bonuses or promotional nights) you would have Titanium Status completely on award stays.
If you earned 75 or more nights in 2018, you would have been Titanium last year. And if you earned 75 or more nights in 2019, you would be Titanium this year. If you were downgraded to Gold, that would only happen if you had fewer than 50 nights earned during 2019 (or did not spend a minimum of $75,000 on the American Express Marriott Brilliant Card to get automatic Platinum status).
Here's mine from last year. You can clearly see that I was nowhere near the level of spending at Marriott required to obtain the one and only status that requires a minimum spend level, but since I had 75 or more nights in 2019, I earned Titanium Elite.
And Hilton offers top tier Diamond status to anyone willing to pay the $450 annual fee on one of their cards. My thoughts on that is that when everyone has status, no one has status, and I'm pretty satisfied with the requirements to actually obtain Marriott Platinum, Titianium, and Ambassador statuses.
@ngerasimatos wrote:I did not have the Marriot Brilliant card last year. I only changed to it in 2020 from the standard SPG card. I had the 75+ stays and was downgraded regardless,. When I asked Marriot why they said I didn't meet the annual spend required. What's weird is I cannot find anything about minimum spends on their own website:
https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/member-benefits.mi
https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/terms/default.mi
I'm going to give them another call. Something doesn't make sense. I think they made a mistake on their end. Based on the terms in those links I should be a Titanium Elite currently.
There must have been a misunderstanding about the spend requirement for Ambassador, which is not what you were calling about. Like I said, it's the only one that has a spend requirement. If you had 75 or more nights credited in 2019, yes you should be Titanium Elite and should have received gift choices at both 50 and 75 nights.
The Best of the Best
Achieve Marriott Bonvoy™ Ambassador Elite status after 100 eligible nights and $20K in annual qualifying spend. Get all the benefits of Titanium Elite status plus Ambassador Service and Your24™.
https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/member-benefits/ambassador.mi
Go Even Higher
Achieve Marriott Bonvoy™ Titanium Elite status after 75 eligible nights.
https://www.marriott.com/loyalty/member-benefits/titanium.mi
