Four score and a million years ago, Marriott and Starwood Preferred Guests (SPG) were two different hospitality companies. For those that stayed frequently at both loyalty programs when it merged, some lucky members got awarded “Lifetime Statuses“.
Marriott even gifted Marriott Lifetime Platinum (and Titanium) Elites special metal cards to commemorate the achievement. Physically it doesn’t really do anything, so it serves more as a personal collectible at home.
Today, we received another collectible gift from Marriott where they gifted Lifetime Elite members special luggage tags to thank us for our “loyalty”. The presentation of the gifts were surprisingly cool.
It came packaged in a heavy black box.
The box has a magnetic tab that you open with and on the left it states…
Congratulations on Your Lifetime Platinum Elite Status
Celebrate Everywhere Your Travels Take You
Presented in the center are two luggage tags:
- First one pays “homage to the destinations you’ve explored on your journey to Lifetime Elite status”
- Second one is a nod to highlighting “your lasting achievement with metal detailing” in the tag.
While this gesture is a nice touch, we can’t help but think all the Marriott devaluation shenanigans that has happened over the recent years. Notably starting in 2023, Marriott points will go fully dynamic which is an end of an era for simple category award bookings.
On top of that, Marriott Platinum Statuses are easily achievable now with $$$$. For U.S. readers, you can simply apply for the American Express Marriott Brilliant Card and you’ll automatically be gifted the Platinum status. Only caveat is that the card comes at a $650 annual fee
Also for Marriott Vacation Club (MVC) owners, if you have Select, Executive, Presidential and/or Chairman’s status, you’ll automatically have Marriott Platinum Status too, which is another shortcut of having “Lifetime Status” as long as you hold ownership to the deed in the timeshare program.
All this adds to quite a dilution to the novelty of having “top status” at a hotel program. Nevertheless, these small collectible gifts for members that truly earned it the OG way are appreciated.
Chai Bear World 