In my line of work, I regularly reach out to representatives from airlines, banks and hotels, in order to gather additional information, clarify ambiguous policies, or call attention to unfair practices— and even get them corrected, sometimes!
I’m very grateful for the time and effort that PR folks put into researching and responding to my (often long-winded) questions. Their input helps keep my readers and communities informed.
However, sometimes the information provided is inaccurate. That’s understandable; mistakes happen. What matters more is how the company responds, by taking ownership, correcting the error, and ensuring that customers who relied on the inaccurate information aren’t worse off. And in my experience, they’ve been pretty good at that so far.
Unfortunately, a recent experience with Marriott fell short of that standard.
Marriott Bonvoy backtracks on previous communication
In December 2023, Singapore Airlines and Marriott Bonvoy launched a two-way status accelerator challenge for elite members in either programme.
- Solitaire PPS Club, PPS Club and KrisFlyer Elite Gold members could earn Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status with just 10 nights, instead of the usual 50 nights
- Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador members could earn KrisFlyer Elite Gold with just four flights, instead of the usual 50,000 Elite miles
Naturally, there was keen interest in both offers, given the significant reduction in qualification requirements.
Now, the T&Cs say that Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status earned through the accelerator challenge will be valid for “at least 12 months”— emphasis on “at least”.
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6. When Marriott Bonvoy grants the Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite membership status to Thereafter, the member must qualify for Platinum Elite membership status under the |
In reality, however, we know that Marriott Bonvoy elite status is valid for:
- The rest of the year of qualification (Year X)
- One year after qualification (Year X+1)
- January and February of the year after the year after qualification (Year X+2)
But thanks to FlyerTalk, I became aware of a potential complication for members who qualify for status in January or February:
- If a member qualifies for status in January or February in Year X, their status will only be valid till end February of Year X+1
- If a member qualifies for status in March to December in Year X, their status will be valid till end February of Year X+2
As far as I know, Marriott does not publish this policy anywhere. So to get more clarity, I reached out to a Marriott Bonvoy spokesperson in late December 2023 to ask whether a member who qualified for elite status from January to February 2024 would enjoy that status till February 2025, or February 2026.
On 4 January 2024, I received the following response.
Thank you for your patience. I have just received confirmation from HQ that anyone who achieves a status (through earning based on program guidelines) this year, will keep that status through February 2026.
-Marriott
That was good news indeed, since it meant there was no downside to completing your 10 qualifying nights in January or February 2024. I passed this information on to The MileLion Community, and included it in a guide to the status accelerator challenge.
A year went by. Then in March 2025, I started to receive emails and comments from readers who said they had qualified for Marriott Bonvoy Platinum in January or February 2024, yet lost their status at the end of February 2025.
This was clearly contrary to what the spokesperson had told me, so I reached out to Marriott again to highlight these cases. A different spokesperson replied this time (the first spokesperson I contacted had already left the organisation), but their answer was the same.
Following internal checks, you’re right that members who met the qualifying nights in 2024 should get their corresponding status from the time they qualified, up to Feb 2026. The scenario you described should not happen.
-Marriott
The spokesperson promised to investigate the matter, and asked affected members to reach out via the official support channels.
I published an article to get the word out, but despite this, readers told me that Marriott’s customer service representatives continued to insist that status upgrades were only valid for 12 months, period.
So I asked Marriott if they could investigate the matter further, and after a lot of chasing, I received this reply on 25 April 2025.
I’ve received confirmation that, with regards to the Marriott Bonvoy-KrisFlyer Accelerator Challenge:
• those who completed the challenge in January 2024 will have their new status for 12 months ie up to Jan 2025
• those who complete the challenge in Feb 2024 and after will have their new status up to Feb 2026
The previous information was provided for status changes in general, and not specific to the Marriott Bonvoy-KrisFlyer Accelerator Challenge.
-Marriott
That’s the exact opposite of what was communicated to me in January 2024. Mind you, I don’t even believe this answer is accurate, because members who completed the status accelerator in February 2024 also reported getting downgraded at the end of February 2025.
The spokesperson apologised for the miscommunication, blaming it on “the context of the query” getting lost as the email bounced between different people on their side. I mean, I don’t know how to put this politely, but that’s Marriott’s internal issue. Why should members have to bear the consequences?
I also found it rather disingenuous that they suddenly tried to caveat that their previous message was in the context of general qualification, and not the Marriott Bonvoy-KrisFlyer Accelerator Challenge.
I re-read my emails, and it was very clear that I was referring to the Challenge. Not only did I mention it specifically, the example I cited was of someone obtaining Platinum by completing 10 nights in January 2024, then getting downgraded at the end of February 2025. In Marriott’s own words, “the scenario you described should not happen.” If I were asking in general, what scenario are they referring to?
So there’s no way they could have thought I was asking about regular qualification (you certainly can’t qualify for Platinum with 10 nights under regular circumstances, I can tell you that!), and if anything, it came across as a not-very-subtle attempt to backtrack on what was previously communicated.
For what it’s worth, I did ask Marriott if they would consider honoring their original statement (I have no idea how many members were affected, but based on the comments and emails I’ve received, it’s probably a dozen or so). Unfortunately, they refused. So where does that leave those members who acted in good faith, based on information provided by an official spokesperson?
Again, the issue is not that wrong information was provided. It happens. The issue is that Marriott is not willing to make things right, and it’s very poor form indeed.
Conclusion
Marriott Bonvoy members who completed the Marriott Bonvoy-KrisFlyer Accelerator Challenge in January or February 2024 only enjoyed Platinum status until February 2025, and not February 2026 as a Marriott spokesperson previously confirmed they would.
Despite my best efforts to get them to honor what was originally stated, Marriott has so far been unwilling to do so. That doesn’t sit well with me.
It’s my hope that they reconsider and do right by the affected members, because if a company isn’t willing to back up the words of its official representatives, how can you rely on any other information they provide?
this is why left Marriott ecosystem 2 years ago. they often backtracked on their promises (incl. status privileges) without explanation. It’s often a “he says, she says” situation. You are better off being loyal to Hyatt, or even Hilton (very homogenous offerings)
Just boycott Marriott group of hotels. There are many other hotels out there with better membership programmes, better service, and cheaper prices!
My status was upgraded in late Feb 2024, and they also refused to extend my status until Feb 2026 despite writing in persistently. Very disappointed with their response, I gave up after their latest out-of-point reply below in early May 2025. Thank you for contacting Marriott Bonvoy®. My name is Stacy and I am a supervisor with Marriott customer care. I have received your Marriott status inquiry. I understand your concern and I am happy to assist. I understand your account was upgraded in February 2024 to Platinum with a Krisflyer Accelerator challenge. Your status was downgraded in March 2025.… Read more »
they did not even reply me. if they had offered me this i might have consider but would need the accelerated platinum challenge.. haha
It’s probably better they didn’t offer it to you, u dun wanna kenna scammed twice, haha!
Well done for exposing this. Shall stick with Accor.
accor is pretty good.. the points are the rebates in euros.. but no breakfast yet for me
You should publish the contents of your email and not just theirs.
You could very well be right but your wording may have caused the confusion. Re reading your own emails and judging it yourself doesn’t carry any weight bro
Marriott is overcrowded at top. just move on to other option. Why are we so fixed on this?
Milelion is just following up on behalf of all those affected. What’s your issue with that?
I have left Marriot; my Platinum will expired end of this year. Same goes to Accor Plat due to huge inconsistency of services between properties.
Since last year, I have now clocked my 100+ nights/year 100% into IHG and let the balance keeps rolling over to keep my Diamond Elite ambassador.
The way Marriott handles their customers has left much to be desired. That is why my priority is with other hotel programs and not Marriott based on past experiences. At least for my experiences, I do not find them having better rates as compared to other hotel chains. I do find their pricing is perhaps 10 to 15 percent more. No loss for me.
yes its foul play for all of us. i had to last minute rebook my marriott hotels in shanghai and bangkok and hongkong, as i had booked based on status having free breakfast. well, its their loss and hilton’s gain, we shifted to Waldorf shanghai and it was excellent. Mondrian Hong Kong was excellent too. love Okura Prestige Bangkok and goodbye Marriott Marquis Bangkok..
Marriott Marquis Bangkok is mediocre anyway.
Good choice on Okura!
Boycott Marriott!!!
In this economy, the only way to make big corporates behave is viral shame.
Thanks for exposing this. It’s very helpful for the travel community. My comment is a bit off topic but want to share this experience which made me boycott Marriott too. I had identity theft and my account was flagged and suspended. Lost hundred thousands of points. I tried to reach out to Marriott to address the issue and gain control but all they did was to divert me to various teams with no resolution. This experience gave me significant doubts over Marriott’s ability to handle cyber security risks. Won’t want to spend more time and money and end up losing… Read more »
The number of Ambassador Elite is definitely there, there’s a spin out of a “Cobalt”, that’s why Platinum is the new Silver Elite. Hyatt and Hilton is also getting crowded. Globalist needs another tier to differentiate it. Marriott just acquired Citizen M, Thompson and Tommie is leaving Hyatt for Marriott and the rest of the hotels, is hard to avoid Marriott. We all just got to suck it all up.
Stop clocking to the Marriott program after this mess- and its not the first time that their customer service is a terrible mess for me.
Marriott probably thinks they are too big to care about a small number of people which is the true mark of a bad company.
This should serve as a lesson for the people who just sit around waiting to be spoonfed their min-maxing strategies. Read the T&Cs. Period. What do the actual T&Cs (and not some Marriott rep email which has no legal effect on amending the T&Cs) say? What do they say about the ability of Marriott to vary or amend the terms, and about the customers’ position on the same? What’s the issue with “at least”? That is what it is – “at least”. So it could be 12 months (which sounds like exactly what it was for those who got their… Read more »
You sound harsh, and probably someone will disagree with you, but you’re right. Which is why there is no recourse even after writing an article. I doubt any legal firm would be able to make a case of this if the original T&C were followed. The only real currency is cash (and even then there is inflation and exchange differentials to consider).
Pathetic loser company. Giving all my business to Hilton as head of a 100+ employee company.
Well …. That’s until Hilton screws u up too.. Best go for decent non chain hotels that fight for yr business
Hilton screwed up too. I exchanged 72,000 points for miles, when I needed the miles. I never got the miles, points were deducted. And then Hilton and SIA pointed fingers at each other other. And still not resolved. 🙄
Marriott getting way too haughty. Time to give Accor a chance.
Yes leave the marriott ecosystem, we need less of the brokies getting status through challenges and overcrowding the system. shoo over to accor and hilton, i love my suite upgrades!
Just vote with your feet.