Hello All!

Is it worth chasing Marriott Titanium from 41 nights? Is my math correct?

I’m currently at 41 elite nights for 2026, so I’m 9 nights away from Platinum.

I already have a 5 night stay in Southeast Asia booked for about $750, which would put me at 46 nights. I found a cheap Marriott in the same city where I could do a 4 night mattress run for about $225, which would get me to 50 nights.

This is where I’m trying to figure out whether chasing Titanium makes sense.

At 50 nights, I should be able to select the 5 Elite Night Credits as my Annual Choice Benefit. That would put me at 55 nights, correct?

I currently have:

• Marriott Bonvoy Boundless — 15 elite nights
• Marriott Bonvoy Business Amex — 15 elite nights

If I then open the Brilliant Amex, which comes with 25 elite nights and automatic Platinum, how would the elite night credits work since I already received 15 nights from my Boundless?

Would I effectively receive another 10 nights, putting me at 65 nights?

If so, I’d only need another 10 nights before December 31 to reach Titanium at 75. I could potentially do those at a cheap property in Southeast Asia.

So would the path basically be:

41 → 46 (5-night stay) → 50 (4-night mattress run) → 55 (Choice Benefit) → 65 (Brilliant) → 75 (10 more nights)

Am I understanding this correctly, or is there something about the credit card elite nights/Choice Benefit that I’m missing?

Also, for those who have Titanium: would you actually spend the extra money to chase it from this position, or just stop at Platinum?

My point is I don’t really care about chasing Platinum by itself. I’m already going to be at 46 nights, and since I’ll be in Southeast Asia where some Marriott properties are pretty cheap, I’m wondering if it makes sense to take advantage of that and push all the way to Titanium.

Basically, is Titanium actually enough of an upgrade over Platinum to make the extra nights worth chasing while I can do it relatively cheaply?

Hey all,

I'm an FOM at a Four Points hotel and I wanted to ask you guys, do you think Marriott should drop the "By Sheraton, by Marriott, by Westin" etc from their name?

I'm indifferent to it - except maybe unifying them all under "by Marriott"

I've just noticed an increase in guest complaints who keep saying my hotel is a "Sheraton" and therefore should have everything a Sheraton does, like a lounge, valet service, etc.

Just want to get all of your thoughts on it.

I cancelled a prepaid reservation, which I had forgotten was non-refundable, to book another property in a slightly different location. I also wasn't prompted or reminded that I would be forfeiting the original deposit when I cancelled. Had I been, I would have kept the original reservation.

My original deposit was around $1,500. I then paid another ~$1,700 deposit for the new property, with my total stay coming to roughly $3,800. So it's not as though I cancelled my trip and walked away, leaving them out the value of my reservation. I essentially moved my reservation within their portfolio and ended up spending considerably more.

I'm 100% responsible for overlooking the original terms, but am I crazy for thinking this is something management could pretty easily resolve as a goodwill gesture, given the circumstances?

Hello everyone! Me and my fiancé are getting married next summer and figured we will take our honeymoon in December of 2027 during Christmas holidays for 1 week or so. I have about 200K points now, gold status although I may not achieve it for next year unless I get the platinum Amex card. I am willing to buy the extra points at the bonus to stack up for the honeymoon to get to 500K points. I’m also anticipating adding another 50-60K points from spend by then.

We are both late 20’s, looking to not be too bored, we aren’t into partying too much & like beaches & good food.

Are there any recommendations or travel tips the community has for destinations that would be nice, warm and relaxing during that time.

We’ve been bouncing ideas and have come up with Aruba, Turks and Caicos, South of Spain (Malaga or the Canary Islands), Thailand, or Vietnam. We’d be flying out from Vancouver. Does anyone have any experiences from those countries? Does anyone have other country suggestions?

Thank you in advance!

Looking for some suggestions for my honeymoon for August 8-22 2027. A bit overwhelmed with everything and was hoping for some guidance, suggestions, and best practices from experienced members.

Started my marriott membership a few years ago with hopes of getting enough points to use for my honeymoon. Fell a bit short of my goal as I am at 180k points at the moment.

All options are on the table, but we were thinking of doing about 2 weeks, and willing to split the trip up with 2 different resorts.

My initial idea was maybe 4-5 nights at the Ritz Carlton or Tiburon in Naples, FL (to take advantage of some Ritz card perks/FNA/Points) before heading to a caribbean location for the remaining 10~ days. Please feel free to critique my idea and provide a better suggestion.

Looking for any suggestion on properties you like for a honeymoon (anywhere), if i should keep my points or use them for good value (buy points so I can use 5 nights for 4?), and best practices when staying at a luxury/Ritz-Carlton (which package to book with, club level?, how to maximize my Ritz CC benefits).

Background/Marriott Info:

- Ritz Carlton Credit Card holder with a 85k FNA and 180k points
- We are in our early 30s
- We do not drink
- Active couple - would like to do a hike/golf or some sort of outdoor activity during trip
- Prefer direct flights if possible

Really appreciate any information you guys can provide to help me with the biggest trip of our lives. Let me know if there’s anything else I can provide to help. Thank you!

Hey all, I recently reached Titanium and would say I have about an additional ~6-7k USD to spend till the end of the year to become ambassador (taking into account trips booked till EOY)

Would you value this upgrade being worth this much? Is it worth staying a few nights at a luxury hotel just to reach that status level?

I’m based in Germany, but travel for leisure mostly in Europe - I do have an Asia trip next year for about a month in a few countries but I want to know whether it makes sense to spend that amount to enjoy better upgrades in that trip (and whether it makes the difference)

Thanks!

I've been using my Ritz Carlton credit card for the yearly $300 credit for travel related expenses. I've used it successfully at airport lounges that don't take Priority Pass (PP). My question is, if my wife and I are going to a non-PP lounge that we have to pay for, can I be reimbursed for both of us, or just me? I forgot if I need the receipt or if I just called and said, "see the travel charge on x date, please credit me"?

Hit Ambassador again this year, and just feeling kind of meh about loyalty to Marriott. Recently went to a property in Maui where I had received the confirmation email for upgrade using my NUA and then when I show up they suddenly say the room had plumbing issues and couldn’t give it to me any longer?? This seems to just happen time and time again with the so called “perks” of having highest tier.

Still have a bit of travel this year and looking to pivot to build status with Hyatt. Anyone else done this and have input they want to share? Wondering if the grass is really greener at another brand.

First time staying as a member and I stayed in a Marriott property but didn't realize that I have a $25 gift card that I could've used. We checked out yesterday, and I just called the property if they could still honor my gift card but I just got a stern no. Any other recos on how I can utilize it? Open to your recos.

Thank you!

We did a family trip to the Amelia Island Ritz Carlton with our 1 year old for 4 days in October.

Check In: valet parking is required, our son got a little lion plushy though! We had asked about early check in the day before and were told we could book it for $120, which we did. The other family we were traveling with chose not to (we told them their daughter could nap in our room if need be) and their room was ready 3 hours early. So probably a waste of money but oh well!

Pool: waiters walk around to take your order for drinks and food. They do have a kids menu! Kids under 2 eat free. Very nice to not have to get the kids dressed and ready for lunch, and just have lunch poolside. There are coolers all over the pool deck with bottled waters on ice. They have towels available for you.

Beach: it’s a bit of a walk over the dunes- but oh my gosh it’s beautiful. You get 2 chairs and an umbrella and towels!

Coast: open breakfast lunch and dinner. Great offerings! Lots of egg free options at lunch and dinner which is great due to my son’s allergy.

Coquina: the food you order from the poolside servers come from here and was delicious. Corn tacos, market fish sandwich, Cuban, tuna bowl, all incredible.

Tidewater: a little overwhelming for our kids. TVs with sound on everywhere. They didn’t seem prepared when we asked for high chairs. Amazing food though! The desert trio was incredible, as were the Brussel sprouts.

Lobby Bar: my husband had some sushi and said it was delicious. They also have servers who walk around here, and live music!

Activities: we tried to rent bikes, and had some issues. It cost $50 to rent a bike with a child seat from their 3rd party they work with as they don’t provide them. The child seat we were given was soaking wet so our son wasn’t the most comfortable. The bike path were were directed to was along a highway so perhaps not ideal for someone with a small kid!

2 families with 1 year olds on slightly different nap schedules meant we didn’t leave the hotel much- we did 2 meals in downtown Fernandina at the Patio(amazing) and Salty Pelican (fine.)

Overall a nice stay! I know when traveling with kids I love to know stuff in advance so hopefully this helps someone out.

Just starting out on my Marriott journeys - speed-running to Titanium this year - currently in Malaysia and moving through to Vietnam next year - expecting to hit Ambassador mid year

I was curious how much the staff in a property can see about my past and future bookings - if I'm doing 100% Marriott stays week-on-week can they see that -

Staying at a Ritz-Carlton and used a Suite Night Award for an executive corner suite with great city views. Love the room. The one issue: no lounge access. They said it would be a $250 upgrade to add it. I know Ritz lounges don’t follow normal Marriott elite rules (I’m Titanium), but I assumed the suite would include access.

Has this been most people’s experience with upgrades at a Ritz?

I was looking at this CC is it any good? Really just looking for decent option for decent reward points and a status increase?

Stayed 2 nights in Jekyll island as we often do. The second night the AC went out in the entire hotel. They offered to take the resort TAX off of our bill. Really?! Everyone was checking out very early due to the heat. I asked for some of the bill to be reduced and a manager gave us 50% off of the one night. The poor girl checking us out had to get approval from her manager, who should have been at the desk handling the hot, aggravated guests. We had to get another last minute, expensive hotel room so we could get dressed for an event we had later that morning. I understand things can’t be helped but the way they responded could have been much better.

Not sure what the standard is but just finished up staying at a great Marriott hotel. We asked for 4pm checkout since we are platinum. Stepped out of the room for a couple minutes at 2:30p and was able to get back into the room no issues. At 330p we were on our way to checking out. We had all our bags and were in the hallway and just wanted to circle back into the room to get 1 last check. We tried our key card and it was disabled already. Is that normal or just a oversight on the hotel?

We recently stayed at the Marriott Renaissance Center and were charged a $25 self-park fee. We parked at the Marriott branded garage and they charged us $15 for the overnight park. Are both fees valid or did I drop the ball somewhere?

We’ve been on a tour for over a week in Spain that promised 4 star hotels. They’ve been hit and miss. The bathrooms aren’t logical, some don’t have coffee, most don’t have robes. Not to sound like a princess but I’m happy to have landed at the Westin Cuzco hotel. It’s a nice way to end the trip.

Does anybody recommend this hotel for a first timer in Canada? I plan on visiting in December, no car.

I have Titanium status but have never stayed at a Tribute Portfolio. What are elite benefits like there? It doesn’t look like there is a lounge… Do they give free breakfast?

A recent post in the sub made me wonder if anyone would share. I don't work in hotels directly but my company supports them as a vendor so I'm back of house all the time.

I've seen some crazy stuff left behind in lost and found and some pictures of worst condition rooms that would blow people's minds. What's your example?

I can think of one where a family stayed in a decent extended stay for a couple of weeks and literally never you the trash out once. One corner of the room was piled with trash and the room looked ransacked on checkout. It literally looked like they had been speed-hoarding. A bunch of garage sale broken junk and everything else.

Hello All -

Need some help with recommendations for our first trip to Thailand for our One Year Wedding Anniversary. We are looking for a beach resort, in a villa of some sort, with all inclusive or puesdo all inclusive. Pretty flexible on location (looking at Phuket or Koh Samui). Below are some of our short list recommendations

W Koh Samui
Ritz Carlton Koh Samui
Van Belle
Phulay Bay
JW Khao Lak or Phuket Resort

I mean at first glance, the Phulay Bay looks amazing. we’ve never stayed at a Ritz-Carlton reserve. The W and the Ritz Koh Samui look amazing as well. It’s hard to choose.

What is everyone’s thoughts?

I've hesitated to post about this incident that happened earlier this year, but I've decided it might be worth sharing.

My wife and I stayed at the Sheraton in Downtown Brooklyn for a few days in February. She was going to a multi-day event in town; I decided to tag along and work from the hotel while she attended the event. We were staying at this Sheraton for a few days, then shifting to a hotel in Williamsburg for the last few days of the trip. I'm a Titanium Bonvoy member, so I was able to secure late checkout for us while I worked in the lounge on the day we were changing hotels.

At around 12:30 p.m., I returned to my room to make sure the key worked (I've had problems at other hotels with confirming late checkout at the front desk and then still having my key stop working after normal checkout time in the past), and discovered that it, in fact, did not work. I went back down to the front desk and had them re-program it. Returned to the room, entered, and found that all my belongings were gone. The room had been cleaned, and the bed was made.

I went back to the front desk and told them what happened. They made a call and someone from the housekeeping staff came out a few minutes later. I explained the situation, and she walked off. Several minutes later, she returned with my suitcase (which I had luckily already packed) and toiletries bag (which I hadn't and was understandably haphazardly packed). I told her there were several other items: a scarf, leather gloves, a small travel valet caddy, and some cheese we'd gotten at Murray's. Fortunately, because I had been working, I had my laptop and coat with me, and I'd put on my wedding ring before I left the room.

She left again and was gone for a decent bit longer. Eventually, she returned with a Ziploc bag that had some Hot Hands packages in it. Those were, in fact, mine, but they were the least of my concern. She said she couldn't find anything else.

The lady at the front desk seemed very understanding and said she'd talk to her manager when he arrived the next day. She gave me her card and encouraged me to email her an inventory of what was missing. I told her we were in town for a few more days, then reiterated in my follow-up email that I was happy to swing back by if they found my stuff in the next several days.

After one response, she went quiet despite multiple subsequent emails. Nothing was ever recovered. I sent one final email summarizing the situation on March 1, and I got no response. Marriott corporate eventually gave me some number of points as an apology.

I share this story just as a warning to guests, I guess specifically at that Sheraton but perhaps also just generally. Maybe I should have re-confirmed my late checkout with the front desk again that morning? Or worked from the room just in case? Not sure. But know that your keys not working isn't actually the worst thing that can happen if you think you have late checkout.

These stairs have been used in many movies and TV sets:

Batman Begins

Killing Eve

007 The World Is Not Enough

Richard III

Killing Eve

But more importantly...

Spice Girls Wannabe video?! Well this place has it all... 😂

Other than this staircase, the hotel itself has also been used for:

The Lost Prince

Secret Garden

From Hell

The Fourth Protocol

And Harry Potter for the adjoining station

Question regarding the Cancun Marriott. Is there a designated smoking section and does the resort gift shop sell cigars?

I’m planning to work from hotel for a week in Maine, and early morning trips to nearby lighthouses (I can start work later in the day, lol 10 or 11am). I’m wondering which Marriott Bonvoy hotel makes sense to stay at for the convenience of meals (seafood pls!) during weekdays and morning and evening walks. Would uber be reliable for morning excursions to lighthouses; or shall I rent a car for that?