One of my favorite achievements in the business travel space was during the summer of 2017 when I was able to achieve both SPG and Marriott Platinum Elite. The bonus points, free nights, upgrades, and more were well worth the effort to get there... If you're curious, here is how I did it:

The Beginning

Signing Up. Pretty basic, I had to sign up for the loyalty accounts. Marriott Rewards and SPG Preferred Guest (now one program, Marriott Bonvoy) were my selections. I really like how they make checking on your status/progress so easy through both websites and apps. If you don't have an account with these brands, you need one!

Marriott and SPG (in 2016) announced that they would be merging their loyalty programs. The final combination happened in 2018, with a rebranding to Marriott Bonvoy in 2019.

Planning the Travel

Even though 18 nights is WAY less than the 75 nights that you were required to stay for Marriott Platinum status (or the 50 required nights with SPG), it still took time to accumulate. I was going to be in Dallas all summer working, and since my wife and I lived in Utah, we decided that the best option for us would be for me to stay in Dallas and live with a cousin, and my wife would fly out every weekend. While she was here, we would stay in hotels around there area and get to know Dallas better. (At that time, we were planning on moving to Dallas and it was a great way to get to know different areas)

We realized that we were going to be spending so much money in hotels and with airlines, that we could save even more money by going with travel-focused credit cards! (Huge shout out to Brady Tengberg for the Credit Card analysis and help!) We applied for the SPG Amex and the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Chase card has quite a hefty sign-up fee ($450), so I wouldn't recommend it unless you are planning a bunch of travel. If you are, benefits like a $300 travel credit, 3 points per travel dollar, and more make it a handy tool.

Our spreadsheets were beautiful, they tracked minimum spends for the cards, flight prices, routes, flight numbers, hotel brands, and more.

Time to start booking. We bought all of our flights on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x points), and all of our hotels with the SPG card (5x points). We stayed at SPG properties the entire time, because the threshold for Platinum status was only 50 nights with SPG, compared to 75 with Marriott. Considering the merger of SPG and Marriott, we knew that the status would match anyway and we could have both soon enough!

Little Bit of Luck

What is a story without a good miracle. It was the very last day of July when I received the email that I had achieved Gold status. SPG has promotions all the time, and the current one was a way for non-elite members to get Gold status, or Gold members to get Platinum status if they could stay 18 nights in 3 months.

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I read through the fine-print, and it mentioned that you were allowed to use nights from one-month previous in the challenge! That meant that I could use June, July, and August for the challenge. It just so happened that we were already planning on staying exactly 18 nights during those months! I called SPG and signed up right away for the promotion, and a few weeks later, I had completed it!

Why Does It Matter?

Well, Marriott Platinum is one of the best loyalty groups to be in when it comes to on-site perks. SPG Platinum is incredible as well, and both of them combined is a dream (enter Marriott Bonvoy). I have used both to get bonus points, complimentary upgrades, free internet, and guaranteed availability among many other perks!

I wanted to share this journey because it was so much fun to accomplish! Let me know if you have any questions, and I'd be happy to help!