Bonvoy 1 Bonus Elite Night and 1,000 points now live

I believe the pattern is related to Chinese New Year more than anything else! Later this year than last, hence not starting until mid Feb

Getting a bit worried about how much regularly recurring this promo is. As if there’re not enough premium status members on the books already…

Took me an hour or so but figured it out. Most of the places I want to go (that I’ve not been before are too cold or don’t have Marriotts).

Out to Bologna, back from Venice for the princely sum of £39 RT on the O’Leary bus, then AC in Bologna, four points in Venice and a couple of train/bus combos to visit San Marino to tick off the last of the EU micro-nations that I’ve not visited.

Total cost under £400

An interesting analysis. I admit I don’t have any figures but my feeling is based on the combination of the proliferation of double night bonuses (whereas 3-4 years ago this was a once-in-a-blue-moon promo) alongside the fact that Platinum is readily available via credit cards in the US.

I’d maintain that it’s not clear Marriott feels elite numbers are not overinflated. My fear is that they simply don’t care about that and they run these fairly popular promos to galvanise occupancy numbers in what is traditionally the quietest part of the year – and if that overinflates elite numbers, so be it. The money brought in is what counts.

There’s a lot of people who over the past couple of years have managed to hit LTP directly as a result of this promo, when that would have taken a lot longer under normal circumstances. My LTP status is in sight by the same virtue and I know that I form part of the same critical mass.

I’d love to hear more about how Marriott manages elite numbers (or any hotel chain, really).