An easy way to earn Elite Status with Marriott Rewards is through credit cards. Normally speaking, you can obtain your status immediately as you open your credit card, or you can also obtain your status after spending a certain amount of money.
Two kinds of credit cards are launched by Marriott and Chase together:
- Chase Marriott Rewards and its business version
- Ritz-Carlton Rewards
You get 15 eligible nights every year when you open the Chase Marriott or the Chase Business Marriott. As the requirement of Silver card amounts to 10nights, your card will become Silver card automatically every year. Beyond that, ever $3,000 in spend gets you one qualifying night.
In the first year of the Ritz Carlton card, you get gold status for free. After that, spending $10K/yr will keep Gold status and spending $75k/yr will get you Platinum status. When it comes to the annual fee of 395 dollars, few people may hold the latter for a long period. Remember that the Amex Platinum has a higher fee ($550) but really a $150 net fee after benefits, and this auto grants you Marriott Gold via SPG Gold status.
American Express has your ticket to Gold!
One of the best ways for me was to get the Platinum Card from American Express and get Gold Status automatically. The only bad thing is paying the $550 or $450 annual fee for either the personal or business versions of the card.
Another card is the Starwood Preferred Guest from American Express which may not be around too much longer so it’s best to get it while you still can with a bonus of around 35,000 points. This card gets you into the Starwood lounges and automatic Starwood Gold which translates to Marriott Gold.
In addition, you may find that achieving United Premier status could also win you Marriott elite so you could get one of the United Mileage Plus credit cards from Chase. See here for more fast-track to Marriott elite ideas.
