I’ve been anticipating this milestone for a long time, and I finally made it over the hump. Lifetime Platinum status with Starwood Preferred Guest. I already have a lifetime status with an airline, and even though I don’t fly with Star Alliance much anymore, having United gold status has been a big help when I do. Given the impending demise of Starwood Preferred Guest, presumably as soon as the end of 2018, I hope this lifetime status will actually last more than a few months. There hasn’t been any information that I could find addressing this exact topic.
The stay that put me over was not exciting at all, it was part of a mattress run to get my 10th year of Platinum status. I booked the Sheraton Brookfield which is pretty close to my house. The rate was under $80/night which is cheap enough I don’t mind too much to get the night credit. I didn’t even sleep there, but my daughter enjoyed the indoor pool, so that is a win. No acknowledgment that it was a milestone stay, although I did get a free upgrade to a 2 room suite. Good to have more space to change into swimming suits, I guess.
My 50th night posted to my SPG account a day after I checked out, on January 2. My Lifetime status wasn’t updated until…
SPG Lifetime Status
SPG lifetime status is relatively straight forward, I earned Lifetime Gold status several years ago. 250 nights and 5 years elite is all it takes to qualify. Lifetime Platinum requires 500 nights and 10 years earning Platinum status. Those 10 years need not be consecutive, although they were in my case.
The tally on the SPG Dashboard page updated in a few days after my final stay of 2017 which completed my 10th year of Platinum status:
It then took over a week before the new lifetime status updated on the site. Special gifts I mention in more detail below will be sent via FedEx. Not so express since they suggested it could take 10-12 weeks. We’ll see.
I also received an email welcoming me to the new status:
How long is Lifetime SPG status going to last?
It is a mystery what Marriott may do with those who earned Lifetime status in the SPG program. There hasn’t been a lot of information about this. I did find some quotes that do reference it, but are far from definitive:
SPG Lifetime Platinum Gifts
There are reports of various gifts once someone reaches the Lifetime Platinum milestone. Supposedly there is a welcome package including a metal SPG card (likely aluminum, rather than platinum sadly), and a map of all stays. Some reports also discuss a monogrammed bathrobe. Strangely I received this over a year ago and some luggage tags after a stay at the St. Regis Bahia Beach. It has the St. Regis logo on it, and the note seemed to imply that it was intended to be delivered to me during my stay there in Puerto Rico, but it shipped to my home address.
Final Thoughts
I’m (probably too) excited to have hit this milestone. I’ve been happy with SPG through the years. Had some great stays, and even my more typical stays at Sheratons in the US are still decent. Elite status helps dramatically with that, and my many upgrades without instruments through the years have been nice. I’m hopeful my status will remain at least somewhat useful after the SPG program consolidates into Marriott Rewards, but I’m guessing it won’t be as nice as it would have been in a standalone SPG program.
