Marriott Bonvoy has long operated with a “soft landing” policy for members who do not requalify for status. As in years past, Marriott will offer elite members a soft landing in 2025, meaning that if they do not requalify for status, they will not drop more than one level in the Elite status hierarchy.
The Deal
- In January 2025, Members who achieved their existing Elite Status again in 2024 will have their current status renewed through February 2026.
- In early March 2025, Members who did not re-achieve their existing Elite Status will be offered one tier below their current status through February 2026. Members will see their new status in March 2025 and can enjoy that new status through February 2026.
- Members who achieve a higher Elite Status during 2024 already have a status expiration date of February 2026.
Quick Thoughts
This policy announcement applies to those who currently hold elite status but fail to requalify for it. For instance, I currently have Platinum status but if I did not earn the 50 elite qualifying nights during 2024, my status would only drop to Gold in 2025 (this would be the case, even if I had earned 0 elite qualifying nights in 2024).
This soft landing is probably most appealing for a current Titanium member who will not earn at least 50 nights this year since they will drop to Platinum status (maintaining free breakfast or lounge access at many brands) even without earning the normally-required 50 nights.
Keep in mind that Marriott choice benefits, like the ability to choose 5 nightly upgrade awards, are based on elite night earnings — so a Titanium member receiving a soft landing to Platinum will not get suite night awards (they would need to earn 50 elite nights in 2024 to get those).
This soft landing policy has been in place for years and it is great to see it continue so that someone whose travel in 2024 didn’t quite hit their typical levels won’t lose status altogether in 2025.
H/T: One Mile at a Time
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Does the soft landing roll over each year? I.e. If I am Ambassador level and then no longer book any nights, I will go Titanium the year after it expires, then Platinum the year after, then Gold, etc?
I’ve been Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador over the past 3 years and honestly, I didn’t see ANY difference in upgrades. As an ambassador level member (with 375 nights in one year – thanks to double night promotion) I didn’t see any difference in the ability to get a room upgrade. That was the most disappointing part. Since I am a lifetime Platinum member now, I won’t make the extra effort to get to Titanium or even Ambassador.
I have 9 years of Platinum and 700 nights. The last credited year came from the Amex Brilliant. If I drop the card at renewal later this year, will I get the 10th year and lifetime Platinum as part of the “soft Landing?”
I got credit towards lifetime Plat from the Covid renewals and follwing soft landing.
What bothers me about this is why Marriott is doing this. To understate things vastly, Marriott does not exactly view loyalty members as valued assets.
They removed the text about soft landings from the page linked… interesting
Did the author forget that Titanium status exists?
(Specially referring to this section of the article…
The Deal
Marriott Bonvoy has announced elite member soft landings in 2024 whereby if a member does not requalify during 2023 for their current level of elite status, they will drop at most one level in 2024. If a member does not requalify for status:
Marriott Bonvoy Ambassador members will drop to Platinum status
Marriott Bonvoy Platinum members will drop to Gold status
Marriott Bonvoy Gold members will drop to Silver status)
I’d rather see them carry over nights to requalify for status the following year, or give people within 5 nights of the next level an extra 3 months the following year to maintain current level, then teach the next level.
It’s too easy to game the system this way. It’s frustrating when people who are actually staying the required nights are losing it upgrades to those who are holding onto higher legacy status. It’s been like this for the last 4 years with COVID and Marriott still hasn’t reopened many lounges completely.
I’d rather have the full benefits of what I earned, than inflated statuses with inconsistent benefits.
[…] HT: Frequent Miler […]
If you have lifetime Platinum status, it does not affect your status, correct? Lifetime means lifetime?
Yep
The straight soft landing allows someone with no ENCs to have status for years. It’s handing out status like candy. Marriott should focus on customers who have stayed with the brand. Here’s an alternative. If a person has fully qualified for a given tier level for three consecutive years via ENCs (let’s say Platinum) and in the current year only qualifies for one tier lower via ECNs (in this example, Gold), the person keeps Platinum for one year. After that, it reverts to pure earned status until the person hits three consecutive years again at whatever tier level.
Explaining that to any normal person who calls in to ask about it (and training reps to be able to explain it) and building the IT to track it are all just probably more complication than they want, hence the much simpler policy.
In terms of “handing out status like candy”, I don’t get too caught up worrying about that. If someone gets status who doesn’t ordinarily stay enough to earn status, the chance of that person who doesn’t stay at hotels much staying at the hotel I am at a time that affects my experience seems very low. I just think Marriott, like most travel providers, is facing the new reality that business travel isn’t what it used to be and so navigating a way to keep business travelers as loyal as possible so that they aren’t off to another chain by the time their business travel “normalizes” (whatever the new norm may be) seems wise to me. Besides, anyone can have Platinum status with the Brilliant card and/or 20 nights stayed if they have the Bonvoy business and a Bonvoy consumer card, so it’s not like the bar is terribly high anyway to get to Platinum.
Fair enough.
I’ve had titanium status 6yrs straight and 2 more yrs of Platinum. This would be my first time in 15yrs as a Marriott member being soft landed. I see the soft landings or using rollover nights as a way to keep members engaged as they are giving a lower status to someone who wouldve normally qualified for it or a higher status. That is not as bad as handing it out with a credit card not even requiring 1 night in a hotel, which is worse to me.
Will this help me if my Gold status was from the Amex Plat I canceled? Does Silver status even matter?
I guess you’ll probably get Silver, but no it doesn’t really matter. You’d earn a few more points per dollar spent, but hardly enough to mean anything unless you’re only going ton stay a few nights and they’re going to be really expensive.