Why I’m Committed To Earning Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite Status Every Year

I’ve often heard people say, “Platinum Elite is the level where Marriott Bonvoy benefits become good.” And that’s largely true. However, I aim for the elite tier above that every year — Marriott’s Titanium Elite tier.

For me, the extra benefits make the effort worth it. However, I won’t pretend that all of those additional benefits are valuable. In fact, I think 3 benefits alone make Marriott’s Titanium status worth chasing year after year.

Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite Status Overview

Aside from being me a general member of the Marriott Bonvoy program, my Titanium Elite status means I’ve reached the fourth tier of the program. Earning Titanium Elite status requires earning 75 Elite Night Credits annually.

To be clear, there is another tier above Titanium — Ambassador Elite — though this requires earning 100 Elite Night Credits annually plus spending $23,000 with Marriott in a calendar year.

Lest 75 nights sound unreachable, know that it’s possible to start each year with up to 40 Elite Night Credits in your Marriott Bonvoy account automatically. This happens when you hold the right combination of Marriott’s credit cards.

I won’t focus on all of the generic benefits available to Titanium Elite members, such as the reservation guarantee policy available to anyone with any Marriott status level, but will focus on what Titanium offers above the perks for Platinum Elite members.

Above what you get at the Platinum level, Titanium Elite members receive the following additional benefits:

• 48-hour room guarantee
• Hertz Five Star status (instead of a shortcut to Five Star)
• 75% bonus points on paid stays (instead of 50%)
• Another Marriott Annual Choice Benefit (including the Platinum Elite options plus 2 additional options)
• United MileagePlus Silver Premier status
• Aeroplan Elite 25k status

The Annual Choice Benefit available at 50 nights, when you reach the Platinum tier, gives you a choice among a discounted Marriott mattress, charity donations made in your name, gifting Silver Elite status to someone, adding 5 Elite Night Credits to your account, or 5 Nightly Upgrade Awards. At 75 nights, you get another choice. You can choose any of those previous options or from these 2 new ones: a Free Night Award worth up to 40,000 points or gifting Gold Elite status to someone.

Marriott Titanium Elite Status Benefits

Right away, I’ll say that I’ve never cared about the 48-hour room guarantee for Titanium Elite members or the Hertz Five Star status. I’ve never booked a room with Marriott at the last minute and had an issue, and I have other methods to get complimentary rental car elite status — including Hertz President’s Circle status upon enrollment with The Platinum Card^® from American Express.

However, the juice is worth the squeeze, as the saying goes, for 3 Titanium Elite benefits in particular. And these have nothing to do with the bonus earnings on paid stays, which are nice, as I enjoy earning extra Marriott points along the way. I won’t pretend that’s not great.

Since most Marriott brands award 10 points per $1 spent, I’m earning 17.5x — rather than 15x for Platinum members. That’s an extra 500 Marriott points on a $200 hotel bill, and we value those points at $3.50. Multiply that across all of your Marriott spending in a year. It adds up.

What are the 3 benefits I really care about, though? The Annual Choice Benefit, the United Premier Silver status, and the Aeroplan elite status.

Free Night Award

For my 75-night choice benefit, I always choose the Free Night Award worth up to 40,000 points.

With a 40,000-point Free Night Award, you can spend a night at hotels charging up to 40,000 points for a reservation. And if you want to stay at a hotel charging up to 55,000 points, you can add up to 15,000 points to your Free Night Award to make it happen.

I’ve redeemed Marriott free nights for hotels at an incredible value in the Maldives, United Arab Emirates, Hawaii, and more.

United Premier Silver Elite Status

The United Premier Silver status is an interesting benefit of Titanium Elite status, thanks to Marriott’s partnership with United Airlines. As this is United Airlines‘ lowest tier, you don’t get perks like lounge access or elite perks on Star Alliance partners.

United Silver benefits include an extra 2 miles per $1 spent with United (a total of a 7x bonus at this tier), 1 complimentary checked bag when flying in economy with United, Group 2 boarding, eligibility for free upgrades starting on the day of departure, and the ability to choose Economy Plus seats at check-in for me and 1 companion on my same reservation.

For a Silver member, upgrades are extremely rare. However, I love getting a free checked bag when needed, Group 2 boarding to secure space in the overhead bins, and choosing seats with extra legroom at no cost — as long as they’re available when checking in, which I can do 24 hours before departure.

It’s hard to quantify the value of the United Silver status each year, as I likely wouldn’t pay for the perks if I had to and wouldn’t make the effort to earn the status otherwise. However, I routinely redeem the 40,000-point Free Night Award at $350 (or more) in value.

Aeroplan Elite 25K Status

The partnership between Marriott and Air Canada offers benefits in both directions. For those with Titanium or Ambassador Elite from Marriott, you can get complimentary Elite 25K status from Air Canada’s Aeroplan program.

This is Aeroplan’s lowest status tier, but it offers several perks. Those include priority waitlist at call centers and overbooked flights; priority check-in at the airport; 2 free checked bags on Air Canada-, Air Canada Rouge-, and Air Canada Express-operated flights; 2 Maple Leaf Lounge passes; and priority boarding. This status also provides eUpgrade credits, bonus points on paid flights, and complimentary preferred seats, which you can choose during check-in.

Are Marriott Titanium Elite Status Benefits Worth It?

And those benefits come on top of the intangibles. I can’t count how many times I’ve received extras for my Titanium Elite status. Hotels have given me bonus points and free breakfast as welcome gifts at check-in, even though the rules said I needed to choose 1.

Or there was the time a Marriott hotel in Bahrain emailed asking whether I wanted to be picked up from the airport in a Mercedes or BMW thanks to my Titanium status. There have been times where hotels waived the fee for airport transfers, as they don’t often see elite members above the Platinum level. Other times, the food and drinks were provided in my room at no charge.

What’s the value of these extras? Hundreds of dollars per year in terms of money saved or points added to my account, if I’m being honest. Add that number to the value of the Free Night Award and United perks, and I think Marriott’s Titanium Elite tier makes sense as a goal for anyone who spends a fair number of nights in hotels.

Final Thoughts

I am well aware of Marriott’s and Marriott Bonvoy’s faults. That said, the global footprint works well with my travels, and my status has been handsomely rewarded time and time again.

A good number of perks are available at the Platinum Elite tier. However, I think the benefits available at Titanium Elite — including those that are and aren’t quantifiable — make this status worth pursuing each year.