Marriott Bonvoy Elite Member Soft Landing Policy In 2020

It has been unclear whether Marriott Bonvoy will follow Marriott Rewards or Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) soft landing policy (or introduce something new).

Marriott Rewards sometimes downgraded members by one level (you could always buy back the status too) while SPG didn’t offer any soft landings.

You can access Marriott Bonvoy’s page for status levels here.

READ MORE: Marriott Bonvoy Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions

Earlier in the week, I wrote a piece (read more here) that my status downgrade for 2020 hadn’t taken place yet. I decided to dig deeper to find out if there is a policy in place for soft landings.

Here’s Marriott’s policy:

If an Elite member does not meet their existing tier’s annual requirements in a calendar year, they will downgrade one or two Elite tiers below their existing Elite level for the following year.

The member will continue to move down (downgrade) tiers each year if he or she does not meet the tier’s annual requirements.

For example, a Platinum Elite member with 40 qualifying nights in 2020 will move to the Gold Elite tier in 2021. If the member does not meet the Gold Elite requirements in 2021, they will then downgrade to the Silver Elite tier in 2022.

Conclusion

Bonvoy members who haven’t qualified for their 2019 status in 2020, should expect Marriott to process one or two category downgrade soon.

Marriott Rewards used to have unpublished rolling qualification in place where some members (like myself) weren’t downgraded for years even when they didn’t meet the official 75 nights requirement for Platinum status.

It is nice for Marriott Bonvoy to continue to offer soft landings for elite members.