Can I Separate a Two-Night Hotel Stay to Earn Elite Credit?
TPG reader Junaid asked me on Facebook:
"I recently signed up for the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card, and was curious about an upcoming two-night hotel stay. Can I book each of the two nights separately and get credit for two different stays with Marriott in order to earn elite status? Basically I'd reserve one night, then go back and reserve the second night as a completely separate stay, but on the same Marriott credit card."
Most hotel loyalty programs award elite status based on the number of nights that you stay or the number of stays you complete in a year. A stay can be as short as one night, and usually fewer stays are required than nights to fulfill the status requirements. For example, Starwood will give you Platinum status at only 25 stays, but you have to stay 50 nights to qualify. You could stay 25 times for one night each and earn Platinum status, but staying ten times for three nights each would still leave you 20 nights (or 15 stays) short.
So can you "sneak" past these rules and have a two-night stay count as two, one night stays? The answer is technically no. The hotel will most likely merge two identical stays in their system. They don't want to award you for two stays when you're really only there for one. However, it's possible that the hotel won't catch on. You can simply say when it's time to check out that you've booked another stay, and ask if it's possible to just stay in the same room. They might not merge your stays, although they technically should.

It couldn't hurt to try, especially if you're by yourself and it wouldn't be a huge inconvenience to move or switch rooms (which they could technically make you do).
If you have any other questions, please tweet me @thepointsguy, message me on Facebook, or send me an email at info@thepointsguy.com.
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Annual Fee
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The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
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- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
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- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
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- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
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- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month
Rewards Rate
| 2X miles | 2 miles per dollar on every purchase |
| 5X miles | 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel |
| 10X miles | 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel |
Intro Offer
Earn 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200K miles when you spend $150K in the first 6 monthsLIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus milesAnnual Fee
$395Recommended Credit
Credit ranges are a variation of FICO® Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit card application.740-850Excellent
Why We Chose It
The Capital One Venture X Business Card has all the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has to offer and more. It offers an incredible welcome bonus and requires an equally impressive spend to qualify. In addition, the card comes with premium travel perks like annual travel credit. (Partner offer)Pros
- The Capital One Venture X business card has a very lucrative welcome offer.
- In addition, the card comes with many premium travel perks such as an annual $300 credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel.
- Business owners are also able to add employee cards for free.
Cons
- The card requires significant spending to earn the welcome offer.
- Another drawback is that the annual travel credit can only be used on bookings made through Capital One Business Travel.
- LIMITED-TIME OFFER: Earn up to 400K bonus miles: 200K miles when you spend $30K in the first 3 months, and an additional 200k miles when you spend $150k in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles on every purchase, everywhere—with no limits or category restrictions
- Earn 10X miles on hotels and rental cars and 5X miles on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Business Travel
- With no preset spending limit, enjoy big purchasing power that adapts so you can spend more and earn more rewards
- Empower your teams to make business purchases while earning rewards on their transactions, with free employee and virtual cards. Plus, automatically sync your transaction data with your accounting software and pay your vendors with ease
- Redeem your miles on flights, hotels and more. Plus, transfer your miles to any of the 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Every year, you'll get 10,000 bonus miles after your account anniversary date. Plus, receive an annual $300 credit for bookings made through Capital One Business Travel
- Receive up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®. Enjoy access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide, including Capital One Lounge locations and Priority Pass™ lounges, after enrollment
- Enjoy a $100 experience credit and other premium benefits with every hotel and vacation rental booked from the Premier Collection
- This is a pay-in-full card, so your balance is due in full every month

