Clint Henderson is a managing editor at TPG who has worked in the journalism industry for more than 25 years. He is obsessed with travel and has used points and miles to explore the world.
January 11, 2022 • 10 min read
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Quick summary
Many major hotel and airline loyalty programs have posted rollover credits and elite night credits to member accounts for the new year.
Delta, Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton all offer some form of rollover or bonus credits, helping members retain or accelerate elite status qualification.
Some programs have extended elite status or made qualification easier by reducing requirements or awarding bonus credits for holding certain products.
Members are encouraged to check their loyalty accounts early in the year to confirm posted credits and plan their status strategy.
What to consider
Some spend waivers and rollover benefits are changing or ending after January 1, 2024, so review program updates for the latest qualification methods.
Marriott allows up to 30 elite night credits per year if you hold both a personal and a business product, but not multiple personal products.
Hyatt only awards five elite night credits per year for holding a qualifying product, regardless of how many you have.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed breakdown of how rollover credits and elite night postings work across major loyalty programs and how to maximize your status strategy for the year.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
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It’s one of my least favorite times of the year: Seeing my status levels reset to zero come January every year. It’s a reminder that the hamster wheel of status chasing never really ends.
But there are some bright spots. Rollover credits, miles or free credit card nights courtesy of some of our favorite programs like World of Hyatt and Hilton are here.
In fact, some of us at TPG and some readers have seen rollovers and credits -- including Delta SkyMiles MQMs, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton and Hyatt stay credits -- hitting our accounts.
Consider this your annual reminder to check your accounts and make a plan.
Scott Mayerowitz Delta Diamond 2021. (Screenshot courtesy Delta Air Lines)
TPG’s Scott Mayerowitz flagged that his MQMs (Medallion® Qualification Miles) had already rolled over as of Jan. 2.
When I checked my account, I was thrilled to see that my MQMs had also already posted. And it’s not just MQMs above and beyond your earned status … it’s all of them going all the way back to 2020! Clint Henderson Delta Platinum 2021. (Screenshot courtesy Delta Air Lines)
Rollovers were already one of our favorite perks of Delta Medallion status.
During the pandemic, Delta became even more generous. As you likely know, each year you have to fly a certain number of miles (MQM) or segments (MQS), and spend a certain amount of money (MQD) to reach each status tier.
In a normal year, any extra MQMs earned beyond a specific status level would roll over to the next year. But since 2020, Delta has been rolling over all your MQMs. That’s right, all Medallion® Qualification Miles (MQMs) from 2020 were rolled over to 2021 and all those were added to your MQMs from 2021 and are being rolled over to 2022 to qualify for 2023 Medallion Status.
So if you earned 246,153 MQMs combined in 2020 and 2021 as Scott did, you will see all those MQMs posting to your account. Scott had 101,081 MQMs in 2020 and 145,072 in 2021, which is how he got to more than 246,000 already this year.
In my case, I earned 82,645 in 2020 and another 51,905 in 2021, which is how I ended up with more than 134,000 MQMs for 2022.
I still need to satisfy the spend requirement during 2022 to get Diamond status ($9,000), but I’m already done with the MQM requirement.
If I simply want to keep my current Platinum status, I can either spend $6,000 or I can get a spend waiver by spending $25,000 on my Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card.
If you spend $25,000 in a calendar year on the card, Delta Air Lines waives the Medallion® Qualification Dollar (MQD) requirement for status at the Gold, Silver and Platinum levels. (To get the waiver for Delta Diamond status, you’d have to put $250,000 in spend in a calendar year on the card!) Effective 1/1/24, this benefit will no longer be available, and there will be a new way to earn toward Medallion Status with the card. Learn more at delta.com/skymilesprogramchanges
It’s not just the Delta Reserve card that comes with that perk. If you spend $25,000 in a calendar year on the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card ($250 annual fee; see rates and fees), you can also get the spend waiver for Silver, Gold or Platinum status. Effective 1/1/24, this benefit will no longer be available, and there will be a new way to earn toward Medallion Status with the card. Learn more at delta.com/skymilesprogramchanges
Delta had already said all current elites will see their status extended through Jan. 31, 2023, so don’t worry if you still don’t have any MQMs.
Marriott Bonvoy
Scott Mayerowitz Marriott Bonvoy 2021. (Screenshot courtesy Marriott)
More good news comes courtesy of Marriott Bonvoy. Scott’s elite nights just for holding two Marriott credit cards already arrived in his account.
In Scott’s case, he has a personal and a business Marriott card. If you have more than one Marriott personal card, you can only get 15 nights. But if you open a business card and a personal card, you can get up to 30.
This can provide a large boost toward Bonvoy elite status qualification, essentially lowering the requirements for Platinum status to just 35 actual nights, or in Scott’s case, just 20 actual nights.
Director of content for news and features at TPG, Andrea Rotondo also got her credit card nights posted. Talk about fast-tracked to status!
The information for the Ritz-Carlton Credit Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Hyatt Regency Maui. (Photo by Clint Henderson/The Points Guy)
Qualifying nights courtesy of World of Hyatt are also now posting. A survey of TPG employees and folks in the TPG Lounge Facebook Group suggests many folks are getting them on Monday, Jan. 3. My colleague Victoria Walker was the first to notice the nights hit her account this morning. I got mine around 4 p.m.
Victoria Walker Hyatt credit card qualifying night credits. (Screenshot courtesy World of Hyatt)
Clint Henderson Hyatt credit card qualifying night credits. (Screenshot courtesy World of Hyatt)
You get five night credits in World of Hyatt just for holding the World of Hyatt Credit Card.
So no matter how many Hyatt cards you have, you’ll only get five night credits. Still, we’ll take it. And keep in mind, you can earn two additional tier-qualifying nights for every $5,000 you spend on the personal card and five additional nights for every $10,000 you spend on the business card.
It gets you at least a little of the way toward the 60 nights you’ll need in 2022 for status next year. So far, Hyatt hasn’t reduced the qualification requirements for 2023 the way the company did last year.
Hilton Honors
Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Oahu, Hawaii March 2021. (Photo by Clint Henderson/The Points Guy)
All elite nights earned in 2021 will automatically count toward 2022 status qualifications. As of Jan. 11, we're finally seeing rollover nights post to Hilton accounts.
(Screenshot courtesy of Hilton)
As a reminder, Hilton Honors reduced elite requirements again this year:
Silver status after seven nights, three stays or 17,500 base points
Gold status after 28 nights, 14 stays or 52,500 base points
Diamond status after 42 nights, 21 stays or 84,000 base points
You can have Hilton status just by having the right credit card. In fact, I got top-tier Diamond status just by opening the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card.
The information for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
The Aspire with Hilton Diamond status for as long as you have the card. While the card has a large annual fee of $450 (see rates and fees), there are other valuable inclusions like an up to $250 annual Hilton resort credit, up to $250 yearly airline credit and a free weekend night when you open the account and each year on your card anniversary.
For rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles Platinum Amex Card, click here For rates and fees of the Amex Marriott Bonvoy Business, click here For rates and fees of the Amex Hilton Honors Aspire card, click here
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
