Ok, for all you Starriott status chasers, I've got another avenue to get some elite nights heading into the program change. If you book a meetings at a Marriott, you can get 10 elite night credits for each meeting. I've been working on this one for a little while, and wanted to actually get it to work before I shared with the class.
I held a meeting for work at a Marriott and gave them my rewards number. Per the website, any qualifying meeting would earn 10 nights. At first, the nights didn't post, so I thought maybe my event was too small to qualify, or you need to have a room block (everyone was a local for my meeting). I asked the hotel where I'd hosted the meeting, and they told me that they don't participate in the program. I called Marriott central booking, and the person referred me to the rewards program. I found out from the rewards program rep that all Marriotts (except Residence Inn and maybe one other brand) do participate in the program and a room block is not required. I also checked back with Marriott central booking, and the rep I spoke to had checked into it and verified that any meeting should qualify. I (very politely) pushed back on the hotel where I'd held the meeting, and they apologized and said that they hadn't known about the program, but they had credited me the nights. The nights showed up the next day.
Depending on how many nights you need to get to the next status level (and how much you value that status) you should be able to book an event and get 10 nights - might be cheaper than mattress runs if you're a ways away from getting to the next level. Based on my experience, this may be a little bit YMMV - if I did it again, I'd want to be sure to discuss it ahead of time and make sure that they know how to credit the nights (and are willing to do so). The rewards rep was adamant that there was nothing she could do to get the nights credited to me, I had to get the hotel where the meeting was held to post the nights. It really looked like it wasn't going to pan out at one point.
Not sure if this will carry to the new program or not - from what I can see, it doesn't look like SPG offers night credit without having a room block too.
Anyone want to have a Dischurners meet up in New England? I'll book a conference room