Combining Marriott Rewards accounts - success story!

Many years ago, in a personal world that was devoid of the pleasure (and pain) of any interest in miles and points and things of that ilk , I'd stayed at the Marriott London County Hall for about 3-4 days, which was an amazing property as I recall it.

Though it was a corporate rate booking, the friendly hotel staff suggested I register for the Marriott Rewards program, and since there was no apparent downside to it (there still isn't), I did sign up. That stay netted me a few thousand points. And since  I don't stay with them, these points are (were?) still lying in my account that I had signed up for.

Now, late last week, I had written about an offer for complimentary Marriott Rewards Silver status upon sign up, and going by mantra of Any Status is Good Status, I just had to signup for it. But it applied only to new accounts. So now I was left with two accounts - one Silver with no points, and the other - just a base category - with some points which would get me a night or two at a decent property.

Because these points aren't as optimally useful as I'd like them to be, I decided to risk it by writing to Marriott and asking if they would combine the two accounts, which would leave me with Silver status but also carry over the points from my earlier account. Now this isn't necessarily a good strategy, because some hotel chains such as Accor actually don't permit that (read related post here), and will go to the extent of cancelling both accounts.

Fingers crossed, I waited for a response, and a helpful associate emailed me, asking for the two account numbers. I responded immediately, and within 48 hours, I was notified by the associate that the two accounts had indeed been combined. Now that was good but not great, because I was still unsure about the points.

This morning I finally tasted success! Both accounts merged, Silver status, points carried over into the new Silver account. Great stuff, and I"m actually quite elated! Now, about using those points...