I tried to get gold status by linking my timeshare and SPG accounts when I bought resale, but I got denied. I own Bella as well. I called and tried again after the accounts were linked and asked if it was a mistake. I was provided the reason for the denial was that I bought resale. Results are mixed. Some Tuggers have received gold despite buying resale. After the merger of Marriott and SPG, I received gold status for Marriott (and thus SPG) for being at Select Level for Marriott Vacation Club.
I bought Marriott Newport Coast Timeshare resale on EBay 2009 EOY. In 2010 Marriott changed to points system. In 2014 I bought 2500 Marriott points and enrolled Newport into program allowing converting to points. Since then, I was given gold status even on SPG. My Chase credit card was upgraded to the black card ($85 annual fee) to get 5 reward points versus 2 or 3 under the no annual fee Chase Marriott card. Since being given gold, we’ve received many great upgrades on our hotel rooms, ocean views, corner rooms which are larger, concierge lounge for free breakfasts or even hundreds of points per day to forgo breakfast which we do, etc. Being gold in the Marriott reward program has many benefits. We are also ‘select’ under the Marriott Destination Club. We just went to update last Wednesday at Ko Olina to get our 30,000 Marriott Reward points, didn’t buy more points but hoping to find some in the future via resale. Love Marriott
Both the timeshare and points and the hotels. With points we have gotten free 4 to 5 nights stays in Calgary, Sydney, Australia, Washington D.C., and gave lots of points to my daughter and son in law for 5 nights in an upgraded Paris Marriott hotel room for their 10 anniversary present. To think we only owned timeshare since 2009 and got the Chase Marriott card even less years.