Hi all,
My first post here so please go easy if I ask something dumb 
I had no idea this forum even existed until recently.
Anyhow my question is this: I've been Platinum for the last couple years but will come up short of 75 nights this year. I'm at 60 now and with planned travel during December will likely end up 8-10 nights short of the requisite 75. (It's a bit of a bummer because while work allows me to choose my hotels for regular travel, they elected for a couple of conferences at Hyatts this year and I also had to cancel a 4-night trip due to illness ... ok that's my bit of whining getting out of my system there 
.)
I read a bit on "status challenges" and "status buy-backs" here on the forum and asked Marriott whether these were available to someone seeking to retain Platinum going into 2016. The answer was essentially no, Marriott reviews all accounts during January and February and decides what tier an individual is in, and if I am downgraded, I can get back in touch after February to ask how to reinstate status. That makes sense, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to check here and see if you all more experienced folks know of other options to ensure I keep Platinum before the new year hits. (I'd actually be fine with simply renting the extra nights if I lived in a lot of places in the country, but I live in the San Francisco bay where local properties are all expensive so to be candid I'm trying to dodge that financial hit.)
Thanks a bunch for any ideas. My default assumption is there are no good options at this point, but hey, an easy ask is an easy no so that's my easy ask 