Volleyball Ferd - Thanks for the correction. It is three points per eligible dollar. It was not clear to me how the "50%" bonus was calculated.

This brings Starwood down to $2687 revenue required for a free night on Maui. More competitive, but still the most expensive.

I use an affinity card (either Amex or a UAL Visa) for all the purchases I can, so anothe affinity card doesn't help unless they are way ahead of the curve for the points they give out.

I like the idea of no blackout dates at Starwoods, but it really depends on whether the rooms are available anyway. Planning two months in advance or more, I've never had a problem with Hyatts in terms of getting the space. I would expect the same availability as an elite member of any other program.

Again, I now have the Hyatt Diamond status for the life of that program. I'm looking for a second progam to patronize at Elite status. It really seems that Starwood has a lot of choices and flexibility, but you ultimately get fewer free nights at the type of properties I would be interested in.

I have learned a lot from this thread, but I still need somebody to close me on which program will suit me the best.

------------------
United UGS
Hyatt Lifetime Diamond
Starwood Platimun