<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SPN Lifer:
. . . if you are going to a five-day convention, and may not stay again for years.
In that case, it seems better to take the miles.</font>
Could be. Seems likely, at any rate.
However, that's the way I started (a four-day convention over five years ago). Took points, which don't expire if you have activity at least once every 24 months, stayed at Marriott properties as third choice (after Hilton and Starwood chains) so I kept the account alive.
Then I was required to stay pretty regularly for a five-month period in an area with no Hilton or Starwood presence, and stayed in a nice Marriott long enough to make Platinum that year and this. Now I have over 220,000 MR points. They
do add up.