I am one of those defectees if you could call me that since I already have 98 nights at Marriott this year. But lately I have been trying to stay at SPG properties (37 nights so far this year) if possible (they simply don't have as many as Marriott, specially in suburbs). But it seems as if Marriott isn't trying hard enough to keep my business. For instance, the free weekends don't do anything for me. I do not want to stay at a hotel if I don't want to. I'd rather be in my bed on the weekends. So this promotion is worthless to me, specially since its not even transferrable. At least then I could give them away to friends and family. The 500 (now 1,000) point online booking promo at SPG is great, in fact its more points than the points 2 paid nights would generate on average. To me points are much more valuable. Since points do not expire, maybe I will use them when I have a job which does not require extensive travel or maybe I'll use them on my honeymoon if I were to get married. SPG gives a 50% bonus to elites relative to Marriott's 30%. I have gotten upgrades more often at SPG properties than Marriott ones even though I have probably spent 10 times the number of nights at Marriott. I still get above average level of service at Marriotts and its consistent for the most part, but there are not many occassions at Marriotts that I would call outstanding. Maybe its that level of consistency thats getting to me - green, red and yellow rooms with green chairs (yikes). I have begun to enjoy the individuality of SPG hotels (although Renaissance hotels are fairly individual). Another reason to switch to SPG is that hotel points can be easily converted to airline miles that too with a 25% bonus when exchanged in larger numbers. Maybe I am just points/miles greedy, but it seems like Hilton and SPG understand that and Marriott does not. Its not like that I don't like Marriott. Marriott is still my back-up chain; though I have more nights year-to-date at the backup than the primary chain. A minor reason to avoid Marriott properties is the Neutrogena soap which makes the skin very dry. Renaissance however has great soap.