I was platinum at Marriott and rarely received an upgrade. At the London County Hall they offered me one for 50GBP ($80) a day. Then refused to give me a complimentary upgrade as they had none avaialable.(Unbelievable!)

I called Starwood - They made me Platinum due to my 100+ nights at MArriott, and WOW - I'm 100% upgrades with over 80 stays, to Club floors and over 70% to suites. In addition on a free award I was upgraded to a suite.

Also Starwood redemptions are far better. Marriott claim they are the fastest to a free room, but read the fine print. If you are Platinum the Starwood 50% bonus, plus an additional 500 points per stay makes free rooms come twice as quickly.

Good Bye Marriott has been great for me.

Steve