Response from Starwood Corp.
4B.4. An “Eligible Rate” is the rate you pay for your room, but excludes:
(a) for hotels located in Asia Pacific*, rooms where the booking is not made directly with Starwood or a Starwood branded web-site;
(b) for hotels located outside of Asia Pacific*, pre-paid rooms where the booking is made by an agent or third party and you pay for that booking directly to such third party, such as tour operators, and pre-paid channels, including, but not limited to priceline.com, expedia.com, hotels.com, hrn.com, hotwire.com, lastminute.com, site59.com, orbitz.com, travelocity.com, cheaptickets.com, quickbook.com, travelweb.com, lodging.com, yahootravel.com, and travel.msn.com;
(c) room rates for group commercial or group leisure bookings where rooms are booked as part of a conference or organized tour that is either master billed or paid at tour operator rates or where the bookings for six or more rooms are linked;
(d) room rates that are master billed or paid at tour operator rates, wholesaler rates, including STARnet, STARPRO rates, and crew room rates;
(e) employee rates;
The friends and family rate is an employee rate as you need to know an individual who works for starwood hotels and resorts worldwide.
(I know people that work there, but the rate was because i live in AZ)