<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PLangian:
Full disclosure: I have a six figure Starwood balance, will stay 30 plus times at Starwood properties this year. However, the majority of my point accumulation comes via the AMEX card and ClickRewards.</font>
Okay, time for my full disclosure. Around 150 nights with Starwood this year, and a four-figure Starwood balance. I will *earn* a six-figure Starwood balance before transferring my points to an airline program, based on hotel spend alone. Assuming your stays are two nights each on average -- 60 hotel nights -- who is the more valuable customer to Starwood, and thus deserves the upgrade? (okay, at 60 hotel nights, you deserve your fair share of upgrades, too!
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I'm making an assumption about your number of room-nights just to make the point -- high points balance doesn't necessarily equal a "better" or "more valuable" guest. YTD points represents a better measure in my mind.