You do realize that you were empathizing with the OP who was talking about a RI (Residence Inn) being boring which is hardly a high end property.

Advice to the OP: if you want something that is not boring then stay at something other than a RI.

Regarding real high end properties, I guess it depends where you travel. SPG in Europe is better, but Marriott is moving to change that with the addition of AC Hotel chain in December. Some of Marriott's German properties are a bit mundane; however, their Paris and London properties are quite nice. In Asia pretty much all of Marriott's high end properties are very nice and hardly boring IMO, and their continuing expansion in Asia and current expansion in India as noted in the JW list at the end of this posting. SPG has more exotic resort properties, exotic mainly because they are further away and off the beaten path for those of us from the US. Marriott is slow to fill this gap, although their upcoming Maldives JW will be a welcome addition. As far as nice tropical resorts are concerned, I think when it comes to Thailand, Marriott looks great and hardly boring.

I think Marriott understands their SPG competition, especially the uniqueness and success of the SPG Luxury Collection and as such is targeting their new Autograph Collection to the same market, and quite successfully from first accounts.

Again looking at the high end, Marriott also has a very aggressive road map for openings of new JWs in the next 3 years:
Future Openings: By 2014, the JW Marriott portfolio will increase by 24 hotels, bringing the brand total to 76 properties in 28 countries.

The Americas - Latin America/Caribbean
• 150-room JW Marriott Hotel Cusco, Peru (2012)
• 225-room JW Marriott Escazu, Costa Rica (2013)
• 280-room JW Marriott Puerto Vallarta, Mexico (2013)
• 371-room JW Marriott Coco Beach Resort & Spa, Puerto Rico (2013)

Asia Pacific
• 160-room JW Marriott Hotel Chandigarh, India (2011)
• 318-room JW Marriott Hotel Bangalore, India (2011)
• 379-room JW Marriott Hotel Chennai, India (2012)
• 206-room JW Marriott Hotel Gurgaon, India (2012)
• 170-room JW Marriott Seoul Dongdaemun Plaza, South Korea (2012)
• 520-room JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi International Airport, India (2012)
• 450-room JW Marriott Hotel Hanoi, Vietnam (2012)
• 100-villa JW Marriott Maldives Gaakoshibee Resort & Spa, Maldives (2012)
• 300-room JW Marriott Sanya Qingshui Bay Resort & Spa, Sanya China (2013)
• 300-room JW Marriott Hotel Zhengzhou, China (2013)
• 300-room JW Marriott Hotel Kolkata, India (2013)
• 320-room JW Marriott Hotel Dalian, China (2013)
• 525-room JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar, India (2014)
• 320-room JW Marriott Vinh Hoi Bay Resort & Spa, Vietnam (2014)
• 294-room JW Marriott Hotel Nanjing, China (2014)

Europe
• 416-room JW Marriott Hotel Ankara, Turkey (2011)
• 243-room JW Marriott Hotel Baku, Azerbaijan (2011)

Middle East/Africa
• 264-room JW Marriott Aqaba Resort & Spa, Jordan (2012)
• 807-room JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai, UAE (first phase: 2012, second phase: 2013)
• 170-room JW Marriott Hotel Dubai Lifestyle City, UAE (2013)

With the exception of a small percentage of ALL properties, both SPG and Marriott, have fairly boring properties in the US. Marriott has consistency going for it. I rarely stay at SPG properties in the US, and the times I have I ran into situations similar to those experienced by darthbimmer. I stay at SPG when traveling outside the US usually when there is no Marriott property or one that is not convenient, as is the case in Venice. I also will stay at SPG when a competing Marriott property doesn't stack up. In Cayman I used to stay at the Westin over the Marriott, but now with the addition of RC to the MR program I stay at the RC over the Westin.