With us, it's simply a question of location. Even when there is more than one Starwood hotel in city, they're usually in different places. If not, we look at price versus quality and the chances for upgrade (as reported in Flyertalk). But we definitely try to avoid the W brand whenever possible as we don't like having the shower and bathroom sink out in the open in the middle of the bedroom. That strikes us as very low class; the sort of thing you would see in a hotel that rents by the hour rather than by the night, and is really a place for a good deal of quick rotation activity.