Originally Posted by wco81

I haven't stayed at too many Marriott's.

All my travel is leisure and I often find better values, especially overseas.

What does Gold Elite get you? You accumulate points for upgrades and free rooms but I have no points (have been invited to get their credit card but from other threads, I get the sense that they give out a lot of points freely and it takes more points to get rooms every year).

I guess if you book Marriott, you can either get Marriott points or MP miles?

I stayed at a Courtyard Marriott in NY a few months ago but booked it through booking.com, so I imagine there would be no points involved on such rates. At least that's how SPG used to do it, you had to book through their own site.