[/QUOTE]Starwood customers are more affluent on average than Marriott customers. Period. End.

Marriott wants those more affluent Starwood customers. Period. End.

Anyone who thinks otherwise is clueless.[/QUOTE]

I agree with some of what you are saying but .... I'm skeptical that the average Starwood customer is more affluent. I tend to think, however, they travel differently ... perhaps even less ... thanks the average Marriott customer. A lot of us here are road warriors and the Starwood portfolio doesn't work. If I stuck to meetings in the downtown area of major cities, I might have focused on them. The difference in portfolio doesn't mean, however, that the average Starwood customer is more affluent.

On the other hand, they certainly have a higher percentage of upscale rooms and have a higher average room revenue than Marriott. I'm happy to have them as a new option ...particularly on the leisure side. But, the lack of a meaningful Courtyard or Fairfield product is why they were put on the market.