So this issue was somewhat debated with varied responses in a post about a starwood amex card and then using those points for marriot. So i have lots of nights with marriot, and lots of points with starwood. looks like it is an even trade back and forth between the two programs currently. So i transfer 500k starpoints to marriot, which gives me 1.5 million points with marriot. Now have enough points and nights for lifetime Gold ASSUMING transfer points count towards lifetime points, that is the question? then as a bonus, you can transfer the MR back to starwood, no harm no foul?

thanks