Thanks. Excellent point ref. promotions. I think I maxed out the recent MR Bonus that ended on 4/15.

I only signed up for the SPG Amex card for the 35k points (worth 105k MR points). And now that I have it, I actually have a chance to stay at an SPG property given the full-service Marriott being sold out this week.

This property is actually decent. And for a budget hotel, even more so. In several ways, I actually prefer it to the Marriott downtown. Even though I don't pay for parking (or more specifically, I do of course, but I expense it to the company), $22 for valet pkg (no self-park option) at the full-service vs. free self-park here is a no-brainer.

In any event, given the point situation, I'm back at the full-service next week at $225/night vs $125/night here just to maximize points. Sooner or later (2018?) the two programs will merge--I was just wondering if there's any way to game the system to our advantage prior to that merger, but it really doesn't sound like it unfortunately.