Originally Posted by CMHFlyerOH
On a similar note. . .which hotels points besides Starwood, if any, can be converted to ff miles on an competitive (close to 1 to 1) basis?
Marriott, when done as part of a travel package, transfers up to 120,000 FF miles at 1:1.
When you consider the fact that you earn 'em at a rate of 17 per $ at a full-service prop (or a tad more, if you are elite), that's a pretty healthy ROI. ^ For Starwood stays, it's three or four points per dollar (depending on status level), although Starwood places a far larger percentage of your overall earnings in targeted promotions, which can bring it up into the 6-10 pts/$ range.
(Perhaps off-topic, but this bugs me. I'm relegated to doing short bursts of Starwood activity 2-3 times a year. Marriott has targeted promos too, but compared to "regular" earnings they aren't a major driving force in whether you stay at Marriotts.)
Starpoints are King for day-to-day credit card spending, but if you actually stay at a lot of hotels, the Marriott Travel Packages are tough to beat.