I had used Cendant hotels (Days, Super Ocho) on a Omaha-Atlanta driving trip back in 2000, and was amazed that they had no loyalty program or was the recipient of an e-mail campaign. Missed opportunity, I thought.

Family friend had arranged a Girl Scout weekend to Worlds of Fun and put us up in the FI in Liberty. Nice hotel for what we wanted. The guy at the desk made us aware of Marriott Rewards and that's all she wrote. Used MAR for our 2001 roadtrip OMA-SAT.

Bought MAR stock in 2001, started working PT for Marriott in 2006. Sorta like Sy Sperling, LOL. No regrets.