My first experience with frequent flyer plans was on Continental Airlines. I made Silver Elite in 1998 and thought I was something. Boy how little *I* knew!
From 2000 to 2003 my airtravel was 70/30 work vs. pleasure. At the time we were exporting worldwide. In 2001 I rediscovered Flyertalk (having first found it back in 1998 when it was a rather more yecchy brown! Sadly I lost the link and forgot about it) and made the most of the strong US$ and great RTW fares available around the world rather than buying round-trip premium-class tickets. We paid less in fares and I got a LOT more miles and enjoyment. I went from being a brand new AAdvantage member in late 2001 to Executive Platinum by June of 2002.
In 2003 due to external events our export business and my travel was curtailed somewhat. I still retained Exec Plat until 2005. Also during this time, thanks to the Valuemags Gold Points promotion, I reached 1MM with AAdvantage within 3 weeks of signing up for the program. I hit 2MM with AAdvantage just a few years later and should hit 3MM with them in early 2008. Since 2006 I'm clocking 40-80k paid travel per year and even more with mileage redemptions. I'm easily flying 100k per year. About 30-40k of that is paid int'l J/F, mostly leisure. Again, thanks to FT and learning about RTWs and reasonable premium class fares I can afford to do things I never dreamed of.
On hotel stays my work travel was 60/40 vs leisure. That has actually increased as business has grown in state in locations I prefer to travel to by car. I've been a staunch Starwood member since 2001.
Again, thanks to Flyertalk, I went from being a simple Preferred member to a SPG Platinum through American Express Centurion (also learned of that from Flyertalk). When AmEx dropped SPG Platinum as a benefit, I was concerned that I would drop in status. Yet even as my int'l travel declined I was on the road far more for work in-state. I surpassed 75 nights with SPG in 2006 and this year will comfortably exceed 60.