Thanks for everyone's reply.

I had read over the "official" Marriott Gold standards from their site, but I wanted to see what the experiences of everyone in the real world were.

Maybe I'm missing something, but why would you ever stay at a FS Marriott if a CY or FI were nearby. At a FI you get a free breakfast and free internet. At CY you get free internet. I had hoped at Gold would get me at least a free breakfast at CY and FS Marriotts.

I stayed in the Washington DC area alot. The FI's out by Dulles are very nice and the weekend rates are 55 - 65 per night.

Seems Gold does not mean any more than Silver to Marriott.