Originally Posted by stevens397

Okay - I'll take a chance at getting some heat!

Your profile shows nothing about any status with Marriott - just seems you got the miles through the credit card.

I'm Silver with Marriott after buying one of their timeshares. I accrue a large number of miles each year on my credit card by purchasing some business items with it. But with Marriott, rooms cost lots of points and getting top resorts at top times is very difficult unless you pay twice the already high rates (Stay-Anytime rewards).

I ended up investigating and switching to Starwood. There are two basic reasons - the rates are lower and there are no blackout or double point times. I have gotten resorts during the major holidays and summer vacations with absolutely no problem whatsoever. So the dollars I spend on the credit card give me more and better vacations dollar for dollar - much more!

I bring this up because you already have a load of Marriott points and it may be a good time to diversify. And if you agree, I can speak very highly about the Starwood system. Obviously, I recommend that you check their forum on FlyerTalk to see what others say.

That said, with 1,000,000 + Marriott points, you have some wonderful vacations coming up.