Never own one. Want to open one mainly to get additional nights towards status. Couple of questions:

Is the 25,000 bonus points the best I can get?

I noticed they all have annual fees. Do they ever waived them? Can one pay them with Marriott points?

Like to get the premier for the extra 5 nights credit towards status. However, the annual fee is much higher. Anyone had luck getting them to lower the annual fee?