I have been a Marriott Rewards member since 1986 and have enjoyed many free nights mostly due to credit card usage. About 3 years ago, I switched to Starwood because I thought they have a better point value which has been discussed and pretty much confirmed. Then why am I switching my credit card back to Marriott:

1. Better gold elite rewards. Just spend 3 free nights at the Renaissance Times Square and the gold benefits were a plenty.

2. More hotels to choose from. Starwood does not really have a great competitor to Courtyard.

3. Can't book a Starwood property on line with points for more than 2 guests. Although still unconfirmed, the same happens most of the time on the phone too. Pay cash, you can have more guests in your room. Seriously?

4. Nicer properties

Now it is time to probably transfer my Starwood points to Delta. I have over 250,000 Marriott points so time to plan our Hawaii vacation.

Some interesting points here. However, you need to stay 50 nights to remain a Marriott Gold. Why not stay 50 nights at SPG and become Platinum which gives you better benefits at SPG properties including suite upgrades?

I just spoke with Starwood. They said if I want to book a room for 2 adults and child using points, then I should exclude the child from the ressie and note them in the special requests area. Their website does not allow a child in the award ressie.

We maintain gold status by using our credit card. We do not stay enough nights to earn gold status with nights alone.

Now I can transfer my 140,000 Starwood points and get 175,000 Delta miles to help with the Hawaii vacation.

Ok fair enough on why you wouldn't obtain Platinum status. Not sure the reservation issue is a major issue but clearly it's an issue for you.

The reservation issue turns out to be a nonissue just an inconvenience. The gold elite rewards seem much better with Marriott and they have so many more hotels. Sometimes I just want a Courtyard or Residence Inn and sometimes a JW or RC. Am I thinking about this wrong? I do know that 20,000 Starwood points is typically more valuable than 20,000 Marriott points but that assumes that an appropriate hotel is available.

I think you have to look closely at what you can get for the SPG points. Personally, I frequent a Four Points a lot that is a Category 2 and only requires 3,000 points for a weekend stay. That's monster value compared to what I get with my Marriott Points that require 10,000 for a similar Courtyard nearby. Everyone's situation is unique, it depends on what you can get with your mountain of points. I'm still new on the Marriott scene but have been taking advantage of the stay 2, get one free promos. But once those are maxed, I'm back to SPG where my Plat status gets me a whack of benefits...

I just spoke with Starwood and they said to book the room with two adults and note the children in the special requests area. It seems like it should be an easy software fix. So now I am thinking about staying with Starwood. Of course I still hve 200,000 points to use. Here is why:

Starwood vs. Marriott.

16,000 points per night at Westin-Maui
vs. 35,000 points per night at Marriott-Wailea Beach

12,000 points per night at Westin-San Fran Union Square
vs. 30,000 points per night at Marriott-San Fran Union Square

20,000 points per night at Westin or W New York Times Square vs.
40,000 points per night at Renaissance Times Square

The Starwood gold elite benefits are not as good but the value of the point is ~2x.

Thoughts?

But you only earn 3 points per dollars spent at Starwood as a Gold, and at Marriott as a Gold you earn 12.5 points per dollar spent- so more than 4 times faster.

You forgot to mention that with Marriott you earn 10 points per dollar spent and with Starwood you earn 2 points per dollar spent. (not counting the elite bonuses) ...

Very true but we don't usually spend much at Marriott. We earn most of our points using the credit card. In the past 4+ years, I have only earned 32,000 points from Marriott expenses.

I responded in the thread where you posted this in the SPG forum.

How are you planning to maintain MR Gold with credit cards, given your apparent travel patterns? MR Gold is generally more difficult to obtain than SPG Gold, and MR Silver gives almost nothing.

Thoughts?[/QUOTE]

You forgot to mention that with Marriott you earn 10 points per dollar spent and with Starwood you earn 2 points per dollar spent. (not counting the elite bonuses) ...[/QUOTE]

So it becomes almost a wash!

It is not even close to a wash. If you primarily earn points thru hotel stays, you will be able to redeem about twice as many nights with Marriott than with Starwood, assuming your spend is equal with both chains. Marriott alos has a better earn/burn ration than Hilton, by my calculations.

This is why we are with Marriott and try to do nearly 100% of our stays with them, because perks are not my primary motivation for picking a chain, sure I like upgrades, but what I'm really after is free nights.

Award reservations or standard reservations, Starwood freaks out over families that are larger than 4. Resorts claim that they can't handle more than 4 in a standard room with 2 beds - and that's the only option provided when SPG sends out their vacation specials.

David

[QUOTE=MSPeconomist;19933175]I responded in the thread where you posted this in the SPG forum.

How are you planning to maintain MR Gold with credit cards, given your apparent travel patterns? MR Gold is generally more difficult to obtain than SPG Gold, and MR Silver gives almost nothing.[/QUOTE]

This may be a true statement, however, SPG gold is virtually nothing and barely recognizable. Therefore, unless you can maintain SPG top tier status your membership is worth nada.

I would say MR is far better over SPG in gold level service, benefits, locations to choose from, and redemptions. The OP may consider the event planner to maintain status at MR as well.