After 2 years living at various Starwoods, it looks like I'm going to have to switch to a Marriott. It looks like Marriott gives you an option to earn points or miles. Is there any consensus on which is the better option? I live in the UK and will be mainly staying at European hotels for 3-4 nights at a time if that makes any difference.

Also, any idea on the likelihood of getting comped status right away as an SPG platinum?

Thanks for any and all help!

Cant help you on the comping issue, but on the mileage issue its better to earn points for following reasons:
a) You can transfer miles anyway if and when you need them
b) You retain the flexibility of having points for hotel stays to complement your free flights.
c) You can take advantage of the various points bonuses (ie the double points VISA thing at moment) which ultimately gives you more miles on transfer.
d) If you are wanting BA miles, then you should earn MR's then transfer on bulk (the more MR's the better the transfer rate) to Tesco Clubcard, which inturn transfers to BA miles. This may seem long winded, but the difference in miles per MR is huge! (full details on the BA forum)
e) that'll do for now.

And you can change your earning pattern if your needs change - eg you are in a crunch for some miles to reach a threadshold by the end of year, etc..

HTH
@ORD

This is super helpful information - thank you!

As kryten22uk indicated, Points is the way to go. Example in point: There is a double points promo going on right now where, after your qualifying first stay, you earn double points on all stays through Jan 31, 2006 when using a VISA card.

Also once you have attained elite status you will earn 20%, 25% or 30% for Silver, Gold, and Platinum status... But those bonus only apply to those choosing to earn points.

Regarding status, if you are planning on staying at Marriott properties on a regularly basis, then I would recommend getting a Marriott Rewards Visa as you will get an additional 2 points per �1 spent in Marriott hotels, and 1 point per �1 spent elsewhere. It also automatically gives you Silver elite status as noted at this link. Note that the Visa card only works if you choose to earn POINTS. Notice a trend here? There are numerous reasons to go with points.

FYI, when transferring points for miles you will want to use travel packages as that produces a 1:1 exchange of points to miles. See this link for more information. So lets say you are Gold Elite: and you stay at a full service Marriott Hotel and the bill is �1000 (~$1700). Earning miles you would earn 5,100 miles (3 miles per USD). Earning points you would earn 17,000 base points (10 points per USD) plus 4,250 25% Gold bonus points plus 2,000 MR Visa points giving you a total of 23,250 points. After 11 similar stays you would have earned either 255,750 points or 56,100 miles, depending on your earning choice. Cashing in 250,000 points for a 087 Travel award will get you a week at a Category 6 Hotel and 120,000 miles on any one of these airlines: Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, America West, American Airlines, British Airways, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Mexicana, Northwest, United Air Lines, US Airways, Varig Brasil. Note that a week at a Category 6 hotel is 130,000 points, so the mileage portion of the 250,000 points is 120,000. No matter how you slice it points are a much better deal, even if you want miles. You end up with a week at a category 6 hotel and an extra 63900 miles by choosing points instead of miles. Oh and that doesn't even account for the promotions that happen every so often, like the AA offer this past spring, that gave us a 20% bonus on MR points to miles exchanges. So I, and others, cashed in 087 travel awards and for our 250,000 MR points we received a week at a Category 6 hotel and 144,000 AAdvantage points. If I recall correctly BA had some similar promotion a while back.

Regarding status comps� Contact Marriott and be ready to provide stay and status information from Starwood as they may well want to see you stay pattern. Depending on the extent to which you travel they may comp you to a particular level, or offer you a challenge. A comp to Gold elite should be taken as that provides most of the benefits of Platinum including access to the concierge lounge at all non-resort hotels or complimentary breakfast if the non-resort hotel does not have a concierge lounge. It also will get you upgrades to the best available room if they are available upon check-in for the duration of your stay; obviously you are in line behind Platinum members. If you have a high frequency of stays they may also offer a Platinum challenge of staying 18 nights with a 90 day period, or something similar to qualify. If your stay frequency is not very high they may well not offer you anything.

Good luck and welcome to Marriott Rewards.

I am a Platinum member for the last 15 years. I am very happy with the program. The hotel choices are great. And i believe the point system is more valuable than miles.