Someone tried to explain to me that there were 5 levels of Marriott accomodations. This was at a party last weekend and all I could remember was the Courtyard and Residence Inn. Can someone explain each of the levels?

I suspect you mean 5 categories for using points. But recently that changed to 7 categories. Each hotel is assigned a category from 1 to 7 (but I don't know if there really are any 1's -- the lowest). When you want a free night with award points you may stay in a category 1,2,or 3 with 15,000 points. Or maybe up to a 4 with 20,000 points, and for a 7 (their top resorts) you may need 35,000.

Perhaps you mean the different brands owned by Marriott. There are five main ones. Courtyard and Residence Inn are two of them. Marriott Hotels is the third. The other two brands are Fairfield Inn and Renaissance Hotels.

Marriotts and Renaissance are the highest quality of the five. Courtyards are geared toward business travelers. Residence Inns are suites with kitchens and often lots of room. Great for families and business travlers staying long-term. Fairfields are the least desirable of the lot.

Marriott also owns Springhill Suites and Town Place Suites, but I don't really know anything about them. And, of course, they have many Vacation Club properties, many of which are very nice. I'll be staying at one myself, for the first time, in a couple of months.

Hope this helps!

Actually Marriott lists 10 "brands" of hotels including their Vacation Club Resorts. You left out their JW Marriott brand, klw.

Right, Patrick, how could I forget the JW Marriott. That's my DH's favorite Marriott in DC--he stays there often for business. The JWs are a more luxurious Marriott.

If you go to http://marriott.com/rewards/usepoints/hotelrew.mi?WT_Ref=mi_left, on the right is a box with drop-down lists of the 8 Marriott brands and 7 reward categories.