Upgrades for "Gold Members" are available on a first come basis, assuming they are available.  If you are too cheap to reserve what you really want, be prepared to be constantly disapointed.

I've had a W card for a little over a year. I've stayed at a couple W Hotels and am a SPG Gold member. The Card just showed up at my door one day. (Literally. It came in a big clear plastic box.) I would not say it is useless. There are a few small perks I've seen (free bottled water ... free cocktails here and there ... one time  the Chicago W Lakeshore left me some snacks in my car for the drive home). But really, what the W card is meant to be is sort of a W Concierge for your life. For example, a few months ago some friends and I were staying in New York -- NOT at a W, nor any Starwood hotel -- and we wanted to go to a specific restaurant on the Lower East Side. I called the restaurant for reservations and they said they had nothing all weekend. I called my W The Card Concierge ... and I had a table for 4 at 7:00. It's a way for them to extend their Whatever/Whenever service to the rest of your life. If you are looking for big freebies like upgrades ... you probably aren't going to get them. But you do get a nice 30% discount from the W Store. Not a big deal if you are just trying to stock up on Warmth of Cool CDs ... but boy did I get an awesome deal on the king size Heavenly Bed I just bought ...

but do you have to stay a minimum amt of nights at a w hotel each year to keep your card?

A good question. I got the card after only having spent a handful of nights (4-6) at W Hotels . And while I was a SPG Gold member, I got upgraded to that level through my Elite status with United's frequent flyer program. So I really hadn't spent as much money with Starwood as one might think I should have to get the W card. My W card was renewed this year, again, after only having stayed at W Hotels a handful of nights in 2006. I have to admit though, the card got me to up my W stays to perhaps 8-10 or so last year. I have to imagine there are people out there who have spent more time at W Hotels and do not have a W The Card. So it may really just be random. Or, it could be that not many SPG Gold members are in their 20s ... so I fit into some sort of W Hotel target demographic. I really have no idea.