It sort of makes sense in these difficult economic times -- people are gambling less, but willing to pay more for their cigarettes.

Two bellwethers of consumer discretionary spending  -- hospitality company Starwood Hotels and Resorts (HOT) and Altria Group (MO), the biggest U.S. cigarette seller -- provided different takes Thursday on the state of the economy.

Starwood is suffering, while Altria fared pretty well. Their stock prices reflected that diversion in early trading.

Starwood (HOT) said its third-quarter profit fell 12% from a year ago as U.S. consumers have cut back spending at resorts in general and the gambling tables specifically.

Starwood reported profits of $113 million, or 62 cents a share, during the three months from June through September, down from $129 million, or 61 cents a share, a year ago. Still, the company beat the projected estimate of analysts, who had forecasted earnings of 54 cents a share for the quarter. Revenue was about the same at $1.5 billion.

Starwood Chief Executive Officer Frits van Paasschen said in a statement that the company was responding to the global slowdown by streamlining its operations.

“While we can't control the economic environment, we can right-size our organization to offset the effects of slowing travel demand,” he said.

The CEO said the uncertain global economy made it difficult to forecast 2009 earnings.

Meanwhile, Altria Group reported earnings that beat Wall Street’s predictions due to higher prices on its flagship brand Marlboro.

Higher prices on Marlboro and other brands helped offset the fact that fewer cigarettes were sold during the third quarter, the company said.

Altria’s third-quarter net profit fell 67% to $867 million, or 42 cents a share, down from $2.63 billion a year earlier, or $1.25 per share, but that was due to the spinoff of its international cigarette division.

Profit and revenue rose at its Philip Morris USA division.

Earnings per share from continuing operations was 46 cents, which beat analysts estimates of 44 cents.

Altria said that despite the ongoing credit crisis, it had retained financing for its planned $10.4 billion acquisition of smokeless tobacco maker UST Inc. However, the sour economic conditions make it unclear whether the purchase will add profits in the next year as was originally projected.