Excellent question Njupin... I too grappled with the pending issue over the past month, while in the process of booking a travel package to Rome next summer. I was at almost 600k of Marriott points. I always book my trips well in advance to take advantage of availability. I did book the 0910 pack (7 night cat 7 and 120k AA miles) at the end of the day. I plan to use the AA miles on long haul international as stated by Bpauker, to get the most value.
Even with award tix fees, taxes and fuel charges....getting international award tix is still a good value.

In my current situation...my Marriott earn rate is much faster...and will continue to be much faster than any of my preferred airline earn rates (AA, DL, UA). This past spring I used 240k of "airline" AA miles to go to Cancun, depleting my AA account down to a "measly" 250k. If my earn rate improves on the Airlines then I will tend NOT to book a travel package and use the Marriott points for hotels only.

I am elite in AA (LT gold....also going for LT Plat) and UA so that helps. Transferring miles from Marriott to AA helps in the quest for LT PLAT.