Its interesting reading this business wire which seems to have been written by a Hilton PR person. Note that the description of the AA program is brief, to the point and devoid of euphemisms. The Hiton description rambles on and on and is full of euphemisms. There was an earlier discussion in FlyerTalk where I think the conclusion was that Hilton's double dipping is not necessarily more generous than other programs which do not offer double dipping. The generosity of the Hilton program seems to be shrinking (elimination of VIP certificates, higher points needed for airline tickets, and recent stealth increases e.g. for casino chip award). While many hotel programs do not place limits on point expiration, Hilton has a lose it or use it policy for people who have not earned points in the past 12 months. I am happy that feature is "unmatched" by some of their competitors.

For me Reward exchange simply does not offer attractive conversion ratios in either direction (YMMV).