No, it's more like currency mismanagement. Think of HHonors as the Federal Reserve. They've printed too much money. Too many cheap points chasing too little award inventory. To keep the value of the currency stable, they think they have to increase the "cost" of awards -- but this is what incompetent banana republics do with runaway inflation. It would have been far smarter to "print" fewer points in the first place. Now they're in a position where people are losing interest in the currency, which is worse.