my miles posted overnight.

For me using the miles to book an F/C award was worth more than using the points for hotels. Since my travel tends to be in SE Asia mainly it is easy to get good hotels for not a lot of money.

The online tool didn't show me the greatest selection so I called and got marginally better choices than I would have been able to book myself. IAD-BKK return (via FRA on LH F connecting to TG F and then return via NRT on NH C) for US$145 + 120K miles (most of which were bonus miles I accumulated on credit cards -- 50K Amex MR points for getting that card, 25K SPG Amex card bonus miles and 10K SPG bonus points for moving the miles to Aeroplan and I think it was 15K BoA Aeroplan MC signup bonus).