Originally Posted by zaf

In my opinion HHonors are still the best rewarding program available. Devaluation was not nice, but still even with the devaluation they are the best bang for the buck.
(All comparisons are made with a mid tier status, Gold VIP, Marriott Gold, and SPG gold)

1- Hilton: To stay for 6 nights in category 7 high season room in an exotic island (e.g. Conrad Maldives, Hilton Bora Bora) you need 225,000 (rooms go for at least 500-600 dollars per night at that time). To collect these points you will have to spend ± 12,850 USD excluding taxes.
If you want put the WA into equation as being the most expensive hotels and rewards at Hhonors. Then its 360,000 points and you would have spent 20,500 USD.

2- SPG: Similarly, it would cost you at category 7 around 175,000 points to stay for 6 nights (5th night free package). And to get to these points you would have spent ± 58,000 USD. Rooms are going usually for as well 600 USD or more.

3- Marriott Rewards: to stay in category 8 for 6 nights you will need 175,000 points (super saver and 5th night free package). To collect such points you will need to would have spent AT LEAST 17,500 USD on marriott hotels. Mind you these 17,500 USD has to be spent on hotels earning 10 points per USD. There are many hotels that ear 5 and even 2 points per USD. E.g. Residence Inn is a 5 points per USD. So if you take that into consideration and your stay was a mixture of 5s and 10s with a mean of 7.5, you will need then ±23,000 USD. (thats higher than what is needed for a reward in WA collection). In addition, not all hotels can use the super saver package. so this 175,000 points can be 200,000 in many hotels.

Although the marriott maybe the closet to hilton, their hotels are not as nice and they do not have so many hotels in exotic islands like hilton.