I was actually looking at a couple of awards, which didn't look too bad: for 1500 points (5 rentals for me) you get up to a 4-day weekend rental, and for 4400 points, a 3-day vacation at places like the Luxor or the Hyatt Regency Chicago.
For short-term rentals, though, I'll admit the old system was incredible. I was just looking for any info on how much of a bait-and-switch runaround you get when trying to cash in the points...