Agree with those who urge splitting the threads. Hotel transfers are much different.

Last year, I tried to stay away from hotel transfers, because they just don't make sense to me, or if they do, just barely so. They are my last resort hits. The values just don't make sense to me on a lot of them and, in general, I really don't like having to give up points to get miles unless there's no other way.

I think hotel rewards really test how much each hit is worth. The way I see it, there are basically three ways to value hits. Some would say last year that, once you get to the higher echelons, each hit is worth 5,000 US miles. That's the marginal value, to be sure, but you could also make the case that each hit has the same value and thus 36 hits for 100,000 points means each hit is worth 2,777 miles. Then again, if you're stuck on 35 hits and have no other realistic option to get to 36, one hit is theoretically worth 20k. But generally speaking, the hotel transfer hits aren't worth it to me unless I have no other choice

For example, I value Marriott points pretty highly. Giving up 10k to get 2k miles, plus the hit, is not ideal, unless the only other hit I could get costs me more than the cost to buy 10k Marriott. Same with Hyatt and Hilton. Last year, hotel transfers were my last hits, except for Carlson, because that was so low. I did 1500 Starwood and 10,000 priority club, which I won in the anywhere challenge. Otherwise, the hotel hits are just too expensive. We'll see what this year brings, but I agree with those who say they need their own thread for issues such as the above.