I'm currently planning 3 trips: Prague (this month), Las Vegas (December), and Paris (April). Everything is squared away for the first two, but I'm still trying to figure out the Paris trip. I know I'll fly American Airlines (there are 5 of us going and I have 200k AA miles set aside for 5 off-peak RT tix @ 40k each). The biggest question is the hotel. I have about 35k Starpoints to spend, and about 100k AmEx Membership Rewards points. I'm Starwood Gold and Priority Club Platinum, and the only real choices for me are Starwood properties and Priority Club properties (MR transfer to PC at 1:1). The catch is I need 2 rooms (3 adults + 2 kids > 4 people).

Most PC properties are 15k/night + $60 (or 30k/night + $60 for an Intercontinental which seems out of scope). That means, with two rooms, I can get 4 nights on PC points. On the Starwood side, there are Category 5, 6, and 7 hotels (none currently show cash & points availability, though). If cash & points does become available, then the rates are 4,800 + $90 or 8,000 + $150 (you can't use cash & points on a category 7). So, that means either 3 nights at a category 5 or 2 nights at a category 6. If I want 6 nights, there are a few ways to break it down:

•4 nights at a PC property for 120,000 PC points + $480
•2 nights at a category 5 Starwood property for 19,200 Starpoints + $360
•Total = 120,000 PC points, 19,200 Starpoints and $840

•4 nights at a PC property for 120,000 PC points + $480
•2 nights at a category 6 Starwood property for 32,000 Starpoints + $600.
•Total = 120,000 PC points, 32,000 Starpoints and $1,080 (but this is, theoretically, at a nicer hotel).

•3 nights at a PC property for 90,000 PC points + $360
•3 nights at a category 5 Starwood property for 28,800 Starpoints + $540
•Total = 90,000 PC points, 28,800 Starpoints and $900

Any way I slice it, it's about a week in Paris for $1,000 in spending on the hotel room. Which is not bad at all given that I get 2 rooms. My fear is that no cash & points availability opens up on the Starwood properties and I get stuck with full rates (which means I stay at the PC property and don't have to switch hotels).

What do you think? Does it seem likely that the cash & points rooms will open up? What's your experience with that sort of thing? Also, there are a lot of PC properties in Paris. Does anyone have a recommendation?

BTW, I also posted this question on my blog, but FT gets a *lot* more readership

Thanks!
David