Me and my wife are thinking that next year a trip to the Maldives (from the southern US) ~February would be a good vacation. It looks like you could fly *A for 240k continental points in business class, and stay at the hilton for 8 nights for 400k pts, this is alot, but is doable with just credit card sign up bonus's and a little spend for us. For those that have been there is this a good use of points? Is there a better vacation for people who like "beach resort" type vacations?

On another note, how much do you expect we would spend out of pocket in 8 nights there, it wouldn't be over 3k would it?