first of all major thanks to beltway--it was my first GS and he made it so much easier..

i would echo the points made about getting set up before gs started,i didnt even have a us account let alone know what emiles were so it was a lot of work....
i think the wyndham find(2 stay hits and a transfer for 100$) were pretty good.
i would agree it may pay to try to build up points throughout the yr..

btw,what makes everyone so sure there will be a GS next yr?
Do you think the vendors are making a lot of money on this?
what about US ?