Like many, when the HHonors category changes / points devaluation was announced a while back I felt it would be best to burn at the old rates. After all the wailing and nashing of teeth, I'm still finding myself getting plenty of value from my HHonors points. But I'm doing so by opportunistic use of them - especially in part cash, part points form - for routine stays I needed to make anyway. What's less viable is targeting the 'aspirational' properties: the kind of places I could never imagine paying the actual cash price for. This trip, though, was very much in that spirit: I put together five days in Rome purely to enable a single night at the Waldorf.

This is always a delicate balancing act: as soon as you're flying somewhere, it makes sense to stay long enough to justify the airfare; but not so long that you water down the contribution of the points to the overall cost (alas I lack the kind of HHonors balance to cover, say, a week). Fortunately, Accor launched a 3-for-2 offer just as I was considering my options, so I decided that three nights with them before a weekend at the Cavalieri as grand finale was the way to go.

I'm billing this as a mini report since I'm sure far more impressive trips to Rome have already been documented. So I'll just summarise travel arrangements, the Mercure and my roman wanderings before getting to a more thorough run-down of just what a single night's point redemption, HHonors gold status and €2 in tax gets you at the Cavalieri. But it wouldn't be one of my adventures without a complication on the return leg, so there will be a bonus look at the Hilton London Gatwick too!