Originally Posted by Football Fan

I totally see what you are saying, and it is of course very fair and reasonable.

And especially for a place like the Laucala, it probably only makes sense with a combination of paid nights and award nights, just because it is so far away and not really a place for a short stay. However, if I were to use a couple of free nights at a city hotel in Europe for a weekend trip, I wouldn't feel like I would have to book two or three more paid nights just to be fair. They are all part of the LHW scheme, and as such, one could assume that it somewhat evens out for them. Obviously, I would be surprised if people were to generate the free nights at the most expensive properties, just to redeem them at the cheapest properties. That wouldn't make much sense, economically. But then, the system is basically designed to have people earn the nights at the cheaper hotels and redeem them at the more expensive ones. It's sort of on LHW to make up for that somehow. I don't think I need to feel very guilty about it.

All in all, I like the LHW system. Paid status, very good benefits (with Unlimited status), no complicated points schemes.