Originally Posted by
DealAddict
To me personally, it seems like the best value in SPG hotels would be to redeem for Category 5 in expensive destinations like London or New York. Those only require 10-12K Starwood points... there are a few properties like the Westin Grand Central where the cash rates are quite high. The Paris and Rome properties require a lot of points (20K)... they might be more luxurious...
Using the Westin Grand Central as an example, just assume a USD$300 hotel price (I've seen it much higher). That's $400 Canadian, divided by 24,000 Amex points (that you convert to 12,000 SPG) and you're getting a 1.7% return. It can easily be more than that based on rates I've seen and paid recently (for work trips...I like the Westin Grand Central). But that's not bad and with SPG the 5th night is free on award redemptions, don't forget.
You can crunch these numbers many ways, at the end of the day I'll just echo what others have said. Figure out what you want and if converting makes sense then do that. My only piece of advice w.r.t. SPG is that if there are any exotic trips you might take, it might be worthwhile to hoard the points as they can help you get on some pretty amazing flights.