1K-SFO, you are spot on with respect to your observation!! So too, are you Timo!!

IMHO, right now, most European HHonors points redemptions are a very good value with the $$ devaluation.

I can't speak with respect to Asia, because I have not traveled there, nor do I know the relative strength of the Dollar with respect to the applicable national currencies.

I doubt that South American destinations are good in terms of bang for the buck because of that area's relative weakness against the US $.

Now we come to the USA.

IMHO, most of the redemptions in this country and in Canada are quite terrible right now.

Aside from the reasons noted above which include (1). the diminishing number of properties where point stretchers are still valid, as well as the total absence of Category 1 P/S; and (2) the decision to really up the HHonors points ante with respect to the ALON awards; and (3). the increasing reclassification of various properties upwards with respect to rewards classification, and finally (4). the HHonors points devaluation -- although in all candor, those properties designated as PREMIUM only increased by 25,000 points if doing a 6 night stay, and are in my opinion probably the best value now -- which now makes many of the lesser tier propeties much more expensive, either on a nightly basis or over a 6 night stay -- by jumping from 100,000 HHonnor points to 150,000 HHonors points, there is another, and IMHO much more significant reason why your HHonors points are no longer worth much, at all.

PRICELINE AND HOTWIRE!!!!

First let me note that I am not a Diamond, so the anytime you want an award proviso does not apply to me but is no doubt of value to you, as well as any room upgrade, although I, myself, would not count on a suite upgrade.

That being said, IMHO, you must also look at Priceline and Hotwire rates that these very same hotels command in order for you to get a much better appreciation of whether your HHonors point is worth the paper it is written on!

For example, I noted in another thread that a Premium property such as the Hilton New Orleans Riverside was accepting bids via Priceline for one of the weekends of JazzFest for $50 a night!!! Adding taxes and the PLN service fee could not be more than perhaps another $15, so I estimate that over the course of a 2 night weekend, your room accommodations bill would not break a $125.00!!

However, the very same cost in HHonors points would be a staggering 80,000 HHonors points!!! That is nearly 1/2 the cost of staying at a Premium property for 6 nights!!!! and is more than 1/2 the cost for staying 6 nights at any other property!!!!

To be sure, you could be denied lounge access and perhaps a better room, than you likely would have received had you cashed in your points (or paid Hilton website rates), but as others have noted, some hotels have extended Elite privileges to people on Priceline, so you may actually be lucky in such an event!

You might ask, then, in such a circumstance, what is the relative value of such a HHonor point in this type of conversion?

Well, it is not pretty. Dividing $125.00 by 80,000 HHonors points would give you a rough approximation -- when one rounds quite favorably with respect to a HHonors points -- of each HHonors point having a net value of $00.002!!!!

That is correct, each point is most assuredly not worth 2 cents; rather it is 2/10 of a cent = 2/10 of 1 penny, or in other words, 5 HHonors points = 1 penny/cent!!!!

Now, some have accused me of being disrespectful for pointing out this very sad fact, but I was being no such thing.

After all, I am actually in a worse position than most of you folks, for my wife and I easily have more than 750,000 HHonors points between us, and neither of us are Diamond!!!!

However, as Timo has pointed out above @:-), if you pool your points for a Category 6 hotel that does not participate in Priceline/Hotwire and if that property alsiis in a country where the $ is much weaker, then you actually can get some really good value from your HHonors points -- but only in such cases, IMHO.

Of course, once you are over in a country where your $ is quite devalued, many other things will be much more costly, but that is the trade off one must accept.

As for me, I would not even think of redeeming my points for most American and other properties, and will only do so where the equation for recemption is much more in my favor, at such properties like the Rome Cavalieri or the Paris Hiltons. ^

Good luck to all!

Just my 2 HHonors points worth!!