My strategy has been to move towards values that still exist. Since the beginning of the game, a good chunk of my travel has been to take advantage of specific good deals. Back in the days when all major programs published award charts and devals in advance, I'd fill up half of my year's trips with high value hotels that were on the deval list that year. Hyatt still publishes this, so it's still possible to enjoy properties "one last time". Then I move on to values that still exist (in any program), and have not run out so far.

I'm someone who enjoys the "thrill" of redeeming 5k pts at somewhere I actually want to go. Last year it was Lindner Prague and Vienna. This year it will be Caption Namba and somewhere in KL. I enjoyed HP Moab as cat 2 and HP St George as cat 1; at cat 5 and cat 3 respectively now, they're like old Exs no longer relevant, I wave and turn the other way.

In the new scheme, there will likely be fewer great deals. I'm hopeful it will still produce good/decent values here and there, especially in shoulder and off seasons. One of the things I "hate" about current redemption environment is that it "forces" me to redeem in the high season for good CPP. I actually want to go to places in the off season to avoid crowd; maybe I can in the future IF awards drop to the lowest band.