My wife and I just returned from 2 weeks in Norway. We flew on DL miles (on DL, CO, and Czech Air metal) and were semi-pleased with the flights we got. We also cashed in HH points for free nights at various Scandic hotels through southern Norway. They are business hotels, so it's no Ritz Carlton, but the price was right for us. The scandic rooms include a great breakfast buffet (Norwegian food is pretty good ).
Only one hotel was a little on the not-so-great side - Scandic Kristiansand. The towels said a different hotel name on them, so we assumed they were recently assimilated by Scandic.
Our HH points and DL miles were acquired through almost entirely non-flight related ways (thanks to pgary's website and flyertalk). We still wound up spending an average of $80 per meal (dinner), but packed granola bars for lunch. The dollar is pretty week right now abroad, especially in Western Europe, so we feel like we did pretty well.
I only fly about twice a year for business, usually once in the US and once abroad, so I've had to be creative in acquiring miles. We didn't refinance our home or anything, but with 3 credit cards and flyertalk, we made it happen.