One thing I have noticed it the difference in points required in Canada. The Quality Inn on the US side of Niagra Falls (quite nice from experience) is 16000 points, but a hotel on the Canadian side is 25000 for the same time. This is quite an extreme "exchange rate". I would NEVER use points for the Canadian vs American stay. I have transfered many points to Southwest to get multiple rewards (3 roudtrips so far) and utilized many of the "promotions" to accumulate points faster.