I've heard from various folks that Choice, when played right, can yield some of the best ROI in terms of award value. I think their properties are fine for what they are, but my problem is that I never book them in advance. If I'm staying in that type of property, I have probably only called ahead from 30 miles away at most (to confirm availability) - or I just pull off the highway, walk in, and ask. So I'll stay in a Choice hotel because the building looks clean and new, but I simply don't do it enough to pay attention to the rewards program. (Yes, I know that it is very un-FT-like to leave even 1 free room-night over the course of 2-3 years on the table... )

I wasn't aware of Choice's high-end props in Europe, but Europe is the one place where we purposely get away from the points/miles game. We stay in local places - mom & pop boutiques, that kind of thing. It's refreshing to escape the standard American hotel chain world for a little while.

So...I play the Marriott, Hilton, and Starwood systems for all of my business travel, plus my U.S. leisure travel. Marriott is the primary place I stay on business, HH Amex is my primary credit card for my first $20k of annual general spending, SPG Amex is my primary credit card beyond that. I am usually able to keep healthy balances in all three, which gives me good diversity and helps protect me if one of the three undergoes a major overnight devaluation.

Devaluation happens with all programs, but the way it happens with hotel is a little easier to swallow than with airlines. With hotels, the primary mechanism is Category Creep. You can still get your room, but this year it's 12,000 points instead of last year's 10,000 points. With airlines, the primary mechanism is that the award seat is just flat-out unavailable unless you are willing to completely change your planned trip (dates, destination, etc.). In 2006, avg. airfares are up 7% or whatever, but there's no way for them to creep up award levels by 7%. The seats are simply much harder to get.

So in that sense, I'd say that's an advantage for the hotels, as long as you are earning & burning. If the avg. lifespan for each of your points is a year or so, you probably have time to react to major changes and shouldn't get burned too hard by Category Creep. 2006 is a strong travel year, avg. room rates are up, and all three of the biggies "crept" quite a bit. But Marriott and Hilton have both been ratcheting up the points you earn on stays, so that takes a little bit of bite out. Starwood operates primarily with targeted promotions, which is why I minimize my revenue stays there - unless, of course, I'm targeted. The loss in earnings by not being targeted is too severe.