One point about availability that many people overlook: Number and diversity of properties.

You guys are focusing on availability at prime locations at prime-time. In that case, Starwood clearly wins hands-down. If I walk into a big four-star hotel in Hawaii tomorrow and want an award stay on the spot, then it had better be a Starwood.

Where I believe HHonors has the advantage is at the mid-quality level. There are far more HHonors properties to choose from at all quality levels in all types of locations across the USA. I travel a lot to medium and smaller sized cities where Starwood isn't an option. Whether doing a paid or award stay, I like knowing that I can ALWAYS find an HHonors hotel wherever I'm going. I also like the fact that most Doubletrees and Hamptons are at least halfway clean (yes, there are exceptions), which is more than I can say for 4Points or Marriott's Scarefield Inns.

My point is that availability means different things to different users. If you know that ALL of your hotel stays are big-city during the business week, you probably need Starwood's guarantees. If you do a mix of business and personal stays across different brands and location types, then Starwood doesn't compare to HHonors (or Marriott, for that matter).

FWIW, I've accumulated 200,000 HHonors points and about 8,000 AA miles in 27 nights at HHonors properties this year - a total spend of about $4000 or so. That's a lot of triple-double-dipping, two 50,000 point bonuses, four 4,000 point bonuses, and a profile update here and there. I've redeemed two (smallish) awards so far and was able to book the exact dates/property I wanted. I plan an ALON later this year or next; if I have to alter the dates a little to get a room, I probably won't be too upset considering how many points you get per dollar spent. Again, it's a tradeoff...