I'm not sure this question makes sense in an absolute sense. If I wanted to travel on a tight budget through Europe I wouldn't stay at 4 star hotels costing several hundred dollars a night. Equally though, some people find the American HGI/HIs a suitable price point for their leisure time and so would benefit from HHonors.

Compared to the British Airways programme I'd actually say HHonors is more for leisure - as a single business class flight gives you approx 7 times as many miles (YMMV - various multiplers here) compared to an economy flight. I'd say that with Hiltons it's rare to find business accomodation as much as 7 times as expensive (and so earning 7 times as many points) compared to leisure travel in more budget places.

A general rule of thumb though is that someone spending in the tens of thousands of dollars is always going to get more in the way of benefit from loyalty schemes than someone spending just several hundred. Such is the way of the world.