Ah! The strategy. IMHO, it’s more to do with picking the right program for you than having a great strategy. Here is how I handle my miles and points.

Requirement

1. With 100% leisure travel, STAY WITHIN BUDGET.
2. One 1-week vacation a year.
3. Vacation every month for at least 3 Days.

Preferred Vacations
1. Beaches (Including diving)
2. Outdoors Travel (Hiking, River Rafting, etc)
3. City sightseeing vacations.

Earning Strategy

Things have changed a little bit since the system wide double mile promo. For some reason I do not like doing pure mileage runs. We both (me and my wife) realized that traveling is our hobby, not miles/points. Collecting miles/points are means to an end and not the end itself. For e.g. Doing ORD-SEA non-stop is dumb. ORD-DFW-SEA is the preferred routing whereas ZRK-ORD-STL-DFW-SEA-DFW-STL-ORD-ZRK is now out of question. It is a costlier way of earning miles but, IMHO, it is worth it. So here it is.

Airline
AA: AA is my preferred airline. All paid base miles are flown on AA/OW. Based on our travel budget, we both normally earn around 125-140K miles apiece from airline related bonuses and base miles. An average year would have 1 Asia(15K), 2 European(20K) and 3 North American(15K) trips. As an exception, Idine miles go to AA account along with a few Citi AA transactions.
DL: DL account is the preferred dumping account. All partner earned miles(except Idine) go into DL. These points are yearly converted into HH points. With the new exchange rate in place for AA:HH, this account would be phased out. In all, this account adds on 35-40K miles a year.

Hotels
HH : As far as possible, all paid stays go to the HH account. IMHO, Starwood's higher end properties(LC and SG) are more luxurious than Hilton's but 50% of the times, I need a room in the middle of nowhere. Try Marshall NC, Corolla NC, Billings MT or even Flagstaff AZ. Average yearly earnings are around 130-140K with 50K promotions.
SPG: Still, a few SPG stays creep into the system somehow. . The SPG Amex is our number one mileage earning card. Because of limited earning partners with SPG, this is the only source of earning Starpoints. Average yearly earnings are around 40K.

Redemption Strategy

Airline
AA: Most of the AAdvantage miles are redeemed in premium cabins on transatlantic / transpacific flights or in Y to Caribbean/Mexican Beach destinations. On an average, around 200-225K miles are redeemed per year.
DL: DL miles = HHonors points. = 80K HHonors points.

Hotels
HGVC: HGVC takes care of the one 1 week vacation per year. As we own a 2Br unit and normally redeem 1Br unit, one year's quota stretches over two years. Even then, there is room left for a 2-3 day vacations per year. As HGVC allows points stretching(dumping points into next year and then borrowing back) and points conversion, it basically dumps 160K HHonors points into HH accounts every other year. Well, at least till the time we don’t need a 2Br unit
HH: The pesky little HHonors points. Contrary to the expectations and experiences of many FT's, I have not had a problem redeeming points for hotel stays. On an average we burn around 150K HH points for award stays. As the earning rate is way higher than the burn rate, this account just keeps on growing. Maybe a few GLONP redemptions would cut it down to size. HAH! That would mean HGVC would have to dump and extra 160K points.
SPG: Ah! The emergency fund. Barring a transfer to AA to top off for an award and a 1 night stay redemption to see if it really works , this account just sits out there growing and waiting for an emergency to happen.

Summary
Earning
AA : 250K-280K
DL : 40K = 80K HHonors
HH : 200K + 160K every two years = 280-300K.
SPG: 40K
Redemption
AA: 200-225K
HGVC: 3500 ClubPoints(7000/2)
HH: 150K
SPG 0 (Preferably)

Wish List.

1. With the current travel budget, we both fly enough for two AA PLTs. Though 2 EXPs are affordabe and would assure 90-100% F/J travel, I would rather sock away the extra cash for retirement than take double the number of vacations right now. Maybe around the time when a $xxx target is achieved.
2. A Four Seasons Residence Club Membership (Fancy name for their hotel timeshare)

Disclosure:
AA - PLT/PLT
US - CP/GLD( At 6x-7x miles per base mile flown, rules can be bended. )
HH - Diamond ( Only for 2002, Average is Gold in a Mutual fund)
SPG - Gold( AA PLT benefit)



[This message has been edited by Bourne (edited 12-21-2002).]