Welcome to FT!

I agree with the consensus here that US programs are better. Also, be aware that there seem to be far more great credit card deals here, whereby for your initial purchase or some level of initial spending you can get lots of bonus miles (or hotel points). Some of these are with airline-affiliated cc's, some with hotel-affiliated ccs' and some with cc's that get you their own points that you can then convert into certain airlines' miles or hotels' points. Here's the single most valuable thread discussing this:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...er-thread.html

There are also useful discussions in the credit card, hotel and airline forums, but this one is the greatest resource.