No doubt Priority Club is the way to go. I have over 100,000 points, but with all of their deals, I am actually paying for nights and receiving rebates, discounts, and mega points back. My recent stay was two nights in a $169 per night room. After the $75 rebate, the mrrebates.com 15% discount, and all of the points that I accrued which I value at .6 cents per point, my wife and I ended up making a nickle on the two night stay. A $374.27 bill turned into nothing due to all of their discounts. I am now waiting for the new Pointsbreak list to come out and make some reservations.

If you're into the SPAM scene, e-Rewards point redemptions for both Choice and Priority Club are both the same. I'd be inclined to go with Priority Club since, like others, I feel like their quality control in their more affordable options is better than Choice's.

We've stayed quite a few times for 2-4k points for a free night with Starwood...we spent Thanksgiving last year in Tuscon at the Sheraton for 3k per night, and there are quite a few in Asia.

Don't forget points & cash, too. That's how we stretch our points.

Excellent point, wherever it's offered. ^

I'm confused why *wood ain't cuttin' it on the low end. Their Category 1 & 2 redemptions are quite a steal in many places, particularly if C&P is available.

Additionally, in the USA, Hyatt has a whole host of Hyatt House and Hyatt place awards available at their low end, which runs 5000 points.

It actually looks like it is pretty good compared to everywhere else now that I see the alternatives (at least on a point per dollar basis), even with the low end hotels. But I really kinda want an extra place to look in case there are no starwood hotels available.

Additionally, sometimes I prefer to stay away from the fancy hotels, and a lot of times even prefer to have motels, with a parking lot right in front so I have easy access to my car and other things of that nature. I have found too many times that there are a lot of extra required fees with the nice hotels, like valet, internet fees, etc, that are usually free with the lower end hotels like free internet and free parking.

Really just that and occasionally i like to sneak in a small pet or two into my rooms and wouldnt feel so comfortable doing that at a 4 star place.

But yes, Starwood does appear to really rock socks with everything they have available. But a little more options never hurt someone. Still not really sure which chain would be best for me based on the CC spend, it is looking maybe like Choice since PC has a pretty bad credit card spend redemption ratio.

What would be the best hotel program for low-end redemption outside US (mainly in Europe, but consider Asia, South America, and Africa)?

I can't comment on anything but Starwood but we used cash & points, and full points in Asia quite a bit. I thought their redemptions were a great value.