Drew over at Travel Is Free has a great post on cheap hotel redemptions around the world.  I rarely use my points for hotels but did have some good luck in the Middle East, and at one of the proerties he mentioned as well.  I stayed at the Marriott Doha Airport for only 10k points in
Qatar on a layover – to get some sleep somewhere other than the Qatar Airlines lounge.  What was even better was the Aloft in Abu Dhabi – which cost 3,000 to 4,000 SPG points a night.  As a platinum member I also got a ton of drink vouchers – and a great breakfast was included as well.  I wasn’t having great success using airbnb – which is rare – but these redemptions really worked out well for me in the Middle East.

Cool time lapse my buddy Josh made at the Aloft below.