Hey MCO bound,
We use our points in the Concierge collection and the Worldpassport collection all the time. Last Memorial Day, we went to Washington D. C and stayed at the Mandarian Oriental, no problems getting a holiday weekend booking and the hotel was fabulous. April of 2000 we took the entire family to London, once again using our points. Each time we simply called member services, paid the transfer fee and off we went.
We plan on going to Australia in 2007 for my husband's 45th birthday.
E