I tend to favor cash. Points get devalued all the time, and the "maximization" of points requires time, trip flexibility, etc that sometimes you aren't going to have.
If you are loyal to Hilton only the Hilton Amex is probably a better deal than earning MRs and transferring them to Hilton.
Redeeming MRs for anything other than the transfers is pretty much always a sub-1% value and not worth it.
