I'm just debating whether to renew right now.
The big factor is how much travel you do in the region covered and how lucky you get with the offers.
The BOGOs are nice, but unless you were going to stay in the better hotels anyway don't save money over cheaper alternatives such as using wotif.
In my experience the 25% off nights counted towards night qualification and points.
If anything, the real benefits of using PP is that it ensured I stuck to one chain and built up lots of points which helped me make Platinum and ensured I had enough for about 12 nights of PointBreaks stays over the last year (once again pure luck).
So for me, the debate is do I stick to the Intercontinental Hotel Group for the vast majority of my stays - the BOGOs are good, but when I've used 25% off I could have stayed other places for less. Platinum doesn't seem to have achieved much for me. Gold Amb got me an upgrade at the CP Adelaide once and nothing the other time, it got me into a nice suite at the IC Adelaide for another BOGO, but unlike the poster talking about their IC Rialto upgrade, it got me the absolute minimum Ambassador upgrade (a club room without club access). CP Canberra also got me nothing as well (as a gold, haven't been back since making Plat).
I'm aiming to cut back travel over the next year, so that means the odds of "getting lucky" as much as I did this year are fairly slim (probably the NT in August next year, Wellington NZ in Jan I think and probably a weekend or two in Mel & Syd) so things are looking more marginal (and looking at that list I'm not really cutting back much at all except if I don't have a trip to the USA). It is also frustrating that PP hasn't always worked as well as I'd liked - such as no availability at the IC Fiji via PP BOGO (let alone being able to keep it as the bonus that month which was listed - why it was listed with no availability in the entire month is beyond me - I checked both online and then a week later via phone) but it did have availability using my Ambassador BOGO (though it was very nice to stay there).
I try and avoid dining in hotels since it is rarely exceptional (plus is usually overpriced) and usually travel alone, so the whole dining benefit is largely nonexistent to me too.
So I guess for me, PP works as part of the larger package - BOGOs (especially if you get to keep it as I did a few times this year) makes the hotels competitive with wotif etc, provides points etc to use with PointBreaks (CP Auckland was great in Dec and HI Cairns was great in June but the places I stayed at with my recent US trip were out of the way enough that I did debate whether the money saved was worth the travel hassles) and probably about half the time (when not on PointBreaks) I had nice upgrades thanks to Amb (in ICs) or making Platinum.
I think I've convinced myself that I should renew now - even if I pull off half the benefits in 2012 as I got this year I should be well ahead. You'd really need to look at your traveling profile to work out if it works for you though. I'm single with most of my friends married with kids now, so when I'm not visiting them/family I can travel flexibly which sometimes lets me change plans to go with opportunities (eg. I'd been debating between Tasmania or NZ for a summer holiday and NZ comes up with CP Auckland as a PointsBreak, so it became my choice - a nice hotel at very little cost more than made up for the increase in ticket cost).
Back before signing up to PP I did a spreadsheet of a few chains and the options plus my likely use of them. Rydges was appealing initially, but after staying at a few hotels the fact that the bonuses you're supposed to get are never offered was annoying, Accor is hopeless with actually posting points and looked like more hassle than it would be worth, Hilton is good for US trips but often a bit more expensive than I'd like in Aus so ruled out (and I'm guessing Marriott is the same), SPG has expense issues like Hilton (though I never looked to see their value in the USA) though does look like a very nice chain (alas I can't see my pay ever doubling). GHA/Mirvac looked fairly good too, but also seems expensive at times and I was worried would be like Rydges and not be too good at actually providing the benefits.
Of course, the even more important factor is how much you like the actual hotels / nights sleep. I quite liked the Novotel chain (except for Nadi which was horrible), but the ICH group has fairly good hotels. Rydges I've found a bit hit and miss as far as the quality of the actual room, some being nice, others having issues.
Ah, and to think it was United Airlines which got me hooked on the whole point system etc when they had a DEQM offer going when I went to the USA with them two years ago and now I've made Plat with Qantas and the ICH group (which I'll probably ride next year and then lose in 2013 if I move back to Newcastle that year).
