<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by holbropa:
I think I've heard that the reason why you earn points is that InterContinental Hotels sets a rate that they will reimburse the hotel for your stay. So, the hotel you stay at may have an agreement with InterContinental that it costs them $50.00 when a reward night is used at their hotel. </font>
From the Starwood Lurker over at SPG, they reimburse the hotels for award stays at the average nightly rate of guests at the hotel at the time. I'm not suggesting that PC does it the same way but it seems like a good way to handle it.