No, because the "hotel rate" is *really* bad (lower amount of local currency per dollar).

For instance, the other day the place I was staying at was giving 73 euro cents per dollar according to the sign posted at reception, while the credit card rate for that stay was the equivalent of 79.5 cents per dollar, and even converting cash in the local bank got you about 79 cents after deducting the commission. That stay hasn't posted to my account yet, so I don't know how many points the hotel will give me for that transaction.

If they would use the hotel rate, our number of points would increase something like 10%