Originally Posted by Ted S

This is always an interesting point... In a big chain a free night generally works anywhere but I've had a few instances where stuff was really bad, something had to be said and the "remedy" was a free stay. Passed on those (politely) given that I had no desire to relive the bad experience. Of course there's many types of bad experiences and some hotels may be worth a second visit if it was just a service issue or something seasonal like upgrades.