Originally Posted by
vbroucek
Are you sure? In my maths 170-102=68, not 98...

The hotel quotes rates in Euros, and 10000 points saves me 68 (170-102) Euros, but my credit card charges me in USD. So the Points & Cash rate saves me 68 Euros, which is 98 USD, when it comes time to pay the bill.
All I really care about is maximizing the value of points earned. Just using points, the same room would cost 38000 pts. So using the P & C rate, I'm getting better value for points used.