Originally Posted by
iflyjetz
You've got to use the points sometime; I hadn't used my points for ~3 years and decided to start using them (close to 1 million points). Well, you don't have to use them but I wanted to decrease my points.
I compared using points for 'free' stays vs getting gift cheques and using those for the stays. Many times it was more advantageous pointwise to use cheques instead of points for a stay. There are quite a few threads on this subject; I've posted my strategy on several of them.
+1
I have purchased them several times, and found them to be of great use, especially when an award room is not available. Also remember that rates can fluctuate greatly, but point assignment does not. So if a 20 or 25K point hotel can be found for $79, does not make sense to use points.
Finally, using cheques insures stay credit, where award stays do not.