Originally Posted by
nacho
My rule of thumb is that the rate has to be over $100 + tax for me to use a cat 4 cert.
$87 is really little + if you pay cash now you can score Megabonus. I normally use the certs in between Megabonus or when it's cost something like $200 a night.
I have a similar philosphy to say if its worth it.
i look at it the same way when using pts for a free night vs pay.
I would use the cert if it was due to expire.
For example I did use one I had that was going to expire on sept 30 from the spring promo...The stay was after the summer promo ended(check out sep 1) so I couldnt get credit for it and the pts value was too high so I used the cert for the free night when the hotel was around $90. I did an intentional stay close to my home so I got the free night cert that ended 31 August..then used the other free night for that stay ending on sept 1.....it was basically a wash but it allowed me to extend the free night.