milestraveler

Both Gary's charts and my example above do not consider the elite status bonus(es), which can seriously change the math. I'm going to work through the details for Hyatt since I know that program best, but there are some similar perks with other programs.

Hyatt's basic bonuses are low, 15% and 30%, but you can get Platinum status just for getting the credit card ($75 annual fee, gets you two nights).

So with Platinum status, the $2000 in spending gets you 11,500 points. Somewhat better, but not much.

Bigger perks comes at Diamond status (25 stays or 50 nights to qualify): not only do you get a 30% bonus, you also get a "welcome amenity". If you forgo the food & beverage amenity, you get 500 points per stay at lower-end properties and 1000 poinst per stay at full-service properties. Since you were asking about 20 stays, not nights, let's assume again that you're doing one-night stays for only $100/night.

At Hyatt Place and Hyatt House, you'd be getting an additional 10k points from the welcome bonus, effectively doubling your earnings. AND your award stays also get this bonus. With 23k points from your 20 one-night stays, you now have FIVE award nights at tier one properties (effective cost now 4500 points) or three award nights at tier two. Again, that's potentially 1 award night for every four paid nights. Without a promotion, that's an unheard-of value.

Now let's assume you did those stays at a full-service property (again, at the same $100 rate). Your 20 one-night stays now generate an extra 20k in bonuses, for 33k total points. If can redeem them at tier 1 full-service properties (and there are very few), that's 8.25 award nights (4k net cost per night) for 20 paid nights.

Then there's the extra-special point-printing bonus: at hotels with a Regency Club, Hyatt offers Diamond guests 2500 points per stay when the club is closed during their stay. Several hotels, including the tier-2 Santa Clara Regency, have their clubs closed on weekends. To illustrate the extremes here, let's assume you made your 20 one-nights stays on weekends at this property, when rates can easily dive below $100. You'd be getting 3.5k bonus points per night, or 70k bonus points, 80k total. The net effective cost for weekend award nights here is 4.5k (again, assuming single-night stays). You would get nearly 18 award nights for your twenty paid nights.

And all of the above ignore promotions.

Is any of that realistic? It depends on your travel habits and choice of programs. HHonors also has some optional per-stay points (the MyWay bonus points). I'm not sure about the programs you're using.