Originally Posted by MarkOK

The points guy I think gives them a value of about 1.8 cents/pt, which I think is overall fair. Most of my upcoming stays this fall at full service Hyatts would be valued at 1.5 and 2.0 cents per point if I used points instead of just cash. Right now, I only use points when I get a value over 2.5 cents a point, because I don't accumulate all that many points to use up and can be choosy about when to use them. But if you have too many points to redeem or you like using points on vacations because it feels good, then 1.5 cents/pt or even less could be a more reasonable valuation -- a lot of vacation-spot Hyatts have room rates of $200-300 while having point rates of 20,000 pts/night, this only gives a 1-1.5 cents per pt value.

I find the most value when using points at Hyatt Places and Hyatt Houses as points+cash. They aren't full service hotels, but a lot of times they serve my needs perfectly well. All too often, I find that though their prices are 20% cheaper than HRs in most of the cities I visit, but more importantly, they only require 1/2 or 1/3 of the points as HRs. My consciousness of the point value has resulted in me nearly always paying the cash rate at full service hyatts and points + cash rates at the HPs and HHs. The cash+pts also allows for my nights to count towards status, which as a borderline Discoverist/Explorist matters.

1 example -- I have a stay at the new St Paul Hyatt Place next month and the $50 + 2500 pts rate is being used instead of paying the daily rate of 189$. Those 2500 points are worth a bit over 5.5 cents/pt!