As others have said, years of devaluations have driven redemption categories too high for most properties at most times. I'm a fairly skilled BRGer, and for about 1/3 of my stays, I have all-cash rates that are lower than the cash component of C&P. That said, C&P remains a potentially valuable tool. I will end the year with six C&P stays/15 nights. Others have already mentioned Cat 5/6/7 "high season," when C&P (if available) can still be a pretty solid redemption value. My most successful use of C&P has been linked to annual category changes, though. For example, lots of Japanese hotels have seen category increases this year and last. In some cases, at the time of the category change in spring, these hotels will not have revenue (and thus all-points) availability past the end of the year, but forget to close off C&P bookings waaaay out. Thus, one can often book C&P at the pre-devaluation level 1 1/2 years out. For instance, I just completed my last Cat 5 C&P stays at Westin Tokyo and SR Osaka (both of which went to Cat 6 in spring 2016). I have C&P bookings at Sheraton Hiroshima and Westin Kyoto at their old cost (Cat 4) through September 2018.