We'll collect "points" if they happen to be given when we stay at a property that we *already* prefer, for whatever reason.

But we won't select a property just so we can "get more points".
We also won't select a property just because it has certain perks (e.g., with Amex Plat "fine hotels"), although we'll certainly use them if they exist where we prefer to stay.

At this stage in our lives, ALL aspects of travel are "part of the experience", including both air travel and hotel, so we choose what gives us the most pleasure. (Or, in some cases, the least aggravation )

We'll select a "chain" if we are in some distant USA-based town and there are not any obvious "nicer hotels", for the reasons given. We might miss out on something nicer, but how would we have found it, if it isn't obvious from assorted listings? And we'd prefer to know that we are minimizing the chance of some horror story...

But if there is a hotel of some known charm, large or small, we'll also go out of our way to stay there, especially in non-USA destinations. That's part of why we travel to non-USA places, after all.

We don't want a "Holiday Inn" in London, and we also don't want some high rise "once you walk in the door, that lobby and the rooms could be in AnyCity".
We were actually once booked into a London Holiday Inn (by someone else), and all we did there was to phone Amex Plat Travel collect (nice to find out back then that it really works!), and about an hour later, we were checking into Claridges. We had such a great time, we extended our trip for a second week.

Even when we were younger and on a more limited budget, we'd select B&B's in the USA (or "pensions" overseas), using those old green Michelin guidebooks, and selecting something at least one category up from the lowest. But not anything like a chain.
We've got some wonderful memories of those along the French countryside for a couple of weeks.

GC