Originally Posted by
calwatch
To be honest I don't think I've ever used my free night certificate at a hotel with over 40,000 points. The one night stays I make are in suburban environments where the points rates are less than 25,000 or hotel rates are reasonably cheap, and the multi-night stays I'll do at mid range hotels that may charge about 40,000 points at (although this may have changed with the continuing annual devaluations). I may downgrade to the Traveler IHG card after canceling, assuming I can still get the signup bonus - since Platinum is basically worthless as a benefit.
The main benefit to Platinum is that your points don't expire. But of course, if you expect to always have activity enough to keep your points from expiring, that might not be a concern.
I've used my certificate in at least one recent year for a nice suburban StayBridge hotel that was 20k points but was $250ish (factoring in taxes) that night because of seasonal and/or event demand. (At other times of year it can be priced much lower.) Knowing my travel plans for the rest of the year, I didn't foresee any IHG redemptions at higher amounts and so it didn't matter to me that it was only 20k.