Originally Posted by
j2simpso
... Now that they are introducing a free night cert, it has gone from a maybe card to a keeper card since I suspect I'll always be in a situation at least once a year where a night at a hotel costs more than the annual fee I'm paying. For instance, I'm using my free night cert this year to stay at an AC Hotel at Times Square for NYE (retail price tag $1000 USD). Also if UA ever ditches SPMarriott, I'll lose my Gold status, so it's nice to at least be guaranteed Silver and to have the complementary Wifi.
Safe Travels,
James
I am also planning to use my free night on a NYC hotel during the holiday season when rates are around $400-$600+ US. I booked 3 different hotels a looong time ago for slightly different dates, as I wasn't sure when I'd be travelling - and never did I think that the redemption levels would go down! Only a few went up - one of which I booked before it went from 40K to 45K - and now it's going up to 50K (Renaissance Midtown). I have to decide if I want to fork out a bunch more points to stay there, or stay at the Courtyard Herald Square (which went down to 35K and I can use one of my free nights on). I am Gold - and under the new program I'll be Plat, so I was kinda looking forward to staying at a classy joint. Good thing I have over 4 months to decide!
I will always keep the SPMarriott card for the free night and the status. That's a no brainer for me.