Use your points. Unless the redemption rate is super poor - like if you can find a deeply discounted rate somewhere for $100/night but they want 35k points for the same room. But generally speaking, use your points. You don't earn interest on points sitting in your Bonvoy account, but you should be earning on the cash in your bank account. Any reason why you wanted to save for a 7 night stay? The sweet spot for point redemptions is really 5 nights because you get the 5th night free. EDIT: found this pretty cool explanation of how to use cash + points + free night in the optimal way: https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.c...-longer-stays/

As for San Diego - I'm sure there are a lot of great properties and it depends on where you want to be and what you want to do. I have always enjoyed the US Grant downtown. It's a bit out of the way for most things, but a neat property nonetheless.