The category settings are a combination of desirability and quality - a hotel which is very desirable and often booked out might have a higher category number even if the quality is lacking somewhat. For now I don't pay so much attention to the category numbers but look at the points required per night and divide by 3 to look at what I would have paid under the SPG program which is my barometer for value. 36K/night is 12k/night under the SPG system which is somewhat over-baked for this hotel, it should be 30k/night or 10k SPG pts. When the requirement is out of line with the value, and the nightly cash rate is high, I just look at AirBNB since with LTP, I have nothing to lose anymore.