I may be the outliner in valuing these 35K certs — I only want to use these when I’m on vacation, away from home town.

Specifically, I want to use them on hotel nights that I would otherwise have had to spend cash or redeemed points for, such as a last minute airport hotel due to flight changes, or as part of a 3-day stay at a destination.

I do not like to stay at a hotel in my hometown on a weekend to “getaway”. My house or cottage is the best getaway, not a hotel. I definitely will not create a trip based on where I can use the cert.

Originally I was going to use the cert for a FLL airport hotel in February— the new le meridien, which is cat 5. Well it is 40K throughout Feb 2020. All the other options are either cat 5 at 40K, or cat 4 at 30K and could be had for less than $150-180USD, so I’m paying cash and hopefully will be able to use the cert at a hotel that’s at least $200 USD in value.

It doesn’t matter how much I paid for the credit card— what matters is if I can get $200 USD out of it, which is in my view a fair expectation at least pre- September 2019.