Originally Posted by
Beltway2A
I don't particularly care what currency someone uses to stay at a hotel, but all my RC stays have been with cash
Agreed - despite some unfounded assumptions by other posters upthread about how we pay for stays, at least in my case (and yours) I've actually only ever paid cash at RCs. Why? Because RCs don't, in my experience, command the point premium that they ask for. I'll stay at an RC for business if it's the best property in a market, and I'll pay cash for a pleasure stay if it's the offseason somewhere and the RC is at only a modest premium to other truly downmarket properties in the area. But if I'm looking to use points and it's 35-50k for a Westin or Marriott and 70-85k for an RC (e.g. Manhattan), then I won't even think about the Ritz. Which comes back to the original point - that RC in many of our books doesn't live up to the hype that they seem to be selling in the OP's original article.