Originally Posted by
funkydrummer
If you want good value back in terms of free nights, IHG is far superior to Accor, Marriott, and Hilton.
To get acceptable value out of Marriott points, you need to fly halfway round the world and spend 5 nights (for the 5 for 4 thing) at an 80k/night property.
Huh? You apparently don't know how to get good value (not just acceptable value) out of Marriott points.
Marriott prices them based on how frequently points are redeemed at that hotel. So for example I got a $300ish/night (that high because of a special event) Marriott-family suburban hotel near Memphis for 17.5k a night, because it was a hotel fairly few people redeem at. I got another hotel in a business complex in Tuscon for 12.5k a night when it was $200ish/night paid, again because in that business complex very few people redeem points. And btw both were Residence Inns, where you earn only half the points that you earn at non-extended-stay hotels if you pay instead of redeeming.
Yes, I did get even more incredible value overseas (5k/night for $200/night Protea hotels in South Africa), but all of these deals seem way better than having to use 5 for 4 at 80k/night. By comparison, those 80k/night hotels would have to be over $1000/night paid to be comparable to the deals I got in the USA.
So, now that you know how Marriott does it, and how all you have to do to get good value is redeem somewhere most people don't, please explain:
How does IHG price points redemptions?
(Hilton, with few exceptions, prices them these days all too proportional to the paid rate.
)