But those rules-of-thumb that became very popular through people like TPG are just stupid.
The value you are getting from a hotel stay is not equivalent to the cash price of the room. But that's the assumption underlying the rule of thumb. Classic case of "crap in, crap out" (am avoiding the expletive usually used in this phrase).
You are, therefore, confusing two similar, but different concepts.
One is "when should I use points vs. cash" - which I understand to be to point of this thread - and the other is bragging about using your points on something you would never pay cash for and calling it "value". (which I understand to be the point of 90% of Flyertalk.
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