You can easily do comparisons. Just pick a day and a hotel, and see how many points you'd have to transfer to get one night, and compare that to buying the same night on the travel portal. You'll see the travel portal is usually a much better value. The same is usually true of airlines.

The exception is Hyatt, which often has some very nice redemption rates. Also, if you're just a few points shy of an award with a hotel, Chase points can be an easy way to top off your account.