I find myself in similar situations sometimes as well, both with mileage runs and just random trips where Hyatt's small footprint occasionally fails me. Don't know what budget you're working with, and obviously if it's mileage runs, priority is usually more about function/efficiency than luxuriousness...

But these days, 9 times out of 10 I stay with Hyatt. That other time is almost always something from the Amex FHR portfolio. Hilton and Marriott offer me nothing more than a large footprint of mediocrity and poor service. I've been all in on Hyatt for years so accumulating any type of secondary status with another brand is useless given how little value they offer. I have Hilton Diamond through Aspire card and unless I'm in Asia it's worthless.

Somehow, luckily, Amex FHR hotels end up being a good "deal" for me when factoring in the $100 F&B credit, free breakfast, typically generous upgrade, and guaranteed 4pm checkout. Sometimes the guaranteed 4pm checkout is worth it alone based on the logistics of my flight times.

And if you don't have Amex Plat, you can generally get the same benefits/deals via Virtuoso bookings.