Originally Posted by
pinniped
I'm not sure what the number is - I've never been a situation where it was actually going to take anything close to $500 to get a random airport hotel. One-night airport hotel stays are often a pretty decent use for points, which is what I've typically done when this has happened to me. A couple other times the hotels have been cheap enough that it wasn't a good use of points - like $100-125 for a Fairfield-quality place.
The only time I've decided to remain in the airport overnight was when I had been rebooked (confirmed) on a 5:15AM flight. I didn't trust the hotel shuttle would run at 4am and this was pre-Uber. It was already midnight so I just chilled in the airport and didn't sleep. Yeah, the next day sucked, but I didn't want to chance no-showing my confirmed seat.
I thankfully have never been caught up in one of the mega-storms that causes a whole city's hotels to be sold out. I guess in that case I'd just find a quiet corner of the airport and chill.
Points are a great use indeed for many such circumstances. And Priceline/Hotwire’s “opaque” bookings can also be good in such circumstances.
What I really like to try to avoid is this: having to figure out what to do with booking accommodations after midnight has struck. If I miss the midnight cut-offs, my costs to book something around the airport or in the city will likely rise but the value I get would drop.
What I would pay to stay off the floor is higher than what I would pay to not stay at the airport.