Well, in Japan many Choice hotels cost only 8000 points a night even when they're well over $100 equivalent in US dollars a night.

And here in the USA, in certain locations during certain seasons on certain days of the week, it's often not hard find a decent Choice hotel for 12000 points per night that's about $100ish + tax or more per night.

So compared to that, I would say 8000 points for a $50 gift card is not the best value of redemption possible. They just try to trick you into thinking it's a good value.