"Extremely high cash rates" sometimes, but not always, coincides with the standard rooms being sold out - therefore no points availability.

To be frank, some crappy Hyatt Place well located for an important college football game would also have "extremely high cash rates", but it would be a dumb place for you to chase Instagram likes. Just pick a hotel and a city that you would like to visit and ignore the "I got 50 cents per point" or whatever. Award categories 7 and 8 are a good place to start but you are more likely to find gems in Categories 5 or 6....