I go to a lot of places where the only options to stay are independent hotels or smaller chains where I don't really benefit by booking direct. I have spent a lot of time on the Citi portal trying to use my 4th night free and $100 Premier credit. I don't think I have ever seen the Citi portal be the cheapest and much of the time it is toward the most expensive end of the spectrum. The other two issues are a fair number of hotels either don't show up or don't show availability on the dates I want and/or the rate terms are less favorable than booking direct/room type I want is not available. Essentially I'd say I have about 20% success rate on the 4th night free where the Citi portal is competitive with other options. To me I'd discount the hotel credit through their portal by 25-30% as to its net value to me. The C1 portal is much better both on price and availability. I have little issue using that credit and would only discount it by 5-10% for value to me.