Originally Posted by
travelingdrsuz
If you value airline loyalty and stay so little, you can use a travel portal such as Advantage Hotels (or your airline's portal) and get X number of miles for usually a similar price.
This. If OP is a free agent (no status in any hotel chain) then picking the hotel you want from a front offering miles (AA, Kaligo, rocketmiles [if it still exists]) or free nights (bookingcom, hotelscom) sounds the most sensible option.