We have done exactly the same as the op, deliberately booked a BAH and included a 5 star hotel booking for 10 nights in a suite together with First class flights and car hire. Like the op, it will renew us both at GGL. Like the op, we stay at the hotel frequently so I just reached out to one of the management team and got them to include all our hotel benefits which saves us a large amount of cash. We don't get the points but do get the extra Avios and tier points and price wise it came out as very similar as booking direct so overall I am relaxed about the figures. The hotel is 5 star but not ultra-luxe e.g. Aman/Rosewood/MO or Four Seasons where we are Elite and I guess this is one of the areas in which BAH is very weak as their range of hotels seems very much tailored to the cheaper end of the market.
Going forward, we should easily be able to renew GGL each year using this approach.