Originally Posted by
MarkOK
As for lower category redeemers - that is mostly me. I pay cash or points on leisure trips purely based on points vs cash rates ( with points valued at 2 cents per point). Since 2018, I have redeemed 90% of my points at cat 1s-4s because I find on the upper end, hotels are either just too stupid expensive for my tastes, or the points are so high compared to cash that I just pay cash.
Agree 100%. Like you, I look to see if I can get 2 cents a point of value and that's the only thing that drives my decision. It's definitely been easier to find this value at the lower category hotels.
I travel a lot, all out of pocket, and I need to pay for it one way or another. I view my points as having value and don't really want to spend 35,000 points ($700 the way I look at it) for a hotel night unless I absolutely have to.