8000 Points or $50
 

Are 8000 Choice points worth more than $50? I have the option of paying for the room at $50 for a night or 8000 points. Thanks.

They can be worth much more than $50, but it depends on the property and the dates. For example, I've stayed at hotels which (during busier times) were charging what amount to $130+ including taxes, and to redeem it only cost 10000 points, and that's the equivalent of $104 value for redeeming 8000 points. When the same hotel drops to around $95 including taxes, I pay and earn 8000 points for two one-night stays.

And that's not the example of best value. That's just an example of one hotel going up and down in price cost while the points cost stays the same, and how for one arrival date it may be a better value to pay on for another arrival date it may be a better value to redeem.

There is not a fixed relationship between the points cost of Choice hotels and the cash cost of Choice hotels. And so the value varies a lot.

So if you have a choice (pardon the pun) of either using 8000 points or spending just $50, I'd say spend the $50, especially if it's a one-night stay and thus with another one-night paid stay (during the current promo through Nov 11) you'll earn another 8000 points.

To add on to this, I tend to favor earning while promotions are active unless I can get outsized value on a redemption and then favor redeeming outside of promotion periods. For instance, I almost always use Choice points at properties in and around Orlando between Christmas and New Year's when I know there's going to be a gap between promos. And in August, towards the end of the summer promo, I paid about $110 for a room I could have gotten for 8000 points because the promo was winding down and the reservation was a "second stay" that got me bonus points.

It is interesting how we use points and earn points. I attempt to earn points when I am on a business trip ( and I can deduct the cost of the stay ) and attempt to use points for non-business stays or for family members ( when I cannot deduct the cost of the stay) Whether it is promotion time or not does not factor into my decisions.

Always use the points. You never know if tomorrow there will be a massive devaluation announced right after you book, making your points worthless.

You also never know if there, there might not be any redemption devaluation, but the ability to earn more points is what may disappear.

I would balance the risk of redemption devaluation against the risk of replenishment devaluation.

And if you are willing to "burn" points on poor value today, why do you think a future redemption devaluation would make them "worthless"? Wouldn't it simply make them poor value (for many more properties)? But what's the point in definitely using them at poor value today, just because you fear they might go to poor value in the future? :confused:

I have points / miles in lots of programs that I earned years ago when it was easy to earn them, and now it's become very hard to replenish them. Why should I have burned them just to burn them? :confused: Even if they devalue by 25%, 50%, 75%, 85%, that's still going to leave me with some free hotel nights or free flights when I really them, and as opposed to using them up at poor value on hotel nights or flights that I didn't really need (or didn't really need to use points/miles on).

If the ability to replenish goes down by 90%, but the redemption devaluation is only 50%, don't you still come out ahead by keeping the points until you have a good use for them? :confused: