Using points for lower end hotels
 

Many FT have a preference of using miles/points for aspirational travel (flights and/or hotels) and there are many threads posted here and in hotel program forums that highlight best uses from that perspective. While I do aspire to fly in comfort (especially long-haul flights), I don’t really have a strong desire/need to stay in luxury hotels in order to feel pampered. It just came to me recently, as I wasn’t able to quickly get an airport hotel from PL, that using points for lower end hotels could be a reasonable redemption option for me (and perhaps some other FT members). In my specific example, I could get 8K points/night at a Hyatt Place or 4K points/night at an Aloft, both are airport hotels and would be good use of my points as the cash rates were relatively high. The hotel points are, by large, earnings from CC spend: 1 *wood points per dollar spend on SPG Amex, 2 Hyatt points per dollar spend on Sapphire Preferred (transferred from Chase UR). So, on the surface the above redemption (8K Hyatt points and 4K SPG points were earned from the same dollar amount of spend on CC. I have not been to either of the hotels in person and don’t have a strong preference between these 2 brands (Hyatt Place vs. Aloft) in general.

I’m interested in your thoughts/experience for redeeming hotel points for lower end hotels, and furthermore whether/how you value points from one particular hotel program over another in normal (i.e., non-aspirational) travel situations.

Using points for lower end hotels
 

Waste of points to book lower end hotels

If the point redemption rate is low and the cost of the room is high then its totally worth it in some instances. Figure out what hotel points are "worth" to you then figure out whats worth more for future stays, paying cash or spending your points.

I've heard of many redeeming their points for Hampton Inns during crowded times. Seems it can be worth it to me.

The value at which I redeem miles/points should exceed the cost at which I earned them.

That's it. That's all.

I agree. Finding out how you value points is key...and this obviously varies person to person. Would you prefer to have 3k SPG points in the bank or $100 in the bank? If you are points rich but $$$ poor, use points. If you can get more than $100 in value for the 3k points at a nicer hotel in the future and are not strapped for cash, pay with cash.

I've used plenty of Hhonors points at a Hampton in the middle of nowhere. The Hampton I stayed in was brand new, went for $120+taxes and was a Cat 2 hotel. That put my redemption value at just over a penny a point. That's not too far off my upcoming redemption value at the Tokyo Conrad. The other Hampton that I frequented was a Cat 3 with the same price... I paid cash.

I'm finding that Hyatt's uses are bimodal -- at the low end and high end. At the low end, I've been thrilled to redeem at a Category 1 property in Cincinnati, and yet another at the Bali Hyatt. At the end high end, the top tier hotels are capped at 22k points, so when prices go through the roof, you can get some value there.

OTOH, SPG points are best for lower tier properties. My favorite redemptions are Cat 1-3 C&P redemptions. I'll redeem up to Category 5 (hate the peak season surcharge, will typically avoid that) but never 6 or 7.

In some places, "not nice" is pretty crappy. Paris and NYC come to mind. In these places, "nice" is pretty high end, or at least pretty expensive. In other places, low category hotels are far from dumps, and are quite suitable. For example, I have an affinity for SPG Cat 1-3 properties in Asia, particularly in Thailand and Malaysia.

Radisson Celebration Resort Orlando, International Drive. Cat 1. 9K points.

Please tell me how that is a waste of points.

yeah I thinkwe can all pretty much agree that there are values to be had in different types of redemption and can't just simply claim one or the other is a waste.

I can easily out earn the miles and points I can actually spend in a year. I started collecting hotel points recently because I amassed such a huge quantity of airline miles.

Rather than focus on the value/pt for hotel redemptions, I focus on spending $0 out of pocket, so I have no problem redeeming for low-mid tier hotels.

The other thing to consider is that most of the high value per points you see quoted are using a hotels list price. You can usually stay in an equivalently rated hotel for much cheaper through Priceline, so I consider these values to be generally inflated. Even if you don't want to consider Priceline, you can always get 17% off hotel list price through hotels.com, top cash back, and credit card cash back.

I also tend to redeem this way.

This weekend, in fact, I used 25k PC points for a $250 Holiday Inn. That's a penny a point. Could not have gotten it on priceline, since everything was sold out in town.

I probably would have spent as much as $125 anyway, so even at that, it's half penny a point. Decent value.

One of my favorite promotions is Marriott's MegaBonus - the version that offers a free low-end (category 1-4) hotel night with every two paid stays. Have gotten great value from that.

I'm not against really nice hotels. But it's quite possible to get them via priceline at great rates and also to find quite nice low-end hotels at low redemption rates.

"Don't let the haters bring you down."

i think i spend the vast majority of my hilton points at hamptons. they are always reliable for a family of four, and we can find them practically anywhere we go.

a few years ago my spouse and i were living apart in LA and atlanta, which meant i made gold with delta. with so many mileage earning opportunities, i was earning 25,000 skymiles every two trips, and i more than happily spent those miles as i earned them.

i don't think i've ever used points or miles for a fancy resort or a business/first class flight. i might not be getting the best "bang" for my points, but my family is happy to be saving money when we get the chance.

There are two different kinds of point redemptions, both of which should always be a better value than paying cash.

First is the person who isn't rich, but wants to stay at high-end hotels. Paying 500$ a night isn't possible, but the points are there so why not redeem them? Of course this is limited to the chain properties, which is why just about every trip report is about PH Tokyo or PH Vendome Paris. I just combined cash and points stays at the IC Samui, which offered relatively decent value - 30k points vs $400/night. I booked $ nights first and managed to keep my upgrade :) This property is excellent for redemptions because the standard rooms are actually good with a nice view.

Then there are the bargain seekers, usually 'noobies' who just want to save some $. Nothing wrong with this, just make sure that value exceeds $ spent on the points. PC points are king for these people IMO because of easy acquisition and the wonderful PB list.

Cash + Points, both SPG and Priority Club, fits this market nicely. This week I booked a 1200 SPG and $25 for a property that would otherwise be $110(+$20 tax) and was not falling. As it is not a full points redemption, I still get a stay/night credit and my 600 SWA points. I have done this 3 other times this year at SPG category 1 and 2s.

While I have noticed my travel standards increasing over the past 10 years I do not see the aspirational properties as something I will strive toward. I am low maintenance and travel for the destination, not the hotel. I prefer frequent comfortable getaways over the hoarding I would need to do to pull off a week at the 5 star jawdropping Asian properties.

There it is. It's not a noobie desire ( :mad: )... it's a quantity over quality decision, above a certain threshold.

Even though our style seems to be in the minority on FT, I want to believe we can all learn to value and respect each other. :p