Should you use cash, points, miles, a free night award or a credit card benefit to book your hotel?

A friend of mine recently embraced the points and miles lifestyle. Lately, we’ve spent some fun afternoons discussing strategies to earn and use points and miles. During one of our recent sessions, he asked a smart question:

“When I plan a trip, how do I decide if I should pay cash, use points, a free night award or a credit card benefit for a hotel stay?”

I love that question because thinking through your preferences now will help you tackle this conundrum more effectively each time you plan a trip.

It also helps to continually run through your options so you don’t forget about a lucrative possibility. This is especially important as you build points balances in multiple programs and increase your portfolio of credit cards with all sorts of value-added benefits.

Step 1: Consider your hotel options

Start at the beginning. You want to book a hotel and, of course, make the best decision about how to pay for it.

Look at your target destination and draft a list of places to stay. Sweep the major loyalty programs for options: Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt.

If you’re a budget traveler, it can pay to check Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges and Wyndham Rewards. If you’re a luxury traveler, peek at Accor Live Limitless — with high-end brands like Raffles, Banyan Tree, Fairmont and Faena.

Using this process for a trip to Paris, for example, I’d see that all the programs mentioned above have hotels in the City of Light. My main hotel programs are World of Hyatt, Marriott and IHG, and I feel like a luxury vacation, so my short list of hotels might look like this:

• Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome or Hotel du Louvre (World of Hyatt)
• Hotel de Berri Champs-Elysees, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Paris or Prince de Galles, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Paris (Marriott Bonvoy)
• InterContinental Paris — Le Grand or Kimpton St Honore Paris (IHG One Rewards)

Follow that with a short list of hotels outside of loyalty programs where you’d pay cash or use a credit card such as the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which enables you to use your miles to pay off any statement charge coded as a travel expense. (The ratio is 1 cent per Capital One mile.)

For my purposes, I’d add Shangri-La Paris and Hotel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel to the hotel list.

When your hotel list is complete, pick two or three options that you’d prefer and jot down the cash and points prices for your dates. Continuing on the Paris theme, I’d go for the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome, the Prince de Galles or the Kimpton St Honore Paris.

Step 2: Review cash, points and miles balances, plus awards and credit card benefits

Next, consider your cash on hand and points balances for the programs of your target hotels. We’ll talk about when to use cash or points in a sec. Let’s list what you have available first, though.

Do any of these hotel loyalty programs offer a fourth or fifth night free on a points stay? Read these stories to learn how you can get a free night when paying with points:

As you complete this exercise, it also helps if you know what each point is worth. If you don’t already have a personal calculation, check out TPG’s monthly loyalty currency valuations for major banks, airlines and hotel programs.

Always compare the hotel’s cash price versus the points price. If the cash value of the points required for a night’s stay is less than the cash price, it’s a good redemption.

Step 3: Take inventory of any free night awards

Now, put any free night awards or certificates, like these, on the proverbial table:

It’s easy to forget about all your redemption instruments. Most free night certificates expire, so be sure to plan to use them so they don’t go to waste. A good rule of thumb is to book a hotel stay with your free night certificate as soon as you earn it so you don’t risk letting it expire. You can book the stay for a future date, but try not to book it too close to its expiration date. That way, if your plans change, you still have time to rebook and use the certificate elsewhere before it expires.

Here’s some advice on when to redeem free night certificates instead of hotel points. I will always use my certificates before dipping into my points balance.

Step 4: What credit card hotel benefits do you have?

It’s time to layer any credit card benefits into the equation. Do any benefits make paying cash more attractive for this particular stay?

Think about the cards in your wallet. Holding certain credit cards may confer automatic elite status, which can net perks like complimentary breakfast and late checkout.

Some premium cards offer even more lucrative benefits. Do you have The Platinum Card® from American Express? If so, consider using your annual $200 prepaid hotel credit when booking a property that’s part of The Hotel Collection. Or, book via the American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts program, which confers the following benefits, regardless of the length of your stay:

• Room upgrade upon arrival, when available at check-in (properties may exclude some room types, and some may only give you a room with a better view)
• Daily breakfast for two people
• Guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout
• Noon check-in, when available
• Complimentary Wi-Fi (when a property includes Wi-Fi in a mandatory resort fee, you’ll receive a daily credit equal to the Wi-Fi cost)
• Experience credit (the experience should be valued at $100 or more and usually consists of a property, dining or spa credit)

It pays to look at all your options because sometimes you’ll find sweet deals. Here’s an example from Amex’s Fine Hotels + Resorts program. In addition to the above benefits, certain stays are also eligible for a free third night (included in the average nightly rate shown in the screenshot below).

Many premium credit cards offer hotel benefits, so remember to check your wallet and review what you have access to before booking a hotel stay.

Step 5: Consider your credit card’s travel portal for a cash or flexible points or miles booking

Of course, you can simply book a hotel through your credit card’s portal, such as the Chase Travel℠ portal or the Capital One Travel portal and pay with either cash or flexible points or miles (in this case, Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Capital One miles, respectively).

However, there are downsides to using those booking methods, and I prefer to book directly with the hotel program. My reasoning is twofold.

1. Often, it’s a better value to transfer my Chase Ultimate Rewards points, for example, to World of Hyatt and book there rather than pay cash or use my Ultimate Rewards points for a hotel booking through Chase’s portal.

2. If an issue arises with your hotel, I find it much easier to get assistance if I book directly with the hotel chain instead of an online travel agency, which these credit card travel portals are.

Making your choice: Cash, points, miles, certificates or credit card benefits

Once you’ve surveyed all the options and gathered the data, you can decide how to book and pay for the hotel.

When to pay cash

The easiest place to start is deciding if you have an appetite for paying with cash in the first place. For example, at the beginning of the year, I rarely want to pay cash for a hotel stay because the end of the previous year is usually a cash drain with holiday shopping, life insurance payments and annual homeowner association dues. You may also have a specific time of year when it’s more advantageous to pay with points, miles or awards instead of cash.

Consider paying cash in these circumstances as well:

• When you’re staying at a hotel that’s not part of a loyalty program and also is not bookable via Chase Travel, Capital One Travel or another portal for which you can use your flexible points or miles or pay cash to earn points or miles.
• When you’re willing to forgo elite night credit and benefits and instead rack up points or miles via a booking portal such as AAdvantage Hotels.
• When booking more than one room on a trip for family or friends. Book your room on cash to earn more points or miles while using your points or miles to pay for the other room(s).

When to pay cash via a credit card portal

• When you have a credit card benefit that will save you money, such as the annual $200 hotel credit on The Platinum Card by American Express, or can book through a program like Amex’s Fine Hotels + Resorts for perks like free breakfast, room upgrades upon availability, late checkout and spa or food-and-beverage credits.
• When there’s a lucrative promotion that you can only take advantage of when paying cash.

When to pay with points or miles

• When you want to conserve cash, it doesn’t matter if you’re getting the best value. What’s more important to you now is going on the trip without spending dollars.
• When points or miles are an incredible value. In other words, when the value of the points or miles you’ll use is far less than the cash price.

Let’s look at the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome as an example of a good points redemption. I checked cash and points prices for a one-night stay on Dec. 22, 2025. The member cash rate was $1,548, while it would take just 40,000 points to book the same room.

TPG’s February 2025 valuations peg World of Hyatt points at 1.7 cents each. That means 40,000 points are valued at $680 (40,000 times 1.7 equals 68,000; divide 68,000 by 100 to get 680).

When to use a free night award or certificate

Free night certificates can represent a fantastic value or be an albatross you always let expire before using. If you are constantly busy and having trouble tracking little details in your personal life, free night certificates may not be the right points or miles perk to chase.

However, if used for maximum value, a free night certificate can quickly become your favorite booking method. Strive to use a free night award:

• When you are booking a hotel that’s at the upper limit of the certificate (for maximum value)

Bottom line

What you should take away from this discussion is that, depending on your circumstances, there’s no wrong way to book a hotel. However, some methods will be more cost-effective or a better value than others. But, sometimes, getting the best value from your points or miles simply involves using them for the trip you want on the dates you need. Consider all your booking options, and use the best vehicle for each unique situation. Here’s to a future filled with plenty of hotel award redemptions!