Francisco. Fare
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Cash or points for a hotel stay?

Enter the tax-inclusive nightly cash rate, the points price, and your nights. You get the stay's redemption value in cents per point — net of any fees the property still charges on awards — and a verdict against your program's baseline.

Sets the baseline value the verdict judges against.

Use the tax-inclusive rate — award nights skip most taxes, so a pre-tax rate understates what points save.

Total for the stay. Some properties charge resort or destination fees even on points — check before assuming zero.

If it won't cover the stay, the verdict says so instead of ignoring it.

Enter the nightly cash rate (taxes included), the points price, and your nights to see which way to book.

Cents per point = (tax-inclusive cash total − fees charged on the award stay) ÷ points × 100. Enter the cash rate with taxes included: award nights skip most taxes, so comparing points against a pre-tax rate understates what they save. Fees some properties still charge on points stays (resort and destination fees) are netted out the same way. Baselines are editorial estimates in two lanes — typical (median achievable) and maximum (optimized) — and the verdict judges against typical with a ±10% toss-up band. One thing the math leaves out: a cash stay earns points and elite-night credit while an award usually doesn't, which nudges genuinely close calls toward cash.

Reference data as of 2026-07-01.