Free interactive tool

Hotel Points vs Cash Calculator

The hotel points vs cash calculator prices the whole stay both ways. The cash side adds the room tax and any resort fee to the nightly rate. The points side counts the nights the program makes free on a longer award stay, the resort fee the award may still charge, and the points a cash stay would have earned. It returns the value you get per point and a verdict against your own baseline. Most points-or-cash math is written for flights, where the award still carries taxes; a hotel award usually covers the room tax, which is why the same formula needs different inputs.

The formula

cash stay         = nights × rate × (1 + room tax %) + nights × resort fee
free nights       = floor(nights ÷ N)   (N = 5 Marriott, Hilton Silver+; 4 IHG with its card)
award points      = points per night × (nights − free nights)
award cash        = resort fee × nights (if the award is charged it) + other award tax or fees

value per point   = (cash stay − award cash) ÷ (award points + points the cash stay would earn) × 100

If the value per point is above what you reliably get from the same points elsewhere, the award is the better use. A resort fee that the award stay does not charge is cash the points save, so it raises the value per point; a fee charged either way cancels out.

Run your numbers

Hotel program

Every fifth consecutive award night on one reservation is free for any member (Standard or PointSavers awards; Marriott frees the lowest-priced night). The award covers room tax; resort fees are the member's to pay.

The cash stay. The refundable or prepaid rate you would really book, for the same room and dates.

Nights

Cash rate per night, before tax

Room tax on the cash rate

Divide the checkout's tax line by the room total if the hotel shows tax in dollars.

Resort or destination fee per night

As the hotel shows it, including any tax on the fee. 0 if there is none.

The award stay. The standard-room points price, and whatever cash the award booking still shows.

Points per night

Every Nth award night is free

Set by the program above. 0 means you pay points for every night.

Resort fee on the award stay

Other tax or fees on the award booking

For the whole stay. Usually 0 when the program's award covers room tax.

Points the cash stay would earn (optional)

An award stay gives these up, so they add to its real points cost.

Your baseline value for these points

What you reliably get from this currency elsewhere. 0.8¢ is a placeholder, not a valuation.

Cash stay, all in: $1,720.00
Cash you still pay on the award stay: $225.00
Cash the points save: $1,495.00
Free nights: 1 (saves 50,000 pts)
Points for the stay: 200,000 pts
Real points cost (paid + not earned): 213,000 pts
Value per point: 0.70¢

Verdict0.70¢ per point is below your 0.80¢ baseline. Pay cash and keep the points. The free night lifts it from 0.57¢.

The pre-filled numbers are a hypothetical example, not a quote. Take today’s cash rate and points price from the hotel’s own booking screens, for the same room type, before deciding.

Worked example (hypothetical numbers)

These numbers are hypothetical, not quotes. A five-night Marriott stay costs $260 a night in cash plus 15% room tax and a $45 nightly resort fee, or 50,000 points a night. The cash stay would earn 13,000 points, and you value Marriott points at 0.8¢.

Cash stay: 5 × $260 × 1.15 + 5 × $45 = $1,495 + $225 = $1,720.
Award: the fifth night is free, so 4 × 50,000 = 200,000 points, plus the $225 resort fee, which Marriott’s terms leave to the member.
Cash the points save: $1,720 − $225 = $1,495.
Real points cost: 200,000 + 13,000 not earned = 213,000.
Value per point: $1,495 ÷ 213,000 × 100 = 0.70¢, below the 0.8¢ baseline, so pay cash.

Without the free night the same stay would return 1,495 ÷ 263,000 × 100 = 0.57¢. The fifth night lifts the value by about a quarter, which is why a four-night stay and a five-night stay at the same hotel can get opposite verdicts. At a hotel with no resort fee on the award stay, the $225 would count as cash saved as well, and the value rises to 0.81¢.

Which program rules does the calculator use?

Each program option sets the free-night rule and the resort-fee setting from that program’s own pages, read on September 26, 2026. You can change both fields by hand.

Program	Free night on longer award stays	Resort fee and tax on the award stay
Marriott Bonvoy	Every fifth consecutive night on one reservation, for any member, on Standard and PointSavers awards. Marriott frees the lowest-priced night of the five. Not on Cash + Points or upgrade awards.	The award includes room tax. Resort fees are the member’s to pay (Loyalty Program Terms 3.2.f).
Hilton Honors	Every fifth night on a Standard Room Reward of five or more nights booked with 100% points, for Silver, Gold, Diamond and Diamond Reserve members, up to four free nights on a 20-night stay. Base Members do not get it.	Hilton lists “No resort fees on reward stays” when the stay is paid with 100% points.
IHG One Rewards	Every fourth night free on a standard-room Reward Night stay of four or more nights, for holders of the IHG One Rewards Traveler, Premier or Premier Business card from Chase. Not on Points & Cash bookings.	A Reward Night includes government taxes; resort fees “may apply” and are paid to the hotel.
World of Hyatt	None modelled.	Not confirmed from Hyatt’s own pages on the read date. Check the fee line on your award booking and set the field to match; the calculator counts the fee as charged until you change it.

Sources: Marriott, What is ‘Stay for 5, Pay for 4’?; Chase, IHG One Rewards Traveler card; Marriott Bonvoy Loyalty Program Terms (3.2.f, 3.3.d); Hilton Honors member benefits; Hilton, How to redeem a Fifth Night Free; Chase, IHG One Rewards Premier card benefits; IHG One Rewards member terms. All read 2026-09-26.

When is this calculator the wrong test?

The points price changes night by night. Marriott and Hilton price awards by date. Enter the average points per night; for Marriott, remember the free night is the cheapest of the five, so the saving can be smaller than the average.
The cash rate is prepaid and the award is refundable. A cheaper nonrefundable rate is not the same product. Compare the award with the rate that has the same cancellation terms, or accept that you are paying for flexibility.
You would transfer bank points to the hotel. The value per point here is per hotel point. If the points come from a bank at a ratio other than 1:1, convert first: at a 4:3 ratio (Chase to Hyatt on Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred from October 1, 2026; Sapphire Reserve stays 1:1), each Chase point buys 0.75 Hyatt points, so a 2.0¢ Hyatt value is 1.5¢ per Chase point. The Chase to Hyatt guide has which cards transfer at which rate.
The stay mixes points and cash. Cash + Points and upgrade awards do not get Marriott’s fifth night, Hilton’s fifth night and resort-fee waiver need a stay paid with 100% points, and IHG’s fourth night does not apply to Points & Cash bookings. Set the free-night field to 0 for those.
Card rewards on the cash stay. Paying cash with a credit card also earns that card’s points, and an award stay does not. Add them to “points the cash stay would earn” only if they are the same currency; otherwise subtract their value from the cash stay.
Parking and other charges. None of these programs’ awards cover parking or incidentals. They cost the same both ways, so leave them out.

For a flight rather than a hotel, use the points vs cash calculator. For Marriott points you might send to an airline instead, the Marriott points to miles calculator compares the flight with the hotel value of the same points. More decisions like this one are in points vs cash decisions.