We like changing hotels.

Not because we enjoy logistics, but because it lets us experience a city from different angles. A quiet neighbourhood feels different from a busy one. A modern property changes the rhythm of a day compared to something historic. For us, moving hotels is part of the experience, not a downside to be minimized.

A long January weekend in Prague lined up well with that preference, while also coinciding with a few expiring and calendar-bound assets we needed to use. What followed was not a search for the single “best” hotel or the highest theoretical redemption value. It was an optimization exercise: putting each asset where it fit best, without forcing anything.

This wasn’t a hotel search.

It was an asset-allocation problem.

Going in, the constraints were clear:

The goal was simple: use each asset cleanly and end up somewhere we actually wanted to stay.

Cash and points pricing for the Friday–Sunday nights we were looking at:

Marriott pricing for the Friday–Sunday nights:

Both properties priced below the 85K certificate cap throughout, but the W consistently displaced more cash.

Non-Marriott options:

Once the $300 FHR statement credit was applied to the Sunday night, the Grand Mark’s net cost fell to $66.

Nothing here was wildly overpriced. Several combinations would have worked perfectly well. The question was not which hotel looked best in isolation, but which asset belonged on which night.

The Augustine, a boutique Marriott Luxury Collection property, was a genuine contender. Points pricing stayed under the 85K certificate cap, and cash rates softened meaningfully on Sunday.

But we only wanted one boutique-style stay.

The Augustine and the Grand Mark were competing for the same role. Once the FHR option entered the picture, that role was already spoken for. Using an 85K Marriott certificate at the Augustine would have been reasonable. It just would not have been the cleanest deployment of that asset given the rest of the trip.

That certificate fit naturally at the W Prague.

Cash rates were consistently higher than at the Augustine on the same nights, while points pricing sat comfortably below the 85K cap throughout. It also played a different role: modern, central, energetic, and clearly distinct from the other two stays.

No topping up. No stretching. No second-guessing.

This is exactly what that certificate is for.

The Holiday Inn Prague filled a different role.

We were arriving late, and the first night fell on a Friday, typically the most expensive cash night of the weekend. It was also the night we were least likely to meaningfully use the hotel.

That made it the ideal place to deploy a capped, expiring IHG certificate.

Even on a purely numerical basis, anything north of roughly 0.5 cents per point is already acceptable for IHG. With a short-lived Flex certificate, the logic is simpler still: cash does not expire, certificates do.

This night absorbed arrival friction and cleared expiry risk from the rest of the stay. That was its job.

That left The Grand Mark Prague, booked via FHR.

This was always intended to be the single boutique stay. The key decision was when to use it.

We deliberately booked the Grand Mark on the cheapest night of the stay, not the most expensive.

On paper, the rate was $366. After applying the $300 Amex FHR statement credit, the net cash outlay dropped to $66.

Separately, the FHR booking itself came with the standard on-property package, including the $100 property credit and daily breakfast for two.

Choosing the lowest-rate night did several things at once:

FHR statement credits are calendar-bound cash equivalents. Using them where they have the greatest marginal impact is the entire point.

It also meant the best night of the stay was the last one. Not everyone can push a weekend into Monday, but when you can, the payoff is real.

Stepping back, the arithmetic is simple:

No points top-ups. No speculative valuations. No forced fits.

Each asset went to the night that actually needed it.

We haven’t taken the trip yet. The point here isn’t how it feels in hindsight, but how the decisions stack up with the information available at the time.

Unlike the flight booking that prompted a closer look at marginal pricing, nothing here was a push:

Changing hotels did not complicate the trip. It created the structure that made everything line up.

Sometimes the programs fight you. Sometimes they cooperate. The real work is not always in finding the highest-value redemption in isolation.

It can just be noticing which night actually needs which tool.