I redeemed my Amex Marriott card's free anniversary night for a boring reason to avoid wasting it — but ended up booking a hidden gem worth more than 3x the annual fee

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• I had an expiring free night certificate from my Marriott credit card but didn't have any travel plans.
• I decided to use it for what would normally have been a boring redemption in a nearby city.
• In doing so I stumbled on a luxurious boutique hotel and will get a value of $450 from the stay.
• Read Insider's guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.

Hotel credit cards that offer anniversary free night certificates can be an incredibly lucrative deal. Provided you redeem your free night at a hotel that costs more than the card's annual fee, you'll come out ahead — and sometimes, get a value many times more than that.

That said, considering many folks still aren't traveling much, it can be challenging to find an opportunity to redeem these certificates at a high value before they expire. That's the situation I found myself in with a free night certificate from my Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card. Marriott has already extended the expiration dates on these certificates until the end of June, but I don't have any major travel plans before then.

Read more: 9 hotel credit cards that offer free nights after each account anniversary — and 7 alternatives that can save you money on stays each year

I'd normally try to max out a certificate by booking a fancier hotel at a vacation destination. However, with no trips on the horizon and not wanting to waste the benefit, I decided to redeem my certificate in Buffalo, New York, for an overnight sports tournament my 14-year-old daughter is attending this spring.

Buffalo isn't exactly known for its luxury hotels (no offense, Buffalonians!), so I'd resigned myself to burning the certificate at a humdrum Courtyard hotel or Fairfield Inn. So long as I got a value that exceeded the card's Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card annual fee Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card - Rates & Fees, I'd feel like I'd gotten my money's worth.

But after checking out the options I discovered a hidden gem of a property where I could cash in my certificate — and even better, my family will get a stay worth more than three times the annual fee.

Using a Marriott free night certificate to get $450 in value

The free night certificate that comes with the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card is valid at hotels worth up to 35,000 points per night. You can also earn one of these certificates from the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (currently offering an elevated welcome bonus of Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, with just a Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card annual fee).

After poking around on Marriott's website and finding the usual assortment of Marriott low to mid-range brands, I stumbled on a hotel I'd never noticed before – Reikart House, Buffalo, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel. Tribute Portfolio is a collection of properties under the Marriott Bonvoy umbrella, but they're independent boutique hotels, many with a historic or stylish feel.

This particular hotel was fully renovated in 2017 and subsequently named "Hotel of the Year" in the distinctive/premium category twice in a row by Marriott International. It looks positively delightful from online photos and reviews — an elegant, upscale property in a sea of nearby airport hotels.

Read more: The best ways to use a Marriott Bonvoy 35,000-point free night certificate — from swanky beach destinations to upscale international hotels

The Reikart House isn't far from my daughter's tournament, and the award rate of 30,000 points meant I could book it using my Marriott 35K free night.

Snagging such a lovely hotel with a free night certificate was a win in itself, but I was even more pleased when I checked the paid rate for the same room and date. With tax, the room would have cost us a whopping $450.

This is a fantastic rate of return for a card with a Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card annual fee. In fact, this redemption ranks up there with some of the top hotels we recommend for using a Marriott free night certificate, even though most of those properties are located in big international cities or beachy resort destinations.

Insider values Marriott points as worth 0.7 cents apiece, on average. Even if I'd used points (versus a free night certificate) for this redemption, I'd be getting a value of around 1.5 cents per point — more than double Insider's valuation. That's an exceptionally good deal no matter which way you book.

Read more: How to earn, redeem, and maximize Marriott points

I definitely would not have paid $450 for an overnight hotel on a tournament weekend, but this deal is making our trip a little more special and gives the kids and me something to look forward to. And it's redemptions like this that encourage me to renew my Marriott card year after year.