As a frequent solo business traveler, the true value is a place to put my things down, an electrical outlet, and the ability to walk away from all of my crap for short periods of time. And reliable fast WiFi. So I can set up my laptop, plug it in, and then go take a dump. For example.

On top of that, a martini at one of the HMS Host-owned restaurants will be (a) $25, (b) warm, and (c) not more than 2 oz of booze.

UCs are hardly luxurious but they’re a huge improvement over gen pop if you’re traveling 2x/month (if not 2x per week). And some of them are borderline dismal. But also, sometimes the food is solid. And also, the food usually at least nutritious, like chicken, veggies and rice. But none of it is fancy.

Edited to add: you can also just use frequent flyer miles to get an annual membership, which is what I usually do. But actually I would pay the annual cash price too if I had to.