I can see few reasons: 1. To avoid attention -- Please notice that Wednesday is a con man - he has been doing various cons since (at very least) beginning of the XX century: in the book he describes various ways he managed to trick people out of their hard-earned money. If he would start living in expensive hotels full of security, he would attract attention not only of the police but also of the new gods. Similar would happen if he suddenly start going around trying to convert Sweeney's gold coins into cash - someone might notice and start asking questions and Mr Wednesday likes to keep a low profile. 2. To avoid spending power -- Old gods wane - this is the main theme of the story. Look at the Czernobog: the poor guy is a pensioner living in a shady apartment! Almost no one is outright willing to worship them, they need to use trickery to gain scraps of power. Using it to pull money out of the hat would be a waste. 3. Wednesday is not a "god of wealth", quite contrary: -- If you know that Mr Wednesday is really >!Odin then you should also know, that he (in mythology) likes to wander around, pretending to be a poor traveler, checking are people following the laws of hospitality and punishing those who are not kind to strangers. Sleeping in five stars hotels would be against his nature - he wants to pretend that he is poor (and actually it is never stated that he really is!) and see how can you react.