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What Are IHG Rewards Club Points?

IHG Rewards Club is the loyalty program for InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns 12 brands covering more than 5,500 hotels in 100 countries. The properties range from affordable chains like Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites to upscale ones such as Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts. 

There are two types of IHG Rewards Club Points: base points and bonus points. The most obvious way to earn base points is by staying at IHG hotels; you’ll generally get 10 points per dollar. Nab another 25 base points per dollar for IHG stays by paying with a branded credit card. You can also earn them by riding with Uber, booking rental cars through Hertz or Dollar/Thrifty, reserving cruises though CruisesOnly, or taking advantage of the IHG Rewards Club Dining program.

You earn bonus points through promotions. These can be used for rewards but don’t count towards elite status. IHG offers generous bonus promotions. For example, IHG Rewards Club members can earn double points for stays at select hotels in Asia through May 31, 2020.

Base points count toward IHG elite status, which has four tiers. In each successive tier, you’ll earn more points and gain access to more exclusive upgrades.

• Club: The base level that you get for signing up. Members earn 10 points for every dollar spent at IHG and get exclusive rates, dedicated phone assistance and free Wi-Fi.

• Gold Elite: Become a gold member with 10 nights a year at IHG properties or by earning 10,000 Elite Qualifying Points. In addition to the basic benefits, you get 10% extra bonus points, extended check-out, and priority check-in.

• Platinum Elite. You earn this by staying 40 nights in a year year or earning 40,000 Elite Qualifying Points. Platinum members earn 50% Bonus points and enjoy Elite rollover nights, complimentary room upgrades, and guaranteed room availability.

• Spire Elite: IHG’s highest level, reached by staying 75 nights in a year or earning 75,000 Elite Qualifying Points. Members get gold perks, 100% bonus points, early check-in, Hertz Five Star status, and a choice between extra points or gifting Platinum Elite status to a friend. 

Which Cards Earn IHG Rewards Club Points  

• IHG Rewards Club Traveler
• IHG Rewards Club Premier

How to Use IHG Rewards Club Points

IHG Rewards Club Points aren’t as versatile as, say, World of Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy points. However, it’s a good program for travelers who prefer more affordable hotels, and Holiday Inn and other IHG brands often have hotels in areas that higher-end chains don’t. You’re generally going to see the most value out of hotel stays. Keep in mind that your points expire after 12 months if you’re at Club level.

• Hotel stays. Free nights cost 10,000 to 70,000 points. 
• Intercontinental Ambassador membership. For 40,000 points a year, upgrade to Platinum Elite Status and receive other perks.
• Experiences. IHG’s experiences can be bought at flat rates or through auctions. 
• Magazine subscriptions. Choose from 50 magazine subscriptions starting at 1,000 points.
• Digital products. Redeem for eMagazines, movies, music, eBooks, games and software starting at 300 points.
• Transfer to travel partners. Choose from more than 30 airline partners. Rates vary but generally don’t offer good value.
• Online shopping. IHG offers an online catalog of jewelry, electronics, gift cards and other products, but you only get 0.2 to 0.3 cents per point. 
• Transfer to friends and family. Give points to another member for $5 per 1,000 points.
• Donate to charity. Choose from partners including Goodwill and American Red Cross.

Hotel Stays 

Hotel stays give you the most bang for your IHG Reward Club points. The company has 13 different categories of hotels for point stays; they cost from 10,000 to 70,000 points per night. IHG also has an unusual and unfriendly policy of capping the value you can get from your points. Whether you’re booking an economy room or a luxury suite, you can’t get more than 0.7 cents per point in value.  

However, not all stays will even get you that rate. Mid- to high-end stays will generally only be worth 0.3 to 0.4 cents per point. For example, if you book a room at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Seattle South – Tukwila with points, you’ll get the maximum cash value of 0.7 cents per point. But a room at the Kimpton Hotel Vintage Seattle will cost you $161.60 or 50,000 points, giving you a value of 0.32 cents per point. 

The best value used to lie in IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks, but word on the street is that these promos have ended and are unlikely to return.

Ambassador Membership

If you want the perks of elite status but don’t have the stays, you can buy InterContinental Ambassador Membership for $200 per year or 40,000 points, a value of 0.5 cents per point. You’ll receive Platinum Elite status, guaranteed upgrades, late check-out, a complimentary weekend night, a restaurant and bar credit of up to $20 for every stay, and additional perks depending on where you’re staying.

Experiences

IHG’s experience program is called IHG Rewards Club Access. It’s smaller than many competing programs, and uses “experiences” pretty loosely—last time we looked, there were only eight experiences on offer, and one was actually a bundle of hiking gear. Some experiences have a flat price, others are in auction format. 

You can buy many of these experiences separately, and in many cases you might as well. For example, you could get two terrace-level tickets to see the Jonas Brothers at the SSE Arena, Wembley in London for 20,000 points, with dinner, a couple of drinks, and lounge access included. We estimate the value at around $200, or 1 cent per point. 

Magazine Subscriptions

You can choose from 50 magazine subscriptions, including Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Us Weekly and a range of other periodicals. Most will cost you 1,000 or 1,500 points for a one- or two-year subscription, which is generally a decent value of more than 1 cent per point. 

Digital Products

An unusual redemption option that IHG offers is its suite of digital products. You can use points to buy more than 250 eMagazines, rent or buy hundreds of popular movies, browse thousands of digital albums and eBooks, and download video games or software. 

Shows and movies cost 950 to 4,440 points, which ends up being poor value. You can rent “Ad Astra” through Amazon for $5.99 or through IHG for 5,900 points, the equivalent of 0.1 cent per point. Digital magazines and video games mostly offer similar values. 

Books can get you a little more value: the Kindle versions of Ann Patchett’s “The Dutch House” costs $14.99 at Amazon or 2,150 points on IHG, for a value of 0.7 cents per point. 

Transfer to Airline Partners

IHG has 39 airline transfer partners. Redemption rates vary by airline but the majority of them offer a rate of 5:1, which will seriously devalue your points, so we don’t recommend this option.

• Aeromexico
• Aeroplan
• Air China
• Air France
• AIR MILES
• Air New Zealand
• Alaska Airlines
• Alitalia MilleMiglia
• All Nippon Airways
• American Airlines
• Asia Miles
• Asiana
• British Airways
• China Eastern 
• China Southern Airlines
• Delta
• El Al Israel Airlines
• Emirates
• Etihad Airways
• Gulf Air
• Hainan Airlines
• Hawaiian Airlines
• Iberia Airlines
• Japan Airlines
• Jet Airways
• JetBlue 
• KLM
• Lanchile
• Lifemiles
• Malaysia Airlines
• Qantas Airlines
• Saudi Arabian Airlines
• Singapore Airlines
• South African Airways
• TAP Air Portugal
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic
• Velocity Frequent Flyer

Online Shopping

You can buy electronics, home and garden, fashion, health, beauty and sports departments through IHG’s online catalog. There are many redemption options starting at less than 10,000 points. However, typical rates are between 0.2 and 0.4 cents per point, so this isn’t a wise option either.

Transfer to Friends and Family

IHG Rewards Club points can be transferred to any other IHG Rewards Club member in 1,000 point increments for $5 per 1,000 points. There is no limit to the number of points a member can transfer or receive. Many other programs allow you to do this for free, so we can’t recommend this option unless you need to combine points to book something, since it’s much cheaper than buying points.

Charity

If you’d like to make a difference with your points, you can choose to donate them to Goodwill, American Red Cross, Youth Career Initiative or Prince’s Trust in increments of 2,500, 5,000 or 10,000. There is no tax break for donating points. 

Summary

While IHG Rewards Club Points can be redeemed and transferred a number of ways, the PointBreak redemption options provide far more value than any other option. If you use IHG properties often, this program is definitely worth joining. However, Chase and Amex have much more valuable redemption options for their members.

What Are Citi ThankYou Rewards?

ThankYous are the loyalty points that banking giant Citi gives customers for certain banking activity and spending on a handful of specific credit cards. You can also earn them by converting the cash rewards earned with a Citi Double Cash Card into ThankYou points, at a rate of up to 1 point per cent.

The Citi ThankYou program has two tiers, and it’s crucial to know which one you’re in. Customers with the Citi Prestige or Citi Premier card (both of which have annual fees) earn points that can be transferred to more than a dozen travel partners at a 1:1 ratio. Other cards earn points that can be used only through Citi for cash, statement credits, and gift cards. They can’t be transferred to travel partners, which makes them less flexible and less valuable.

Which Cards Earn Citi ThankYou Rewards

• Citi Rewards+ Card
• Citi Premier Card
• Citi Prestige Card
• Citi Rewards+ Student Card
• AT&T Access Card from Citi

How to Use Citi ThankYou Rewards

ThankYou Rewards have a flat value of 1 cent each when redeemed through Citi, but they can be worth more if you use them to book travel through the ThankYou Travel Center or transfer them to a partner program. Here’s an overview of the ways you can use your ThankYou points:

• Transfer to airlines. Premium cardholders can transfer points to 15 partner airlines, at a 1:1 rate. 
• Book travel through Citi. Premium members can book through the ThankYou Travel Center at 1.25 cents per point. For everyone else, 1 point = 1 cent.
• Gift cards. Buy gift cards at popular restaurants, department stores, travel companies and other retailers. 1 point = 1 cent. 
• Shopping with partners. Use your points for purchases or statement credits at a number of popular online retailers. Points are worth around 0.8 cents each.
• Cash back. Get a check mailed to you, for 0.5 to 1 cent per point.
• Statement credits. Redeem points for a statement credit, at 0.5 to 1 cent each.
• Mortgage and student loan payments. Checks are payable to your financial lending institution. 1 point = 1 cent.
• Transfer. Share your points with any Citi cardholder, which can increase their value.

Transferring to Travel Partners

Citi’s travel partners form a vast global network that can provide great value for international travelers. However, there is currently only one domestic airline partner, JetBlue.

ThankYou points transfer at a consistent rate of 1:1, however, there are often redemption promotions that offer an increased rate when transferring to one or more of Citi’s global travel partners. The one exception is Jet Blue which transfers at 1000 points to 800 JetBlue TrueBlue points (although Chairman, Prestige, Premier card holders still get a 1:1 ratio).  Points must be transferred in increments of 1,000 points. There is no fee for transferring, but depending on the program it can take up to 14 days for your transfer to post to your airline account.

While it does require a fair amount of research, transferring ThankYou rewards to travel partners may get you the most bang from your points. You can also uncover back-door options that are not promoted by Citi.

For example, if you transfer your ThankYou Rewards to Singapore Airline’s Krisflyer Miles, you can fly Singapore Airlines First Class From Los Angeles to Tokyo for 107,000 miles. The last time we checked, you had to pay more than $10,000 to fly that route in the middle of March—booking with points would yield you 10 cents a point. You can also transfer ThankYous to Etihad and book American Airlines rewards flights from the U.S. to Europe for 50,000 miles in business class or 62,500 miles in first class.

Here’s a list of the current Citi ThankYou travel partners:

• Avianca Lifemiles (1:1)
• Aeromexico Club Premier (1:1)
• Asia Miles (1:1)
• Emirates Skywards (1:1)
• Etihad Guest (1:1)
• Eva Air (1:1)
• Flying Blue (1:1)
• JetBlue Trueblue (1:1 for Chairman, Prestige, Premier card holders, 1:.8 for ThankYou Preferred and Citi Rewards+ card holders)
• JetPrivilege (1:1)
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich (1:1)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer (1:1)
• Qatar Privilege Club (1:1)
• Singapore Airlines (1:1)
• Thai Royal Orchid Plus (1:1)
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles (1:1)
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (1:1)

Booking Travel Through Citi ThankYou Travel Center

Booking travel through the ThankYou Travel Center simplifies the redemption process and eliminates the need to research. With most Citi cards, your points are worth 1 cent each—which is okay but not fantastic value. The exception, once again, is Citi Premier card holders, who enjoy a 1.25 cent-per-mile rate.

It’s worth mentioning that if you  have a Citi Premier card, you can combine your points from other, lower-tiered cards. Also: airlines will treat your Citi ThankYou Travel Center ticket redemptions as a paid fare. This means you’ll earn frequent flyer miles and you won’t have to worry about whether award tickets (the ones booked with points) are even available, a common problem. 

Buying Gift Cards

You can choose to redeem your points for gift cards from over 100 popular retailers. Each ThankYou Reward point is worth 1 cent in nearly all cases. There are occasional promotions. This may not be the savviest way to spend your points, but it’s not horrible value and can be a good way to cash out smaller amounts of points.

Shopping with Partners

Citi provides two options for shopping with partners. You can transfer your points to Sears’ Shop Your Way loyalty program at a rate of 1 Reward point = 12 Shop Your Way Points. These points can be used to make purchases in-store and online at Sears and Kmart (which, amazingly, does still exist).

You can also use your points to make purchases online at Amazon, merchants that accept PayPal, Expedia (but only for “Pay Now” bookings at hotels) or Live Nation. You can also use your points for statement credits at 1800Flowers.com and BestBuy.com. Points redeemed in this way are usually worth about 0.8 cents each.

The upshot: there are a lot of different options for spending your Citi ThankYou Rewards, but they provide subpar value compared to the industry standard of 1 cent per point. This is not a great redemption option.

Cash Back

If you’d like to trade your ThankYou Rewards for cash, you can redeem them for a check made payable to you in denominations of $50 and $100, at a low, low value of 0.5 cents per point— unless you have the Citi Prestige card, which is 1 cent per point. It will take one to three weeks for the check to reach you. This is one of the worst ways to spend your Reward points.

Statement Credits

The same redemption rates apply for statement credits. So this option is definitely not worth it for most cardholders, even if you have the Citi Prestige card.

You can redeem Points for a statement credit, which will be applied to your account in one to three weeks in denominations of $10, $15, $25, $50, $100, $175 or $250. They will reduce your balance, but they don’t count as payments. You’ll still have to make the minimum monthly payment for your card.

Make Mortgage and Student Loan Payments

This is an unusual option, and one of the few ways to get the industry standard of 1 cent per point on all cards. This could be useful for some people to reduce monthly payments, but it’s complicated to set up and doesn’t provide any additional value.

Transfer to a Friend

Citi has one of the least restrictive point sharing systems. There are a few ways you can squeeze extra value out of your points by transferring your points to a friend or family member.

• If someone you know is a Citi Prestige or Citi Premier cardholder, you can gain access to their better benefits.
• If someone you know has elite status with one of Citi’s airline transfer partners, you can transfer your points to them and they can book the award for you, along with elite perks.

Keep in mind that shared points expire in 90 days, so be sure to have your plans ready. Also, there is a 100,000-point limit for both giving and receiving.

Summary

All in all, Citi ThankYou Reward points are relatively versatile, and you can find some really good value in transferring your points or booking travel. However, if you don’t have the Citi Premier or Citi Prestige card, you won’t have access to the best redemption options.

What Is Southwest Rapid Rewards?

Rapid Rewards is the frequent-flyer program for Southwest Airlines, the biggest low-cost airline in the world. Started as a regional airline, Southwest now operates more than 4,000 flights a day. Most are in the United States, but Southwest also flies to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.

Southwest is the rare airline that doesn’t charge for checked luggage—every passenger gets two free checked bags, plus free in-flight music, movies, and live television. Also unusual: no assigned seating, even for business-class travelers.

The Rapid Rewards loyalty program was designed to be (relatively) simple. You can pay for any Southwest seat with points. You’ll always get at least 1.2 cents of value for each point that way, and often as much as 1.5 cents a point. Unlike with other airline programs, you can also get decent value by using your points with Southwest partners.

How to Earn Southwest Rapid Rewards

You earn Rapid Rewards mainly by flying Southwest—and regular customers can really rack them up fast. The airline has three classes of tickets, which earn at different rates: Wanna Get Away tickets (6 points per dollar), Anytime tickets (10 points per dollar), and Business Select seats (12 points per dollar).

You can earn more points if you have elite status on Southwest. The program has just two tiers, and straightforward benefits.

• A-List. The lower elite level requires 25 one-way flights in a calendar year or 35,000 qualifying Rapid Rewards points. Members get priority check-in and boarding, fee-free same-day standby flights, and 25% extra points for bookings.
• A-List Preferred. Take 50 one-way flights or collect 70,000 qualifying Rapid Rewards points to get all the perks of A-List, plus free inflight Wi-Fi. And instead of a 25% point bonus, it’s a 100% point bonus. That means a Business Select ticket earns a whopping 24 points per dollar.

You can also earn Rapid Rewards by using a Southwest credit card. Regular purchases earn 1 point per dollar. Purchases on Southwest earn 2 points per dollar on personal cards and the Premier business card, 3 points per dollar with the Performance business card.

Then there are Southwest’s partners, which are wide-ranging and worth exploring.  You can collect points by reserving hotels through Booking.com or various hotel brands, choosing Nrg as your electricity supplier, shopping at retailers such as 1-800-Flowers and Harry & David, using the dining program, taking surveys, renting cars through the Southwest portal, and more. Watch out: In some cases, you will be earning Southwest points instead of other loyalty currencies—and you may be better off accumulating, say, Marriott points for your hotel stays.

The Southwest Companion Pass

You can’t talk about Southwest’s reward program without mentioning the Companion Pass. It’s not quite an elite level, but a valuable additional benefit the airline gives its top customers.

Fly 100 one-way segments or earn 125,000 qualifying points in a calendar year, and you can choose one person to fly free whenever you do, for the rest of that year and the next year. You can use the companion pass whether you use cash or points to pay for the original ticket. Either way, you have to pay the (usually nominal) taxes on the companion ticket.

Points you earn with Southwest credit cards count towards your Companion Pass, including sign-up bonuses that can be 40,000 points or more. That makes it much easier to reach the 125,000-point finish line. 

Which Credit Cards Earn Rapid Reward Points

• Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority
• Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier
• Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus

How to Use Rapid Reward Points

Some loyalty programs offer more than a dozen ways to use points–most of them at paltry value. While Rapid Rewards points may not be as flexible, their value is more consistent. While you’ll never find an amazing deal on a Southwest flight with points, you can use them to buy any available seat. And even when buying merchandise and gift cards, often the worst ways to use points and miles, you can expect to squeeze up to 1 cent of value out of each point.

• Southwest flights. Rapid Rewards are worth 1.2 to 1.5 cents each. 
• Travel portal. Use Southwest points to pay for rental cars, hotel rooms, activities and flights (on non-Southwest routes) at good value, up to 1.2 cents per point. 
• Merchandise. Purchase everything from golf balls to Sonos components through Southwest’s portal, for up to 1 cent per point—though often less. 
• Gift Cards. Buy cards from a range of major retailers, for up to 0.7 cents a point. 
• Transfer. Give points to friends, for a fee. 
• Donate to charity. 

Southwest Flights

When it comes to buying flights with loyalty points, Southwest has one of the more straightforward programs. Just like with JetBlue, you can book any available seat with points, and prices are pegged to the dollar values. That means you won’t find amazing surprise deals, but you’ll always be guaranteed to get a certain value for your points.

Expect to get 1.2 to 1.5 cents per point this way. The value is consistent no matter what class of seat you buy on a particular flight. For example, a trip from Grand Rapids to Fort Myers might cost $516 for Business Select (36,395 points), $494 for an Anytime ticket (34,798 points) or $280 for a Wanna Get Away fare (19,229 points). That’s a value of 1.4 to 1.5 cents per point across the board.

You also have to pay fees for award flights, but within the U.S., they’re less than $6 a ticket. 

Travel Portal

You can use Southwest’s frequent flyer points to pay for hotel rooms, cruises, rental cars, and activities through its portal. But unlike with other programs, you can actually get good value for your rewards—up to 1.2 cents a point. You can also buy flights from more than 50 airlines on routes that Southwest doesn’t cover, which makes up for the fact that Southwest has limited international flights and no airline transfer partners.

The value you get for points can vary widely. For instance, when we last checked, two nights at the Hotel Louvre Piemont in Paris costs about $440 or 34,006 Rapid Rewards points, for a value of 0.6 cents a point. A one-way flight to Paris on American Airlines cost $1,011 or 102,108 points—about 1 cent per point.

Since the portal doesn’t show the cash value of bookings, it’s smart to do a separate search for whatever you’re considering buying. Divide the retail price by the points price to make sure you’re getting a decent deal.

Merchandise

Most loyalty programs offer merchandise in exchange for points, at skimpy rates. Southwest’s shopping portal offers slightly more value—up to 1.2 cents per point, we’ve found, though often less. For example, Sonos components sell for 0.5 cents to 0.8 cents per point. Again, it pays (literally) to compare retail prices with points prices.  

Gift Cards

Southwest lets you use points to pay for gift cards from dozens of national brands, including Amazon, Coach, Cracker Barrel. They offer a consistent value of up to 0.7 cents per point—the higher the value of the card, the more value you’ll get. This may not be the best use of points, but many other loyalty programs are worse.

Transfer to Friends and Family

You can transfer points to other Rapid Rewards members, with a minimum of 2,000 points, but it will cost you—$5 for every 500 points you want to move, or 1 cent per point. You’re better off just buying a ticket for your friend.  

Donate to Charity

Southwest partners with several charities, including the American Red Cross, Make-A-Wish, and the Student Conservation Society. The minimum donation is 2,000 miles, and there is no associated tax break. 

Summary

Southwest’s loyalty program is a lot like the airline itself: not fancy, but highly functional. There’s always a way for travelers to get solid value out of points. And regular customers who hold a Southwest credit card have a good shot at the Companion Pass, which can save thousands of dollars a year. 

What Is Marriott Bonvoy?

Bonvoy is the loyalty program for Marriott, the world’s largest hotel operator. The company has 30 brands, from affordable Courtyard and Springhill Inn & Suites to lavish Ritz-Carlton and Bulgari, and more than 7,600 properties around the globe. 

Bonvoy is the newest iteration of the loyalty program, and was created in 2019 when Marriott merged its Starwood, Ritz-Carlton, and Marriott Rewards programs into one. 

How to Earn Marriott Bonvoys

You can earn Bonvoys at almost all Marriott hotels and resorts—10 points for every dollar you spend on most brands, less for a handful of others—and using Marriott Bonvoy credit cards. You can also score points by hosting an event, booking a cruise through the Marriott portal, flying with more than three dozen airline partners, renting a car with Hertz, or dining at restaurants in the Eat Around Town program.

Guests with elite status also get extra points with every stay. Marriott has an unusually high number of elite levels—six—with perks that increase as you climb the ladder. And though you technically need to stay at Marriott at least 10 nights in a calendar year to rise above the basic membership level, Silver status is included with all Bonvoy credit cards. And unlike many other hotel loyalty programs, Marriott counts nights booked with points toward your elite total.

• Member: The entry level gets you free Wi-Fi, access to member rates, and mobile check-in and room key. 
• Silver Elite: If you stay at least 10 nights in a year or have a Marriott Bonvoy Credit Card, you get the perks of vanilla membership, plus priority late checkout, 10% bonus points on stays, a dedicated reservation line, and compensation and a nearby room if the Marriott can’t honor your reservation. 
• Gold Elite: Stay at Marriott at least 25 nights a year and you get a 25% point bonus plus a few hundred bonus points at check-in, room upgrades, high-speed wi-fi, and 2 p.m. checkout. 
• Platinum Elite: In addition to Gold benefits, members with at least 50 nights under their belt receive 50% bonus points, a choice of welcome gifts (such as breakfast or points), lounge access, an annual gift, and 4 p.m. checkout. 
• Titanium Elite: For a whopping 75 nights a year, perks include 75% bonus points, two annual gifts, guaranteed availability if you book 48 hours in advance, and United Silver Status. 
• Ambassador Elite: You reach Bonvoy’s very top tier with 100 nights and $20,000 in qualified spending at Marriott, you get all Titanium benefits plus a personal point of contact for every stay and the ability to choose exactly which 24 hours you’d like to spend at the hotel—whether that’s 3 p.m. to 3 p.m. or 1 a.m. to 1 a.m. 

Finally, Marriott regularly runs promotions that let you earn bonus points for stays. They generally require you to register for the promotion online.

What Cards Earn Bonvoy Rewards

• Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
• Marriott Bonvoy Bold
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant

How to Use Bonvoy Rewards 

Even if Marriott only let you use Bonvoy points to book hotel stays, you’d have an abundance of options given the size of its network. But there are several other valuable ways to use your rewards—though not all provide great value.

• Hotel stays. Off-peak rates start at 5,000 points per night.
• Experiences. Book VIP and special-access events and activities.  
• Transfer to airlines. Move points to 43 airline partners. 3 points = 1 mile. 
• Flights and rental cars. Use points on Marriott’s travel portal. 1 point = 0.4 cents
• Cruises. 1 point = 0.4 cents through Marriott’s portal. 
• Travel packages. Swap Bonvoys for 7 hotel nights plus frequent-flyer miles. 
• TSA Precheck: Pay the fee with 25,000 points. 
• Gift cards. Purchase gift cards through Marriott’s portal, at truly terrible rates. Often 1 point = 0.2 cents. 
• Merchandise. Buy jewelry, gadgets, kitchenware and more. 1 point = up to 0.4 cents
• Transfer to friends and family. Give points to other Bonvoy members, for a fee. 
• Donate to charity. Help communities affected by disasters, starting at 2,500 points. 

Hotel Stays 

Free nights are one of the best ways to use Marriott Bonvoy points—relatively speaking. The booking process is easy and given the size of Marriott’s hotel network, there are a lot of choices. But the value you’ll get for your points is highly variable, and generally less than you can find with other hotel loyalty programs.

Marriott’s system is tiered in two ways. First, it groups hotels into eight different categories based on amenities, location, desirability, etc. Second, it has off-peak, standard, and peak rates.  

Category 1 hotels cost 5,000 points a night off-peak, 7,500 points standard, and 10,000 points at peak times. Category 8 hotels cost 70,000, 85,000, and 100,000 points a night, respectively. The reward chart makes it easy to compare rates, though finding available rooms is another matter.

Marriott claims to have no blackout dates, meaning that members can book any available room with points. In reality, that’s not the case. Marriott hotels can limit the number of rooms they have available for points bookings. Sometimes, they have none at all.  We recently tried to find a hotel in Hawaii for three nights. Marriott gave us 20 options for cash, but just 11 that could be paid for with points.

Though you can occasionally get lucky—we found a room at the Courtyard in Paris that yielded 1.5 cents a night for our points—mediocre values are more common. We’ve seen plenty of rooms whose points prices were so high, each Bonvoy was worth only 0.5 cent apiece.

There are a few upsides, however. When booking with points, Bonvoy members get the fifth night free—the equivalent of a 20% savings on a five-night stay. Marriott also offers PointSaver deals, specials that save you up to 33% on points bookings. But the number of PointSaver hotels can be limited (there were only 20 hotels in the U.S. when we last checked), and you should always do the math to make sure the price is worthwhile. We recently saw the Westin Resort & Spa in Cancun listed as a PointSavers, but when we compared the rack rate and points prices, our points were only worth 0.4 cents apiece.

Marriott does have a friendly points advance option. If you don’t have enough points to book your award room or vacation package, you can go ahead and make the reservation anyway. You just need to get those points into your account at least 14 days before check-in.

Experiences

Another good use of points is paying for the hundreds of experiences from Marriott Bonvoy Moments—largely sporting, music, food and fashion events. Most include some sort of special access. And besides being fun and special, Moments can provide excellent value for your points. In some cases, they’ll be worth much more than if you’d used them for hotel nights.

For instance, premium tickets to see the Jonas Brothers play at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin recently retailed for upwards of $130 each. You could also take a friend to watch the concert from Marriott’s luxury suite for 10,000 Bonvoy points—a value of about 2.6 cents per point, before you even factor in the free food, drinks, and parking. Tickets to the TIBI runway show at New York Fashion Week, including a meeting with the designer and a $1,000 shopping credit, was being sold in auction format. The starting bid was 50,000; at that price, the shopping credit alone is worth 2 cents a point. 

Transfer to Partner Airlines

You can move your Marriott Bonvoy points to more than 40 airlines, free of charge, but you may not want to. The exchange rate is 3:1, except for Air New Zealand, which is 200:1. That’s far worse than you’ll do with other points programs, including Chase Ultimate Rewards, which lets you transfer points to 10 airlines at a 1:1 ratio. But it might be worthwhile if you need to top off an account, or you find a great deal an airline that doesn’t partner with Chase or other loyalty programs. With every 60,000 miles you transfer, you get 5,000 bonus points.

Transfer partners include:

• AEGEAN Miles+Bonus (3:1)
• Aeroflot Bonus (3:1)
• Aeromexico ClubPremier (3:1)
• Air Canada Aeroplan (3:1)
• Air China PhoenixMiles (3:1)
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue (3:1)
• Air New Zealand Airpoints (200:1)
• Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan™  (3:1)
• Alitalia MilleMiglia (3:1)
• American Airlines AAdvantage® (3:1)
• ANA Mileage Club (3:1)
• Asiana Airlines Asiana Club (3:1)
• Avianca LifeMiles (3:1)
• British Airways Executive Club (3:1)
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (3:1)
• China Eastern Airlines Eastern Miles (3:1)
• China Southern Airlines Sky Pearl Club (3:1)
• Copa Airlines ConnectMiles (3:1)
• Delta SkyMiles®  (3:1)
• Emirates Skywards®  (3:1)
• Etihad Guest (3:1)
• FRONTIER Miles (3:1)
• Hainan Airlines Fortune Wings Club (3:1)
• Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles®  (3:1)
• Iberia Plus (3:1)
• InterMiles (3:1)
• Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank (3:1)
• JetBlue TrueBlue (6:1)
• Korean Air SKYPASS (3:1)
• LATAM Airlines LATAM Pass (3:1)
• Multiplus Fidelidade (3:1)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer (3:1)
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club (3:1)
• SAA Voyager (3:1)
• Saudia Alfursan  (3:1)
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer® (3:1)
• Southwest Rapid Rewards®  (3:1)
• TAP Air Portugal Miles&Go (3:1)
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus (3:1)
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles (3:1)
• United MileagePlus®  (3:1.1)
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (3:1)
• Virgin Australia Velocity Frequent Flyer (3:1)

Flights and Rental Cars

You can use Bonvoy points to pay for flights and rental cars when you book through Marriott’s portal. You’ll only get 0.3 to 0.4 cents of value for every point. 

Cruises 

Just as you can earn Marriott points by booking trips through its Cruise with Points portal, you can redeem them for credits you can apply to your cruise price. You can choose any dollar amount to use points for, but it can only be done over the phone. You’ll get roughly 0.4 cents a point if you go this route.

Vacation Packages

In theory, another way to get value out of your Marriott points is by buying a travel package. They combine 7 nights at a hotel with either 50,000 or 100,000 frequent flyer miles, which can be used with more than 40 partner airlines.

We say “in theory” because the packages are so complicated to book. First, you have to identify a hotel that has availability for your dates—and can also be booked with points. You have to find corresponding flights that can be booked with frequent flyer miles. Then you have to call Marriott to purchase your package. If your experience is like ours, you will be hot-potatoed from one customer service rep to another, because few have even heard of the travel packages. Cross your fingers that nothing sells out while you’re trying to get someone knowledgeable on the line.

And that’s before we consider value. The packages are priced based on the category of the hotel and the number of miles. Seven nights in a category 1-4 hotel plus 50,000 frequent flyer miles costs 255,000 Bonvoy points. To stay in a category 8 hotel and get 100,000 miles costs 750,000 Bonvoy points.

Let’s do some math on that. Marriott lets you transfer points to airlines at a rate of 3 Bonvoy points to 1 frequent flyer mile. So the 50,000 miles in the first example would normally cost 150,000 Bonvoy points. That means your 7-night hotel stay only costs 105,000 points (the total package price of 255,000 minus the 150,000 that the miles would otherwise cost in points), or an average of 15,000 points a night.

Let’s say you are able to book a category 4 hotel. Seven peak nights normally costs 30,000 points a night, or 210,000 points total. But Bonvoy members get every fifth night free, so it really costs 180,000 points. If you use the vacation package to book the hotel, you’re basically saving 75,000 points (180,000 points minus the 105,000 points we calculated above for the hotel stay). But an off-peak room normally costs 120,000 per week, giving you only a 15,000-point savings.

And the package is no deal at all for the lowest-tier properties. Peak rooms in Category 1 hotels cost 10,000 points a night—or a total of 60,000. If you bought the vacation package, you’d actually be paying more for this hotel room than by booking it separately.

Let’s go back to those frequent flyer miles you get. Are they really worth 3 Bonvoy points each? Marriott thinks so, but if you have Chase Ultimate Rewards you can transfer them to Marriott at a rate of 1:1. You can also transfer them to 10 airline partners at a rate of 1:1. Use Ultimate Rewards instead of Marriott Bonvoy points and you’ll only pay 50,000 points for the same number of miles—which makes the travel package look even less appealing.

To get great value out of a travel package, you need to be very lucky, very flexible, or both—and there’s a big hassle factor. Your points and time are better used elsewhere. 

TSA Precheck 

A little-known option for Bonvoy points is to use them to pay the $85 TSA Precheck fee. That’s a value of just 0.3 cents a point. Someone call security…

Merchandise

You’ll find everything from socks to chocolate-covered pretzels to Apple watches in Marriott’s shopping portal. You’ll get 0.2 to 0.4 cents per point you spend in this way.

Gift Cards

Bonvoy points can buy gift cards from roughly 90 major retailers. As with buying merchandise, the rates are dismal—about 0.2 cents per point.

Transfer to Friends and Family

While you can give and receive Marriott Bonvoy points, you might as well just buy them, since the fees are exactly the same: $12.50 per 1,000 points.

Donate to Charity

You can help communities affected by natural disaster by donating points to World Central Kitchen, or directly to families and individuals, including Marriott employees. Donations are in increments of $10 or 2,500 points, for a value of 0.4 cents a point. This makes Marriott one of the only companies that actually assigns a value to their donations so that’s a plus. But it’s important to remember that you can’t deduct points donations from your taxes.

Summary

Marriott Bonvoy has some minor perks, like the 5th night free and the ability to transfer to airline partners unaffiliated with other programs. If you’re a frequent Marriott guest, you can collect points quickly—but you might have a hard time getting good value out of them. 

Comparing Points and Cash Back

When choosing a credit card that pays rewards, your first important decision is whether to earn cash back or some form of loyalty points. Cash back cards tend to be simpler, making them a good choice for people who want to put minimal effort into managing their rewards. The hitch is that cash-back cards will pay you 1% to 2% of your spending, tops. That means for each $1 you spend, you’ll get back a penny or two.

Points cards can be more lucrative—a lot more lucrative, if you’re smart with how you use them. Most points have an average value of at least 1 cent each.

And that’s just an average. Depending on how you use the points, they can be worth much more. And the average value of a reward currency doesn’t tell you how valuable a credit card that earns them is, since many offer ways to earn extra points. Let’s say an imaginary TravelCo point is worth 1.5 cents, but the TravelCo credit card gives you 3 points for every dollar you spend at a restaurant. That means that for instead of 1.5 cents for every dollar you spend, you’re getting 4.5 cents. That’s the equivalent of 4.5% back when you go out to eat.

Here are some examples of cards that give spending bonuses, and what you can expect to earn when you spend money in certain categories:

Getting Your Cash Back 

Earning cash back is pretty straightforward, but how you get your hands on it varies from card to card. Some make it much easier than others to redeem what you’ve earned.

• Daily credits: The Apple Card applies any cash back you’ve earned automatically to your account each day. You don’t have to do a thing. 
• Statement credits: Many cards pay cash back in the form of a statement credit, which you have to request. A statement credit reduces the amount of your next bill, so if you applied a $50 statement credit to a $1,000 monthly bill, you would only owe $950. 
• Check or direct deposit: Some cards let you request a check or a direct deposit to your checking or savings account.

How much this all matters depends on your preferences. Some people like seeing their cash accumulate, others prioritize putting it into an interest-earning account. Maybe you want your cash-back to be completely hassle-free. If you feel strongly about any of these options, it’s worth checking to see how a credit card you’re considering works.

Using Airline and Hotel Points 

Hotel, airline and flexible travel points may be more valuable than cash back, but redeeming them can be a lot more complicated.  How much value you get from your points can depend on how—and when—you spend them. To get the most out of your points, you’ll want to explore booking not just through the hotel or airline the points are affiliated with, but with their partner brands. A bit of effort (and/or some luck) can pay off big. These are just a few real-life examples of the amazing values you can find: 

Another caveat:  there are more rules and restrictions around hotel and airline points than around cash. You may be facing limited availability or blackout dates. And some of the big U.S. airlines, including United and American, have made it harder to find seats that you can book with miles.

But some airlines, such as Southwest and JetBlue, take a more straightforward approach to miles: each point is worth a fixed or nearly-fixed amount of money, which you can apply to their fares. Southwest doesn’t have any blackout dates or availability restrictions, and when applied to fares each point is worth roughly 1.5 to 1.6 cents. That means that one Southwest point is worth about 50% more than your average cash-back “point.” You’re never going to feel like you hit the jackpot with these particular airlines, but your points will always be usable.

Using Flexible Points 

Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and other programs that give you lots of options for redeeming points can be really attractive—and valuable—because they’re so flexible. Instead of being stuck with just one airline or hotel company, if you have a Chase rewards card you can use your points with 13 different travel partners, including British Airways, United, and Hyatt. If you’re willing to put in the time, you can find even better travel deals with your points.

Some other benefits of flexible programs: Many of us have experienced having just a handful of miles languishing in an airline account. Too few to use on anything, too many to abandon. With flexible points, you just leave everything in your main account until you need it. And you can use those points to top off your other loyalty programs. If you earn Delta SkyMiles via a Delta credit card, a) you have to use them on Delta and b) you may end up with leftover points after you use them for a ticket—but still not have enough for another ticket. If you have American Express Membership Rewards points, you can instantly transfer them at any time to Delta, or any other partner program.

Finally, if you decide you don’t want to travel, you can still use flexible points for cash and gift cards. 

Using Flexible Points for Cash Back & Gift Cards 

Tired of travel? Just want more money in your pocket? With Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can always convert your points into cash at a penny a point.

Many other programs have a cash back option as well, but they usually offer worse values:

In some situations, however, you can convert your points into gift cards or use them directly with merchants like Amazon. These redemption rates can range from 1 cent per point, a pretty good rate, down to 0.7 cents per point, where you might be better off looking for other options.

The Upshot

Though it’s useful to understand the pros and cons of cash and points, it won’t tell you definitively which card is right for you. What will: Gigapoints. We use big data and advanced algorithms to pinpoint the very best card for your spending habits. Sign up before you miss out on any more rewards.

What Are Hilton Honors?

With more than 5,700 properties in over 100 countries, Hilton is one of the largest hotel chains in the world. Its portfolio ranges from more affordable brands like Hampton by Hilton all the way up to luxury flags such as Waldorf Astoria and Conrad. Honors are the loyalty points the company gives to guests and holders of its branded credit cards.

Hilton Honors can be redeemed at any Hilton properties around the world, with no blackout dates, but generally at crummy redemption rates. You can also use points for experiences, travel, shopping, and partner transfer options.

How to Earn Hilton Honors

There are two types of Hilton Honors points, base and bonus points. Both points can be redeemed for hotel stays and other free stuff, but only base points count towards Hilton elite status.

You earn those base Honors points by spending money at any Hilton hotel, —10 points per dollar at most properties. You can collect bonus Honors by shopping through the Hilton portal, and spending with travel partners like Lyft, car-rental companies, and cruise lines.

You can also collect them with the three Hilton Honors American Express cards; the basic one earns 7 points per dollar on Hilton purchases, and 5x points at restaurants, supermarkets, and gas stations. The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card earns 14 points for every dollar spent with the company, 7 points per dollar on restaurants, direct-booked flights, and some car rentals, and 3 points per dollar on everything else.

You can convert American Express Membership Rewards, Diners Club points, Amtrak points, and certain airline miles into Hilton Honors points. It’s worth noting that points expire after 12 months of account inactivity.

You earn different amounts of Honors depending on what your elite status is with Hilton. The company has four membership tiers; the higher your level, the more perks you get when you stay at Hilton hotels, including extra points, upgrades, free breakfast, lounge access, and more.

Blue: The entry level; when you sign up, you will automatically be enrolled in Blue. It gets you 10 points per dollar spent at most Hilton properties, late checkout, free points pooling, digital check-in and some other minor benefits.

Silver: Requires four stays or 10 nights, or holding the HIlton Honors American Express Card. You get 12 points per dollar spent at most Hilton properties, all Blue benefits, plus the ability to rollover any nights more than you needed to reach Silver status, fifth nights free, and two complimentary bottles of water (yipee…). 

Gold. You become a Gold member after 20 stays, 40 nights, earning 75,000 Honors base points or holding the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card or the Hilton Honors American Express Business Card. Gold gets you 18 points per dollar, all the Silver perks, plus room upgrades, free breakfasts, and special points bonuses after your 40th night’s stay in a year.

Diamond. The top tier in the Hilton Honors program is earned after 30 stays, 60 nights, 120,000 Honors base points or holding the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from Amex. Along with everything else, it gives you 20 points per dollar spent at Hilton, guaranteed availability within 48 hours of a stay, executive lounge access, the ability to give Gold or Diamond status to one other member per year, and the ability to extend your status for a year.

What Cards Earn Membership Rewards

• American Express Hilton Honors
• American Express Hilton Honors Aspire
• American Express Hilton Honors Surpass

How to Use Hilton Honors

Unsurprisingly, the best way to use Hilton Honors is for free hotel stays. Hilton uses a sliding scale to determine how many points a stay will cost, factoring in the property, room type, and location. Some experiences also provide a good value. Plus, you can always transfer your points to other reward programs. But in general, other options provide a poor redemption value.

Ways to use Hilton Honors: 

• Hotel stays. You can book with points or points and cash.
• Transfer to travel partners. Hilton has more than 40 airline partners. Transfer rates vary. 
• Experiences. Select from music, sports, culture, food and wine experiences around the globe.
• Merchandise. Shop online at the Hilton Honors Shopping Mall. 1 point = 0.2 cents
• Amazon. Use your rewards at checkout. 1 point = 0.2 cents
• Gift cards. Purchase gift cards through Hilton’s portal. 1 point = 0.2 cents
• Transfer to friends and family. 
• Donate to charity. 

Hotel Stays and Upgrades

Hilton has 14 different hotel brands, from modest Hamptons to extravagant Waldorf Astoria resorts. Hilton Honors can be used at any of the properties, but the company doesn’t make an award chart available: you either have to check availability for the specific property you want to stay at, or use Hilton’s Points Explorer tool to search for hotels available for a certain number of points in your desired destination.

You’ll generally get more value for your points at the luxury properties, especially Waldorf Astoria, but that’s not always saying much. For instance, on a recent night the Hampton Inn in Los Angeles cost $125 or you 30,000 points, giving you a value of .4 cents per point—a pretty chintzy deal. A superior room at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills with two queen beds and a terrace cost $925 a night or 95,000 Honors points. That gives you a value of about 1 cent per point, which is still not fantastic. 

If you have Silver, Gold, or Diamond Honors status you can do a little better. You get your fifth night free; if you stayed at the Beverly Hills Waldorf for five nights, you’d get 1.2 cents per point. Gold and Diamond members could upgrade for free on top of that.

If you don’t have enough points in your account, you can pay using a combination of points and cash.

These are the brands in Hilton’s portfolio:

• Conrad 
• Canopy
• Curio
• DoubleTree
• Embassy Suites
• Hampton 
• Hilton
• Hilton Garden Inn
• Hilton Grand Vacations
• Home2 Suites
• Homewood Suites
• Tapestry Collection
• Tru
• Waldorf Astoria

Transfer to Travel Partners

You can also transfer your miles to credit card, airline and rail partner programs. The rates vary widely, but in most cases you’re trading 10,000 Hilton Honors points for 1,000 or 1,500 partner points. Hilton does occasionally run promotions which will increase the value of your points when you transfer. That’s the only time that transferring your points might make sense. 

Experiences

This is really the only other redemption option that you’ll want to consider other than hotel stays. Hilton offers dozens of music, sports, culture and food experiences around the world: Muay Thai lessons, backstage tours, concert tickets and more. Some of these may only be accessible through your Hilton Honors membership.

Some experiences have a flat points price; others are sold by auction. The company doesn’t put a dollar value on experiences, so you should do a separate search before spending your points, because values can vary widely. An all-access tour of Madison Square Garden for 10 costs 100,000 points, but the tickets only cost $35 apiece, for a value of 0.03 cents per point.

Amazon, International Shopping Mall and Gift Card Purchases

Using your points at Amazon gives you an exchange rate of just 0.2 cents per point. It’s almost never worth it. The same goes for spending through the International Hilton Honors Shopping Mall, as well as using points for gift cards.

Pool and Transfer Points

You can pool your points with other members, combining up to 500,000 points and 10 different members each year for free. This can be useful if you want to book a group travel experience, give a gift, or want to get use out of small buckets of miles. You can also transfer your points for free.

Summary

Hilton Honors reward points don’t give you a lot of value in terms of cents per point, but they are also relatively easy to earn. If you hold Gold or Diamond status, you’ll multiply your earnings pretty quickly, making this program most worthwhile for Hilton regulars.

What Is World of Hyatt?

World of Hyatt is the loyalty program for Hyatt Hotels Corp., which has more than 875 properties in 60 countries, ranging from budget brands like Hyatt Place and Hyatt House up to luxury spots like Park Hyatt and Thompson Hotels. Miraval wellness resorts and Exhale Spa, a chain of day-spa-slash-fitness-studios, also fall under the Hyatt umbrella.

The World of Hyatt program has five tiers of membership. Discoverist, the first step up from entry level, takes 10 nights or about $5,000 in Hyatt spending to earn; it’s also an automatic benefit of the World of Hyatt Credit Card. With each jump in membership comes more perks, including room upgrades, points bonuses, late checkout, and free fitness classes.

How to Earn World of Hyatt Points

There are many ways to earn Hyatt points—most obviously by spending money at a Hyatt hotel, which gets you at least 5 points per dollar (more for elite membership tiers). Wellness mavens can earn 10 points per dollar at an Exhale Spa. Frequent Hyatt guests can get a lot of bang out of the World of Hyatt Credit Card; it earns an additional 4 points for every dollar spent at Hyatt, on top of the 5 base points.

Then there are Hyatt’s partner brands, including car-rental company Avis, casino operator MGM Resorts, hotel network Small Luxury Hotels of the World, and adventure cruise line Lindblad Expeditions. Cruises earn 5 points per dollar, which can really add up given their cost. 

You can also link your American Airline account to earn Hyatt Rewards and American miles on participating flights. Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to World of Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. And Hyatt partners with 25 other airlines, allowing you to transfer points between programs—though not at very favorable rates.

Hyatt points have no blackout dates and don’t expire, as long as there’s some activity in your account every two years. 

What Cards Earn Hyatt Rewards

• Chase World of Hyatt

How to Use Hyatt Rewards

World of Hyatt points may not be as flexible as Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Rewards. But Hyatt has made its points more versatile than many other hotel programs by adding compelling partners and letting members redeem points for dining, spa treatments and other amenities at its hotels.

• Free nights. Standard Hyatt rooms start at 5,000 points per night. Points are also good at MGM Resorts and Small Luxury Hotels of the World.
• Room upgrades. These start at 3,000 points for a Regency Club or Grand Club upgrade. 
• Hotel amenities. Spa treatments, movies, and dining start at 1,000 points for $10.
• Cruises. Book through Hyatt to use points with Lindblad Expeditions. 
• Wellness. Points can be redeemed  for classes and spa treatments at Exhale. 
• Experiences. FIND Experiences include tandem hang-gliding expeditions, bike tours, and more. 
• Meetings and events. Book with points at Hyatt properties. 
• Transfer to airlines. Hyatt has more than 25 partners. 2.5 Hyatt points = 1 airline mile.
• Rental cars. Rates start at 6,000 points per day with Avis..
• Share points.  Transfer points to any World of Hyatt member. 

Hotel Stays and Upgrades

You’ll generally get the most value from your World of Hyatt points by using them for free hotel nights. Compared to other hotel companies, Hyatt makes it a breeze to navigate the redemption process: An awards chart shows exactly how many points you need for a night at different categories of Hyatt hotels, all-inclusives, and Miraval Resorts. You can also use Hyatt’s interactive map to see, for instance, every Category 3 property with a pool in the United States.

Prices start at 5,000 point a night for a standard room in a Category 1 hotel, like the Hyatt Place in Topeka, Kansas, and go up to 60,000 points per night for a premium suite at a Category 7 hotel.

Luxury properties are where you’ll usually get the most value for your points. For instance, rooms at the Topeka Hyatt Place start at $89 a night. If you book that room with points, you’ll be getting 1.8 cents a mile. Pretty good. But we saw a standard room at the Category 7 Park Hyatt Beaver Creek for $1,145 a night or 30,000 miles. That works out to a whopping 3.8 cents per point. 

Hyatt’s all-inclusive properties have a slightly different redemption system: the base rates are for up to two people, and each additional person costs more points. The same goes for Miraval, where the base rate is for one person—additional guests cost 20,000 points per night. Plus, you can only book with points over the phone. It’s harder to get extreme value with these properties, but we’ve yielded 2 cents per point without much effort.   

If you prefer unique inns, resorts and hotels, you can also use Hyatt points to book with Small Luxury Hotels of the World, a network of independent-minded boutique properties. Hyatt uses its category system with SLH and also provides a handy interactive map. You can’t redeem points for SLH properties through Hyatt’s main search engine—you have to click into the World of Hyatt portal, then look under Redeem.

Love Vegas? You can use Hyatt points to book nights at MGM’s 13 casino resorts, starting at 12,000 points a night. But since the rooms are so often discounted, you’re usually better off paying cash.

Finally, Hyatt offers a Points + Cash option for booking hotel stays. Once again, the program is straightforward: You’ll pay half the cash and half the points you otherwise would. For instance, on a recent weekend, a room at the Hyatt Regency Chicago cost about $160, including taxes and fees. For 12,000 Hyatt points, you could get that night free—a value of 1.3 cents per point. Or, you could spend $80 and 6,000 points. It’s a nice way of making hotel nights accessible for members who haven’t accumulated a lot of points. 

Room Upgrades

You can use Hyatt points to upgrade from a standard to a club room or even up to a premium suite for 3,000 to 9,000 points. But the process is a little cumbersome. First, upgrades are only available on paid hotel stays. Second, they’re not available at all properties. And third, you can only book points upgrades over the phone.

The best approach is to look for a good deal—a hotel where the difference in room price gives you sufficient value for your points—then call Hyatt to make sure an upgrade is available and book your reservation and upgrade simultaneously. 

Hotel Amenities and Services

Unlike other hotel brands, Hyatt lets members pay for everything from spa treatments to room service with points. It’s generally not the best use of your hard-earned rewards, but it’s still not bad.

You redeem any number of points you like at payment time, up to a value of $1,000. There is a range of rates depending on how many points you redeem: $10 costs 1,000 points (or 1 cent a point) and $1,000 costs 65,000 points (or 1.5 cents a point). An 80-minute massage at the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort and Spa runs about $230, or roughly 20,000 points. 

Experiences

Hyatt’s FIND program includes more than 200 hikes, tours, dinners, classes, and other activities in over 50 destinations around the world. There are culinary carriage rides through Vienna, bonsai classes in New York, rice-paddy treks in Indonesia. Some can be booked with cash or points, others only with points.

The experiences that can be booked either way offer a value of about 1.4 cents per point. We’ve dug into some of the experiences that don’t have retail prices listed, and found that they offer less value—like the Viennese carriage ride, which is about 1 cent per point. FIND is better used for inspiration and for booking activities with cash than getting a big bang out of your points. 

Cruises

Hyatt teamed up with Lindblad Expeditions in 2019, giving World of Hyatt members the chance to earn and spend points on the company’s high-end (and high-priced) cruises. Many of Lindblad’s trips go to places that only scientists used to visit—including Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands—and focus on nature and wildlife. They’re also a decent way to use massive amounts of points, if you have them: A 14-day cruise through the Drake Passage to Antarctica costs  $14,680 to $36,550. In Hyatt currency, it’s 917,500 to 2,284,375 points, for a value of about 1.6 cents. 

Fitness

In 2017, Hyatt bought the day spa and fitness chain Exhale, which has locations in 11 U.S. cities, including Boston, Chicago, and New York. World of Hyatt members can use 2,000 points to book a barre, cardio or yoga class—just okay value at about 1.2 cents per point, but a healthy way to blow a few points. Or indulge in any 60-minute massage or facial for 12,000 points, a value of up to 1.4 cents a point. 

Transfer to Airline Partners

Hyatt has more than 25 airline partners, including Aeromexico, British Airways, Singapore and Southwest. But it costs 5,000 points to buy 2,000 frequent flyer miles—which means it’s only worth it if you’re short a few miles for an award ticket. 

Rental Cars

An intermediate-size rental car from Avis costs 6,000 points per day, which is almost never a good option. We looked at rental rates in London, San Diego and New York, and found that Hyatt points were worth as little as .4 cents each, and never got above 1.1 cents. 

Meetings and Events

Though it’s also not an amazing value, using Hyatt points can ease some of the sticker shock of a wedding or conference. You’ll get a flat 1.3 cents per point when you use them for meetings and events, whether you’re paying 15,000 points for a $200 credit or 75,000 points for a $1,000 credit. 

Transfer to Friends and Family

Sharing points  is easy and free as long as the person you are transferring to is also a World of Hyatt member. 

Summary

It’s definitely worth signing up for World of Hyatt, especially if you are a regular guest, patronize any of their travel partners, or are looking to use awards for a dream cruise or destination spa trip. But since Hyatt has fewer locations than its competitors, it may not be the one to commit to for a few nights free here and there.

What Are Discover It Miles?

Most of Discover’s credit cards offer only cash back, but one—the Discover it Miles card—is aimed at travelers and earns Discover it Miles. The program is simple: Cardholders generally earn a flat 1.5 miles for every dollar they spend, and can redeem them for 1 cent per point. Discover sometimes has promotions that make the card a real contender, like one that doubled all the points cardholders earned in the first year, for a 3% yield. 

How to Use Discover It Miles

There are only three options for using Discover it points. And no matter how you redeem them, 1 mile = 1 cent. You can use your miles for:

• Travel statement credits
• Cash back
• Shopping on Amazon 

Travel Statement Credits 

Discover miles can be used to cover any travel purchases made on your card in the last 180 days. Just log into your account, click Redeem Miles, then Travel Credit, and select the purchases you want to pay off with miles. You can also call the number on the back of your card.

What Discover counts as travel is fairly generous, but the rate is always 1 cent per mile. Still, using points to cover travel lets you double-dip—in other words, if you’re enrolled in airline, car rental, hotel or other reward programs, you can use this card and earn those points as well as Discover miles for a purchase.

Travel purchases that can be covered by points include: 

• Commercial airline tickets
• Hotel rooms
• Car rentals
• Cruises
• Tour operator purchases
• Vacation packages bought through airlines, travel agents or online travel sites
• Local and suburban commuter transportation, including ferries
• Passenger railways
• Taxis and limousines
• Charter and tour bus lines

Cash Back 

The Discover it Miles cash-back option is also simple and straightforward. You can convert any amount of miles into cash, which will be deposited directly into your linked bank account. The 1:1 ratio is good compared to the rest of the industry.

Redeem for Amazon Purchases

If for some reason you’d prefer to redeem your miles for Amazon purchases, you can link your Discover it Miles card to your Amazon account. At checkout you’ll see how many miles you have and be given the option to use any amount to pay for your purchase. Each mile is worth 1 cent, a better rate than with other loyalty programs. 

Summary

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a loyalty program more straightforward than Discover it Miles. 1 cent per mile is a decent rate, and the first year of earning 3x miles makes it a great card for everyday spending. If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to earn some cash back, this is a solid choice. But if you’re serious about maximizing the value of your points and miles, Chase and Amex have better options.

What Are Capital One Miles? 

Capital One Miles aren’t actually frequent flyer miles, but the loyalty points that Capital One gives to holders of its main cards. The CapitalOne VentureOne Rewards card earns 1.25 miles for every dollar you spend, and the CapitalOne Venture Rewards card earns 2 miles per dollar on all spending.

The best way to use them Capital One Miles is for travel, especially now. In November 2018, Cap One added more than a dozen airline travel partners that you can transfer your miles to. Before that, your best option was to get a flat rate of 1 cent per mile for existing travel expenses or booking travel through the bank’s portal. 

How to use Capital One Miles

• Transfer to travel partners. Capital One has 15 airline and two hotel partners; the transfer rate is generally 100 miles for every 75 partner points. 
• Erase travel purchases. 1 mile = 1 cent
• Book travel through the Capital One portal. 1 mile = 1 cent. 
• Gift cards. 1 mile = 0.8 cents
• Shop with miles. Available for Amazon, 1 mile = 0.8 cents. 
• Cash back. Get a statement credit or check. 1 mile = 0.5 cents 
• Share miles. Transfer to anyone with a Capital One Miles earning account.

What Cards Earn Capital One Miles

• Capital One Venture Rewards 
• Capital One VentureOne Rewards

Transfer to Travel Partners

Capital One cards weren’t always a top choice for travelers, because the reward points were only good for paying for travel, gift cards, and cash back at flat rates.

A couple of years ago the bank added more than a dozen airline transfer partners, and in early 2020 it tacked on two hotel partners. But there’s a catch. Unlike other programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards, the exchange rate isn’t 1:1. For most partners, you’ll get 1.5 miles for every 2 you transfer. For Emirates, Singapore, and Accor, you’ll get 1 mile for every 2 points you transfer. You’ll have to do some legwork (or get lucky) to find a great deal. But specials can make your miles more valuable.

Airline partners:

• Aeromexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan   
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue   
• Avianca LifeMiles    
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles   
• Emirates Skywards   
• Etihad Guest   
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands   
• Finnair Plus   
• Hainan Fortune Wings Club   
• Qantas Frequent Flyer   
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club   
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Hotel partners:

• Accor Live Limitless
• Wyndham Rewards

Although roughly half of partners have instant transfers, others take a day or more. Transfers can’t be reversed or refunded, so once you transfer miles from Capital One to an airline, you can’t get them back again. Make sure your mind is made before you pull the trigger. Also, the minimum transfer is 1,000 miles; after that it’s in increments of 100.

Erase Travel Purchases 

Capital One also has an interesting option called the purchase eraser. This allows you to use your miles to cover certain travel purchases made in the last 90 days, including flights, hotels, car rentals, trains, buses, cruises, taxis, and more. There’s no minimum redemption amount, and you’ll get a fixed rate of 1 cent per mile.

If you’re willing to take the extra steps, this can be a better option than using your miles to book travel through Capital One, even though the rate is the same. For example, if you buy a $200 flight with this card, you can get frequent flyer miles from the airline as well as Capital One Miles, then use 20,000 miles to erase the charge.

Book Travel Through Capital One 

If you like to keep things simple, you can book travel directly through Capital One. You’ll only be getting 1 cent per mile, however, and will be missing out on any rewards you might get by using your credit card and then erasing the charge with points. 

Gift Cards

This is not the best use of your miles, since  you’ll only get 0.8 cents for every mile. It makes sense only if you need to use up leftover miles

Shopping on Amazon

Capital One recently started letting cardholders pay with Amazon purchases with points. Just link your card to your Amazon account and you’ll automatically be given the option. But it’s not a great one, since your miles are only worth 0.8 cents each. 

Cash Back 

Amazingly, this option is worse than using your miles to buy gift cards. If you request an account credit or check for your miles, you’ll get a measly 0.5 cents for each point you redeem. 

Transfer Miles

Capital One lets you share your miles with anyone else who has an account—free of charge, regardless of whether they’re in your family or household. That means you can pool resources to pay for travel or other purchases. 

Summary

Although Capital One may not have as many options—or as high of a transfer ratio—as other cards, it does have some redeeming qualities. Mainly, the ability to accumulate lots of points and the purchase eraser, which lets you stack up rewards.

What Are Membership Rewards?

Membership Rewards are the loyalty points that American Express gives to holders of a handful of cards—the familiar green, gold and platinum cards, as well as the Blue Business Plus and EveryDay cards. The cards earn varying amounts of points per dollar spent in different categories. The company also issues other cards that don’t earn Membership Rewards.  

Which Cards Earn Membership Rewards

• American Express Gold
• American Express Green
• American Express Platinum
• American Express Everyday
• American Express Everyday Preferred
• Blue from American Express

Here’s an overview of the ways you can use points—we’ll get into more detail below:

• Transfer points. Move your points into 22 different airline and hotel loyalty programs. Transfer rates vary by partner, but most are 1:1. 
• Book travel. Buy flights, hotels and holiday packages through American Express Travel, with points worth 0.7 to 1 cent each. You can also use them on Expedia.  
• Upgrade flights. Bid for better seats on many different airlines.
• Pay with points. Use your points at online retailers including Amazon, PayPal and Walmart. Each point is worth 0.7 cents.
• Go shopping. Shop through the Amex Rewards site at more than 20 retailers, including Apple, BestBuy, and Sur La Table.
• Cover card charges. Use your rewards points for a statement credit. 1 point = 0.6 cents.
• Gift cards. Choose from 100+ online and brick and mortar retailers. Points are worth around 0.7 cents each.

Current Amex Membership Rewards transfer partners:

Airlines

• Aer Lingus Aer Club (1:1)
• Aeroméxico Club Premier (1:1.6)
• Air Canada Aeroplan (1:1)
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue (1:1)
• Alitalia MilleMiglia (1:1)
• ANA Mileage Club (1:1)
• Avianca LifeMiles (1:1)
• British Airways Executive Club (1:1)
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1:1)
• Delta SkyMiles (1:1)
• El Al Matmid (1000:20)
• Emirates Skywards (1:1)
• Etihad Guest (1:1)
• Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles (1:1)
• Iberia Plus (1:1)
• JetBlue TrueBlue (250:20)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer (1:1)
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (1:1)
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (1:1)

Hotels

• Choice Privileges (1:1)
• Hilton Honors (1:2)
• Marriott Bonvoy (1:1)

Amex Membership Reward Transfer Bonuses

Amex regularly offers bonuses on points transfers to travel partners. They tend to hover between 15% and 30%, but occasionally you’ll see a 50% bonus. They can make your points much more valuable.

An example: In August 2019, Amex offered cardholders a 40% bonus on rewards transferred to British Airways. At the time, you could book an economy flight from Dallas to New York on American Airlines for $149—a pretty good price. If you used points to reserve the flight through BA, an American partner, it would have cost 11,000 Avios. Using the bonus offer, that would be just 8,000 Membership Rewards. You got almost 2 cents of value for every point, a serious boost over more obvious uses.

These are some other recent bonuses:

Booking Travel Through the American Express Travel Portal

A simpler way to redeem your points for travel is to use them at American Express Travel, which you can access through your credit card account. You generally get okay value for flights—each point is worth 1 cent—and lousy value for hotel purchases, at 0.7 cents per point.

The portal starts to look pretty good if you have a Platinum or Centurion card, however: you get 35% or 50% of your points back, respectively, on all first- and business-class flights and on one selected airline for coach tickets. You need to have enough points in your account to cover the total. If you do, 35% back translates to 1.54 cents per point in value.

Upgrading Flights

It’s generally gotten harder to score an airline upgrade, but in 2019 Membership Rewards added a new option, letting cardholders use their points to bid for upgrades on 20 different airlines. There’s some overlap with transfer partners, but it’s not exactly the same group—for instance, Aerolineas Argentinas and Gulf Air are among the bidding options, but aren’t transfer partners.

How you booked your original ticket doesn’t matter. To bid for an upgrade, go to your Membership Rewards account, enter your reservation details, and see if your flight is eligible. Then you can use cash, points, or a combination of both to make the airline an offer for a better seat. The airline will say yay or nay—and you can cancel until that point. If the airline accepts, the points will be deducted from your account. If not, you’re back in the tight seats, but no worse off than when you started. 

The current upgrade partners are: 

• Aerolineas Argentinas
• Aeroméxico
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air Mauritius
• Avianca
• Caribbean Airlines
• Ethiopian
• Etihad Airways
• Fiji Airways
• Gulf Air
• Icelandair
• Kenya Airways
• LATAM
• Malaysia Airlines
• Norwegian
• Qantas
• SAS
• Silk Air
• Singapore Airlines
• TAP Portugal

Gift Cards and Shopping

Amex lets you use points to buy gift cards from a range of businesses, from Fairmont Hotels to California Pizza Kitchen. That online tool we mentioned gives you the rundown at a glance, so you can easily see where you get the most value. The most you’ll get is 1 cent per point, but in some cases, that’s a better value than booking through American Express Travel. If you want to use points to stay at a Fairmont hotel, for instance, you’re better off buying a gift card and getting 1 cent per point than using the travel portal and getting just 0.7 cents per point. 

There’s a lot less range—and also worse value—when you shop for merchandise with Membership Rewards through Amex. You’ll only get 0.5 cents per point (in other words, 50 cents for 100 points) that way. Give your points to us instead! 

Using Membership Rewards at Checkout

Another convenient but not-so-wise way to use points is at various online retailers, as well as Paypal. You can link your account to pay with points at Amazon, Dell, Grubhub, and about a dozen other sites. Almost all of them offer a value of 0.7 cents per point except (surprisingly) for New York City Taxis, where each point is worth a penny. Oh, and Ticketmaster, always good at squeezing customers: they give you just 0.5 cents per point. 

Statement Credits

This is a terrible use of your points, and is basically only worthwhile if you’re in financial difficulties. You can use Membership Rewards to get a statement credit, but the exchange rate is 0.6 cents per point, almost as bad as Ticketmaster’s. 

Amex Offers Special Promotions

It’s worth noting that every Amex card comes with a program called Amex Offers. It gives cardholders substantial discounts and bonus rewards points on purchases at selected retailers, restaurants, or services. These offers are specifically targeted to individuals and the cards they have—meaning that the more cards you carry, the larger range of promotional offers you’ll receive.

Recent special offers include:

• HarryandDavid.com: Spend $75 or more and get $20 back
• Dropbox: Get 40% back on purchases, up to $50
• Saks.com: Get +1 Membership Rewards Point per dollar spent
• FreshDirect: Spend $100+, get 2,000 Membership Rewards points

Summary

American Express Membership Rewards are valuable and easy to transfer. They do provide their members with some great offers occasionally—and their international network of transfer partners can’t be beat. However, it can take quite a bit of research to stay on top of all of the different options and promotions.