Introduction
Credit Card Points
Airline Miles
Hotel Points

While airline miles have maintained their value pretty well the past year, hotel points have taken a real beating in the first quarter of this year. If you’re not aware of all the devaluations that have been going on I suggest reading this post, where I provide a summary and explanation of what’s going on.

With that in mind, here are my valuations:

Club Carlson — 0.4 cents/point (not previously rated)

Club Carlson has really made a splash the past couple of years given the number of promotions they’ve run and their awesome new co-branded credit card. They have six hotel categories ranging between 9,000 and 50,000 points per night.

They have some really nice category six properties, especially in Europe, where you can get quite a bit of value out of your points. Probably not aspirational, per se, though if you can get nice accommodations in Stockholm in the peak of summer, I’d say that’s pretty tough to beat.

So while I value Club Carlson points at 0.4 cents each, you can get a lot more value out of them if you have their co-branded credit card. If you have that card the last night of a two or more night award stay is free. So that’s basically a “buy one get one free” if you’re only staying for two nights, which can nearly double the value of your points. I can totally understand why some people are obsessed with Club Carlson points.

Best credit card(s) for earning Club Carlson points: Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card, which offers 10x points per dollar spent at Club Carlson properties, 5x points per dollar spent on everything else, 40,000 bonus points upon account anniversary, and a free night when you redeem for two or more award nights.

Hilton HHonors — 0.4 cents/point (previously 0.8 cents/point)

Hilton, Hilton, Hilton. I can’t stop shaking my head at you guys. If they had any shame they’d feel like this dog:

For the past year or so I’ve been a huge promoter of Hilton, because they had some real high value awards. For example, by booking an AXON award you could spend four nights at any category seven property for 145,000 points. That was an incredible value, and basically made their top properties ~36,000 points per night. Of course all good things have to come to an end, given how easy it was to rack up Hilton points. As of March 28, 2013, Hilton will be in an almost unprecedented manner devaluing their award chart, to the point that I’d argue the value of their points drops by about 50%. You can read all about their recent changes here, which include the introduction of three new hotel categories and seasonal pricing.

The end effect is that some properties like the Conrad Koh Samui are going from 50,000 points per night to 95,000 points per night. So previously you could book an AXON award for four nights for 145,000 points, while now you’re paying 380,000 points for the same stay. Now, you do get the fifth night free under the new program, but you’re still going from paying 145,000 points for four nights to paying 380,000 points for five nights.

The thing is that at low and mid-tier properties the prices aren’t going up by all that much, though my original valuation of 0.8 cents per point was based on redeeming at aspirational properties. Frankly the number of Hilton properties I was truly excited about redeeming points at was quite limited (like the Conrads in Hong Kong, Koh Samui, the Maldives, and Tokyo), and those have all hugely gone up in price.

The above pricing does reflect the devaluation, so if you have any Hilton points hopefully you can burn them before March 28 so you can still get a decent value out of them.

Best credit card(s) for earning Hilton HHonors points: Hilton HHonors Surpass Card from American Express, which offers 12x points per dollar spent at Hilton properties, 6x points per dollar spent at gas stations and on groceries, and three points per dollar spent on everything else. Also the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card, which offers 10x points per dollar spent at Hilton properties, 5x points per dollar spent on airline and car rental purchases, and 3x points per dollar spent on everything else. Also comes with Hilton HHonors Gold status for as long as you have the card.

Hyatt Gold Passport — 1.6 cents/point (previously 1.6 cents/point)

Huge kudos to Hyatt. While I’ve given them some flak for their lack of lucrative promotions, I’ve come to appreciate it, actually. They’re trying to run a sustainable loyalty program with stable pricing. And for that matter they’re the only program that didn’t in any form devalue their program this past year. Their annual hotel category adjustments had more properties going down in price than up in price. Their only potentially negative change was that they eliminated Passport Escapes packages, but the reason was simply because it wasn’t utilized enough.

Their top end properties continue to be among the best points redemption value in the hotel industry. For just 22,000 points per night you can stay at the Park Hyatts in Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, or the Maldives, for example. Compared to the redemption costs at other chains for high end properties, this is amazing.

Amazing value for just 22,000 points

Best credit card(s) for earning Hyatt Gold Passport points: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Visa Card, which offers double points on dining and travel and a 7% annual points dividend, the Chase Ink Plus® Business Card and Chase Ink Bold® Business Card, which offer 5x points on office supply stores, cable, TV, phone, and internet, and 2x points on gas and hotels, and the Chase Freedom Visa Card, which offers 5x points in rotating quarterly categories. Also Chase Hyatt Visa Card for 3x points on Hyatt spend and annual free night certificate valid at category 1-4 properties.

Marriott Rewards — 0.8 cent/point (previously 1.0 cents/point)

My valuation of Marriott points factors in the changes happening to their program on May 16, 2013, whereby they’re adding a ninth category to their award chart and adjusting the categories of many of their hotels. Roughly 1% of their properties are going down in price, while roughly 36% of properties are going up in price.

Marriott’s new award chart

Fortunately only about a dozen properties belong in the new category nine, which isn’t horrible. So I’d say after Hilton they had the second biggest devaluation of the year, probably similar in scope to Starwood (though with Starwood you can still transfer points to airline miles at the same ratio, so I can’t really lower their value).

Best credit card(s) for earning Marriott Rewards points: Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card, which offers 5x points per dollar spent at Marriott properties, 2x points per dollar spent on dining, rental cars, and airlines, and 1x point per dollar spent on everything else. Also offers free anniversary night annually valid at category 1-5 properties.

Priority Club Rewards — 0.5 cents/point (previously 0.6 cents/point)

Priority Club made a pretty radical change to their program earlier in the year whereby they switched from award pricing based on the brand to a nine category award chart based on the cost of hotels. For the average consumer the end effect isn’t huge, actually, because the top category hotels remain the same price.

Priority Club’s new category based redemption chart

It’s the ones in the middle that have changed. For example, the Holiday Inn Express New York Times Square and Holiday Inn Express Selma used to be in the same pricing group since they’re both Holiday Inn Express branded. Under the new reward pricing the former is 35,000 points per night, while the latter is 10,000 points per night. So when award pricing reflects the normal cost of a stay it’s definitely more “fair,” though as a consumer you’re no longer able to “beat” the system in the same way.

Best credit card(s) for earning Priority Club Rewards points: Priority Club Rewards Visa Card, which offers 5x points per dollar spent at Priority Club properties, 2x points per dollar spent at gas stations, grocery stores, and at restaurants, and 1x point per dollar spent on everything else.

Starwood Preferred Guest — 2.2 cents/point (previously 2.2 cents/point)

As I discussed in the section on the value of credit card points, this has been a rough year for Starwood. Earlier in the month the value of Starpoints for hotel redemptions dropped given that Starwood devalued cash & points by about 20-25%, which was the best use of Starpoints for hotel redemptions prior to this. Furthermore, 150 more Starwood properties went up in price than down in price with the recent category shifts, and when you only have a bit over 1,000 properties, that’s a pretty substantial number of properties going up in price.

So at this point when it comes to redeeming Starpoints for hotel stays I’d probably drop their value down to below two cents each. But the thing is that you can still convert Starpoints into airline miles at a 1:1 ratio, with a 5,000 point bonus for every 20,000 points transferred. That means you can convert 20,000 Starpoints into 25,000 American miles. At a valuation of 2.2 cents per Starpoint, that means you’re valuing an American mile at 1.76 cents per mile, which is pretty close to my previous valuation of 1.8 cents per American mile.

So while Starpoints have gone down in value, I oddly can’t really quantify it.

Best credit card(s) for earning Starwood points: Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Card from American Express OPEN, which offer 2x points per dollar spent at Starwood properties and 1x Starwood point per dollar spent on everything else.

Conclusion

As you can see above, this hasn’t been a good year so far for hotels. I’m sure award prices will stabilize for a couple of years before we see another major devaluation, though these changes have been rough. I’d be curious to hear how you guys value hotel points, and if it differs from mine valuations!

(In the interest of full disclosure, some of the above links earn me a referral bonus, and all are for the best available offers for each card — thanks for your support!)

Last month I shared the news that Marriott would be changing their requirements for lifetime elite status next year, which had some people worried. After all, it’s one thing for a program to change year-to-year elite benefits, but changing something that people have potentially been working towards for a decade is much crueler.

Well, it seems all the worry was for nothing, as a Marriott representative has posted about the new program in the Marriott Rewards Insiders forum, and the new requirements for lifetime status are as follows:

Lifetime Silver:

• 250 nights at Marriott properties
• 1,200,000 Marriott Rewards points earned

Lifetime Gold:

• 500 nights at Marriott properties
• 1,600,000 Marriott Rewards points earned

Lifetime Platinum:

• 750 nights at Marriott properties
• 2,000,000 Marriott Rewards points earned

Compare that to the previous requirements, which were as follows:

Lifetime Silver:

• 600 nights at Marriott properties
• 1,200,000 Marriott Rewards points earned
• 12 years as a member and at least one year as a Silver member

Lifetime Gold:

• 800 nights at Marriott properties
• 1,600,000 Marriott Rewards points earned
• 12 years as a member and at least one year as a Gold member

Lifetime Platinum:

• 1,000 nights at Marriott properties
• 2,000,000 Marriott Rewards points earned
• 12 years as a member and at least one year as a Platinum member

In other words, they’ve eliminated the requirement to be a member for at least 12 years and elite for one of them, and have also reduced the number of nights required, while the number of points that must be earned for lifetime status remains the same.

Kudos to Marriott! And congrats to anyone that will be achieving lifetime status as a result of these changes!

(Tip of the hat to Gary)

I don’t think the Ritz-Carlton Rewards card from Chase gets enough credit. I’m not surprised given that Chase has so many great cards and it seems to be the issuer with which people are limited with new applications. That’s the reason I haven’t gotten the card yet, though it’s already on the list for my next “churn” cycle.

The card really is worth considering despite the $395 annual fee, if for no other reason than the Gold elite benefits at Marriott properties.

First, the card has a good sign-up bonus of 70,000 Ritz-Carlton Rewards points after spending $2,000 on the card within three months, enough for a free night at even the most expensive Ritz-Carlton properties (or two free nights at a combination of Tier 1 and Tier 2 Ritz-Carlton properties).

For example, you could redeem the free night at the Ritz-Carlton Central Park New York, where rates start at $895 per night (~$1,030 per night with tax).

But there are lots of great sign-up bonuses out there, so that hardly sets the card apart. It’s the benefits of the card that I love, which include:

Gold Elite status in the Ritz-Carlton Rewards program for a year

This status usually requires 50 elite nights per year to achieve. This includes benefits at Ritz-Carlton properties like room upgrades (excluding suites and the club level), free internet (which isn’t free at most Ritz-Carlton properties), a 25% points bonus, and more.

But here’s the real benefit of this that I think a lot of people overlook — Gold status in the Ritz-Carlton Rewards program gets you virtually all the same benefits as Gold Status in the Marriott Rewards program, which includes club lounge access for stays at Marriott family hotels. On Tuesday when I posted about Hilton’s co-branded credit cards, I said the following:

The reason this card is so awesome is because it comes with Hilton HHonors Gold status for as long as you have the card, which is hands down the most valuable mid-tier hotel status (perhaps with the exception of Marriott Gold, though that requires 50 nights per year, the same as other programs’ top tier status).

So yeah, Marriott’s mid-tier status requires as many qualifying nights as top tier status with Hyatt or Starwood, though with the Ritz-Carlton Rewards card you’re getting that for the first year, and can maintain it with $10,000 in spend for each subsequent year. That really isn’t all that much spend for a status level that gets you free internet and lounge access at Marriott properties (though I’m still not a huge fan of the Marriott Rewards program as a whole). There are actually very few differences between Marriott Gold and Platinum status, so it’s almost like top tier status with Marriott.

Three upgrades to the Ritz-Carlton club level annually and $100 hotel credit for stays of two or more nights

Just for having the card, you get three upgrades for stays of up to seven nights each to the Ritz-Carlton club level. You also get a $100 hotel credit for any stay of two or more nights.

The bad news is that this benefit only applies on stays booked at the best publicly available rate. AAA rates, corporate rates, and even Virtuoso/American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts rates don’t qualify.

Confusion over this benefit is probably what disappoints most people about the card. If you’re just making a short stay chances are you’ll get more value by booking through Virtuoso or American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts as you’ll typically get a hotel credit and free breakfast through them anyway.

That being said, I still find the club level upgrades potentially valuable, as Ritz-Carlton clubs are in a different league than “mainstream” club lounges. While the premium for club lounge access at most hotels might be $50-100, it’s frequently $200+ at Ritz-Carlton properties, given that they have five food presentations per day. And Ritz-Carlton is otherwise pretty strict about not giving club upgrades, so if you want to experience a Ritz-Carlton lounge, this is the way to do so. But even if you don’t value this benefit, I think it’s still a great card.

A $200 annual airline fee credit

Here’s a nice annual benefit that helps offset the annual fee. Every year you get a $200 airline fee credit. When you charge an airline fee to your card you just have to call within four billing cycles to request reimbursement.

Primarily collision coverage

After my rental car accident in Germany over the summer, I’m always on the lookout for credit cards with good car rental collision coverage, and best I can tell the Ritz-Carlton Rewards card offers primary coverage, even in the US. The T&Cs state:

You’re protected up to the actual cash value of most rental cars. Primary coverage for damage due to collision or theft is available in the United States and most foreign countries.

Primarily collision coverage in the US? Now that’s awesome. Keep in mind even some of the most generous cards for car rental protection, like the American Express Platinum, offer just secondary coverage.

And the best benefit of all…

Now that’s comforting!

The bottom line

As far as I’m concerned the card’s annual fee is $195 (since I think most of us rack up $200 in airline fees annually), and for that I think the benefits are well worth it, especially for the first year. This is the easiest way to get Gold benefits at Marriott hotels for an entire year, and the car rental coverage is extremely valuable as well (and I’ll actually use this instead of the premium car rental insurance offered by American Express, which is a flat $25 per rental and I still consider to be a great value). The club upgrades will be useful for those that frequent Ritz-Carlton properties, though probably not for most. And I actually think the $10,000 of annual spend for Ritz-Carlton Rewards Gold is pretty valuable given the benefits it gets you at Marriott properties.

Look at the “big picture” of the card and you shouldn’t be disappointed.

Marriott has just announced that they’ll be offering Platinum members complimentary suite upgrades in the Asia Pacific region effective immediately. The fine print reads as follows:

• Complimentary suite upgrades are subject to availability for Platinum Elite members staying at participating hotels located in Asia Pacific.
• Participating hotel brands in Asia Pacific include: JW Marriott^® Hotels & Resorts, Renaissance^® Hotels, Marriott^® Hotels & Resorts and Courtyard by Marriott^® Hotels. Hotel locations in Asia Pacific include: Australia, China (including Hong Kong S.A.R.), Guam, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. In Japan and South Korea, suite upgrades may be limited and may be offered at the hotel’s discretion.
• Complimentary Suite Upgrade: Generally, based on availability at check-in; in some cases, availability is determined later in the day. Limited to a Member’s personal guestroom. Upgrades include most available suite types, except Presidential Suites, Chairman Suites and other signature suites. For stays greater than 3 nights, suite upgrades are subject to the hotel’s discretion.

It’s interesting to note that these upgrades actually seem to be based on availability as opposed to at the hotel’s discretion (with the exception of Japan and South Korea), which is great news, since it means if a suite is available you should be able to get it as a Platinum member.

Even with this Marriott is still way behind the competition when it comes to elite benefits. Not only do they by far have the highest elite qualification tier for top tier status (75 nights), but their benefits are still lackluster. They don’t offer suite upgrades outside of the Asia Pacific region, they don’t offer Platinum members breakfast at resorts, and they don’t offer guaranteed late checkout.

Still, it’s a step in the right direction and they deserve credit for that… right?

(Tip of the hat to Mike)

Introduction
Credit Card Points
Airline Miles
Hotel Points

I made a post about which credit cards to use for hotel stays back in March, and I included what I value the major hotel points currencies at. That being said, I didn’t explain the reasoning behind my valuations, so hopefully this helps in that regard. After careful consideration I’ve also rethought some of my valuations based on comments left by readers, as I’ll explain below.

To provide a really rough explanation of my thought process, my points valuation is somewhat based on the assumption that one values a free night at a top hotel around $300-350. Ultimately I’m all about the “aspirational” award, so I think one important aspect in valuing points is comparing how many points are needed for a redemption at a top hotel. The “base” value of $300 goes up for me when hotels honor elite benefits on award stays (free breakfast, internet, room upgrades, etc.), count them towards elite status, etc., which can add a lot of value to a stay.

With that in mind, here we go:

Hilton HHonors — 0.8 cents/point

While Hilton does have some pretty decent properties, they also have among the highest award costs. Their category 7 hotels are 50,000 points per night, so at 0.8 cents per point I’m valuing those at $320 per night. I think that’s a fair valuation for hotels like the Conrad Hong Kong, Conrad Maldives, etc. Best of all Hilton not only honors all elite benefits on award stays, but also offers points and stay credits.

But the real value in Hilton’s award chart comes with their AXON awards, which offer points discounts on longer stays at category 5-7 properties, for those with the Hilton American Express credit card. For example, four nights at a category 7 hotel would usually cost 200,000 points, though through the AXON award chart would only cost 145,000 points, which basically means you’re getting the fourth night free and then some. You can read more about AXON awards in this FlyerTalk post.

So I do think Hilton points are a valuable points currency, it’s just that they don’t have quite as many aspirational properties as some other chains, and their redemption costs are definitely on the high end.

Best credit card(s) for earning Hilton HHonors points: Hilton Surpass American Express Card, which offers nine points per dollar spent at Hilton properties, six points per dollar spent at gas stations and drugstores, and three points per dollar spent on everything else

Hyatt Gold Passport — 1.6 cents/point

On one hand I’m very tempted to value Hyatt points at more than 1.6 cents per point, though I do think this is the fairest valuation. Hyatt’s award costs are much lower than Hilton’s, though you also earn substantially fewer points for stays and through their credit card.

Their top hotels are 22,000 points per night, so at a valuation of 1.6 cents per point, that’s basically valuing a night at one of their top properties at $352. It’s worth noting that Hyatt also honors all elite benefits on award stays, so you get free internet, breakfast, room upgrades, etc., as a Diamond member on an award stay.

The thing that really makes Gold Passport such an amazing loyalty program is the ability to redeem points at Park Hyatt hotels. They’re among my favorite hotels of any chain, so being able to turn my points into stays at amazing hotels like the Park Hyatt Dubai, Park Hyatt Melbourne, Park Hyatt Seoul, Park Hyatt Shanghai, Park Hyatt Tokyo, is a large part of what makes the program so great.

But another great thing about Hyatt is the ability to redeem points for suites at a reasonable cost. While there’s a three night minimum for suite redemptions, Hyatt only charges a 50% points premium for a suite over a standard room. That’s a spectacular value, especially since some of these suites retail for $1,500+ per night.

While I do wish Hyatt would have cash & points like Starwood, they also have some very reasonable mid-tier redemptions. For example, the Grand Hyatt Santiago, which I’ll be staying at in a couple of months, is only a category two hotel, making it 8,000 points per night. Given that revenue rates are consistently $300+ including tax, that’s an amazing value as well.

Best credit card(s) for earning Hyatt Gold Passport points: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which offers two points per dollar spent on dining and travel and a 7% annual points dividend, the Chase Ink Bold Business Card, which offers five points per dollar spent at office supply stores and two points per dollar spent on gas and hotels, and the Hyatt Visa Card, which offers three points per dollar spent at Hyatt properties

Marriott Rewards — 1.0 cent/point

Yes, I admit it. In my previous post I undervalued Marriott points. I said they were worth 0.8 cents each, though I think they’re worth at least 1.0 cent each, potentially more depending on your travel patterns.

I go through phases with liking hotel programs, and over the years I’ve at one point or another loved Hilton, Hyatt, Priority Club, and Starwood. I’ve never loved Marriott even a little bit, given their stingy elite program and high redemption levels.

Marriott charges 40,000 points per night for redemptions at their highest tier hotels (category 8).

That alone makes me think my previous valuation of 0.8 cents per point was pretty fair. That being said, I failed to consider Marriott’s flight and hotel packages, which really are very tempting.

Basically you can redeem points for a combination of miles and free nights with several options, including the following:

Those are miles that can be transferred to Delta, United, and US Airways, among other programs. In my previous installment I valued United MileagePlus miles at 1.8 cents each. So assuming a Marriott point is worth 1.0 cent and a United mile is worth 1.8 cents, the 120,000 United miles you get are worth 216,000 Marriott Rewards points. That means you’re basically “paying” 54,000 points for seven free nights at a category 5 resort, which is less than 8,000 points per night (compared to the usual cost of 25,000 points). Now, the major frustration for me is that I don’t really want to spend seven nights at one hotel, so I do wish they had shorter packages. But still, given the value, it’s tough to beat, even if you were only going to spend a few days at a hotel.

Best credit card(s) for earning Marriott Rewards points: Marriott Rewards Visa Card, which offers five points per dollar spent at Marriott properties, two points per dollar spent on dining, rental cars, and airlines, and one point per dollar spent on everything else

Priority Club Rewards — 0.6 cents/point

Up until a few weeks ago it was possible to purchase Priority Club points for 0.6 cents each. Basically they had a cash & points option whereby you could discount the cost of an award stay by paying $60 in place of 10,000 points. If you later canceled the award reservation they would refund you the 10,000 points in place of the $60.

So previously I couldn’t really value Priority Club points at more than 0.6 cents each, given that an unlimited number could be purchased at that price. That being said, just a few weeks ago the cost of purchasing points using this method was raised to 0.7 cents each, so that option isn’t there anymore.

In theory I’d actually lower my valuation of Priority Club points given that they devalued their award chart in January, though I don’t think it’s fair to value Priority Club points at less than 0.6 cents each. Redemptions at their high end hotels are 50,000 points per night, so at a valuation of 0.6 cents per point you’re looking at $300 per night. There are lots of great values at mid-range properties as well.

My biggest gripe with Priority Club is that they don’t honor elite benefits on award stays. It’s very frustrating to get accustomed to the fantastic Royal Ambassador benefits offered on revenue stays, only to redeem your hard earned points and be put in a standard room with no benefits.

Best credit card(s) for earning Priority Club Rewards points: Priority Club Rewards Visa Card, which offers five points per dollar spent at Priority Club properties, two points per dollar spent at gas stations, grocery stores, and at restaurants, and one point per dollar spent on everything else

Starwood Preferred Guest — 2.2 cents/point

Let me for a moment play devil’s advocate and downplay the value of SPG points. The reason I’m doing this is because everyone knows SPG points are the most valuable points currency out there, though I think a lot of people overvalue them.

It’s rather convenient that Starwood comes last alphabetically, since you can see a few themes from above. As I said from the very beginning, my basis of valuation in part is that I value a free night at a high end hotel at roughly $300-350. Here’s Starwood’s free night award chart:

The problem, as I’m sure you can tell, is that my valuation is completely out of whack for high end properties. Starwood’s category 7 properties start at 30,000 points per night, so at 2.2 cents per point you’re valuing those free nights at $660, just about double of what we’re valuing free nights at high end hotels with the other chains. Even when you go to category six hotels, at a valuation of 2.2 cents per point you’re still valuing a free night there at $440+. Neither of those valuations are fair, when I’m valuing a free night at the Park Hyatt Sydney and Park Hyatt Paris at ~$350.

One of the greatest values with Starwood is their Cash & Points program, whereby you can redeem part cash and part points for a hotel stay to get a great deal. The bad news is that unlike the option to redeem just points, Cash & Points is capacity controlled. But even that often isn’t a good deal. They don’t offer Cash & Points for category 7 hotels, and for a category 6 hotel you’re paying $150 plus 8,000 points, which I’m valuing at $176, for a total of $327. That’s for a capacity controlled free night and it’s not even their highest category, while that’s the equivalent cash value you’d pay in other chains for a free night at a top hotel without capacity controls.

All that being said, let me clarify I’m not bashing SPG points. They’re the most valuable points currency out there. I just don’t agree with the crowd that values them at 4+ cents per point.

The good news with SPG is that there’s quite a bit of value to be had at mid-range properties, especially category 3-5 hotels either on award stays or Cash & Points stays. There are plenty of hotels that are $300 per night but only cost 12,000 points per night, which is a great deal. But remember to factor in the points you’re not earning by booking an award stay, which can really add up, especially if you’re an elite member and Starwood is running a promotion. On the plus side, Starwood honors all elite benefits on award stays, and as of a few months ago even offers stay credit on award stays.

So I do think SPG points are very valuable for hotel stays, though I’ll say that I don’t fall into the crowd that values them at 4+ cents per point. Value them at 2.5 cents each? I can see that. 2.8 cents? Fine, I’m with you. 3.0 cents? You’re pushing your luck. 3.5+? You, me, parking lot after school.

But my real basis for deriving the value of SPG points is in the ability to easily transfer them to airline miles. Points can be transferred 1:1 to several programs, and for every 20,000 points you transfer you get a 5,000 point bonus. I valued American miles at 1.8 cents each, so when you factor in the 25% bonus you get for the transfer, that puts the value of SPG points at ~2.2 cents each.

So what it comes down to with Starwood is that I think most people can easily redeem in the 2.5 cent per point range, but when factoring in the points they’re missing out on by booking an award, it’s closer to the 2.2 cent per point range. And for higher end properties that has to be based on the price you’d otherwise be willing to pay, and not the retail price, in my opinion.

Best credit card(s) for earning SPG points: Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Personal Card and Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Business Card, which offer two points per dollar spent at SPG properties and one SPG point per dollar spent on everything else

Anyway, hopefully you guys found this series of posts helpful. As I’ve said from the very beginning the above are my valuations of points, and I’m not for a second claiming they’re correct. I think reasonable people can easily disagree about the value of points +/-50% based on their financial situation and vacation style, though hopefully if nothing else it’s a decent summary for those of you that are new to the hobby.

If you have any questions, agree, or disagree, let me know in the comments section!

Full disclosure: I earn a referral bonus for anyone that signs up through some of the above links. It’s the best available offer, and of course I’m very appreciative of your support, regardless of whether or not you use my links.