MilesBuzz! - Best/Most Economical Use of Miles

I have about 16K miles on my TravelExtras card and was wondering what the best/most economical way to use my miles when I accumulate more. And as I see it I will be accumulating more soon! The rewards are as stated: 5K/night free hotel stay, 7.5k/night middle class hotel 10k/night marriott resort 24K Domestic Flight + 12K For Companion 40K HI, Alaska, Caribbean, Mexico 60K Europe, etc. No Blackout on Flights..Not sure if the 12K applies to only Domestic Flights (probably so) Thank You

Any help?

Regulars on this board (who are not really typical of the general public) tend to value miles at between 1.2 and 1.8 cents a mile. Make your pick depending on what gives you the most bang for your buck.

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Vasant

So, if the reward is higher than 1.8 cents/mile than it is more valuable, right?

Take each of the awards that you are condidering and divide its approximate price by the number of miles that are required. Find the award that gives the most value.

Even though most tend to value the miles between 1.2 and 1.8 cents per mile (I would agree with that), you can sometimes, depending on the award that you choose, get more "value" than that for the miles if you can claim a usable award. Because the miles are not nearly as flexible as cold hard cash, that is why they are usually valued less. The topic of the "value of a mile" has been discussed ad nauseum on this board, a quick search will find many threads on it.

I have only worked with miles in actual airline programs (the one you are talking about seems to be a proprietary credit card program), but I have redeemed for values of 2 and 3 cents per mile or more compared to the going price of a comparable ticket.