thanks for the detailed responses/clarifications aaupgrade--quite insightful; i completely agree that there is no "one size fits all" calculation for value of points--and any tool would ideally need to be able to take into account such information as what status you are for each hotel/network, what category preferences you have, even potentially what seasonal/geographic travel preferences you have, whether you value/use upgrades,etc. to really begin to dial in on a customized, directionally accurate personalized valuation (all of which is actually do-able in theory, and a worthy goal).

I think from reading other posts on this thread, some people seem to value MR at around $0.01, whereas you have built a solid case for a whopping 20 pts per dollar of spend. So it seems the value is somewhere from $0.01 to $0.20--depending on many factors, including the sophistication of the user.

I would just note the target audience for my particular assessment is not the guy/girl spending $20K per year on hotels; according to some stats i have from bureau of economics, avg spend on hotels per year is quite low, maybe 10-15 nights per year or thereabouts, which i believe gets you to silver status, so, for the "average joe", values will likely be lower...

again thanks though for the thoughtful reply and details...