Originally Posted by
pinniped
So these hotel transfers are really painful to me. Sure, I don't mind burning 850 SPG for a hit. But cutting loose 10,000 Marriott is tough. That's a $150+ hotel room I'm giving up for that hit and 2,000 US Airways miles.
Not entirely. Unless you've maxed out your ability to buy points from Marriott, then 10K points are worth no more than $125. If you value your miles at 1.5 cpm, then 10K MR points would transfer to $30 worth of US miles.
$125 - $30 = $95 hit cost.
I consider Marriott to be the most expensive transfer option, though Carlson and Wyndham
could be considered expensive since there is not an ability to directly purchase their points. But I still wouldn't equate a Marriott transfer to a $150+ room as long as I have the ability to replace those points for $125.
Similarly, the SPG points are worth no more than 3.5cpm as long as you have the right to purchase them at that price.
Only after I got all my numbers into a spreadsheet to do some calculations for me was I able to accurately judge which transfers make sense and which ones don't.
Also see
my post in the Hotel Transfers thread.