Originally Posted by
zyxlsy
I totally get your points. I think the reason I used my second calculation is that even though I am paying $435 to get $245 back, if you consider all the charges to my card as spending, I am still getting $245 for $16435. For the best Union-Pay rewards cards, you get 400 CNY gas card for 220000 CNY in spending. That's why using SPG in China is even better than local cards.
Is it possible you can let me know how much I can value points of AMEX Rewards Program?
I would value AMEX MR points at roughly 1.5 cents per point.
But really, think about your SPG calculations again.
Let' say you spend $16000 in buying a piece of jewelry. Using the SPG card, you pay $16435 total.
You get $245 back ( in the form of a free night), so your net cost for this piece of jewelry is $16435 - $245 = $16190.
On the other hand, say you use a card that doesn't give any rewards at all, but also doesn't charge any conversion fee, your net cost for this piece of jewelry will than just be $16000.