Much has been written about trying to put a value toward points and miles and it has often been said that it depends on individual circumstances and prefences. Let's use this thread to not focus on the monetary value but on the circumstances and the resulting preferences on how people choose to *spend* miles/points.

I can think of four determining factors.

1. Disposable Miles/Points
The true frequent traveler (20+ trips a year) or big credit card spender earns so many rewards that entry level ones become meaningless. A big reward can mean two seats in F or six seats in Y for a family.

2. Disposable Income.
The richer you are, the more likely you are to save for the big awards because you'd otherwise outright buy them.

3. Disposable Time
The less time/vacation you have, the more likely you are to spend big. *Edited to clarify: Time = Vacation.

4. "Disposable" Age
The older you are, the more likely you are to appreciate comfort over travel frequency and therefore go for C/F, luxury collection hotels.

The behavior to *earn* miles/points is entirely driven by the way you anticipate spending them.