There is just no reasonable valuation that equates to 1.0 cpp or higher. Can you achieve this? Of course you can. And if you hold onto points until you get this redemption consistently, you can simply ignore they are constantly depreciating and feel like they are "worth" 1.0 cpp.

They aren't, but for some people the illusion is more valuable than the reality.

The reality is that often Marriott points can be used for 0.5 cpp or less, and Marriott sure as heck doesn't mind when you do that. And there are times where in a given destination, it's hard to do much better.

For that reason, I -- and others -- value Marriott points at 0.6-0.7 cpp. And when we get a redemption at a higher valuation, we're pretty happy with it. But when we get even 0.75 cpp, we're feeling like "that was a good use of points". When the redemption is 0.65 or below, we always use money. Which is why points aren't worth their best redemption -- unless you hold them forever to get that redemption.