Originally Posted by biggestbopper
You make a good point, but I just have so much energy and time for this game and I found that chasing the bonuses was starting to distort my (usually) rational purchasing behavior. Its kind of like double coupons at the grocery which we have in my area. Its nice to get two bucks off, but how many poptarts do I really need?
Lots. Those S'mores ones are mighty tasty.
And, at least with poptarts, I can always eat 'em. With miles, who knows when a vast devaluation might come along. Or the miles might just disappear (unlike my uneaten cherry poptarts) So far, miles have come through the bankruptcy courts okay, but it doesn't have to always be that way.
That's a great point, and it's why your earn-burn pattern is extremely important when deciding to voluntarily buy more miles than necessary. (We are all somewhat forced to buy miles and points because, Priceline aside, they come involuntarily bundled with our airline tickets and hotel rooms, but we certainly don't
need to "buy" them each and every time we use a credit card.)
With each of my major FF/hotel accounts, I know roughly what the flow is. My Starpoints live & die quickly - maybe a year, tops, on a FIFO basis. I burn 'em on 2-night Cat 2's as much as I do on 5-night Cat 4's. I'm always using them. My Marriott points live longer - 24 to 36 months - because I hoard for the bigger Travel Packages.
I have my arbitrary redemption values for both currencies, but I require a much bigger "discount" against my personal value before I'll buy a Marriott point vs. a Starpoint. I pretty sure I'm going to monetize my existing Starpoints before the program changes (and leave little on the table if a major change is announced); I don't really know that for the Marriott points, simply because of the longer lifespan.