FOBMasterP

I have 270k MR points and am considering cancelling my MR account on my Gold Corporate Card in favor of a personal AMEX Starwoods. Does anybody have suggestions on what to redeem for the best bang for the MR points? Would I get the most benefit by transferring the points into my Delta SkyMiles account or would something like the Dell gift certificates work better? Any thoughts would be appreciated!

christianj

First of all....welcome to FT! I am sure you will find these forums to provide valuable information for you in the future.

To get better suggestions, I would suggest you provide a little more information. The question you asked is not very specific so in order for people to provide THEIR opinions they will want to know things like:

1. What is your preferred airline? Is it Delta since you mentioned it?
2. Do you prefer a specific hotel chain over another?
3. Do you have elite status with any hotel chains or airlines?
4. Are you planning on any major trips in the near future that you would like to consider using the points for?
5. Do you want to use the points for hotel or airline awards?

Basically any info you provide will help. Right now based on the original question I couldn't give you a good recommendation and I am afraid others won't be able to either. Generally FT members do not recommend gift certificates as the best choice for points redemption. The value usually only works out at 1% and you can do a lot better with hotel rewards and first or business class flight redemptions.

kuroneko

Conventional Wisdom says that the best bang is usually redemption for airline miles which allow you to get a premium seat on an international flight. This typically gives you at least a value of about 1.25-1.5 cents per point/mile.

Gift cards (EG, Dell credit of $100 for 10,000 pts, Gap gift card, etc...) is obviously valued at 1 cent per mile.

If you use the "What is the value per point" logic when evaluating the various options you should be able to figure out which is the biggest bang for the buck. Obviously, getting an Amex credit on your bill or an Amex giftcard at 1/2 cent per mile is a bad deal.

stevens397

The gift certificates are rarely a great idea if maximizing value is your goal. They usually give about one penny per mile. Merchandise is even worse, often going down to one-half penny.

Your profile does not indicate where you live or what airline you fly the most - I assume it's Delta by your post. Are there any big vacation trips you are hoping to take? That might determine where to transfer the miles. With enough advance planning you should be able to get something great.

gwarboy

Staying with the ...-umption that Delta is your favorite airline (or at least accessible to you), transferring Amex MRs to Delta would be an even better bang for the buck if you were to do so during one of Amex's 20% or 30% bonus promos that they hold for MR transfers to Delta.

There are currently no such promos active, but we're due for another one soon enough, based on prior experience. Watch this forum for the eventual heads-up.

Pointaholic

Not sure if you live in NYC, Washington, or Boston, but if you ever take the train between these cities, it is usually ~$200.

If you transfer points into Continental, then transfer those points to Amtrak, you can get a free, roundtrip ticket on the Northeast Corridor for 6,000 points(3.33% return per point).

best

Home Depot certificates-widely usable, all over the US and do not expire.

Duhey2

[QUOTE=gwarboy]transferring Amex MRs to Delta would be an even better bang for the buck if you were to do so during one of Amex's 20% or 30% bonus promos that they hold for MR transfers to Delta.
[\QUOTE]

I concur....I think this is the best way to use MR points. The last time I did it was to Continental and I got a 25% bonus. My wife and I went to AMS & MUC biz class with those miles.

PimpNumOne

Upper Class Suties on Virgin are kick a$$ plus you get to use the Clubhouses on departure and the new clubhouse in London, which is the Best in the world BTW.

LGA

I work for a couple of people who have been using the MR program. I suggested the Frontier award from MR as a way to unload their MR points since I'm getting them on the track to SPG AmEx. Here's Frontier's award chart: http://www.frontierairlines.com/travel/ff_redeem.asp

15k for a domestic award! Yeah!

(Note the asterisk on the Frontier awards page which means most of us won't be able to use the Early Returns Plus options.)

JudyJFLA

You could move them to Hawaiian Air at a 1-1 ratio, then move the HA miles into Hilton Points at 2-1, giving you 540K Hilton points. 175K hilton points will get you 6 nights anywhere in the world, so you could have some pretty nice vacations in some exotic places. Or you could send me on a great trip!

JudyJFLA

LGA

540k Hilton = 54 nights at a Scandic property!

(For now, anyway... http://www.scandic-hotels.com/AboutH...dsCategory.jsp )

bgriff

If the OP is even checking this (having not provided any further feedback), a couple more general-purpose ideas:

--The independent hotel properties, if you have the patience to slog through the list (why can't they let you filter by city?), have a few gems hidden in the rubble. Basically you have to compare to going rates on the hotel website, but I've definitely seen a few that seem to offer returns of 1.5-2% or better. That said, I have no idea if there are blackout dates or anything on those awards, so it may not be as good a deal as it looks.

--If you have a lot of points with other programs, the car rental certificates can be a good idea as a part of an award vacation, just because the rental car often ends up being the most expensive part of an otherwise points-based trip, and those certificates can also be used to cover any insurance you might buy (if you're so inclined), unlike certificates from the car rental agencies themselves.

--An airline suggestion you may not have considered: Air Canada, which is a Star Alliance member, has a phenomenal website that lets you search for not only Air Canada awards but also Star Alliance awards online in a very easy-to-use interface. So unlike with Delta, where redeeming the awards might be more hassle than it's worth, AC makes it easy to investigate your options, even before you transfer the points. And, according to my most recent statement, transfers of over 50,000 points get a 5,000 point bonus until April 30. It's unclear if you could make multiple transfers to get multiple bonuses. (ANA has a similar web-based Star Alliance awards tool, but I've been so happy with Air Canada's that I haven't tried it myself.)

Pake

[
--An airline suggestion you may not have considered: Air Canada, which is a Star Alliance member, has a phenomenal website that lets you search for Star Alliance awards online in a very easy-to-use interface. So unlike with Delta, where redeeming the awards might be more hassle than it's worth, AC makes it easy to investigate your options, even before you transfer the points. And, according to my most recent statement, transfers of over 50,000 points get a 5,000 point bonus until April 30. It's unclear if you could make multiple transfers to get multiple bonuses. (ANA has a similar web-based Star Alliance awards tool, but I've been so happy with Air Canada's that I haven't tried it myself.)[/QUOTE]

Interesting, Thanks!

Does anybody experience with "Global Pass"?

I am also seriously considering cancelling my AX Plat. and need to trnf miles.....Have way too many
airline miles. Love *Wood but the 1000 - 333 is discouraging.

flydrha

I agree that this is the best redemption. I feel guilty though... I have never flown Hawaiian but have redeemed over 300k Hilton points through them.