mia

ONLY when transferring to USA-based airlines: Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue. No fee transferring to other airlines or hotel. The fee is miniscule and capped: excise tax offset fee of $0.0006 per point (with a maximum fee of $99)

jiaogulan

I think the AMEX Premier Rewards Gold card if you can find a 50K MR points bonus for 2K (or even 1K!) spend in 3 months with fee waived for first year is a pretty lucrative bonus. 3x points on flights, 2x on dining, fuel.

RedSun

AmEx PRG is not a keeper...

jiaogulan

I considered putting in my post that you can cancel after a year if you don't want the card anymore, but I thought it was assumed...

billybayswater

I'm not sure I'd describe the fee as "miniscule." $99 (about what it would cost to transfer 150k+ points) is more than many cards' annual fees which most posters here jump through hoops to try to avoid paying. No other points program shifts this tax to the customer as far as I know.

baroqen

Sounds like you're doing fine, as you're planning to keep both cards anyway. While I feel UR points are slightly more valuable, mia says it best... They simply won't be 66% more valuable and there will always be different optimization scenarios depending on destinations.

Brian Chen

I know there are actually studies of points worth but have always found that Amex doesn’t have a 1 for 1 swap, it always was 2 for one mile or something that made it uneconomical.

Diplomatico

That is factually incorrect.

krazykanuck

And not only is it inaccurate, Amex frequently has transfer bonuses to partners which can really up their value, while Chase has never had a transfer bonus and is always 1:1 for all partners, regardless of the value of a point in another program.

RedSun

It is just hard to compare. The best MR transfer is to Delta, 1:1. The same with Singapore and other airlines. The best UR transfer is to Hyatt. But very often, folks do not optimize the transfers. I've seen folks transfer MR to SPG at 3:1. Then transfer to airline with bonus. For 120,000 MR points, you get 50,000 airline (like AA) miles. The ratio is 2.4 to 1. This is not good.

Mike B

For tickets less than $500, I buy with the CSR. The better CSR Travel insurance is more valuable than the 1000 or fewer extra points of the AMEX Plat. The likelihood of me using the AMEX Plat increases as the ticket price gets higher and the extra 2x points increase in value. I grudgingly keep paying the AF on both cards and try to keep points in both programs, since my leisure travel is unpredictable and I’m never positive which partner I will need next. Since I’m not rich, keeping a useful balance in both is easier said than done, and if I’m short of points in one program, it may steer me to that card to take a baby step towards rebuilding points.

TravelinSperry

I am currently analyzing the value of UR points and MR points (trying to decide if one of these cards is better than SPG Amex, since that will be devalued in August by 33%). It appears people claim to redeem UR for 2 cents per. But I'm trying to understand how that is possible on transfers. This thread seems to say UR to Hyatt is the best redemption. It's 1:1. You earn 1 UR point for everyday spend. So this leaves one with 1 UR point for 1 Hyatt point. Hyatt points are worth 1.5 per - so that's 1.5, not 2. It would seem then that transfers to IHG or Marriott would be even worse. What am I missing? How/where are people redeeming to get 2 per?

Diplomatico

Assume a night at the Hyatt Anywhere is 10,000 points for an award booking. Now assume that the cost of that room - when you check online - is $225/night if you paid in cash.

Presuming you would have paid the $225/night to stay there anyway, the 10,000 UR points that you transfer to Hyatt to redeem are worth 2.25 cpp. People who transfer to Hyatt for points to redeem at an all-inclusive resort like the Hyatt Zilara in Cancun are paying something like 15,000 points/night for a room that retails for $500+ per night, depending upon the time of the year. The math is even more impressive on that redemption.

Edit: The numbers are also pretty large when you transfer to airline partners and redeem for F/J seats.

TravelinSperry

There are always outliers... but one should use the overall redemption value at a chain. It is my understanding that Hyatt points are not generally worth 2.25 cents per. For example, TPG shows a value of 1.8 (https://thepointsguy.com/guide/monthly-valuations/). I'm not saying he's correct... and I have limited experience with Hyatt. But, he also values UR at 2.1. So this means he values UR at MORE than what he values Hyatt at (and so that means there is somewhere people like him transfer UR to that gets them more than they can get at Hyatt). Reading the UR redemption thread, people claim Hyatt is the best redemption oppty. This is what has me confused.

As for airline redemptions, I understand redemptions for Biz/First would be insane (6-8 cents per)... but most people (like me) who redeem air for biz/first would NEVER pay cash for those legs - so this isn't really a fair redemption # to use. Obviously the economy rate of 1.5 cents per isn't fair either. Maybe it's 2.1 (as TPG shows). But it's sort of a personal redemption rather than a true cash vs UR points calculation (unless you do actually pay cash for those seats and now don't have to).

So still stumped as to where/why TPG (and others) value UR over 2 cents per. It appears to me most value them less than the current Starwood rate of 2.7. Since that is going down 33% in August... it would appear if the value is truly >2 that a UR card would vault into the #1 spot for everyday spend.

This is what I'm trying to corroborate

Diplomatico

I was explaining to you how people calculate redemption values, in response to your original question. You want to keep quoting TPG as gospel. Enjoy.