TravelGuy1965

I've seen threads in many other programs that share opinions on the value of their points. Diners has always been great to me and I'm interested in other peoples opinions.

I'd put Diners well above Amex MR and on par with or slightly higher than SPG points.

The positive aspects to me are:
- Still has WN and AA transfer options.
- Frequent FF bonuses ranging from 15-50%.
- And of course the ease to transfer as miles to other peoples accounts.

What do you think; either as a comparison in points or raw value to you?

sdsearch

One thing thats it way above SPG Amex for me (besides it being MC so working "everywhere"), is that I can used Diners points to transfer to a variety of hotel programs (not just airline programs). I've now got more airline miles accumulated in the major programs than I need in the short term, but last year I wanted to stay near Bryce Canyon National Park in peak season and the hotels nearby were expensive then and the only chain there was Best Western and I had way too few points at BW. But I was able to transfer Diners Club to Best Western at a decent transfer ratio and it only took a few days, so with just a fraction of my Diners Club points I was able to top off to enough BW points for a 4-night reward stay there.

No way can SPG points help with hardly any National Parks (which are generally far away from any cities big enough for SPG to bother with). You typically need Best Western or Choice or WyndhamRewards or sometimes perhaps Hilton HHonors for Hampton or Priority Club for HI Express. Diners can help with most of those (WyndhamRewards being the exception) in a pinch, while SPG is of course only good at SPG properties. (Maybe SPG has an "any hotel anywhere" like Priority Club, I dunno, but those are always horrid redemption rates, since they're basically no more than cashback disguised.)

mapletree

I travel a lot for work and use the 1% cash-back on my work flights. It's essentially 1% cash-back...have enough miles from other sources, so getting hard cash is great for me. Thus, 1 cent per point at minimum...