Well, I posted this in this forum so I can elicit opinions from experts in their persepective FF/loyalty programs.

A brief history: I made a donation to World Wildlife Foundation during a special Clickreward promotion where I netted 600,000 Click Reward (CR) points for USD $5,000. At <1 cent per mile, and in addition to the tax write off, IMO that was a good bargain. A few months, I redeemed approx 120,000 CR to AA b/c I needed the points immediately then and I thought I would "cash out" some miles in case if Netcentives, who operates CR, go bust during the internet decline. In retrospect, cashing out CR points directly to airline miles offers a terrible conversion ratio. As a result, I am hoping to maximize my transfer this time.

I have already thought of a few scenarios:

Scenario 1 - Transfer all CR points to Starwood points at 1:1 ratio. 480k SW points * 40k points for 5 free nights (some blackout dates apply) at Cat 5 hotels = 60 nights ( or 12 x 5 night sats). At $250 per night, 480k SW points has a cash equivalent (CE) value of $15,000.
Comment: This option becomes more valuable if CR offers a 2:1 promotional transfer ratio. However, last time CR capped the transfer at 10k points although FTers (myself included) have reported that they can transfer multiple times.

Scenario 2 - Same as #1 but once the transfer is complete, transfer it into an airline program. So, 480,000 SW points * 25% conversion bonus = 600,000 miles. By valuing the miles at 1.5 cents per mile, the CE s $9000. If one changes the valuation to either 1 cent or 2 cent, the CE becomes $6000 or $12000. (FWIW, I do not to not use the inflated value of full F or C tix or upgrades in doing CE evaluation.)
Comment: See also #1.

Scenario 3 - Redeem the points for Mariott rewards. 480k CR points = 720k MR points. It is hard to value the MR points because of their many options. The 20 night package is out as we are unlikely to stay 10 nights at one spot. So for the purpose of this evaluation, I can redeem the 720k points for 3 seven night choice package rewards at 600k points (3*200k points) and one 7 (3+2+2) night Hawaiian Hopper award at 125,000 points. The total adds up to 28 nights of hotel + 6 systemwide tickets with M's airline partners, which is about 360,000 UA miles (6 * 60,000 UA miles from NA to Asia). The CE, at $200 /night and at 1.5 cents per miles, is $5,600 + $5400 = $11,000.
Comment: We are fairly loyal to Starwood and its variety of hotels and have not had much experience with Marriott.

Scenario 4 - Redeem the CR points for a trip with away.com, a CR partner. I have spoke with away.com and my points have an approx. CE value of $8,200.
Comment: The biggest advantage of this is that it allows one to redeem pts for a once(or twice)-in-a-lifetime trip such as an African Safari. (Cathay Pacific also has this great value of redeeeming 240k points for 2 first class seats from North America to South Africa via HKG). However, it is also the most extravagent option in the sense of spending all those points at once!

Scenario 5 - Redeem the CR points for a trip with roadtrip.com e.g. Superbowl XXXVI. I estimate this also has a CE value of $8,200.
Comment: Not a sports fan. Bur for those of you who are, how much is the scalp value of this package? http://www.roadtrips.com/football/superbowlXXXVI.html

Any other scenarios I missed or valuations that could be finer tuned?

[Post edited to reflect correct Starwood conversion ratio.]

[This message has been edited by kyklin (edited 02-28-2001).]

Scenario 6: Give them to Pam

Wait for another double promo. For example the one SPG had last year where 1 clickmile = 2 SPG points.

What tax write off? If you got 600,000 Click Rewards miles for a $5,000 donation, you have no tax deduction, since the points are worth more than the donation.

I would wait for the double clickrewards promotion.

Then you'll have 960,000 points.

Put it into your United account.

You can have a lot of free trips or lots of upgrades for you and Danielle/Scared of KGB!

Take Danielle on a second honeymoon! Or come visit a certain feline in NYC!

(IF Click Rewards is listening I would LOVE a springtime Double Click Transfer promotion to build up my United and/or SPG account!)

Another option is 100K CR-> 100K Starwood-> 125K UA/CO/DL-> 250K Hilton

Hilton offers a Safari Package reward, airfare not included, 6 nights for two people for 250K pts.

Combine this with the Cathay award and you'll still have some points left over.

[This message has been edited by PG (edited 02-28-2001).]

I would avoid away.com, which just very recently laid off 25 of their 125 employees. For that matter, I would avoid Clickrewards and get those points transferred asap (I would probably go with Starwood myself)

I would also avoid scalping!

Anyone bright enough to earn that many clickrewards, should be giving us advice. Not the other way around.

That said, diversify. Spread it out. Do some of each of your ideas...

Thanks for all the feedback, especially the one re Hilton, PG.

There is still a tax write off since the actual # of miles that I receive from WWF is 100k. It is through a combination with other bonuses/promotions that I ended up with more than that.

Just one query - isn't the airline conversion bonus through SPG 25% not 20% but also doesn't it only apply to SPG points earned within the program rather than those transfered from outside? Similarly the 5th night free with a redemption only applies to points earned within the program doesn't it?

Re SPG bonus: You're correct. It is 25%.
Re earned within program: Also correct. But SPG defines ClickRewards points as "earned within program."

Yes Starwood bonus for airline transfer is 25%. For a loyal Starwood customer, the airline transfer should not be a problem.

There are caps on how much you can transfer from Starwood to an airline. If you could get around this cap by doing multiple transfers, 200K CR -> 200K Starwood -> 250K British Airways = 2 first class US-Africa tickets. You need fewer points for business class tickets.

Dude, what's the UA conversion? You could do the United Round-the-world promo or you could do one of the Hilton packages, they're pretty nice.

As as far as Starwood, it's nice because they don't do blackouts on rewards.

I think transferring to SPG is your best bet, but I wouldn't do it all at once - if there is a double conversion you would be unhappy with yourself. If you belong to AA frquest flyer program, and you are not yet lifetime gold (1 MM), this would make you pretty darn close, and you could be elite for life.

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DtG