What Are Points Worth?

Hey beginner travel hackers! Read to learn what points are worth…

Bank card reward programs like Am Ex Membership Rewards, Capital One Venture Rewards, Citi Thank You Points, and “The Blue Bank” UR points have a fixed point value when you redeem the points through their travel booking portal (think Expedia within the bank’s website/app). They can range anywhere from 1-1.5 cents per point depending on the bank and the card.

But what about airline and hotel points programs and cards? Those point values aren’t fixed. So how do you know what those points are worth? Well, it’s a simple division problem to solve!

First you’ll need to run two searches on the hotel or airline’s website as if you were going to book a room or flight. One time with cash selected and once with points selected in the search screen.

➗Divide the cash value that’s displayed in the first search by the points required in the second search and now you know what a point is worth for that specific date! It CAN fluctuate based on dates and locations.

Why does this matter? Because sometimes when you convert those bank card points to one of its travel partner programs 1:1, you can receive much more monetary value out of a point than the fixed value you’d receive through the bank’s travel portal!