What Points Are Worth

What we actually got

Three trips, booked with points we earned, written up with the real numbers. The cents-per-point figure for each is calculated, not quoted: cash price minus the fees we still paid, divided by the points spent.

All 3 beat the 1.38¢ average of the published defaults below, and 2 of the 3 beat the highest default in the whole table (2.30¢). That is not a boast, it is the point: published valuations describe a typical good redemption, and a specific redemption you chose deliberately should do better. The 7.54¢ figure is a cruise and an outlier by any standard. Treat 2.18¢ as the honest floor of what a considered booking returns. Three trips is a small sample and we are not going to pretend otherwise.

The methodology page works one of these through line by line →

Why transferring never seems to add value on paper

Here is something the numbers say that surprises people. We applied every real transfer ratio to every partner's published valuation, across all 7 bank currencies and 76 priced partners. Exactly one is worth more per point than the currency you would send.

The exception, named rather than buried: Rove Miles at 1.50¢ reaches ALL Accor Live Limitless at 3:2, worth 1.53¢ after the ratio. The margin is small enough to be noise in the underlying valuations rather than a strategy.

If you read those numbers naively you would conclude that transferring always destroys value and nobody should ever do it. That conclusion is wrong, and understanding why is the most useful thing on this page.

A bank currency's published valuation already assumes you transfer it well. The 2.05¢ on Chase points is not what they are worth sitting in the account. It is roughly what someone gets who moves them to the right partner at the right moment. The partner programs are valued on their own average redemption, which includes every mediocre one. So the two numbers are measuring different things and comparing them directly tells you nothing.

The practical version: a published valuation cannot tell you whether a specific transfer is a good idea. Only the booking in front of you can, which is the arithmetic on the cash or points calculator. Our own trips returned 2.18¢ to 7.54¢ precisely because each redemption was chosen, not averaged.

The default rates we use

These are not our numbers. They are The Points Guy's published valuations, which they recalculate monthly and document the method for. We use them as the starting default because a shared, publicly explained baseline is more useful to you than a figure we made up, and because pretending otherwise would undermine the point of this page. Every one is editable in the tracker, and the total follows whatever you set.

Bank transferable currencies

Bank transferable currencies average 1.89¢, ranging from 1.50¢ to 2.20¢.

Airline programs

Airline programs average 1.35¢, ranging from 1.10¢ to 1.55¢.

Hotel programs

Hotel programs average 0.98¢, ranging from 0.40¢ to 2.30¢.

What these numbers are not

• Not a price. Nobody will buy your points at these rates. They are a way of comparing options, not a market.
• Not a promise. Programs devalue, sometimes with no notice. A balance sitting still is depreciating quietly, which is the best argument for having a redemption in mind.
• Not yours. The rate that matters is the one you achieve. If you consistently get 1.2¢ from a program valued at 2.0¢, then for you it is worth 1.2¢, and pretending otherwise just inflates a number on a screen.

Value your own balances at rates you choose →

Transfer ratios last verified September 13, 2026. Trip figures are calculated from the bookings in each report.