💰 What Are Points and Miles Worth in 2025?

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Every time you hear about another airline award chart disappearing or a hotel program devaluation, it’s fair to ask: is the points game even worth it anymore? Most of the news makes it sound like things are only getting worse, but I still believe we’re living in the golden age of credit card points and miles.

Why? Because while redemptions have gotten more expensive, you can now earn points way faster than ever before. Cards that once gave 1x or 2x now give 4x or 5x, and welcome bonuses of 100,000+ points are more common than ever. It’s clear the earning side of the game has never been better.

📊 The Different Types of Points

Not all points are created equal, and knowing the differences matters.

• Airline & Hotel Points: These kinds of points are what most people are familiar with. They’re great for flights and stays, but they’re not very portable. You usually can’t transfer airline miles to friends or family (though you can book for them), and hotel points vary widely in value.

• Transferable Points: My favorite type of points! You can transfer to airlines or hotels, redeem in portals (often at 1¢/point), or sometimes cash out. This optionality makes them more valuable than single-airline or hotel points, and frequent transfer bonuses make them even better. 

• Fake Points: Some programs (like Bank of America) call them “points,” but really they’re just cash-back in disguise. If you can’t transfer them to airlines or hotels, I put them in the “fake” bucket.

🔢 How to Calculate Your Point Values

There are two big reasons to calculate point values. First, it helps you compare rewards: 200k Hilton points aren’t as valuable as 100k transferable points, and earning 3x Hilton points might underperform a 2x Venture card once you do the math. Second, it helps you decide if the points game beats cash back. If your points are worth 2¢ each, a 2x card earns an effective 4% back, however, if they’re only worth 1¢, that same card is really just giving you 2% back.

Here’s how I think about it:

• Floor Value: For transferable points, the floor is ~1¢ since you can almost always redeem them for that value in a travel portal or for a statement credit. For Airline miles, the floor is usually near 1¢ (or higher), while most hotel points (excluding Hyatt) are closer to 0.5¢.

• Expert Valuations: The posts about point valuations from The Points Guy and One Mile at a Time are a great resource, but often assume you're going to use your points for the best types of redemptions. Alternatively, Frequent Miler publishes “reasonable redemption values,” and are a bit lower to reflect what’s easily achievable for the average traveler.

• Data-Driven Valuations: Tools like Points Path and AwardWallet analyze real airline redemption data for their valuations. Points Path compares cash vs. points across thousands of flights, while AwardWallet tracks what members actually book. The data confirms what most of us know: premium cabins and long-haul flights give the best value, while domestic economy or programs like Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest rarely deliver outsized redemptions. For hotels, tools like Gondola (get $50 here if you want to check it out) show Hyatt consistently leading the pack in value, with luxury properties across chains (Conrad, St. Regis, Ritz, etc.) delivering better value than standard properties.

⚠️ Mistakes to Avoid When Valuing Points

Calculating the value of your points isn’t just dividing the cash price by the points cost. There are a few common mistakes I see all the time.

1. Ignoring Taxes and Fees: A $150 flight for 10,000 points looks like 1.5¢/point, but once you subtract taxes (which can be quite expensive for some carriers), the real value is lower.

2. Overestimating Value with Unrealistic Comparisons: Don’t assume your points are worth 6¢ just because you booked a $3,000 business class ticket for 50k miles. If you’d never pay $3,000 for that flight, you might be overvaluing your points. Always compare against a realistic amount you would have paid for the flight.

3. Forgetting Points Earned on Paid Travel: On cash bookings, you earn airline miles, hotel points, and elite credits (often worth 10–20% of cost the ticket). On most awards, you don’t. So a $150 flight might get $15-30 back in points/elite status, which means that if you were comparing it to 10k points and were thinking it'd be 1.5¢/point, it might be closer to 1.2¢ when you account for this.

4. Not Factoring in Flexibility: Points often come with more generous cancellation policies than cash. If you cancel a $3,000 Lufthansa cash ticket, you’re stuck with a credit; canceling an award often gives you your points back. That flexibility adds real value.

My rule of thumb: subtract the taxes, compare to a realistic round-trip fare, and subtract 10–20% for the missed earnings on paid tickets.

🎯 My Point Valuation Framework

Here’s how I personally value points in 2025.

• Transferable Points: ~1.7¢ each. They’re flexible and often boosted by transfer bonuses, so worth more than the underlying airline miles and hotel points.

• Airline Miles: Generally 1.2–1.5¢, with the higher values for airlines that offer outsized value with premium cabin bookings.

• Hotel Points: It's not as consistent, so I usually say: Hilton/IHG at 0.5¢, Choice at 0.6¢, Marriott at 0.7¢, and Hyatt at ~1.6¢.

Once you have your value in mind, ask yourself: Would I actually buy these points at the price I say they’re worth? If not, your personal valuation is probably too high.

At the end of the day, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but I still think earning points is absolutely worth it. If you love premium travel and are willing to put some work, points can deliver incredible value. However, if you just want simple, flexible rewards, it's hard to argue with cashback.