We analyzed the value of 27 different loyalty programs' points and miles to help you make smart money moves.
Making the most of travel rewards requires some understanding of the basic questions, like how much each reward currency is worth. Earning 100,000 points sounds great, but what does that mean in terms of dollars?
To find out, NerdWallet performed a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of 15 airlines, seven hotel programs, and nine credit card rewards programs. We compared to cash and award bookings across many dates and cities to determine how much actual value you can expect to get from any given points or miles.
What points valuations mean
Unlike many point and mile valuations, ours are drawn from real-world data. They are not hypothetical or maximized values based on idealized conditions, but actual estimates of how many cents per point or mile you can expect to get when making award bookings. Basically, we looked up thousands of travel bookings using either cash or miles and directly calculated the results.
For determining the value of airline miles and hotel points, we picked the 75th percentile value rather than the average or median. This means that for every four searches, we picked the one that offered the highest value. We believe this reflects how travelers shop for award bookings — by comparing cash and point redemptions across several dates.
Consider these values a “baseline” for what you could actually get when using your award currency to book regular trips (i.e., we're not limiting our search just to travel options where you'd receive outsize value).
If you get our baseline value or more from a given redemption, you’re getting a good deal.
Airline miles values
How much are airline miles worth?