Maybe, but when I can get 3x ThankYou points for travel, 2x for dining and entertainment, 9 transfer partners including Singapore Airlines, and a guaranteed 1.6 cents
per point valuation on any American or US Airways airfare, I'd say it pretty much evens out.
Not exact matches
Travel website The
Points Guy lists a
valuation of 1.9 cents
per Membership Rewards
point; based
on that, the welcome offer is worth around $ 1,140.
The Arrival card even gives us 10 % of our
points back as a rebate, so the redemption
valuation becomes 2.2 cents
per dollar
on that $ 73 fare.
Here's a look at my take
on cents
per point valuations and some things to consider.
At a
valuation of 1.5 cents
per point (which is admittedly
on the low side), this amounts to a 9 % return
on Hyatt purchases.
I'll use a conservative
valuation of 1.25 cents
per point based
on their cash value when used to book travel through Ultimate Rewards» own travel agency.
100,000 Marriott
points is worth about $ 800 in travel based
on a
valuation of.8 cents
per point.
Based
on a
valuation of.5 cents
per Hilton
point that's a return of $ 67, or 37 %!
Based
on the average accepted
valuation of United miles of around 1.5 cents
per point the sign up bonus alone is worth $ 1,125 (75,000 x 0.015).
At a
valuation of 1.5 cents
per point, the minimum number of
points required to recoup a $ 150 net annual fee (after the $ 300 travel credit
on the Sapphire Reserve) is 10,000 UR.
Compared to other major hotel loyalty programs, this 25 % bonus for mid-tier status amounts to a 7 % return based
on a
point valuation of.4 cents
per point which is below Marriott, SPG, IHG, and Hyatt.
Plus, this card comes with a decent sign - up bonus that sometimes offers as much as 30,000 Membership Rewards, which would be worth $ 540 based
on a
valuation of 1.8 cents
per point.
Even with a conservative
valuation of 1.5 cents
per Ultimate Reward
point, it's easy to calculate if it's worth holding
on to the Sapphire Reserve
on bonus earning alone.
A cross-country roundtrip is about 5,000 miles, so
on a $ 300 ticket costing 24,000
points, we're effectively burning only 19,000
points, which adds roughly another 0.25 cents
per point to the
valuation.
While 1.6 cents is what I regard as a low
valuation for
points (I prefer to redeem my miles and
points for at least 5 cents
per point in value, if not 8 or 10 cents or more
per point), 1.6 cents isn't horrible given that you'd also be earning miles
on the paid flight.
If you max out the 5x category
on the Ink Plus, you'll be raking in 250,000 Ultimate Rewards
points per year — worth $ 5,250 based
on TPG's latest
valuations.
The default
on the site is 1 cent
per point / mile, but if you add the numbers from TPG's most recent
valuations (for example), the site will automatically update the return you'd get
on your purchases.
Based
on TPG's most recent
valuation of 1.9 cents
per Membership Rewards
point, the welcome offer alone is worth $ 950.