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The Points Guy believes that credit cards can transform lives, helping you leverage everyday spending for cash back or travel experiences that might otherwise be out of reach. That's why we publish a variety of editorial content and card comparisons: to help you find a great card to turn your goals into reality.
Our site may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened with our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear. While we don't cover all available credit cards, our editorial team creates and maintains all of the analysis of these cards, and our content is not influenced nor subject to review by any credit card company, bank or partner prior to (or after) publication. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
Guides
How TPG determines its points and miles valuations
Katie Genter is a digital nomad who has traveled full time since June 2017. She writes and edits stories about points and miles, and loyalty programs, often letting her personal experiences color these stories.
Ben Smithson is a senior writer for TPG and is based in London. Originally from Australia and a qualified lawyer with a financial services background, he has almost a decade of experience writing about a broad range of travel and loyalty topics.
Nick Ewen is TPG's editor-in-chief and helps readers leverage credit cards (he has more than 25 of them) and loyalty programs to travel more for less. He's been at TPG for over 11 years.
also contributed to this story
August 3, 2026 • 9 min read
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By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
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Quick summary
TPG publishes monthly points and miles valuations to help travelers assess when redeeming rewards offers good value compared to paying cash.
Valuations for some airline programs use extensive search data, factoring in taxes and fees.
Most hotel program valuations rely on median redemption rates from a large set of properties.
For transferable rewards, TPG considers both the flexibility of transfer partners and the base value of non-transfer redemptions to determine overall worth.
What to consider
Many valuations are calculated using millions of data points from recent searches, but some programs rely on expert analysis.
Redemption rates are rounded and reflect the most common value travelers can expect.
Other factors, including your personal cash or points balance, may influence your redemption decisions.
What you'll miss from the article
A detailed explanation of TPG's data-driven methodology for valuing points and miles across major airline, hotel and transferable reward programs.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
TPG publishes monthly points and miles valuations. These valuations are designed to help you decide when redeeming points or miles provides good value, and when you should book a paid rate and save your rewards for another trip.
Our valuations estimate the value travelers can reasonably expect when using rewards for their most valuable general redemption type — typically award flights for airline miles (especially in premium cabins), hotel stays for hotel points and transfers to select, high-value partners for transferable rewards. They aren’t intended to reflect the maximum value possible from an exceptional redemption, nor a bare minimum you can expect every time you redeem your rewards.
TPG's methodology for airline loyalty program valuations
For our airline loyalty program valuations, we use extensive data from Points Path for some programs (denoted with a * in the valuations post). Points Path is best known as a Chrome extension that displays award pricing next to paid pricing in Google Flights.
For these data-backed airline valuations, we consider a trimmed average of the redemption rates observed by Points Path users, excluding unusually high and low results.
For each monthly valuation, we analyze searches conducted during the previous three months for travel scheduled within a defined 10-month booking window. These searches include both domestic and international routes, though the proportions for each program depend on the flights that Points Path users search for.
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In general, we subtract the taxes and fees charged on the award from the comparable cash price, then divide the remaining amount by the number of points or miles required. We match the cabin and fare conditions, meaning basic economy fares are only compared to basic economy awards. We round the final valuations to the nearest five-hundredths of a cent.
As you can imagine, that's a lot of data points to consider for most programs. Here's a look at just how many itineraries were included in each program's August 2026 valuation:
Air Canada Aeroplan: 169,668
Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards: 1,367,436
American Airlines AAdvantage: 2,680,130
Avianca Lifemiles: 56,405
Delta SkyMiles: 1,814,628
Flying Blue: 131,842
Qantas Frequent Flyer: 108,534
United MileagePlus: 2,020,934
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club: 66,844
We consider not only flights operated by the airline but also awards from some of its partners that you can book through the airline's loyalty program. However, Points Path only collects data for some of each airline's partners, so we can only include awards on partners when Points Path gathers data for them.
Points Path only covers some of the loyalty programs we value. And in some cases, Points Path doesn't collect enough data for the resulting valuation to be representative. For these programs (which aren't denoted with a * in the valuations post), a small group of TPG staffers who are points and miles experts and analyze loyalty programs daily, determine the program's valuation based on a combination of factors. Some aspects the group considers include the price at which we would purchase points or miles, award costs in the program (including taxes and fees, change and cancellation fees and award rates), award availability and ease of using the program.
TPG's methodology for hotel loyalty program valuations
For our hotel loyalty program valuations, we use extensive data from Gondola for most programs (denoted with a ** in the valuations post). Gondola is a free hotel search and direct booking platform for frequent travelers.
For these data-backed hotel valuations, we calculate the median redemption rate and round the result to the nearest five-hundredths of a cent. The searches for each month's valuations run over a few days and are completed shortly before each month's valuation publishes. Gondola pulls new data each month, so our valuations represent how users could have redeemed their hotel points shortly before each valuation is published.
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We use different statistical measures because airline and hotel redemption rates are distributed differently. Airline valuations use a trimmed average, while hotel valuations use the median to limit the effect of exceptionally valuable or poor redemptions and better reflect the typical value available across a program’s portfolio.
As with our airline loyalty program valuations, we consider a large number of properties and data points in our hotel loyalty program valuations. Here's how many properties and total data points we considered in our August 2026 valuations:
Program
Properties considered
Total data points
Choice Privileges
2,638
863,227
Hilton Honors
7,979
2,499,048
IHG One Rewards
5,363
902,664
Marriott Bonvoy
9,002
3,008,682
World of Hyatt
1,887
552,269
Wyndham Rewards
6,661
2,154,207
When calculating redemption rates, we include property fees in the comparable paid rate for Hilton Honors, World of Hyatt and Wyndham Rewards, since these programs waive resort fees on award stays. However, because Gondola only considers one-night stays in its data set, lower rates from programs that offer a fourth or fifth night free on award stays or discounted extended-stay rates on paid stays aren't included in our valuations.
We calculate one redemption rate using only refundable rates and another using all eligible rates, including nonrefundable rates, and report the higher of the two. In both cases, only rates booked directly through the hotel loyalty program are considered.
Gondola doesn't yet support several hotel loyalty programs that we value. For these programs, we report the exact rate you can get when redeeming points in fixed-value programs like Accor Live Limitless. But for other programs, a small group of TPG staffers who are loyalty program experts determines the program's valuation based on a combination of factors, including the price at which we'd buy the program's points, award costs in the program and award availability.
TPG's methodology for transferable rewards valuations
The most powerful aspect of transferable rewards is their flexibility. Rather than being limited to a single airline or hotel program, you can transfer your rewards to whichever program provides the best value once you're ready to book an award. This also protects you from devaluations, as you don't need to transfer any rewards until you are ready to use them.
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In Sept. 2023, we updated our methodology for valuing transferable rewards, which remains in place today. We calculate these valuations on the following features of each program:
The base value for cash-equivalent redemptions (e.g., statement credits, cash back, Amazon.com redemptions)
The base value for travel redemptions
The number, quality and uniqueness of transfer partners
Our proprietary formula uses this information to compute the extra value a savvy traveler can unlock by leveraging key transfer partners and booking award sweet spots within each program, which is usually the most valuable way to use transferable rewards. As a result, a currency with a strong redemption floor and several valuable transfer partners will receive a higher valuation than one with limited transfer options or weak nontransfer redemptions.
Use TPG's valuations as a guide to how much value you should aim to get when redeeming your points and miles.
Specifically, calculate your redemption rate each time you consider redeeming points or miles. For example, if a hotel stay costs $500 or 40,000 points, the redemption rate is 1.25 cents per point. You can also use the TPG points versus cash calculator.
If the redemption rate is similar to or higher than TPG’s valuation, it generally represents a solid use of your rewards. If it is lower, you may want to save your rewards for another redemption.
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However, other aspects may come into play when you're deciding whether to pay cash or redeem rewards for a flight or hotel. For example, if you tend to earn more points and miles than you can spend on the travel you want to take, then you may be willing to redeem rewards even when your redemption rate is low. Likewise, if money is tight, you may want to redeem rewards even if your redemption rate is low to avoid paying cash for a trip.
TPG's valuations are intended to provide a practical benchmark for deciding whether to redeem points and miles or pay cash.
Some valuations are based on millions of current data points from Points Path and Gondola, while others are carefully determined by TPG expert staffers using factors such as award pricing, availability, fees and the cost of buying the same rewards.
However, no valuation can account for every traveler's circumstances. Consider the redemption rate you'd receive, what you would otherwise pay, your points and cash balances and how easily you can replenish your rewards. A low-value redemption isn't necessarily a bad choice — especially if it lets you take a trip you couldn't otherwise afford — but our valuations can help you understand the trade-off you're making.
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
