One of the biggest, yet most common, mistakes I see when it comes to transferable rewards is a misunderstanding of their potential value.
Friends and family members have come to me proudly proclaiming they booked a trip with their points or miles. However, as they happily discuss their booking, I realize they redeemed transferable rewards at a rate well below TPG’s valuations.
For example, if you use American Express’ Pay with Points when booking through the Amex Travel portal, you’ll only get 1 cent per point on flights and 0.7 cents per point on hotels. However, TPG’s May 2025 valuations estimate you can get 2 cents per point by instead transferring your points to a good-value Amex transfer partner, such as Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue program or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
Likewise, you’ll get between 1 and 1.5 cents per point depending on your card when redeeming through Chase Travel℠. However, if you have a card that allows you to transfer your points, it’s easy to get much more value with good-value Chase transfer partners such as World of Hyatt.
So, before you redeem transferable points through your issuer’s travel portal, consider whether you could book the flight or stay that you want through one of your issuer’s transfer partners. In some cases — such as booking IHG hotels with Chase points — you may find booking through the portal costs fewer points. But in most cases, you’ll get better value by utilizing credit card transfer partners.
If you’re just getting started, check out TPG’s Points 101 series to learn how to transfer points to partners for maximum value, and check out the following stories:
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