Our “Famous Card Explorer”

Instant Transfers as well as solid transfer partners. The value would go up if they had any hotel partners with a fair exchange rate. ANA (an exception to instant transfers), Virgin, Air Canada and Avianca are top airline partners for maximizing your points. They can also transfer to Delta if you wish and while the rates aren't ideal, they can transfer to Marriott and Hilton as well.  ANA provides almost unbeatable value for booking a Round the World flight all in Business Class. The stated value also assumes you will take advantage of transfer partners rather than book via their booking portal, where they are only worth between 1 and 1.5 cents. We've also created a Guide to American Express Membership Rewards.

Hyatt award rates range from 3,500 to 45,000 points per night at their regular hotels and resorts. At all-inclusive resorts and Miraval, the prices can reach as high as 58,000 points per night, Almost without fail, during even remotely peak times, we can find roughly 2 cents per point in value. You can even book Suites for incrementally more points (Premium Suite costs twice as much as a room, for example). I tend to find these are one of the best ways to spend Chase Ultimate Rewards points which transfer 1:1. They are the only major hotel program in the US with fixed award charts making it a great program to be able to set goals for your redemptions..

Since AAdvantage moved to revenue based redemptions, they are a bit less valuable than they used to be. However, they can still book First and Business Class seats on oneworld partner airlines like Qatar Airways and Japan Airlines, and we also find that they can have occasional deals with forward cabin seats on American.

The Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, and Ink Preferred all have the ability to transfer to airline and hotel partners. We use an average value that you can expect to get by utilizing your points for these transfer partners. If you do not have at least one of these cards, Ultimate Rewards are worth exactly 1 cent per point. Also keep in mind that when you redeem your points, you can elect to book travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal where the Sapphire Preferred and Ink Preferred have a point value of 1.25 cents per point and the Sapphire Reserve has points worth 1.5 cents each. You can move points freely between your Ultimate Rewards cards, i.e. from a Chase Freedom Unlimited to a Chase Sapphire Reserve. You can also read our Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

While Marriott Bonvoy dropped all award charts in favor of a dynamic pricing system, it hasn't gotten out of hand and the 5th night free on awards can still provide outsized value. It's also hard to beat the breadth of Marriott Bonvoy properties all over the world.

While Marriott Bonvoy dropped all award charts in favor of a dynamic pricing system, it hasn't gotten out of hand and the 5th night free on awards can still provide outsized value. It's also hard to beat the breadth of Marriott Bonvoy properties all over the world.

Since Hilton moved to a variable pricing model, on average you'll be offered roughly a 0.5 cent value per point. What is nice is that although the pricing is mostly variable, they still cap the "standard" redemption rate on all properties. With the 5th night free on all award stays and resort fees waived on award stays, it's very possible to well exceed this value - even getting 1-2 cents per point - when used wisely.

Since AAdvantage moved to revenue based redemptions, they are a bit less valuable than they used to be. However, they can still book First and Business Class seats on oneworld partner airlines like Qatar Airways and Japan Airlines, and we also find that they can have occasional deals with forward cabin seats on American.

Since Hilton moved to a variable pricing model, on average you'll be offered roughly a 0.5 cent value per point. What is nice is that although the pricing is mostly variable, they still cap the "standard" redemption rate on all properties. With the 5th night free on all award stays and resort fees waived on award stays, it's very possible to well exceed this value - even getting 1-2 cents per point - when used wisely.

If you have a Citi Premier card or a legacy Citi Prestige card, you can transfer your points to Citi's full range of airline and hotel partners. Other ThankYou points-earning cards can be pooled with your Premier or Prestige to unlock airline and hotel program transfers. We calculate that you can get an average of 1.6 cents per point when redeeming this way. If you have any other Citi ThankYou point cards and do not have a Premier or Prestige, then your ThankYou points are worth 1 cent each.