What Are The Best Kinds of Points?

 I am about to teach you the key principle that separates the casual amateurs from the skilled professionals in the travel hacking world. That key principle is: Not all points are created equal. Knowing the different types of points and values of points is essential.  This is a paradigm shifting reality that will make or break your potential for dream travel and help your points to go farther.

So there are four different types  of points, transferable points, hotel points, airline points, and portal points. Let me explain each of those to you one at a time.  

Transferrable Points

These have the highest value and flexibility.  They're the best points by far. For those just starting in travel hacking, I always recommend starting with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, which earns Chase Ultimate Rewards Points.

 Those points are transferable points, and they're currently valued at 2.05¢ each. These are the highest value points out there. That means that earning things like 3x on dining, you get three points for every dollar you spend at a restaurant with your Sapphire card. That means it's potentially worth 6.10 cents or more in value.

The way transferable points work is that they're a pool of points that you can transfer to all kinds of different airline and hotel partners.  

Hotel Points

The second type of points are hotel points, and hotel points have a significant value difference.  

• IHG Points - 0.5¢ per point
• Hilton Points - 0.5¢ per point
• Choice Points - 0.6¢ per point
• Marriott Points - 0.7¢ per point
• Wyndham Points - 1.1¢ per point

But there's actually a hotel brand that blows all of these out of the water... That would be Hyatt. Hyatt points are generally valued at 1.7¢ per point or more. Oftentimes you can find Hyatt redemptions at 2¢, 3¢, 4¢, even 5¢ per point in value.  And with those Hyatt points, you can use those points for all kinds of incredible hotels, resorts, house rentals, and more.  

Airline Points

The third type of points are airline points, and airline points are similar at base value, but often vary on cost.

• Delta Points - 1.25¢ per point - Delta offers the most expensive flights with the least value for their points, and Delta typically requires a whole lot more points in order to book a flight.  
• United Points - 1.4¢ per point
• Southwest Points - 1.4¢ per point - These are even more valuable when you get the Southwest Companion Pass
• JetBlue Points - 1.5¢ per point
• American Points - 1.65¢ per point

 American is the highest in value and very cost effective in price. American points are also a little bit harder to earn, so you want to be able to retain those as best you can.  

Portal Points

Portal points can be used for a variety of travel needs.  But to be clear, you should never cash in portal points for things like gift cards. Gift cards will only give you 0.75¢ cents per point in value. But portal points can be used for a variety of travel needs. You can use them for hotels, flights, excursions, activities, rental cars, and cruises. What's unique about portal points is you can book hotels, but it's not just chain hotels.

You could stay in a historic mansion in a colonial town. You could stay in a boutique place in an international location. You can also book flights on almost any airlines. Regardless of what you want to use those portal points for. You could also use them for all kinds of activities as well.

Maybe that's a wildlife park, a helicopter tour, or a luau and dinner in Hawaii, indoor skydiving, and much more.

The Hierarchy of Points

So if we were to look at the hierarchy of points. Transferable points are always the best. You want to use those points last, not first. Oftentimes you can use transferable points to top off hotel or airline points, or you can use some of those transferable points as portal points if you find a really good redemption.

One thing to note is point, values do change over time. So as those things shift, I encourage you to keep up with each of the values along the way. Overall, it's important to know the different types and values of points because that empowers you to know whether or not you're earning the best points and getting good redemption values when you redeem them.

And once you know that you're in a much better position to maximize every trip that you take.

Your next free trip starts now!