Spending Points

[HanoiIG]

I'm not certain whether I should have posted this elsewhere. Sorry if this is not proper forum. OK, I have learned to accumulate points and miles and have quite a few in various places. 100K MR, about 600K UR, Airline miles wife and I separate AK-180K and 85K, AV 480K and 350K , AA 50K and 100K, DL 134K and 139K a few on SQ and e hotel Hilton over 350K, IHG 115K and 85K. I know what to do with my primary hotel Accor points as a week in Dec/Jan got me halfway to Platinum. I just spend points once I reach the status for next year.

My question is: should I be using these points before chasing others? Should I just scan forums and points/miles blogs for best uses of MR and UR? If you book the "fine hotels" with Chase or AX, you get benefits when you pay cash plus you get your loyalty benefits. That said, are these points burning a hole in my pocket?

We are both retired and in good enough health to travel. I know I can transfer the credit card points to airlines so that's a thing. I hate to get bad value like paying Amazon or gift cards. Perhaps it is worth booking something through Chase or AX travel portal and using points as Chase is $.015 instead of .01.

Yes, I realize it is entirely up to me but does anyone think I might stop accumulating? I have pretty much always been Accor Platinum and will likely always be. HIlton and IHG give something with the credit card. I'm rambling so will stop now.

When I get free time I promise to peruse the fora and see if I can give something back. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ttitle]

Maybe plan a trip and then go from there? I usually plan two years in advance and it gives me a good idea where I need points. You have enough for several trips and probably still cash out some of the URs. I doubt you can stop accumulating even if you wanted to

 

[HanoiIG]

Maybe plan a trip and then go from there? I usually plan two years in advance and it gives me a good idea where I need points. You have enough for several trips and probably still cash out some of the URs. I doubt you can stop accumulating even if you wanted to

Good idea. We are old so probably can't plan that far in advance, though of course we could. Might be taking a family trip this summer so could possibly find a way to use some. I'm usually not that generous but in the long run we are all dead. Could go back to La Mamounia. That would use a ton of points!

 

[jnjustice]

My question is: should I be using these points before chasing others? Should I just scan forums and points/miles blogs for best uses of MR and UR? If you book the "fine hotels" with Chase or AX, you get benefits when you pay cash plus you get your loyalty benefits. That said, are these points burning a hole in my pocket?

I find that it is good to have a plan for points before you accumulate a lot of them in case of an incoming devaluation. Things like MR and UR are less likely to devalue except maybe in transfer ratio instead of as a whole but if you are working towards AA or DL miles or even specific hotel ones then I would recommend having a redemption in mind since those tend to vary by location and such.

 

[HanoiIG]

Thanks. I guess the MR and UR you can't really help as spend creates points. What I mean is that perhaps I should either spend as I go or use them for something really big, like for a huge airline fare or even just when I can't find an award. Most of the airline came from new cards. Like Pavlov's dog, I see a card and apply for it. Two AX Golds are on the way.

 

[Josh F]

Thanks. I guess the MR and UR you can't really help as spend creates points. What I mean is that perhaps I should either spend as I go or use them for something really big, like for a huge airline fare or even just when I can't find an award. Most of the airline came from new cards. Like Pavlov's dog, I see a card and apply for it. Two AX Golds are on the way.

I use them as a go, as long as I'm getting a reasonable (or better) valuation. I won't redeem UR points at 1 cpp, but if I'm getting around 1.5 cpp (or more) I'm happy. Certain points I do try to save up for certain packages (e.g. Hilton 5th night free).

 

[asc8u]

My question is: should I be using these points before chasing others? Should I just scan forums and points/miles blogs for best uses of MR and UR?

Looks like you've done a great job accumulating a lot of points. I think once you start to make some plans to use the points, you'll get a better of idea of how far they'll take you and how much you can dial back on getting more. I think it'll probably be hard to give you more specific advise without knowing your travel habits and how many people you're booking for.

 

[HanoiIG]

Looks like you've done a great job accumulating a lot of points. I think once you start to make some plans to use the points, you'll get a better of idea of how far they'll take you and how much you can dial back on getting more. I think it'll probably be hard to give you more specific advise without knowing your travel habits and how many people you're booking for.

We are just two. Just had a trip to SE Asia with all award flights but it barely made a dent in my miles.

Hotels are tricky. If you pay with MR and UR you don’t get status perks or the stuff you get with Fine Hotels or whatever Chase and AX call that.

 

[jnjustice]

We are just two. Just had a trip to SE Asia with all award flights but it barely made a dent in my miles.

You must have accumulated a lot of miles for those not to make a dent. Do you prefer to fly economy, business or first?

Hotels are tricky. If you pay with MR and UR you don’t get status perks or the stuff you get with Fine Hotels or whatever Chase and AX call that.

I find that actually using hotel points, unless there's a promo, is a much better option here. I tend to keep some Hilton and Marriott points on hand in case I need to make a booking.

There are occassions where American Express offers an increased rate on Hilton transfers and if you moved the Amex MR to Hilton and then book you'll get whatever your Hilton status allows.

 

[HanoiIG]

You must have accumulated a lot of miles for those not to make a dent. Do you prefer to fly economy, business or first?

I can't believe anyone in the world prefers to fly economy lol. We tend to fly business except on short hops like a recent HAN-DAD and DAD-SGN

Business on CAthay HKG-JFK only cost us 50000 miles each from AS and 135K each from SQ for EWR-SIN-HAN business


I find that actually using hotel points, unless there's a promo, is a much better option here. I tend to keep some Hilton and Marriott points on hand in case I need to make a booking.

There are occassions where American Express offers an increased rate on Hilton transfers and if you moved the Amex MR to Hilton and then book you'll get whatever your Hilton status allows.

Hotels are tricky since we have a relationship with several Sofitels so always stay there in 5 US cities, 2 in vietnam and 2 in Germany plus a couple more in Eastern Europe. I do have Hilton points but don't love the hotels. My wife will only stay at Mandarin Oriental in Singapore and Bangkok so if I used points I'd get no perks but if I use the AX or Chase Fine Hotels deals you get breakfast and another perk plus upgrade. Fortunately they know us well in both of those cities so they gave us special things for staying there so many times. I guess transferring points to a program may be our best chance. We just got a RT MDT(our home airport)-YYZ but that short hop cost very few LifeMiles. I've gotta find some sort of huge Star Alliance redemption to use my big wad of those LifeMiles but SQ only gives awards to KrisFlyer miles.

Hey it's a First World problem. Some people don't have enough to eat.