Book low-end or luxury hotels to get the best value from your points

19.02.2024 - 17:40 / thepointsguy.com

After saving up your points and miles to redeem for your dream vacation, you want to ensure you are getting the best value. AT TPG, we've created points and miles valuations to help you better understand the average value your rewards are worth.

When it comes to booking a hotel room, there are a healthy number of ways to get huge value for your points, such as:

However, there's one philosophy you can follow to nearly guarantee yourself a great deal every time. Keep reading to find out the best ways to use hotel points to (almost always) get outsize value.

Related: How (and why) you should earn transferable credit card points in 2024

Here are the current TPG valuations for the most popular hotel chains:

All but Hyatt have abandoned an award chart, as loyalty programs have migrated the way of "dynamic award pricing." That basically means hotels will charge you whatever they feel like, with cash prices and demand likely contributing to the award price.

Still, as a rule of thumb (there are certainly exceptions), you'll get significantly more value than the figures listed above by redeeming your points for either the absolute cheapest or the most expensive hotels you can find.

For example, there are almost 200 Marriott hotels in the Dallas area. Here are the lowest award prices for a random date in November.

The cheapest rate is at the Courtyard Dallas-Fort Worth/Bedford. You'll pay 12,000 points per night for a room selling for $131. That's a value of 1.09 cents per Marriott point. Since TPG values Marriott points at 0.84 cents apiece, it's not a spectacular redemption but is significantly better than more middle-of-the-road hotels like the Renaissance Dallas Richardson Hotel. This hotel charges 23,000 points for a night costing $124, a below-average value of 0.54 cents per point. Let's scroll down the page to examine the opposite end of the award price gamut.

The JW Marriott Dallas Arts District costs 43,000 points for a night that otherwise costs $564 — providing a value per point of 1.31 cents. And The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas costs 87,000 points for a $1,042 night, yielding a value of 1.2 cents per point. As you can see, the best value for redeeming your points for hotel stays tends to exist when booking super-cheap or luxury hotels.

Related: What are the best hotel rewards programs in the world?

If you know the destination you're after, head to the hotel website where you plan to book. For this example, let's use Hyatt.

First, enter the location and desired travel dates. Make sure to click the "Use Points" box located below the dates.

Then, on the results page, you can use the filter menu to sort available hotels by award price. Make your selection and click "Apply."

We can now see all available