Cents Per Point Calculator
The single most useful number in points and miles: what each point is actually getting you on this booking.
What the same room or seat costs in money, all-in.
The award price.
Cash you still have to pay on the award booking. Often $0 for hotels, and substantial on some airlines.
Sets the baseline we compare against.
Value per point
2.08¢
Fair. About what these points are usually worth.
You're getting $520.00 of value for 25,000 points.
Our baseline for World of Hyatt is 2.0¢, so this is 4% above what we'd normally expect.
One caveat the math can't handle: only count the cash price if you'd genuinely have paid it. Valuing a suite you'd never book at its rack rate flatters every redemption.
How It Works
The formula is simple enough to do on a napkin: (cash price − taxes and fees) ÷ points × 100. What makes it useful is having something to compare the answer to, which is what the baseline does.
What Counts As A Good Number
It depends entirely on which points you're spending. Two cents per point is an excellent result with Hilton Honors and a poor one with World of Hyatt. That's why the calculator asks which currency you're using rather than applying one universal threshold.
The Trap
Cents per point flatters expensive bookings. A business-class seat with a $9,000 sticker price will always look like a spectacular redemption — but only if you'd have spent $9,000. If the real alternative was a $900 economy ticket, then that's the number you should be dividing by.
Ask yourself what you would genuinely have booked with your own money, and use that.
Next
If the redemption looks good, the transfer partner calculator will show you how to get the points into the right program. And the redemption lesson of the free 101 guide covers the booking sequence in full.