I look at reasonable replacement value - i,e. what would I buy if I paid cash. If a business class ticket is 100k points, it doesn't matter if the sticker price is $10k because I would never pay $10k cash for it. If an economy flight is $500, I might pay $1k for business so it's 100k points for $1k worth of value. Also I don't limit myself to just the major US chains for hotels. If its 25k Hyatt points for a $500 night hotel, but an equally good local hotel is only $250, I'm only getting $250 value from 25k points.
Great way to think, and same here! It's also important to look at round trip prices divided by 2, instead of one-way given airlines jack up the prices for those... Also hotels outside of the US, especially in Asia could be so much cheaper for really good quality!
There’s one missing step in your cpp calculations, the cash back value of buying travel in cash. For instance, getting 2, 3 or even 5% cash back when buying travel in cash, or even more if using something like Rakuten plus earning miles or points with the individual airline or hotel from paying in cash. This could give you an effective 6% cash back. So if a $1000 booking was 100,000 points meaning 1cpp, it’s not, because if paid cash it would only be $940 effectively and .0094 cpp. Summary, buying in points is an automatic 6% increase in price, so that must be accounted for.
That's a great point! There's so much nuance to it, with some covered in the video, and some like you mentioned here. The most accurate way is to calculate the values for your own situations given your cards, travel desires, any special links or offers, etc!
Great video! We're trying to understand if we should use our Chase Sapphire Reserve points or pay cash for an upcoming flight. Could you please help us with this scenario? For some reason, when we look up a flight we are trying to take through Air France, the price is much higher when trying to book it through the chase portal. $2,034 versus $1,694. Any idea why that would be? Regardless, could you help us understand a formula to decide whether it would be worth purchasing the flight with cash or using the points? Also, if by chance the prices were the same on the portal as they are on the air france website, what formula would we use in this case to decide which to use? I hope that makes sense. Thanks in advance for your help!
That's a good question! I haven't needed to do that myself yet, but from looking at datapoints online, seems like it should (at least via points.com which buying Aeroplan points uses)
Question for you: How often do you book travel with points vs. cash? Do you prefer one over the other? How do YOU decide? 👇
I look at reasonable replacement value - i,e. what would I buy if I paid cash. If a business class ticket is 100k points, it doesn't matter if the sticker price is $10k because I would never pay $10k cash for it. If an economy flight is $500, I might pay $1k for business so it's 100k points for $1k worth of value. Also I don't limit myself to just the major US chains for hotels. If its 25k Hyatt points for a $500 night hotel, but an equally good local hotel is only $250, I'm only getting $250 value from 25k points.
Great way to think, and same here! It's also important to look at round trip prices divided by 2, instead of one-way given airlines jack up the prices for those... Also hotels outside of the US, especially in Asia could be so much cheaper for really good quality!
Very much underrated channel! Thank you, Kevin!
You're welcome! Hope you found some of these considerations helpful! Do you have a favorite way of booking travel?
The new editing looks sick 🤘🏽
Thanks! Trying out some different styles
Great Video Kevin
Thanks for watching!
There’s one missing step in your cpp calculations, the cash back value of buying travel in cash. For instance, getting 2, 3 or even 5% cash back when buying travel in cash, or even more if using something like Rakuten plus earning miles or points with the individual airline or hotel from paying in cash. This could give you an effective 6% cash back. So if a $1000 booking was 100,000 points meaning 1cpp, it’s not, because if paid cash it would only be $940 effectively and .0094 cpp. Summary, buying in points is an automatic 6% increase in price, so that must be accounted for.
That's a great point! There's so much nuance to it, with some covered in the video, and some like you mentioned here. The most accurate way is to calculate the values for your own situations given your cards, travel desires, any special links or offers, etc!
Great video! We're trying to understand if we should use our Chase Sapphire Reserve points or pay cash for an upcoming flight. Could you please help us with this scenario?
For some reason, when we look up a flight we are trying to take through Air France, the price is much higher when trying to book it through the chase portal.
$2,034 versus $1,694. Any idea why that would be?
Regardless, could you help us understand a formula to decide whether it would be worth purchasing the flight with cash or using the points?
Also, if by chance the prices were the same on the portal as they are on the air france website, what formula would we use in this case to decide which to use?
I hope that makes sense. Thanks in advance for your help!
I always burn them points, no point hoarding them as they deprecate over time.
Also a good strategy! Do you have at least some minimum you aim for, like 1cpp? And do you have ways to constantly refill your points balance?
Does buying points/miles count towards a SUB for a new card? Probably different for each issuer?
That's a good question! I haven't needed to do that myself yet, but from looking at datapoints online, seems like it should (at least via points.com which buying Aeroplan points uses)
hi Kevin, does AMEX charge cards (Green, Gold & Platinum) count towards Chase 5/24?
thanks
Yes they do, as long as they're personal cards (which they are)
What dates are that vancouver to osaka because I aing seeing it.
They were for mid-end of May 2024 (just got back actually!), booked in Feb 2024