Is there a bigger measuring contest in miles and points than cents per point redemption? This is a close second to the trip to the Maldives. I think we have become too dependent on cents per points redemptions, because I love a good travel brag as the next guy. I wrote about people being influenced in the past and places getting an aura effect that people travel to solely because they think they need their miles and points. A few weeks ago, Tim from Frequent Miler shared his thoughts on my recent article and spoke about redemption happiness versus cents per points valuations. It has become an issue in our community. It was something Benjy talked about in the past.
How many times have you changed your trip due to the fact that it offered you a better cents per point redemption? Do you go out of your way to fly an airline that has inflated prices just because it makes you feel good about the value of your points? Have you ever booked a hotel that wasn't the best fit for you because the redemption was better?
Tim talked about a vacation he had with someone. The person really wanted to stay at the hotel Tim was at but it was only a 35K per night property and he had a 50K cert to burn. He couldn't live with himself if he didn't maximize his certificate, so he booked the more expensive hotel, which wasn't what he wanted, and didn't enjoy his vacation because of it. That is a group of people.
The really cray cray thing is that everyone reading this has done something similar during their travels. Or could follow along with the logic. We have become dependent on the redemption. A great cents per point redemption doesn't make your trip better. I know that it doesn't make the soy sauce better in the first class cabin. Right there is an old podcast. Getting 3 cents per point for that hotel won't make the stay better if you picked it because it was redemption.
How many times have you changed your itinerary? I will be closer to the city center if I book here, but I will be staying in a $1,000 a night hotel room over there. I have done it in the past.
It's like a sickness we have. The prices we are toting are not real. They are not prices we would normally pay or be able to afford a lot of the time. Does the cents per point matter?
There is a novel concept here. You want to book what you want. It's great if that is a top notch hotel or airline. Don't let the redemption drive you, be sure you are driving the redemption. Every redemption is for the birds. It will cause more stress than it is worth and it will devalue your trip.
If you become beholden to status, it's the same thing. Your article about Hyatt Globalist not being for you really hit home to my friend. I want to go to the Caribbean and then look at which islands have a Hyatt hotel. He sometimes does that instead of looking at which island is best for him and then deciding on a hotel to stay at. Sometimes we are getting backasswards.
It isn't saying that knowing what value you are getting is bad or that it isn't useful. It's good to know when you're getting a good deal or not. It allows you to know what is possible for each mile or point. The problem is that your figure will vary from one currency to another. This isn't just one size for all travel hacking. I wanted to look at cash versus points in a completely different way because of how much of the equation depends on how you travel. Do you want to buy points at the rate you are getting when booking a flight or hotel? If you don't want to pay cash, you can book with points.
When you cure yourself of the cents per point sickness, I promise that you will enjoy your travel more, and you will rack up some killer redemption values along the way. It will be a coincidence, but not a driving force in your decision making. This is all about doing what we want. We got into this hobby because of that. We didn't care if we maximized our points or bragged about redemptions. We wanted to stretch our budget and see more of the world. The focus should be on getting back to the pureness of travel.
And remember that in the future you can keep your miles and points in your pants…there is no need to measure here!
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