To find out, NerdWallet performed a comprehensive, data-driven analysis of dozens of airline, hotel and general credit card rewards programs. We compared cash and award bookings across many dates and cities to determine how much actual value you can expect to get from any given points or miles.
How points and miles valuations work
Valuations approximate how much your points and miles might be worth in terms of dollars and cents when redeemed for travel.
Unlike many point and mile valuations, ours are drawn from real-world data. They are not hypothetical or maximized values based on idealized conditions, but actual estimates of how many cents per point or mile you can expect to get when making award bookings.
For point valuations, we used the median value from each loyalty program dataset. This assures that the data isn’t skewed by a few number of outliers with really high or low redemption values.
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How much are airline miles worth? We searched for cash and point prices for round trip, main cabin economy airfare with each airline, for flights booked 15, 60, 90 and 180 days in advance.
Here’s what we found in our most recent analysis.
World of Hyatt has the most valuable hotel points at 1.8 cents apiece, more than four times the value of the least valuable hotel reward currency, Hilton Honors.
|
Hotel loyalty program |
Estimated point value (October 2026) |
|---|---|
|
0.8 cent |
|
|
0.4 cent |
|
|
0.6 cent |
|
|
0.7 cent |
|
|
1.8 cents |
|
|
0.7 cent |
|
Rewards program |
Baseline value per point |
NerdWallet estimated point value (October 2026) |
NerdWallet value is based on |
|---|---|---|---|
|
1 cent |
1.3 cents |
Avianca LifeMiles |
|
|
Bank of America Travel Rewards |
1 cent |
1 cent |
The fixed value of Bank of America points |
|
Bilt Rewards |
1.25 cents |
1.8 cents |
World of Hyatt |
|
1 cent |
1.3 cents |
Avianca LifeMiles |
|
|
1 cent |
1.8 cents |
World of Hyatt |
|
|
1 cent |
1.4 cents |
World of Hyatt, JetBlue TrueBlue and Southwest Rapid Rewards |
|
|
1 cent |
1.7 cents |
American Airlines AAdvantage |
|
|
1 cent |
1.2 cents |
American Airlines AAdvantage |
|
|
Discover miles |
1 cent |
1 cent |
The fixed value of Discover miles |
|
1 cent |
1.4 cents |
JetBlue TrueBlue |
How points valuations have changed over time
Here’s how the historical data stacks up.
Compared to 2025, the value of domestic airline miles stayed flat or increased. However, the story is a mixed bag for international carriers.
-
Overall, the value of domestic airline miles has increased in the past few years. Since 2020, the value of airline miles has increased for every domestic loyalty program aside from Southwest Rapid Rewards.
-
Increased airfare costs in 2026 resulted in better value for your miles. When cash fares increase faster than the number of miles you need for the same flight, the value of airline miles rise. Higher cash prices in 2026 resulted in a better value for your miles with Alaska, American and Southwest.
-
Cardholder pricing can get you even better value. Not reflected in these numbers are discounts you can get by holding the right airline card. For example, United and Delta offer cardholders at least a 10% discount on the number of miles required for an award flight.
-
Carrier-imposed fees also increased. Many international airlines increased fees on award flights in 2026 to account for spikes in fuel and operational costs, leading to less value for your miles. For example, fees for a Virgin Atlantic award ticket went up by an average of 64% compared to 2025, contributing to a decrease in the median Flying Club point value.
The biggest changes in 2026 occurred with Hyatt and Marriott.
-
World of Hyatt points are still in a league of their ownwith a valuation that’s more than double other programs. Although Hyatt revamped its award chart in 2026we didn’t see a change in the median value of Hyatt points. That’s because it was primarily a few number of aspirational properties that saw an increase in award prices.
-
Marriott points lost value. Award nights at approximately 95% of Marriott properties became more expensive in mid-2026, resulting in a considerable devaluation compared to 2025.
Popular transferrable points cards
For airline valuations, we collected real-world data on thousands of flights. We compared cash prices to award redemptions for the same flights. For example, we cross-referenced the cost of flying round-trip from New York to Los Angeles using either cash or award miles. Then, we divided the cost of the cash tickets by the cost of the award tickets to determine a “cent per mile” value for each flight.
Fare classes
We compared main cabin fares across all airlines. We did not include basic economy fares.
Domestic airline routs
-
10 domestic routes, including a combination of short (under 650 miles), mid-length (651-1,500 miles), and transcontinental (over 1,500 miles) routes.
-
10 international routes.
International airline routes
Dates
For each airline and route combination, we searched for pricing across the same routes at 15 days, 60 days, 90 days and 180 days until departure.
Hotel valuation methodology
Credit card valuation methodology
Credit card point values were set based on the transfer partner with the highest point value for each program.
The provided valuations represent the median value of each dataset.
How to maximize your rewards
Source: www.nerdwallet.com
