amex membership rewards addicts

On Feb 25, 10:27*pm, "Mr. Travel" wrote:
Zemarv wrote:
On Feb 25, 7:30 pm, "Mr. Travel" wrote:

me wrote:

*It's an accounting thing, but as has been discussed around here
before,
if one wouldn't actually pay/buy a room for $220, then the points
aren't
"worth" $220.

Great, but it was claimed the average weekend rate was $350, at all of
the Sharaton brands, which I find extremely doubtful.

the point was to show the savings you could get and not to comment on
the room rate.

But, if the statement is that you are saving a specific sum of money on
a rate stated to be the average, then it would seem logical for the
average to actually be the average, rather than a higher number that
would cause you to believe your savings are higher than they actually
are. The quite said it was the average weekend rate

Well, all of this is basically us talking past each other. My
original
response was a question about what one thought a point was "worth".
An example was given, and you have a point that it may have been
fairly
narrow in its applicability to most of us. Even within the narrow
applicability
that it might have, there is still the question of exactly what one
thinks the
points are "worth". Is the example given really what one would pay?
(i.e.
a rack rate almost always avoided by some kind of discounting). Is it
a rate one would otherwise pay or is one merely "upgrading" where they
might otherwise stay by using the "points". What is THAT value?

When I first started collecting FF miles, I saw that the ticket I
could
buy usually implied that the award ticket I got was worth somewhere
around
2 cents a point. It didn't matter what long distance, first class,
international
ticket I might be able to save for over a period of years. I don't
travel
first class, especially over long distances. When I used them for
upgrades,
I calculated what I would be willing to pay for such an upgrade. THAT
is what
the points were worth to me. My original question to the OP was what
they
thought the points were worth. Impicit in the question, but I guess
needs to
be asked more specifically, is what they would use them for and what
purchase that replaces.

On Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:51:05 -0800 (PST), me
wrote:


Well, all of this is basically us talking past each other. My
original
response was a question about what one thought a point was "worth".

American Express charges $25 to buy 1000 points. However, if you want
an American Express gift card, you get a $50 card for 10,000 points.
However all of the other gift cards from other companies offer a $50
gift card for 5000 points.

Depending on how they are used though, it's possible to get better
value.

On Mar 2, 2:13*am, " wrote:
Zemarv wrote:
to all of you out there who are willing to spend the extra dollar or
event change their habits in exchange for membership rewards bonus
points !!
I am becoming a freak about it ... any help here ??

What extra dollar?

I don't see an additional cost to use my Amex card to get AMEX points

This is about bonus points and not regular points for every dollar
spent. Some people rather shop thru the bonus points mall to earn
double points, knowing they are paying for shipping costs for
merchandise that can be purchased from a local retailer. The "extra
dollar" was meant to reflect that. And this is of course only
beneficial in cases where the purchased products are at high value (
$1000) , in this case, you can assume that you got 1000 points for $8
or $9 shipping costs compared to buying 1000 points for $25 at the
amex website.

Zemarv wrote:
" wrote:

What extra dollar?

I don't see an additional cost to use my Amex card to get AMEX points

This is about bonus points and not regular points for every dollar
spent. Some people rather shop thru the bonus points mall to earn
double points, knowing they are paying for shipping costs for
merchandise that can be purchased from a local retailer. The "extra
dollar" was meant to reflect that. And this is of course only
beneficial in cases where the purchased products are at high value (
$1000) ...

And also not grossly overpriced (Note that the 'Sharper Image' has
gone Chapter 11):

http://www.marke****ch.com/news/stor...s-often-leave-
consumers-holding/story.aspx?guid=DCBBEB36-F293-4EDF-
B2DC-1F515E91A746


Thus said, this does represent one of the many various ways to try to
optimize one's Loyalty program's givebacks, but there's also a lot of
fundamentals to consider before getting that far, such as if you're
putting enough dollars through the card to break-even on its annual
fee.

Here's a really simple chart to illustrate this concept. Its a zero-
fee Discover Card at 1% versus a card that at the time had a $60/year
fee:

http://www.huntzinger.com/dive/sb/regression.jpg

Very roughly speaking, the "lower return but free" card is the better
deal if you're spending less than $6000/year ($500/month) and even
then, its not really all that divergent: you need to be spending
roughly $12K/year ($1000/month) in order to make a $50/year "profit"
between the two cards, which isn't all that much. Plus for those
people that carry a balance, its probably far more beneficial for them
to take the card with the lower interest rate instead.


-hh