My family earns over a million points every year.
Between our credit cards, hotel bookings, shopping portals, and transfer bonuses, we have built a points system that has taken us to 33 countries, saved us over $500,000 on travel, and put our family in business class cabins and luxury hotel suites that we never could have afforded at cash price.
But earning points is only half the equation. The other half: the part most people get completely wrong is knowing what not to do with them.
I have seen families earn hundreds of thousands of points and then quietly burn through all of them on gift cards, cash back, and merchandise redemptions worth a fraction of what those points could have funded in travel.
This post is about making sure that never happens to you.
Here are 10 things I would never use my points for, why each one is a mistake, and what I do instead to get maximum value every single time.
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CASH BACK
Let me start with the one that hurts the most to see.
Most loyalty programs let you redeem points for cash back at around 1 cent per point. At that rate, 100,000 points becomes $1,000 in cash back. That sounds decent until you compare it to what those same 100,000 points can do when transferred to the right airline partner.
With the right programme and the right route, 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to World of Hyatt, Virgin Atlantic, or Air Canada Aeroplan can book hotel nights or business class flights worth $3,000 to $1 0,000 or more.
Cash back is not a redemption strategy. It is a penalty for not knowing your options.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: Transfer to a travel partner and book flights or hotel nights where each point is worth 2 cents or more. The value difference on the same point balance is not small. It is the difference between a $1,000 cash deposit and a $10,000 business class flight.
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GIFT CARD
Gift cards feel like a reasonable middle ground. You are not taking cash back but you are also not committing to a specific trip. What could go wrong?
The problem is that gift card redemptions through credit card portals typically value your points at 1 cent each — sometimes less. You are getting the same terrible rate as cash back, just in a format that locks you into a specific retailer.
Your points are worth significantly more than a gift card to Amazon, Starbucks, or Target. Do not let the portal convince you otherwise.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: Keep the points in the programme and wait for a transfer bonus or a specific redemption opportunity. A 25 to 30 percent transfer bonus on a programme I already use regularly is worth far more than any gift card redemption.
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MERCHANDISE THROUGH THE CARD PORTAL
Laptops, headphones, kitchen appliances, luggage, they are all sitting there in your card’s shopping portal waiting to be bought with points. And the redemption rate is usually between 0.5 and 0.8 cents per point.
That means you are getting less than half the potential value of every point you spend on merchandise. You are burning your travel currency on a blender.
If you genuinely need to make a purchase, always go through Rakuten first. Rakuten is a free shopping portal that pays you cash back or bonus points on purchases you were already going to make. Y
You click through Rakuten, shop as normal, and earn on top of whatever your credit card is already earning. So instead of burning your points on merchandise, your purchase is actually building your points balance.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: Never shop online without checking Rakuten first. Pay with the right credit card. Let the purchase earn points rather than cost them.
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ECONOMY CLASS WHEN BUSINESS CLASS COSTS THE SAME OR FEWER POINTS
This one surprises almost everyone the first time they hear it.
With the right transfer partner and the right route, business class award tickets can cost the same number of points as economy, or in some cases, fewer. This happens because airlines price their award inventory differently across programmes, and some transfer partners have sweet spots that make premium cabins extraordinarily accessible.
We flew Singapore Airlines business class for our entire family of four for 428,000 points and $22.40 in taxes. The cash price for those same seats was over $11,000. My friend and I flew to Brazil in lie-flat business class for 50,000 Alaska miles per person and $40 each in taxes.
Always check business class award availability before you assume economy is the right move. You might be one transfer partner away from lie-flat for the same number of points.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: Before any redemption, I check both the economy and business class availability across every relevant transfer partner. The extra five minutes of research has put my family in business class cabins more times than I can count.
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TRANSFERRING POINTS WITHOUT CONFIRMING AWARD SPACE FIRST
This is not technically a redemption mistake. It is a transfer mistake that leads to the worst redemption of all, points stuck in a programme with no available award space for your dates.
Transfers between programmes are permanent. If you move 70,000 Chase points to an airline partner and then discover there are no seats available on your dates, those points are gone from Chase forever. You cannot reverse the transfer. You cannot get them back.
Always find the award space first. Confirm it is available and holding on your dates. Then transfer. Never transfer speculatively hoping the space will open up.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: I search for award availability on the airline’s website or through a tool like United.com for partner availability. I confirm the exact flight, the exact dates, and the exact cabin before I move a single point.
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BOOKING THROUGH THE CARD PORTAL WITHOUT COMPARING TRANSFER VALUES
Card travel portals are convenient. You log in, search for flights, and book with points at a fixed rate, usually 1 to 1.5 cents per point depending on the card. It feels simple and straightforward.
The problem is that the exact same flight might cost you 30 to 50 percent fewer points if you transfer to an airline partner and book directly through the airline. The portal is charging you a premium for convenience. And in the points world, convenience has a price measured in tens of thousands of points.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: Before I book anything through a portal, I check what the same flight costs through every relevant transfer partner. If the transfer value is significantly better, which it almost always is, I transfer and book directly.
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STATEMENT CREDITS ON NON-TRAVEL PURCHASES
Some programmes let you use points to erase everyday purchases from your statement: groceries, dining, gas, random online shopping. You see the charge, click redeem, and the points disappear while the charge disappears with them.
This redeems at around 1 cent per point and sometimes less. It is the cash back problem dressed up in a slightly different outfit.
The only time I consider statement credits is when a programme has a specific promotion that offers elevated value; for example, a limited time offer where a specific merchant’s purchases can be erased at a better rate than usual. Outside of those promotions, statement credits on everyday purchases are a waste.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: Let the points accumulate. I do not touch them for everyday expenses. I save them for travel redemptions where each point works significantly harder.
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HOLDING POINTS WITH NO PLAN
Points are not an investment. They do not appreciate over time. Loyalty programmes devalue their currencies regularly, a flight that costs 60,000 miles today might cost 80,000 miles next year after a devaluation. Hotels move properties to higher categories. Transfer ratios between programmes change.
Every month you hold points without a redemption plan is a month they are quietly losing purchasing power.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: I always have a trip in mind. I earn toward something specific. And I book it when I have enough points rather than waiting for the perfect moment that never comes. Done is better than perfect in the points world.
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PAYING CASH ON EXPEDIA OR BOOKING.COM WITHOUT EARNING ANYTHING ON THE BOOKING
When people need to book a hotel and they are not using points, they go straight to Expedia or Booking.com and pay cash. But every time they do that, they are missing the chance to earn thousands of transferable airline miles on that exact same cash booking.
I always book through Rove whenever I am paying cash for a hotel. Rove earns you transferable airline miles on every cash booking, miles you can transfer to airline partners and use to fly business class.
And with Rove’s Loyalty Eligible bookings, you keep your hotel loyalty points, elite status credits, and credit card rewards on the same booking. Nothing is given up. You are just adding an extra earning stream on top of everything you were already getting.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: Cash hotel booking? Go through Rove and earn airline miles on it. Award hotel booking? Transfer points directly to Hyatt, Marriott, or Hilton and book straight through the programme, not through a third party portal.
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USING POINTS WHEN CASH IS ACTUALLY CHEAPER
This is the most counterintuitive one on the list but it is just as important as the rest.
Not every redemption is a good redemption. If a hotel room costs $80 per night in cash but 20,000 points, you are redeeming at 0.4 cents per point. That is a terrible use of your points no matter how appealing it feels to not pay cash.
Points have a real value. When you redeem below 1.5 cents per point, you are leaving money on the table even if it does not feel that way. Pay the $80 cash, earn points on the purchase, and save those 20,000 points for a redemption worth 2 cents per point or more, which funds a completely different calibre of trip.
WHAT I DO INSTEAD: I set a floor of 1.5 cents per point for any redemption. If a booking does not clear that threshold, I pay cash and keep the points. Business class transfers and direct Hyatt bookings almost always exceed 2 cents per point. That is where my points go.
THE SIMPLE FRAMEWORK
Before any redemption, ask yourself three questions.
What is the cash value of what I am about to book? Divide that by the number of points it costs to get your cents-per-point value.
Is there a transfer partner that gets me better value on this specific redemption? Five minutes of research here can save tens of thousands of points.
Am I redeeming above 1.5 cents per point? If not, pay cash and save the points.
That framework alone will protect you from every mistake on this list.
WHAT I USE MY POINTS FOR INSTEAD
Since we have covered everything I avoid, here is what our family actually uses our million-plus annual points for.
- Business class flights. Singapore Airlines to Asia. Emirates First Class to the Maldives. Etihad Business Class on long hauls. American Airlines Business Class to Brazil. These are the redemptions where points shine brightest and where the cash price is so far out of reach that points become the only realistic path.
- Luxury hotel stays. Park Hyatt properties around the world. Conrad Maldives. Andaz resorts. Grand Hyatt properties. All booked on World of Hyatt points with no resort fees and every elite benefit intact.
- Positioning flights and aspirational routes. Short domestic hops to get into position for a long haul redemption. Transatlantic routes with premium availability. Routes where one specific airline programme has a sweet spot that nobody else matches.
These are the redemptions that justify every grocery run, every gas fill-up, every bill payment made on the right card. Not gift cards. Not cash back. Experiences that change how your family sees the world.
FINAL THOUGHT
Earning over a million points a year means nothing if those points are being redeemed at 1 cent each.
The strategy is not just in the earning. It is in knowing exactly what your points are worth, what you will never accept for them, and what you are building toward every time you swipe the right card.
And the Travel Rewards Playbook is where most families start. It walks you through the exact cards, transfer partners, and booking strategies we use, step by step, in plain English.
If you want to go deeper and build a fully personalised plan with me directly, I also offer one-on-one consultations where we map out your complete points strategy together: the cards, the earning system, the redemptions, all tailored specifically to your family and your goals.
If you are serious about earning up to a million points a year and using them to travel for next to nothing, I would love to work with you directly. Schedule Your One-on-One Consultation Here
