     
|
|
PurchasePower Rankings show you the best
rewards
The PurchasePower Ranking helps you
understand which cards offer the highest ongoing point earning
power, and which awards are the best use of your points. It is
an estimate of what percent of every dollar you charge on
the card is returned to you as an award.
Three factors
come into play:
1. Points earned per dollar spent
on the card
2. The number of points required for a
given award
3. The market dollar value of a given
award
We take those factors and come up with the %
ranking. Higher numbers are better. For example, a 2.5% score
means 2.5 cents of every dollar you've spent to earn points
will be returned as value through that award. We think it's a
good way to gauge how efficient various award types are, as
well as the merits of each card's point earning
power.
The three rules of maximizing miles and
points
We have learned through our experience and in the
results of the PurchasePower rankings three basic rules about
redeeming miles and points that might surprise you:
1.
International business class awards and upgrades are the most
efficient use of your points
2. Domestic airline
tickets are among the least efficient uses of points
3.
Hotel stays are a good option depending on the program. Low
points required and few restrictions make earning an award
faster and easier.
Scroll below the chart
and you will see our picks for the best mile credit card for
each reward type based on the PurchasePower
scores.
Why does the Starwood Amex
rank so high?
The
Starwood Amex effectively earns 1.25 airline miles per dollar
spent, while most cards earn 1 mile per dollar spent. How does
it work? You earn 1 Starwood Hotel Point per dollar spent on
the card. Starwood allows you to transfer your Starwood hotel
points to most airline mileage accounts at 1:1. However, they
offer a 5,000 mile bonus for every 20,000 points you transfer
to an airline program, which means 20,000 points turns into
25,000 miles in your favorite airline program.
It wins
substantially on the hotel side because of relatively low
point requirements for its lower end hotels. That may change
in the future, as Hilton recently increased its point
requirements, but is likely to remain
competitive.
Beyond the numbers, we think it's a good
card anyway because of its flexibility. You can transfer to
most programs (except United) at the fair 1:1 rate plus bonus,
and hotel awards at Starwood have no capacity controls, making
them exceptionally easy to redeem.
You can learn
more and apply here.
Make your own PurchasePower
rankings
Download the
Interactive Excel spreadsheet
No two travelers are the same, and many people may
benefit from some of the '2 points per dollar' on 'everyday'
and 'travel' purchases offered by some cards. Or, your typical
Domestic Coach ticket may be more than $400. To help you take
that into account, you can create your own PurchasePower
rankings.
We've placed the source spreadsheet online.
You can download it and play with the assumptions to
match your personal travel patterns and beliefs. For example,
if you think you will have more 'everyday' purchases on a
card that offers double points on everyday purchases, you
can go in and change the number of points per dollar you
want to assume, and see how it stacks up versus others.
Or, you can change the assumed dollar value of awards to
match your actual goals.
For programs that offer
bonuses for 'everyday' gas/grocery purchases, we assumed 15%
of your purchase dollars would go to gas or groceries. We
provide the spreadsheet for you to account for any different
views you may have.
Is a credit card worth the
annual fee?
PurchasePower
percentages can help you figure out whether a card is
worth its annual fee. Click here to learn
more.
Home
| Best Mile
Credit Cards of 2010
| Airline
Credit Cards | Hotel Credit
Cards | Travel
Reward Credit Cards | How to Choose a
Miles Credit Card
About Us | Privacy
Policy | Terms and
Conditions
Site Content Copyright
2006-2009 Aerin Media
LLC | |
|
