Insider’s experts choose the best products and services to help make smart decisions with your money (here’s how). In some cases, we receive a commission from our our partners, however, our opinions are our own. Terms apply to offers listed on this page.
Amex Membership Rewards are among the most valuable travel rewards you can earn. These points offer a high upside thanks to Amex’s lucrative roster of 17 airline and three hotel transfer partners, as well as a respectable value floor for eligible cardholders who book travel directly through Amex.
These features give Membership Rewards points an average redemption value of 1.8 cents per point in Personal Finance Insider’s most recent valuations. Read on to learn which redemption options you should target and avoid in order to maximize your return. Amex is an Insider partner.
We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.
Best ways to use Amex points
Amex Membership Rewards Points are most valuable when you transfer them to airline and hotel partners like Virgin Atlantic or Marriott Bonvoy. These and other programs enable you to redeem rewards for high-end travel experiences, such as first or business class flights and premium hotel rooms. Finding these exceptional redemption opportunities takes skill and patience, but you can crush the average redemption value when you do.
Transfer Amex points to Virgin Atlantic for Delta one flights
For example, consider a round-trip flight from Detroit to Amsterdam in February of 2023. You could book non-stop service in Delta One business class for 100,000 points and $62 through Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
Virgin Atlantic
At the time of writing, that same itinerary has a cash price of $3,906 dollars, yielding a redemption value of over 3.84 cents per point after accounting for the cash portion of the award. That’s nearly 75% more than our high valuation of 2.2 cents apiece for Membership Rewards points.
Delta Air Lines
Transfer Amex points to Marriott for luxury stays
As another example, consider a long weekend stay in April at The St. Regis Vommuli Maldives Resort using Marriott Bonvoy points. At the time of writing, three nights in a beach villa cost 318,000 points plus $1,526 in taxes and fees.
Marriott Bonvoy
That may not sound like much of a bargain until you consider the cash rate for those same three nights is an eye-popping $9,687.
Marriott Bonvoy
Accounting for the fees charged on the award stay yields a redemption value of 2.56 cents per point, or about 16% above our high valuation for Membership Rewards points. That redemption value is inflated by the fact that luxury resorts in the Maldives are notoriously expensive, but it demonstrates how these points can help put otherwise unaffordable travel plans within reach.
One great feature of Amex Membership Rewards is that all points are transferable regardless of which credit card you use to earn them. Points from a no-fee option like the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express are eligible the same as those from a top-tier card like The Platinum Card® from American Express, so they carry equal upside for use with airline and hotel partners. That’s a welcome contrast to some other transferable points programs.
Fair redemption options
The examples above illustrate what’s possible with Membership Rewards points. Not all award redemptions will be so lucrative, but you can get a good return even without booking premium travel. Economy flights, standard hotel rooms, and some of Amex’s direct redemption options provide more consistent and accessible value.
Transfer Amex points to Choice Privileges for stays in Europe
This itinerary for three nights in October at the Clarion Hotel Sign in central Stockholm, Sweden is a perfect example. A family room that can accommodate two adults and two children is available for 10,000 points or 1,990 krona (approximately $188) per night.
Choice Privileges
Booking an award yields a redemption value of 1.88 cents per point, which slightly exceeds our average valuation of 1.8 cents for Membership Rewards points.
Transfer Amex points to Delta for expensive domestic flights
For another airline example, consider these Delta economy flights between Seattle and Las Vegas in December:
Delta Air Lines
The round-trip award price is 14,500 miles and $11.20, while the cash fare is $286.
Delta Air Lines
Accounting for the fees paid on the award and Amex’s excise tax offset fee for transfers to domestic airlines — more on that below — this itinerary yields a redemption value of 1.83 cents per point. Like the last example, that’s slightly above our average valuation.
Low-value ways to use Amex points
Transfer Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines
Transfers to travel partners aren’t always worthwhile. For example, this Hawaiian Airlines inter-island flight from Maui to Kona costs just 4,000 miles and $5.60 in economy:
Hawaiian Airlines
That might seem like a bargain, but an equivalent cash fare is available for $39. After accounting for the security fee and Amex excise tax fee, booking an award yields a redemption value of only 0.78 cents per point. That’s well below our low valuation of 1.1 cents for Membership Rewards points.
Hawaiian Airlines
Use Pay With Points through Amex Travel
Beyond transfers, Amex offers a variety of ways to redeem points directly, and most of them yield poor value. The Pay With Points feature lets you use Membership Rewards to pay for flights, hotels, and other travel purchases via the Amex Travel portal. In most cases, you’ll get a return of 1 cent per point on flights, like this round-trip between Houston and Denver in April of 2023:
American Express
The return is even lower for hotels and other bookings, but Pay With Points is more useful if you hold The Business Platinum Card® from American Express or American Express® Business Gold Card, which offer a points rebate on eligible flights of 35% or 25%, respectively. That boosts the return to 1.54 cents per point for The Business Platinum Card® from American Expressand 1.33 cents per point for the American Express® Business Gold Card. Both figures are below average but well above our low valuation.
Amex also lets you apply Membership Rewards points toward statement credits, gift cards, and online shopping, but most non-travel redemptions return 1 cent per point or less. Given how easily you can surpass that value with transfer partners, these options should be ignored in most cases.
Other factors
Redemption rates aren’t the only variable we use to assess the value of points and miles. Here’s how Amex Membership Rewards performs across other facets of the program we take into consideration:
Expiration policy (+) — Points don’t expire so long as you have a credit card that earns Membership Rewards points and your account remains open and in good standing. That means there’s no pressure to redeem until you’re ready, which is a great feature for any travel rewards.Strength of transfer partners (+) — Amex has the most partners of any transferable points program. The roster isn’t as strong as others on average, and includes a few throwaway options that are unlikely to be useful. Many of Amex’s partner programs also require a degree of award travel savvy that makes them challenging for beginners, but opportunities to get an exceptional return are abundant.Transfer bonuses (+) — Amex offers transfer bonuses more frequently than other transferable points programs, typically releasing a dozen or more annually. Bonuses reach as high as 40% for airline partners and 50% for hotel partners, adding value when they align with your travel plans and providing speculative upside even when they don’t.Transfer times (Neutral) — Transfers to 14 of Amex’s 20 travel partners typically go through right away. For the remaining six partners, the process can take anywhere from a few hours to more than a week. Slower transfer times increase the risk of award inventory disappearing while you wait for points to arrive. To speed things up, link your Membership Rewards account with your partner loyalty accounts ahead of time.Sharing/pooling (-) — You can’t transfer Amex points to another Membership Rewards account, but you can transfer to the loyalty accounts of authorized users who have been on your credit card account for at least 90 days. Ease of accumulation (+) — You can earn Membership Rewards points with a wide variety of Amex credit cards, including several with strong welcome bonus offers and bonus spending categories that make it easy to accumulate points quickly. You can also elect to earn Membership Rewards points instead of cash back via the Rakuten shopping portal.Excise tax fee (-) — To offset federal excise taxes, Amex charges a fee of 0.06 cents per point transferred to US airlines (namely, Delta, Hawaiian, and JetBlue). While the cost is small ($6 per 10,000 points), it diminishes the value of transfers to those three partners.Fungible points (+) — All Membership Rewards points can be transferred, and Amex doesn’t distinguish between them based on how they were earned.
Membership Rewards points get marked down for a restrictive sharing policy and excise fees on transfers to US airlines. Faster, more consistent transfer times would also be a plus. Otherwise, these miscellaneous factors support the overall value of the program.
Bottom line
Amex has a strong roster of transfer partners, which benefits all Membership Rewards cardholders equally thanks to the fungibility of the points. The program lacks ways to get a decent return on non-travel purchases, but these points are highly valuable for award travelers, especially those who are comfortable navigating the idiosyncrasies of airline and hotel loyalty programs.