Citi devalues hotel transfers | Coffee Break Ep98 | 3-24-26

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Welcome to Freka Miler's Coffee Break, where we focus on a single topic related to miles

and points.

And each coffee break is limited to 20 minutes or less, or your money back.

Today's coffee break, city devalues hotel transfers, boo!

For many years, Chase was the only transferable points program with a valuable hotel option,

namely, Hyatt, later built game along, and then there were two transferable points programs

that were valuable for hotels, because Hyatt points are worth a lot.

So there were, and still are, other transferable points programs that transfer to different

hotels, but most of those situations bring you poor value for your transferable points,

because most of those transfers are one to one, and most hotel points, other than Hyatt,

are worth less than a penny each.

And so it's like, it's worse than cashing out your transferable points for a penny each.

Even Hilton, where Amax transfers one to two, Hilton points tend to be worth less than

a half a cent each.

So it's still worse than cashing out at a penny per point.

So again, Chase and built were the only good options, because Hyatt points were so valuable.

And then, city changed that in recent years, because they started offering to double your

points when you transferred a choice.

So city points, each city point became two choice points.

And even more exciting, they started quadrupling points transferred to preferred hotels, to

their eye-prefer program.

So you got, for every one city point transfer, you got four eye-prefer points.

And so that was an exciting set of changes in the city ecosystem.

And still many people, including most of us in Freedom Island, are still preferred transferring

to Hyatt.

This was a great alternative.

And then recently, Hyatt announced award price changes that are coming up, starting in May,

I think.

And it was looking like city was going to overtake Chase and built as the best transferable

points program for hotels.

But, but, but, unfortunately, city has announced that as of April 19th, 2026, city thank

your awards are going to decrease in value for those transfers that Greg just mentioned,

that date April 19th is sort of the hotel transfer doom stay.

Because the transferable ratios to choice privileges and to eye-prefer are going to decrease.

Choice privileges will become one to one and a half.

So for every one city thank you point, you'll get one and a half choice points, whereas

previously it was two choice points, so they're decreasing that.

And preferred hotels is going to become one to two.

So every one city point will get you two preferred hotels, eye-prefer points instead of four

eye-preferred points.

They're dropping that transfer ratio in half.

So those are two pretty big drops that represent potentially significantly poorer value.

Yeah, it really makes a big, big difference.

So before recording this, I looked at a couple examples of how things will change with point

value.

And now I picked out some options that today provide really good value and let's look

at what the changes will do to your points.

So one of the best awards you can use your choice points for is there's this very well-regarded

hotel in Oslo called the thief.

And for years, it only costs 20,000 choice points per night.

It's gone up now to 35,000.

But still, that's a very good value, you know, cash rate for a time I looked at was $440.

So that's a, you're getting 1.25 cents per point in choice points, which is very good

for choice or with the current transfer ratio of city to choice at one to two, that gives

you two and a half cents per point value with your city points, which is really excellent.

After the devaluation, that'll drop to 1.9 cents per point value with your city points,

which is still pretty good, but, you know, it's a significant decrease.

With I prefer, I looked at the Londoner hotel because that's one of the hotels that I've

used most recently to use I prefer points for.

And it currently costs 100,000 points per night to use I prefer points for that.

First, after taxes and everything, about $750 a night, depending on when you stay there.

So that would give you 0.75 cents per point with I prefer points, or 3 cents per point

with city under the current one to four transfer ratio, after the devaluation though, the value

from city because it only doubles your points instead of quadruple on your points, the value

from city will drop to 1.5 cents per point.

Yeah, so that means that's obviously a significant decrease in value, but that's a place

that you could currently book with just 25,000 city points transferred to I prefer, but

you'll need 50,000 points going forward.

So that's a pretty significant increase in award cost for, you know, anything really.

I mean, doubling is it's never a good, a good sign or never really something we were

excited to see.

So that's a pretty big devaluation.

So then I've got to ask you, Greg, will these new transfer ratios still be worthwhile at all?

Do you think there's still chances to get value?

Yeah, I mean, there will be.

And in fact, in the examples I just gave, you can argue that those are still decent value

for your points.

Choice being able to transfer at one to one and a half, let's look at that.

When we last looked at the value of choice points, we saw that the median value is 0.75 cents per

point, but the 90th percentile.

So if you're cherry picking the better awards, you're looking at one cent per point.

So when you see that one cent per point or better, then you're getting with city one and

a half cents per point or better with your city points, which is, which is okay, you know,

it's decent, it's something I would consider doing usually, but not really with the case of choice

because choice frequently puts their points on sale. We want to talk about that.

Yeah, they frequently sell points for around seven tenths of a cent per point.

We've sometimes seen it go even a little bit lower than that, but about seven tenths of

a cent per point is pretty typical when they put points on sale and they put points on sale

several times a year. And so if you look at it that way, then transferring from city to choice

at the one and a half choice points per dollar, if you say, okay, well, I can buy a choice point for

seven tenths of a cent or I can take one city point and turn it into one and a half of those,

then you're really only getting just a little tiny bit over one cent per city point.

If you were to just cash out your city points at one cent per point, you could, in other words,

buy almost the same number of choice points when they're on sale, potentially even a little bit

more sometimes when they're on a better sale because they do drop a little bit below that from time

to time. So that just makes it seem like not a terribly good value at one to one and a half. I mean,

especially if points are on sale, then you're just not getting very much value for your city points.

And I probably wouldn't be transferring. I would just be looking at buying city points in that case

or I'd be looking to transfer from a different program. Yeah, I mean, Wells Fargo, they don't have

many transfer partners, but one that they do, at least as we record this, is choice one to two,

just like city currently has. And we haven't heard anything about Wells Fargo planning to devalue that.

So hopefully that'll stick around. And if you have Wells Fargo points, then that's definitely where

I would look first. Anyway, in fact, if you had both Wells Fargo and city points even right now,

I'd rather transfer from Wells to choice than from city to choice just because city has a lot more

transfer partners overall where you could potentially get better value. And so I would always use my

Wells Fargo points first. Yeah, well, I mean, into the same math here, if you could buy points at

seven tenths of the cent per point, even at one to two, you're looking at 1.4 cents per point

in value, which which is a second ago said that at the 90th percentile, if you get one and a half

cents in the new ecosystem, okay, but not wildly exciting. So even the one to two, truthfully, as

compared to point sales, has never been amazing in my opinion. It's been potentially good. And there

are times when you can do really well, but if you could buy points on sale, I think the more accurate

sort of comparison is to what it would cost you to buy the points. And so I've always found this

to be a reasonable use to city points, but not wildly exciting. We hope you're enjoying the frequent

Mylar on the air podcast. Did you know that frequent Mylar is also a website? At frequentmylar.com,

you'll find all the latest deals, news about points, miles, and rewarding credit cards,

the single best best credit cards page on the web guides to all popular rewards programs and

many other terrific resources. If you'd like to get our posts sent to your email, go to frequentmylar.com,

forward slash subscribe and sign up for free. Yeah, although, you know, one thing to keep in mind is

that, you know, you can do the transfers anytime, whereas the point sales are only available during

certain times. So, you know, I've always appreciated the ability to get decent value at any time

with the one to two transfer. At 1.5, I would not be looking at it. Well, wait, you just a second

to go said that you get one and a half cents per point at 1.5. So, if their points aren't on sale,

right? And you're able to redeem your choice points for one cent per point. You see, you can get one

and a half choice points per city point. Wouldn't you transfer? I mean, wouldn't you? Right now,

like if we compare against cash prices, you're only looking at like a 1.4. But a second ago,

you seem not excited about 1.5. You could do that anytime, too. Yeah, but when you're doing the

transfer at any time, from 1.2, you're getting the ability to get whatever the value is at any time.

I'm getting kind of lost in this conversation to do the transfer. That's fair. This is supposed

to be a coffee break. We need to move on. Let's talk preferred hotels. So, we'll be worth it at the

new transfer rate at 1 to 2. So, here's a thing. On average, I prefer points are worth about

half a cent each. So, there are situations where you could get more like maybe a penny per point

value. So, a 1 to 2 transfer might get you up to 2 cents per point value. But on average, you're only

looking at half a cent value for your I prefer points. So, at 1 to 2 transfer, you're looking at

on average 1 cent per point. That's not interesting at all. Now, not at all. And you could transfer from

capital 1 at the same 1 to 2 from capital 1 to I prefer. So, I agree. I mean, maybe if you see a

really outsized award value redemption, I guess, maybe. But in general, probably not. I guess I've

seen a few here and there where I preferred points were worth more than half a cent. But it's not

as common. And so, generally speaking, I think the transfers to I prefer pretty dead.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. So, that brings up the big question.

Should we transfer before April 19th so that we get in on these the current really good transfer

ratios? What do you think? That's a great question. I think that's a good frequent

milder question and good Greg, the frequent milder question. So, let me, what would you do?

Did you transfer them all now and get your 1 to 2? What do you think?

A choice or 1 to 4 to perfect? Yeah. So, you know, with choice, I wouldn't do it

prospectively. I mean, if I knew I had something I need a buck, then sure, I'd consider it. But

because of us talking about, you know, the sales on choice points, I would rather

prospectively like look for the best sale and then buy some choice points. If I knew, I was going

to need choice points sometime in the future because it's not that amazing deal compared to the

price of points when they're on sale. With I prefer, though, that 1 to 4 transfers

really, really good. The flip side is that I prefer hotels. Like, there's just not that many

worldwide. Not all preferred hotels are bookable with I prefer points. And whether or not they're

bookable with I prefer points also changes at times. I might have to do with how full they are

or something. I don't know. But the point is it's very hard to bank on like, you know, if you're not

ready to book now, will you be able to find a great use of your I prefer points in the future?

So it's sort of unknown, but it is a slamming deal or it can be a slamming good deal. So

for me, I would look deeply into the I prefer the collection of hotels that are at least available

today. Try to determine are the ones that you would reasonably likely stay at over the next two

years. Are those good values with points compared to cash? And if so, then I would think about,

I would think about let's do the transfer now with the hope that I'd be able to use them

for good value in the future because I'm likely to book this or that hotel. It's a bit of a gamble,

but I think I would do it just because it is a really good deal. I didn't know you were such a

gambling man, Greg. I think this is a I think it's a stretch, to be honest. There are times when

you will get good value, but I think that that's a pretty big story. I think it's easy for people

like you and me maybe to say, okay, well, you know, sometime in the next couple of years,

I'll plan a trip around booking one of these, but I don't know. I feel like it's kind of a stretch

to think, okay, well, yeah, I'm going to prioritize using these and only if I get good value and

they may be value. We don't know, we don't have very much history on preferred hotels to really

have a solid idea as to what the value of those is going to be a year or two from now. I think the

way I'd look at it is, and this is maybe not even perspective, but if I'm willing to plan a

near term, like within the next year, if I'm willing to plan a trip around using the

I preferred points and say, okay, well, you know what, I'm not going to be able to get this great

value for my preferred in the future. And I probably will still get similar value out of my

Hilton points and my Marriott points and whatever else next year or the year after the year after

that. But this year, I'm willing to plan this year's trip around finding a great way to use my

this this transfer bonus, this transfer ratio, I guess, while it's still in effect, then maybe

yes, I would say, okay, you know what, if I'm willing to do that and plan the trip around the great

I prefer redemption and it's going to be more near term than than long term, you know, like

without any plan, then I think maybe I'd consider it. And there are some some great play, like right

side, there are some slam and deals. I had kind of slept on preferred hotels for a long time

because I just didn't find many in places where I wanted to go. And then I got looking at

planning a summertime trip in Europe and Switzerland and Austria. And I've seen all these great

places look like to be amazing if I were a skier and wanted to go on the winter time. And so like

if I were willing to say, okay, well, this winter, we're going to go skiing and, you know, the Swiss

Alps, because this is the last chance to use I preferred, then I think I would consider the speculative

transfer. Otherwise, I don't know. I'm like there, there's they aren't everywhere you want to be by any

stretch. So you'd have to be pretty confident that you're, you're going to be willing to go. I

actually don't think you and I are saying that. We're never really saying different. Because I did

really, you'd have to look at the maps you'd have to figure out. Are there hotels that you're

likely to stay at? I didn't say just I would just do it. You know, I don't know that I personally

will do it at all. I myself need to, you know, go through the hotels and see are there ones that

I'm likely to do. And if so, I'll probably transfer enough to book what I think. Of course,

it's possible. City will offer transfer bonuses to I prefer and choice in the future. I don't

know how likely it is that they would, they would have to offer 100% transfer bonus to make it,

to make the I prefer thing as good as it is today. And that seems unlikely to me that we'll see that.

But with choice, I think it's pretty likely. We'll see it go back to one to two every now and then.

Yeah, I think you're right. You're totally right about that. We probably will. And the thing that

we haven't mentioned and probably should have with preferred hotels is that sometimes they're

bookable via choice and not via I prefer when sometimes they're better value with one or the other.

And it's not necessarily what you would expect at first glance. So it's worth looking at I

prefer, but then also checking and seeing, oh, is that property available through choice for a

better deal? Greg has a great map that you can check out if you look up. Just Google for frequent

myler guide to booking preferred hotels. You'll find his map. And that's a great resource to

check out to see which would be your better deal in most cases. All right. So final question here.

Big question. Is the city ecosystem dead to us? Is this it? Are you done after this transfer?

These transfer ratios change on April 19th, 2026. Will you stop using city or thinking of city as a

hotel program? I will definitely not stop using city. Those are two different questions though.

So city has some great airline transfer partners like American Airlines. I sometimes get

unbelievable value from American Airlines. Usually for booking American Airlines partners,

but sometimes for booking AA itself. EVA is a great option if you want a word availability to Asia.

Cathay, they still have one to one. Whereas like MX has reduced the transfer ratio to Cathay.

They have jet blue at one to one or some transfer will points programs have jet blue at worse

than one to one. And of course, the usual crowd of airline partners like you can transfer to

Avios, Avianca Lifemiles, Flying Blue, Virgin. They don't have air candidate aeroplanes. So that

that is a hole in their program. But otherwise, I think they're very strong on the airline side.

On the hotel side, yeah, I mean, I won't look to them going forward as like the go-to for hotel

redemption. They have quite a few options, but they're all now kind of like decent but not

exciting value. That's the way I see them. Yeah, I think that's exactly how to put it. But don't

forget, they also have leading hotels of the world. So, you know, that's one that we haven't

really mentioned at all in this show because it's not changing at this point. But it's another,

but even that it's like, you know, you're getting around what 1.6 cents per point or something like

that. It's a decent, but it's not terribly exciting to me. But again, I mentioned this

as saying to go, don't forget, city does seem to like transfer bonuses these days. They did 17

transfer bonuses in 2025. They did 14 in 2024 and end in 2023 as well. I mean, that's a lot of

transfer bonuses and so I expect that to continue and that makes city points valuable as well.

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