How much are American Express Membership Rewards points actually worth — and how can you maximize their value?

Certain American Express credit cards provide access to the Membership Rewards program, where you can use your Amex points for different redemptions, such as gift cards, statement credits, and transfers to travel partners.

However, your redemption value depends on which option you choose, and some options provide much more value than others.

Based on the provided valuations using the Amex Membership Rewards calculator, Amex points are generally worth about 0.7 cents (or $0.007) per point. That equals $70 for every 10,000 Amex points.

However, the Membership Rewards calculator only shows valuations for these redemption options:

• Pay with Points at Checkout: Generally 0.7 cents per point

• Gift cards: Between 0.7-1 cent per point

• Statement credit: 0.6 cents per point

• Book travel at AmexTravel.com: Between 0.7-1 cent per point

You can get up to 1 cent per point in value (10,000 points = $100) with certain gift card redemptions and booking flights through the American Express Travel portal (AmexTravel.com), but most available redemptions only grant up to 0.7 cents per point in value (10,000 points = $70).

In our experience, these redemption values are average or below average. Fortunately, there are better ways to use your points.

See also: Best airline credit cards for 2025

If you want to consistently get more than 1 cent per point in value with your American Express points, consider using points with Amex transfer partners. This redemption option lets you transfer points to over 20 airline and hotel loyalty programs, such as Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Hilton Honors, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

Using transfer partners requires more effort than other redemption options because you have to calculate the potential value yourself. You also can’t transfer travel rewards back to your American Express card account after transferring them to a travel partner. Here’s a straightforward way to calculate the value of a potential partner redemption before you transfer any points:

1. Choose an available Amex transfer partner you’re interested in.

2. Research a possible redemption (flight or hotel stay, whichever is applicable) on that partner’s website.

3. Divide the cash value of that redemption by the number of points needed for an award booking.

For example, consider this business-class flight from Miami (MIA) to Sao Paulo (GRU), which costs $2,133 or 95,000 Virgin points plus taxes and fees. It’s a LATAM Airlines flight, but you can book it with Virgin Atlantic, an Amex transfer partner. You can look up the cash price on the LATAM website and find the award price on the Virgin Atlantic website (if there’s award availability).

If you divide $2,133 by 95,000, you get a redemption value of about 2.2 cents per point, over double what you can get from the standard Amex redemption options.

A transfer bonus is when you receive additional points or miles for transferring credit card rewards to a specific transfer partner. For example, Chase Ultimate Rewards has previously offered a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic. That means you would get 30% more Virgin points for transferring the same number of Chase points as you normally would.

You can’t exactly predict the type and frequency of limited-time transfer bonuses, but they can pave the way for high-quality redemptions if you can leverage them while they’re around (they might only last a few weeks or months).

Consider the previous example of flying business class from Miami to Brazil and getting a redemption value of 2.2 cents per point by transferring 95,000 Amex points to Virgin Atlantic. With a 30% transfer bonus from Amex to Virgin Atlantic, you would only need about 74,000 points. Dividing $2,133 by 74,000 gives you an even better redemption value of about 2.9 cents per point.

A stopover typically refers to a long break (often over 24 hours) between flights. Stopovers can give you enough time to get out and explore a city. Compare that to a layover, where you’re typically stuck in the airport.

It’s uncommon, but some airlines offer complimentary stopovers on award flights, allowing you to add a secondary destination to your trip for little or no additional flight cost. For example, the Air France-KLM Flying Blue loyalty program lets you add a stopover of 24 hours or more during a connection between two Air France, KLM, or partner airlines. You have to call in, but this can be an incredible way to save money and see a popular destination like Paris or Amsterdam.

Consider this flight on Air France (booked through the Air France-KLM Flying Blue program).

This flight starts in New York (JFK), stops in Paris (CDG), and ends in Venice (VCE). It costs $3,522 or 60,000 miles plus taxes and fees. That’s a value of about 5.9 cents per Amex point ($3,522 / 60,000 = 0.0587). You can also lower the value slightly because you have to pay some taxes and fees on the award flight.

With the Flying Blue stopover rules, you could add a complimentary stop in Paris using this flight if you can find applicable award flights from your origin to the connecting city and then the connecting city to your final destination. It should cost similar to the flight with a layover, but now you can stay in Paris for a few days or more.

Related: Air France-KLM Flying Blue Promo Rewards

Transfers to airline partners have been a popular redemption option for years, but you can also find value in transferring to hotel partners, such as the Hilton Honors program. This is especially true if you can use Hilton’s Fifth Night Free benefit.

This benefit gives eligible Hilton Honors members with at least Silver status every fifth night for free when booking standard room reward stays of five or more consecutive nights.

So, how does that work when staying five nights in a Scottish castle?

Inverlochy Castle is an SLH Hotel, and SLH stays can be booked through Hilton Honors, an Amex transfer partner. This five-night stay would cost £3,185 (or about $4,243 at the time of writing).

A standard room here typically costs 110,000 Hilton Honors points per night. With the Fifth Night Free benefit, that’s 440,000 Hilton Honors points for five nights in a standard room.

However, you do an Amex points transfer to Hilton Honors at a 1:2 transfer ratio, meaning you get 2,000 Hilton Honors points for every 1,000 Amex points transferred. That means you only need 220,000 Amex points for this redemption, which gives you a redemption value of about 1.9 cents per point ($4,243 / 220,000 = 0.01928).

With a 30% transfer bonus, you would get 2,600 Hilton Honors points per 1,000 Amex points and only need 171,000 Amex points for this redemption. That would give you a redemption value of about 2.5 cents per point ($4,243 / 171,000 = 0.02481).

Related: Here’s how much Hilton Honors points are worth — and how to get the best value from them

To earn Amex points, you must have an applicable Amex card, such as the American Express® Gold Card or The Platinum Card® from American Express. If you have a card that earns Membership Rewards points, there are various ways to increase your points total.

Eligible new cardmembers can earn a large number of points by completing the requirements for credit card welcome bonuses. These typically follow the format of spending a certain amount of money on your new card in the first three to six months. For example, you might have to spend $6,000 in the first six months of card membership to earn a welcome offer.

You can earn Amex points for making any eligible purchase with an applicable Amex card. However, making purchases in specific spending categories can increase the rate at which you earn rewards.

Let’s see how this works with the Amex Gold spending categories:

• 4x Membership Rewards Points at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x)

• 4x Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1x)

• 3x Membership Rewards points on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com

• 2x Membership Rewards points on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com

• 1x Membership Rewards points on all other eligible purchases

With the Amex Gold, you can earn up to 4x points on purchases at restaurants and U.S. supermarkets, giving you plenty of incentive to use this card in those categories. If you maxed out your calendar year spending in the U.S. supermarkets category, you would earn 100,000 points.

You can set up trusted individuals as authorized users on your card accounts, allowing them to make purchases with their cards. However, any eligible purchase they make earns points that are added to your account. Just keep in mind that some cards charge a fee to add an authorized user.

If your account is eligible, you can refer friends to Amex credit cards and earn Membership Rewards points for each eligible referral. There’s typically a limit on how much you can earn in rewards through referrals each calendar year.

Most Amex cards provide access to Amex Offers, offers you have to manually add to your card account (through your online account) to receive a discount or additional rewards on specific purchases.

For example, you might be offered 500 Membership Rewards points (up to 1,500 points total) for spending $50 or more at Amazon.com. To use this offer, you need to add it through your online account and then spend at least $50 at Amazon.com with your card.

Note that Amex Offers have specific terms and conditions, so be sure to read those beforehand. As long as you meet the eligibility criteria, these are easy ways to earn discounts or more points on purchases you’re already planning to make.

Rakuten is an online shopping portal where you can earn cash back or points by purchasing with retail partners. To use Rakuten, you must first create an account and then shop normally online, clicking through Rakuten first or using the Rakuten browser extension. This is like getting a discount on purchases you already make.

The unique feature about Rakuten that other cash-back sites don’t have is that you can earn Membership Rewards points rather than cash back.

Why we like it: The Amex Gold Card is a powerhouse for earning points on everyday purchases, including restaurants and U.S. supermarkets. If these are two common expense categories for you, there likely isn’t a better way to earn Amex points on everyday spending.

Read our full American Express Gold Card review

Why we like it: The Amex Platinum Card is a premium travel card that makes sense if you’re able to use its many perks and benefits, which add up to more than $3,500 in potential annual value. These include extensive airport lounge access, up to $600 hotel credit on select prepaid hotel bookings through Amex Travel (up to $300 semi-annually), up to $300 annual digital entertainment credit (up to $25 per month), and up to $400 annual Resy credit (up to $100 per quarter).

Enrollment is required for select benefits.

Read our full American Express Platinum Card review

Why we like it: The Blue Business Plus is an easy card to use for small business owners. It doesn’t have different bonus categories to track, so it’s as simple as earning 2x on every eligible purchase (up to $50,000 per year, then 1x). Even better, there’s no annual fee.

Read our full Amex Blue Business Plus review

Fifty thousand Amex points are worth $300 if redeemed for a statement credit. However, they can be worth up to $500 if redeemed for certain gift cards or flights through AmexTravel.com. You can get even more value by transferring points to Amex travel partners and making specific redemptions.

They’re generally worth about $1,000 if redeemed for flights through AmexTravel.com, but can be worth much less with other redemptions, such as statement credits or paying with points at Amazon.com. To get more than $1,000 worth of value from 100,000 points, consider transferring points to travel partners.

They can be if you transfer your points to Amex travel partners and make certain redemptions. This often means transferring points to an airline partner and booking a premium fare ticket, such as a business class flight. However, you have to find a low-cost award ticket to get the best value from your points.

These Amex cards earn Membership Rewards points:

Transferring American Express Membership Rewards points to airline partners and booking premium flights is one of the best ways to maximize the value of your points. It’s common to get over 2 cents per point in value if you use this method with low-cost premium award flights.

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