 TITLE: Vacationing With Points: When to Redeem Points and When to Pay Cash CONTENT: What Kinds of Points or Miles Do You Have?\n------------------------------------------\nThe first thing you need to consider is what kind of points or miles you'd be using for your trip. There are four major types:\n1.  Airline miles: Everyone is probably familiar with frequent-flier miles that you can earn and redeem for flights with one particular airline or its partners. For example, you can earn and redeem American Airlines AAdvantage miles for flying with the airline or one of its many partners, including British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas.\n2.  Hotel points: Like airlines, hotels have their own loyalty programs with points you can earn and redeem at a variety of brands. For example, Marriott comprises 30 brands such as Westin, Courtyard and Ritz-Carlton. Hilton's portfolio includes almost 20 brands including Embassy Suites, DoubleTree and Waldorf Astoria. So travelers could earn Marriott Bonvoy points staying at Westins and then redeem them at a Courtyard location, or earn Hilton Honors points staying at a DoubleTree and then use them for an award night at a Waldorf Astoria.\n3.  Cash back points or miles: These are earned with certain credit cards, such as the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (points) or the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (miles). With cards like these, your points or miles are generally worth a fixed value when redeeming them for travel—usually around 1 cent each. Cash back points are valuable because you don't have to worry about special awards opening up on flights or at hotels in order to redeem them. Cashing them in is basically just like paying with cash, so they give you a lot of flexibility when it comes time to use them.\n4.  Transferable points: Certain credit card issuers have their own loyalty programs where cardholders earn points that they can then transfer to a number of different airline or hotel partner programs. For instance, the Ultimate Rewards points that Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders earn can be transferred to 13 airline and hotel partners including Southwest, United and Marriott, among others. This gives cardholders the flexibility to use their points with many airlines or hotels for rewards as they come up rather than having to be locked into a single carrier or chain. Often, transferable points can also be redeemed directly through an issuer's own travel site for things like flight and hotels at fixed rates, sort of like cash back points. That makes transferable points even more versatile.\nOnce you have sorted out the types of points or miles you have and can use, your next question will be: How much value should I get from them? END