Why are UR points so valuable?

[jasonkm1]

I'm pretty new to credit card rewards and can't figure this one out, i'm hoping you guys can help me. Last month I cashed out around $200 of my UR points for credit. I later read a post that said that's the worst thing to do, trading the UR points for cash. Today I had time and researched some more and read that you should use the points to book travel in the UR mall so you would get more value from the points. Instead of 1 to 1 you would get more value like 1.2 to 1 or something like that.  I tried booking a trip for fun to see how much I could save but it still seems i'm getting 1 for 1. For instance, if the fare is $500, I would have to use 50,000 points. that's the same as cashing out for $500 right? Can anyone tell me what i'm doing wrong?

[bz386]

If you book a flight on the Ultimate Rewards mall, you will get a 25% bonus, thus each point will be worth 1.25c. If ypu have a Sapphire Preferred, then you can convert the points into miles by transferring them to United or British Airways. Business class flights to Europe usually start at around $3500, but you can get them for around 140.000 miles, thus getting a point value of more than 2c per point.

[Jaylima91]

Well, here is my scenario. I went online to Chase UR site and was curious on how much the GoPro Hero3+ would cost using UR points. For a $400 GoPro package it was 42k points. I then checked with my Amex MR points and that same camera was like 65k points. UR points are definitely more valuable.

Then again, it depends what you redeem it for.

[mongstradamus]

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@Jaylima91 wrote:
Well, here is my scenario. I went online to Chase UR site and was curious on how much the GoPro Hero3+ would cost using UR points. For a $400 GoPro package it was 42k points. I then checked with my Amex MR points and that same camera was like 65k points. UR points are definitely more valuable.

Then again, it depends what you redeem it for.

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Using ur or Mr points for merchandise is not best way use points. Transfer to airline partners is best way to go. My favorite ur partners that usually give best value are ual,British airways for domestic flights, sq to Hawaii, and hyatt for hotels