Throughout the week, our team shares articles they’ve stumbled upon that may interest our readers, even if they might not otherwise merit a full post. Here are some of the posts we found interesting this week: What are “points farms”, WSJ and NYT think the newest cards are too confusing, and good news for F1 fans.
Luxury Hotel Points Farms: A Category Of Hotels Worth Being Honest About
Ben at One Mile at a Time is introducing a term that may, unfortunately, come in handy for describing certain luxury points hotels, which are only worth booking on points (and may have very few people actually paying with cash). “Points farms” refer to the “luxury” hotels that lean on loyalty participation to fill their hotels rather than winning guests by the merit of the product they provide. With Four Seasons on one side of the spectrum, attracting its guests with an impeccable luxury experience and no loyalty program to speak of, these “points farms” are on the other end of that spectrum, offering at times the bare minimum, knowing a significant amount of guests will show up purely for the convenience of staying with the brand they’re loyal to. As I understand it, these “points farms” are essentially the hotels that may be benefiting more from the loyalty program participation than the guests are. Can you think of any obvious examples of “points farms”? Ben offers some specific examples in his post.
Life Is Too Short for Frequent-Flyer Miles
The complexity of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card has the WSJ throwing up its hands and saying “uncle.” The author’s frustration is not unlike the sentiment we’ve shared as well. In multiple podcast episodes, Greg and Nick have discussed what a shame it is that the card is no longer an easy-to-recommend option. Eliot Penn of WSJ demonstrates this pain point, saying:
My credit-card company recently notified me that my annual fee would be raised to $795, but I shouldn’t fret because I’d get thousands of dollars back in benefits. A quick study revealed that managing the benefits would be a part-time job. I shut my account and moved to a card with a reward system that doesn’t require a spreadsheet to track.
Many of those in this community are still willing to use spreadsheets to keep squeezing value out of even complicated opportunities, but I’m betting some of you relate to Penn’s sentiments.
What to Know About Bilt’s New Rewards Program for Mortgage and Rent Payments
Staying closely on theme, the New York Times feels the same way about Bilt 2.0, apparently, stating very bluntly that it’s “the most complicated rewards system we’ve seen.” It’s hard not to relate, given the fact that there are still big questions around major pieces of this rewards system. Bilt Cash, for example. The NYT article casually references the seven pages of fine print that come with this new Bilt Cash concept. As Greg put it in our recent FMOTA episode, the Bilt Cash concept almost seems more like a status threshold than it does like a “cash” currency. The whole concept seems, at best, half-baked.
Hyatt will be the hospitality partner of the new Audi Revolut Formula 1 team. And why do we care about that? That means some F1 experiences will be bookable using World of Hyatt points. As someone who knows almost nothing about sports of any kind (except for the few things I’ve learned being married to an NBA fan), I had to do some digging to see what sorts of experiences we’re talking about.
From behind-the-scenes paddock tours and driver meet-and-greets to private hospitality lounges and luxury weekend itineraries, members will have the opportunity to experience the world of Formula 1 like never before. In addition, members will be able to earn and redeem points for bespoke travel experiences surrounding key Grand Prix events, blending high performance with high style.
Personally, I’m too ignorant in this area for that information to help me at all, but hopefully some of you can help paint a picture for me in the comments. Are these activities enticing?
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Ben writes that Alila Ventana Big Sur is sort of a points farm. I disagree, it’s the quintessential points farm. It is the most overrated property on the planet. It has no better view or scenery than anywhere on the California coast, rather ordinary actually. Service was meh, food was good but not great. Activities rather lame. Nobody in their right mind would be paying $2000 a night to stay here, just insane.
I’m not sure Point Farm is a good term for it, but I wholeheartedly agree with the definition and idea of it. There’s a lot of St Regis and Ritz properties that only exist because of points, the cash value isn’t there at all.
It’s also why this is the year I figure out if I should dump Marriott and use Amex FHR/LHC instead. The value proposition is getting smaller and smaller.
I would add basically any major hotel chain safari lodge to the list of point farms. They are always ridiculously overpriced and aimed at travelers who have no idea what you can get for 1/3 the price.
“Point farms” are neither new or being introduced by OMAAT. They have always existed. Tim and his wife already “discovered” them in their last stay at Alila Ventana Big Sur. It got buried right in the middle of the article and everybody skimmed over it. And that was almost 3 years ago!! Since then, Alila Ventana Big Sur has continued “increasing” their cash rates while becoming more mediocre.
Virtually all of the high-end hotels with the American chain hotels are point farms. The Maldives. The Park Hyatt in Paris. The Park Hyatts in Japan. The Waldorf Astoria in Los Cabos. The Grand Hotel Victoria (sorry Nick!). I have never been nickled and dimed harder than a Ritz Carlton. Point farms is the secret sauce that loyalty programs use to offer “outsize value”.
All of the Hyatt all-inclusives in the Caribbean are point farms. Last time I stayed in one, I realized that there was no way anyone would knowingly pay those prices knowing that better hotels were going for less.
This is why I mostly stick to cashing out my points for 1 CPP and stay at independent hotels over chain hotels. You really ain’t getting 1.5CPP on a Hyatt that is charging a +50% premium.
I like the F1 sponsor potential, but special F1 access is insanely expensive in cash, so I can only imagine the huge amount of Hyatt points that would be required for anything good.
I can totally relate. As i mentioned in the other thread, go back to Amex BBP (2x) and Citi DC (worst case get 1.4X miles now that Citi allows for miles transfer with out the CSP/E cards).
Points Trap (TM) sounds better. You can add Premium Economy (which is neither Premium nor Economy) and all of Delta Airlines to the list.
“ sometimes it’s optimal to be suboptimal “
Loved that quote from the WSJ.
Super excited to hear we might be able to book F1 Experiences with Chase points!
Yes, the F1 Hyatt participation is very exciting! Thank you!
So the WSJ author moved to another rewards based card instead of a cash back card? Kind of undercuts the whole article, actually.
If the point of the WSJ article is to choose where to sweat the small stuff – that certainly makes sense. Perhaps the C1VX is in that author’s future. That said, as much as I hate the Chase changes and agree that they ruined a keep it simple stupid card, one can certainly find $795 of value, including market leading travel insurance coverage.
Chase also offers something tangible – access to physical branded Chase lounges. Use those even a couple of times a year, and you’re getting value from the card beyond just points and insurance coverage.
Meanwhile, whatever folks think of the NYT, if Bilt is now chasing higher spending folks with mortgages, those are folks that tend to read the NYT. Not ideal to have the Gray Lady be that dismissive of you at launch.
Hard disagree on $795 worth of value from the CSR, Peter.
The value is there. If you value your time at $30/hour.
Again, I hate the changes that Chase made, I think they’re losing a lot of customers by making this too onerous (even if it’s not “complicated” like Bilt is, it is certainly now a PITA), and when compared to what Amex did, it’s a huge error on Chase’s part.
That said, starting at $795, if you value the $300 credit at $285 like this site does, you’re down to $510. Folks like @Budugu below might pay $500 at this point for the travel insurance and lounge access alone (not sure if they meant $500 less the $300 credit though).
The rest is “chipping away” at it and takes time and is annoying, and as @rj notes (and as the WSJ article notes), by all means, get a KISS card like the C1VX and forget about Chase, but-
I’ll value the $300 (2x $150) stubhub credits at $150 – i’ll use this at least once in 2026, although stubhub is a ripoff.
I’ll value the $300 (2x $150) opentable Chase tables credits at $150 – i’ll use them and could value this more highly, although only $50 of the $150 I used last year tracked and I need to follow up about the other $100 – it simply does not work nearly as well as the Resy credit and much more limited in scope.
I’ll value AppleTV at $99 – it’s a service I otherwise would have paid for and that’s what it costs for a year with Apple. (Apple music I value at $0 as I use Spotify).
I’ll value the $10 with Lyft a month at $100 – I use a Lyft once a month already, some opportunity cost with not earning points, etc.
So with all of that i’m down to paying $11 (add in the DoorDash credits and I’m covered) and that’s before The Edit, any value for travel insurance, lounge access, etc. And I personally value The Edit at $0 – it’s a terrible program compared to FHR that has wildly inflated pricing. Likewise this year’s IHG credit. Likewise Peloton credit, PP, GE credits, etc.
Is this great? No. Did I do much, much better on this card before the changes? Yes. Would I like this card to be at 1.5x on spend to make up for the loss of 3x travel? Yes. Can I still, personally, break even on this card? Yes. Is all of this too much effort to continue to hold this card? Maybe! It does not make me favorably inclined and I’ll be exploring retention offers for sure. But I do value the lounge access at some amount of money, and I do value the travel insurance at some amount of money, and there is some value there.
YMMV – enjoy your own calculations, or just dump the card! The choices are yours… and yours alone. Good luck!
The problem is it just used to be simple. Now you have multiple paragraphs to argue it’s a good deal. Didn’t take that much effort a year ago.
Agree, but not arguing it is a good deal! I’m just saying I can get back to $795 with elbow grease. The question is if they are still selling a product I want. I like their lounges and travel insurance. But there are lots of lounges in the sea… including from the C1VX elevated not complicated folks.
I would pay 500 to just get the travel insurance coverage and occasional sapphire lounge (no need of PP) – loose all the stupid coupons – There is a market definitely for something like that. Even 1.5x flat would be a huge bonus. Surprised that no one (including Amex) is able to match the coverages from CSR.