Best Ways To Redeem Amex Membership Rewards Points

I'm surprised you don't mention Asia Miles, since it's really the only way to redeem for Cathay F (if we're being honest). The value is not bad - 160k for NY to Asia with a stopover in Hong Kong. Yes, it's devalued from what it used to be, but not that much (and yes, I know it doesn't compare to the old AS redemptions, but those don't seem to exist anymore).

What if international travel is not my goal? please discuss other options than intl travel.

Given that the amount of time I have available to travel is limited (and the amount of work travel I do makes me less excited to fly for fun) as well as the speed with which I am fortunate to accrue transferable currencies (via work/small business spend) there have been times when I have happily cashed in some MR pts for a gift card at 1 cent (with promotion) becuase even though it wasn't the best deal at that time I was able to make a purchase without spending cash I had other needs for.

Similarly I have also topped off my Bonvoy account with MR once or twice when redeeming for an aspirational (St Regis) award in Europe where the Bonvoy redemption rate was IIRC close to 1.5 cents/point vs paid rate. So while I agree with the valuations here I think everyone has to make their own decisions as the worst redemption rate of all is the one you never get around to making.

I do agree that for travel bloggers it would be wasteful to redeem MR for anything other than international F and J tickets 😉

Get Charles Schwab Platinum and redeem for cash.

Or get 2% cashback card

Let me ask another way: what are the best ways to redeem Amex membership rewards if BESIDES international travel. the story suggested this would be revealed but it was not.