Here are the best ways to redeem Amex Membership Rewards points on flights, hotels and more

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American Express cards are well-known among credit card newbies and reward card aficionados alike for rewarding cardmembers with lucrative points, luxury perks and unique card designs such as the iconic rose gold American Express® Gold Card.

But perhaps the most appealing reason to love Amex cards is the versatile Membership Rewards® points cardmembers earn from everyday purchases like dining out, groceries and business expenses — then redeem for first-class flights, luxury hotels, cash back and more.

With some participating brokerage accounts, you can even use your Membership Rewards points to invest (more on that below), and transferring them to select airline partners can give you an even bigger bang for your buck.

Below, CNBC Select breaks down our favorite ways to redeem Membership Rewards points so you can maximize your Amex cards' value.

• Best cards for earning Amex points
• Transfer your points to fly in business or first class
• Book flights to Hawaii
• Pay for travel booked through Amex
• Book rooms with hotel partners
• Invest with Charles Schwab

If you're ready to start earning top-notch rewards and VIP perks, check out a handful of our favorite Amex cards that earn Membership Rewards points (as opposed to Amex cash back cards):

• American Express® Gold Card: Earn 60,000 Amex points after spending $6,000 on eligible purchases with your new card within the first 6 months of card membership
• The Platinum Card® from American Express: Earn 80,000 Amex points after spending $8,000 within the first six months of card membership
• The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express: Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the card within your first 3 months of card membership.

The best way to receive the most value for your American Express Membership Rewards points is to transfer them to an airline partner to book an international business- or first-class flight. By using this option, you can turn the welcome bonus from a single Amex card into a flight that normally costs thousands of dollars.

For example, you can transfer 68,000 Amex points to Iberia and book a round-trip off-peak business-class flight from New York or Boston to Spain. The cash price for the same flights generally starts at around $2,500.

To unlock even more premium-cabin award flight deals, you can take advantage of airline partnerships. Airline partnerships allow you to transfer points to one airline and book awards on a completely different airline.

By using this strategy, you can dramatically reduce the points you need because each airline has different award charts and prices. For example, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club only charges 50,000 miles plus taxes for a one-way Delta business-class nonstop flight from the U.S. to Europe (excluding the U.K., which has a different price). Meanwhile, Delta SkyMiles, also a transfer partner of Amex, operates a dynamic award chart and normally charges many times that amount for the same flight.

Other great business- and first-class awards you can book with Amex's transfer partners include:

• Transfer 88,000 points to ANA Mileage Club for a round-trip business-class award from the U.S. to Europe
• Transfer 60,000 to 70,000 points to Air Canada Aeroplan for a one-way business-class award from the U.S. to Europe
• Transfer 80,000 points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club for a one-way nonstop Delta business-class award from the Western U.S. to Asia
• Transfer 102,000 points to Emirates Skywards for a one-way first-class flight from New York to Milan

To help you gauge how long it'd take to earn enough miles, let's look at how many points a popular Amex card bonus earns.

The American Express® Gold Card earns qualifying new cardmembers 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $6,000 on eligible purchases with your new card within the first 6 months of card membership. That's nearly enough for a round-trip business class ticket to Europe with Iberia. Plus, you'll earn points on purchases at the following rates:

• 4X Membership Rewards® points on restaurants (plus takeout and delivery in the U.S.) and 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
• 1X points on all other purchases

Amex points are great for booking flights to Hawaii because you're not bottlenecked into only one or two options. You can find excellent deals with airline programs like Singapore KrisFlyer, British Airways Executive Club and Air France/KLM Flying Blue.

Transferring your Amex points to Singapore Airlines is a good option since you can book flights to Hawaii on United or Alaska Airlines. Singapore Airlines has different award charts for Star Alliance partners (like United) and non-alliance partners like Alaska Airlines. You'll need 12,500 miles (or less) for a nonstop one-way flight to/from the mainland and Hawaii on an Alaska Airlines flight or 17,500 miles for a one-way flight on United (including connections).

You can also transfer to British Airways to book American Airlines or Alaska Airlines flights to Hawaii from only 13,000 points one-way (if you're flying from the U.S. West Coast) or book one-way Delta flights to Hawaii by transferring 17,500 points to Flying Blue. And if you find a cheap flight to Hawaii, you may even be able to book with fewer points (as you'll see below) by using the Amex Travel site.

One of the easiest ways to use Amex points is to book travel through the Amex Travel portal.

Booking through Amex Travel works the same as with other third-party travel sites, like Expedia or Kayak, except you can use Amex points to pay for the booking. The advantage to redeeming Amex points this way is you can book any available flight without having to worry about the airline restricting award seat availability. As a bonus, flights booked through Amex Travel typically earn miles as they normally would on a paid ticket.

The downside is you may not get as much value for your points. When you pay with your points through Amex Travel, they are worth one cent each for airfare and 0.7 cents each for hotels, rental cars and cruises.

When cash prices are low, you may be able to use fewer points by booking through the Amex Travel portal. For example, if there's a fare sale to Hawaii and you can book a round-trip flight for under $350, that would cost fewer points than the 35,000 points you would need to transfer to book the same award flight with certain airline programs.

Card members with certain Amex small business cards are eligible for an even better deal when booking flights with points. When you book business or first-class flights through Amex Travel or any flight with your selected airline you receive a 35% points rebate with The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (up to 1,000,000 points back per calendar year) or a 25% points rebate with The American Express® Business Gold Card (up to 250,000 points per calendar year).

Just as airline partner transfers result in amazing deals, so do transfers with Amex hotel partners.

You can transfer Amex points to three hotel chains: Hilton, Marriott and Choice Hotels. Hilton offers the best transfer ratio value, at two Hilton points per one Membership Rewards point. Marriott and Choice Hotels offer a 1:1 ratio. Amex occasionally runs hotel transfer bonus promotions for 20% to 50% which increases the value of your points.

Here's how many hotel points you could get by transferring 80,000 Membership Rewards® points (equal to the welcome bonus you can get with The Platinum Card® from American Express after spending $8,000 within six months of account opening):

• Hilton: 160,000
• Marriott: 80,000
• Choice: 80,000

You'll typically yield more value by transferring your points to airline partners and booking flights, but using points for hotel stays can be smart too. You'll do well when redeeming points for luxury hotels or when demand for hotels is high which translates into high cash prices.

You can book an overwater villa at the Conrad Maldives for 120,000 Hilton points a night, meaning the Amex Platinum welcome bonus would get you two-thirds of the way to an award night. Rooms at the Conrad Maldives can go for more than $1,000 a night.

If you have an American Express Platinum Card® for Schwab, you can transfer your points to a qualifying brokerage account at a rate of 1.1 cents per point. This is an incredible deal, considering the normal cash-out rate to turn Membership Rewards points into a statement credit is 0.6 cents per point.

New card members can earn 80,000 Membership Rewards^® points after spending $8,000 on purchases on the new card in the first six months of card membership.

In addition to the Amex welcome bonus, Charles Schwab account holders can receive additional cash boosts when their holdings reach certain thresholds at the time of account approval (and annually thereafter):

• $100 card statement credit if your qualifying Schwab holdings are equal to or greater than $250,000
• $200 card statement credit if your qualifying Schwab holdings are equal to or greater than $1,000,000

The Platinum card also comes with perks like airport lounge access, hotel elite status, up to $200 in Uber cash credit, up to $189 in Clear® Plus credit and $200 in airline incidental credits.

To qualify for the Amex Platinum Schwab card, you'll need to have an eligible account open with Charles Schwab.

The value you receive for your Amex points depends on how you redeem them. Generally, more straightforward redemption options have a smaller dollar value. So redeeming Amex points for cash back or gift cards is typically worth between 0.5 and one cent per point. That doesn't mean you should avoid these options because the flexibility and time you save can make them worth it.

However, to maximize the dollar value of redemptions, you'll want to transfer Amex points to airline or hotel partners. You could book a round-trip business-class flight to Europe for 100,000 points (or less), while the cash price could easily top $4,000. So it wouldn't be hard to receive a value of four cents per point with these types of award bookings.

Here's a full list of Amex's 21 airline and hotel transfer partners:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Aeromexico Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• ANA Mileage Club
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Delta SkyMiles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore KrisFlyer
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Choice Privileges
• Hilton Honors
• Marriott Bonvoy

American Express Membership Rewards points are some of the most valuable travel rewards you can earn. You can use them to directly pay for flights, rental cars and cruises through Amex Travel. You can also transfer Amex points to partner loyalty programs, which can greatly increase their value. And you can also use Amex points for simple redemptions, like cash back or gift cards.

The best part is Amex points are easy to earn. Many of the best Amex personal and small business cards earn Amex points. These cards offer lucrative welcome bonuses and generous bonus points in select spending categories, such as groceries, dining and travel.

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For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.

For rates and fees of the Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express, click here.

For rates and fees of The Business Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.

For rates and fees of The American Express® Business Gold Card, click here.