That payback takes more years when MF are higher than $6/1000 pts or when you include the cancellation protection. At $9 per 1000 pts payback is 13 years and closer to 15-16 years when you and the $34 cancellation fee. Then when you throw in the cost of money (i.e. - lost interest) and those pts you never use because you forgot to convert to IHG you never get your money back.