If you're into travel rewards, you're probably aware of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program's merits.
While some rewards cards work better for different individuals, it's fairly safe to say Chase offers one of the best travel rewards programs out there.
With Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can use points to book travel directly through the Chase travel portal while scoring a sizable discount in the process. You can also transfer points to popular loyalty programs such as Southwest Airlines, United MileagePlus, British Airways, Marriott, Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and others.
While any of those options can be good under the right circumstances, there are a few redemption options that tend to be more lucrative from your Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Preferred Business credit card or Chase Sapphire Reserve cards:
Transfer to Flying Blue for a Round-trip Flight to Europe
Air France / Flying Blue offers a range of low-cost flights to Europe with one of their partners, Delta Air Lines.
With just 50,000 points transferred from Chase plus fees, you can book a round-trip flight to Europe from the U.S. for 50,000 miles. While fees vary, they are usually less than $100 per ticket. As a bonus, you can fly into one city and out of another (on an open jaw), making it easy to traverse your favorite European region without backtracking.
Transfer Points to Southwest for Domestic Flights or Flights to the Caribbean
Southwest Airlines makes it easy to redeem your points: They don't have any blackout dates and they don't limit award seats on a single flight.
And if you ask any Southwest fans, they'll admit the airline offers some pretty amazing sales. It's common to find round-trip domestic flights for less than 15,000 points, along with round-trip flights from the U.S. to the Caribbean for 25,000 miles or less. Best of all, Southwest lets your first two checked bags fly free.
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Book an Off-brand Hotel Through the Chase Travel Portal
While Chase has its share of excellent hotel transfer partners, you can also save money (and points) by booking directly through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
If you want to book an off-brand hotel, for example, you can do so at huge discounts and pay in points. I recently stayed in a Super 8 Motel at the Wisconsin Dells for around 4,000 points per night!
Transfer Points to Hyatt for an All-inclusive Hotel Stay
If your goal is staying at an all-inclusive resort with points, Chase has you covered in more than one way.
One of the best options available is transferring points to Hyatt for a stay at one of their Hyatt Ziva or Hyatt Zilara resorts in Jamaica or Mexico. These properties cost 20,000-25,000 points per night and include all food, drinks (including alcohol) and entertainment in your nightly rate.
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Fly to Hawaii on Korean Air
Korean Air's SkyPass program makes it easy to book reward flights from the mainland to Hawaii. You'll need 25,000 miles for each flight to Hawaii, plus airline taxes and fees. Better yet, it doesn't matter where in the U.S. you start your journey, provided you can find low-level award availability on Delta, Korean Air's partner airline.
If your goal is flexible travel and you want to pay with rewards, it would be difficult to beat the Chase Ultimate Rewards program. With numerous ways to redeem your points, you're bound to find a flight or hotel option that fits your travel dreams and goals.
As a bonus, you don't even have to redeem your Chase points for travel. If your plans fall through or you can't go anywhere for some reason, you can redeem your points for cash back or high-level gift cards at a rate of one cent per point.
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