Winner: Transfers to travel partners
Chase has over a dozen airline and hotel transfer partners. Those partners include:
Airline Partners
Hotel Partners
Thanks to the 25% bonus offered to Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card owners, Chase Travel bookings yield a fixed redemption value of 1.25 cents per point. However, your Ultimate Reward points can be worth significantly more when redeemed for bookings through the loyalty programs of Chase’s travel partners.
Transfer Chase Points to Hotels
I personally love transferring my points to Hyatt as I frequently get a value of more than 2 cents per point on my stays. As an example, I ran a sample rate search for the Hyatt Regency Dallas. On Hyatt’s own site, cash prices start at $358 a night for nonmembers with a total of around $420 after taxes and fees.
Chase shows the same base price and cost after adding taxes and fees, for a total of $420. Booking with rewards in Chase Travel would cost 33,594 Ultimate Rewards points, reflecting the 25% points bonus.
That’s a better deal than paying cash, however, you can book this hotel on the same night for just 9,000 World of Hyatt points transferred from Chase to your World of Hyatt account.
By leveraging the points transfer option, you could save 24,594 Ultimate Rewards points and receive an incredible redemption value of 4.7 cents per point! This is an excellent example of how points transfers can be such a powerful weapon in a traveler’s arsenal.
It’s also worth mentioning that Hyatt waives resort fees on award stays. This is an often-overlooked benefit that can save you a decent chunk of change. Not every property charges resort fees. But you’re still on the hook for these fees when booking through Chase’s portal, and they can’t be paid with Ultimate Rewards points. Rather, these charges must be paid directly to the hotel at check-in, adding an extra out-of-pocket cost to your stay.
Transfer Chase Points to Airlines
Moving beyond Hyatt stays, transferring your points to airline partners and then redeeming them for long-haul international flights in premium cabins can also provide outsized value. In the example below, a one-way business class seat for an Air France flight from New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG) would cost $3,458 or just 60,000 Air France Flying Blue miles + $237.60.
That’s another superb value of 5.4 cents per point. We could go on with many more examples, but the bottom line is this: If you enjoy strategizing to get the most potential value from your points, transferring them to partners is the way to go.