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Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards are the two most popular travel credit card reward programs on the market today. The programs allow you to earn points with your credit card purchases and then redeem those points for free travel, gifts, cashback, and more.
The points offered via these programs are especially valuable because of their flexibility and breadth of redemption options. Not only do they provide a wide variety of options for redeeming your points, including cash back, statement credits, gift cards, and travel, but they also allow you to easily transfer points to a variety of airline and hotel partners so you can redeem travel directly through those loyalty programs.
This guide will explain everything you need to know about the Chase Ultimate Rewards program and how to earn and use points for maximum value.
What are Chase Ultimate Reward Points?
“Ultimate Rewards” is the credit card rewards program of Chase bank that allows cardholders to earn points with every purchase they make with select Chase credit cards.
These points can be redeemed in a multitude of ways, but the best redemption options are for travel, specifically through transfer partners. The other redemption options are nice but don’t have the ability to offer the “outsized” value of transferring your points to travel partners.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed for:
- Free travel through the Chase Travel Portal
- Points and miles with Chase travel partners
- Cashback and statement credits
- Gift cards
- Amazon purchases
- Apple purchases
- Exclusive Chase Experiences
How to Earn Ultimate Rewards Points
Chase Ultimate Rewards can be earned in a variety of ways, including sign-up bonuses, credit card spending, category bonuses, and by using the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal for online purchases.
The easiest way to earn Ultimate Rewards points is by applying for and then charging your purchases with a Chase credit card that earns Ultimate Rewards points. Chase offers large signup bonuses to attract customers to apply for these cards. so you’ll want to make sure you consider both the card’s bonus categories as well as the amount of the sign-up bonus before finalizing the right card for you.
All you have to do is meet a minimum spend threshold within the first 3-5 months of opening the card to earn the bonus. The amount of the bonus will vary from card to card and will get you off to a great start with your points!
Another way to easily earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points is by clicking through the Chase portal when you need to buy something online. It’s a very straightforward process and only takes a few seconds to do.
Finally, you can earn bonus Chase Ultimate Rewards points by referring your family and friends to apply for a Chase credit card.
What cards earn Ultimate Rewards?
Chase provides a variety of credit cards, both personal and business, that earn Ultimate Rewards points. Each card is different in terms of how many points you can earn and what categories will earn bonus points.
Chase credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards include cards include:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x bonus for travel and dining)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred (2x bonus for travel and dining)
- Chase Freedom Unlimited (3x on dining and drugstores + 1.5x on all other spending)
- Chase Freedom Flex (5x on quarterly bonus categories – 1x on all other spending)
- Ink Business Cash Credit Card (5x bonuses on office supply stores + internet, cable, and phone bills)
- Ink Business Preferred Credit Card (3x bonuses on shipping, travel, advertising + internet, cable, and phone bills)
- Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card (1.5x on all spending)
Chase Shopping Portal
You’ll earn the most points per dollar by shopping through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal when shopping online. Choose from more than 240 stores with unlimited earnings of 1x to 10x bonus points per dollar, just by clicking through the portal prior to making your purchase.
The bonus points you earn through the portal are in addition to the points from any bonus categories you earn with your Chase Ultimate Rewards card.
For example, if you have the Chase Reserve Card and used a 6X bonus for Marriott, you will earn 6x the points from the travel portal on top of the normal 3x you will earn because Marriott is a travel company and the Reserve card offers 3x for travel purchases. The net in this example would be 9x points for your purchase.
How to use the Chase Shopping Portal
Shopping through the Chase Shopping Portal is very straightforward. You just have to remember to click through the Chase Portal before you make a purchase with the online merchant.
Login to your Chase credit card account and proceed to the Ultimate Rewards portal before making any online purchase. Here you will see a huge list of retailers that participate in the program and have special offers with Chase, such as “6X points at Saks Fifth Avenue” or “10x points at 1-800 Flowers”. All you have to do is select the offer you are interested in and you’ll be taken directly to the retailer’s website, where you can make your purchase and earn extra points. It’s that easy!
How to Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards?
Once you’ve earned your Chase Ultimate Rewards points, there’s a variety of ways you can use them. Start by logging into the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, which you can get to from your Chase account page. Only customers of Chase can use the portal, so you’ll have to log into your Chase account first.
Once you arrive on the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, you’ll find all the ways you can use your rewards points. These include:
- Free travel through the Chase Travel Portal
- Points and miles with Chase travel partners
- Cashback and statement credits
- Gift cards
- Amazon purchases
- Apple purchases
- Exclusive Chase Experiences
While there are many options to redeem your Chase points, not all redemptions are created equal. The best value can be found either by transferring to a Chase travel partner or by booking travel through the Chase travel portal.
There are no restrictions or blackout dates when you book travel through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal and you are guaranteed a 1.25 – 1.50 cent value for each point (depending on the card you have).
However, when you transfer your loyalty rewards to Hyatt and book one of their luxury properties or transfer to an airline for international first or business class, you can receive a significantly higher value per point.
I’ve received up to 5 cents value per point with some luxury Hyatt redemptions during peak season, such as the Park Hyatt St. Kitts and Alila Marea Beach Resort.
Chase Travel Portal
If you want to use your Chase points to book travel, booking through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal can be an excellent option, especially if you have either the Chase Preferred or Chase Reserve credit card.
If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card you get a 25% bonus on redemptions when booking through the travel portal. With this bonus, you can turn 100,000 points into $1,250 in travel spending through the Chase travel portal. This includes bookings with hotels, airfare, rental cars, cruises, etc.
If you have the Chase Reserve card you get a 50% bonus on redemptions when booking through the travel portal. With this bonus, you can turn 100,000 points into $1,500 in travel spending through the Chase travel portal.
The Chase Travel portal is powered by Expedia, so the experience is like booking with Expedia directly, but you are using points instead of cash to book the travel.
I’ve used the Chase Travel Portal when booking hotels that aren’t part of a hotel loyalty program including some great properties like Hotel Yountville, Mr. C Beverly Hills, and the Belle Mont Farm in St. Kitts, just to name a few.
Chase Transfer Partners
Chase partners with some great hotel and airline programs, enabling you to convert your Chase points into their hotel points and airline miles at a 1:1 ratio. Here’s a list of the Chase transfer partners:
Airline Transfer Partners
Chase currently has 10 airlines that allow you to convert Chase points into their frequent flyer miles.
- Aer Lingus
- British Airways
- Emirates
- Flying Blue (Air France and KLM)
- Iberia
- jetBlue
- Singapore Airlines
- Southwest
- United Airlines
- Virgin Atlantic
These airline partners include members of all three airline alliances, giving you the ability to book flights on just about any airline:
- OneWorld Alliance (Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia)
- SkyTeam Alliance (Flying Blue – KLM, Air France)
- Star Alliance (Singapore and United Airlines)
Emirates, jetBlue, Southwest, and Virgin Atlantic are not part of an airline alliance, but still have some great redemptions.
Hotel Transfer Partners
Chase has three hotel partners that allow you to transfer your Chase points into their hotel loyalty program, including:
Hyatt is the only one that consistently offers great value for the 1:1 transfer. I would only transfer to Marriott or IHG if you need to top off a balance to book an award.
How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Partners
When you’re ready to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to a hotel or airline program you’ll have to first log into your Chase credit card account to access the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. From there, the menu on the left gives you the option to “Transfer to Travel Partners”. Once you are on the partner transfer page you can select the airline or hotel partner that you want to transfer your points.
Points transfer at a 1:1 ratio for all partners and must be transferred in increments of 1,000. Below is a table with the travel partners, transfer ratio, and transfer time. Most transfers happen immediately, which is a great feature when booking travel since time can be of the essence when securing an award seat or room.
| Program | Type | Transfer Ratio | Transfer Time |
| Aer Lingus | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Air France/KLM | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| British Airways | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Emirates | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Iberia Plus | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| jetBlue | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Singapore Air | Airline | 1:1 | 12-24 hours |
| Southwest Airlines | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| United Airlines | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Virgin Atlantic | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| World of Hyatt | Hotel | 1:1 | Instant |
| IHG Rewards | Hotel | 1:1 | 1 day |
| Marriott Rewards | Hotel | 1:1 | 2 days |
Best Use of Ultimate Rewards
While there’s no “right or wrong way” to redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points, there are some redemptions that offer a much better value than others.
The best redemptions for Chase points are almost always going to be in the travel category, specifically with Chase’s transfer partners. Transferring to Hyatt can be a great use of Chase points, especially if you are going to be booking a stay at one of their top-tier, luxury properties.
For example, I transferred points from Chase to stay at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts and the Alila Marea Beach Resort. Rooms at both hotels were in the $1,000/night range per night and required 25,000 points per night to book. That represents a value of 4 cents per point, which is a great value per point.
You can also get great value from airline transfer partners. Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, and Iberia all offer the ability to use their frequent flyer miles to book with partner airlines with an outsized value per point.
Worst use of Ultimate Rewards
The following are some of the Chase redemptions that offer the lowest value for each Chase point. That doesn’t necessarily mean it is a mistake to use these options. It all depends on your personal situation and preferences for spending.
For example, I once used Chase points to buy a Rancilio Silvia Espresso Machine and grinder that was more than what I would typically be comfortable spending on a coffee machine. By using my Chase points, I justified the purchase as a gift to myself, compliments of Chase. The value I received for my purchase was 1 cent per point, which is considered a bad value redemption by many, but I got years of great espresso out of that machine and was incredibly happy with the redemption.
The following are considered the worst redemptions for Chase points because they yield a value of 1 cent per point or less.
- Amazon Purchases – This is a horrible use of Chase points that I can comfortably say you should never use. You will get .8 cents of Amazon value for each Chase point. Don’t do it. You would be better off making a purchase on Amazon, paying with your Chase card, then using a statement credit at a ratio of 1 cent per point to pay for the purchase.
- Cashback – When you redeem for cash back, you can direct deposit it into most U.S. checking and savings accounts or you can choose to redeem for a statement credit on your Chase credit card. Either way, the value is 1 cent per Chase point.
- Gift Cards – Redeem for a wide variety of Gift Cards at a value of 1 cent per Chase point.
- Apple Purchases – You can use your points to buy Apple products with a value of 1 cent per Chase point, so a MacBook Air that costs $999.00 will set you back 99,900 Chase points.
Frequently Asked Questions
Chase Ultimate Reward Points will not expire as long as your account is open. However, if you close your credit card and still have an open balance, you will lose those points forever.
Yes. If they are in your household. Chase states that you can move your points, but only to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards belonging to you, or one member of your household. You can’t transfer to friends or extended family members, they must live with you and be a household member
This is an unofficial Chase policy, but it is absolutely real. Essentially, Chase won’t accept your credit card application if you’ve applied for 5 or more cards (from any issuer) in the past 24 months.
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