How to use the Chase Travel Portal

With the right amount of planning, it's possible to book your entire vacation, including flights, hotels, cruises, car rentals, tours and other activities, entirely on points through the Chase Travel^SM portal.

But are you getting the best deal by doing this instead of transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to travel partners and booking directly? It turns out there's a lot more to consider — everything from travel date flexibility and brand variety to the credit card you're using — if you want to get more value for your points by booking through Chase Travel^SM.

Below, CNBC Select breaks down the best ways to book flights, hotels, cruises, tours and vacation activities through the Chase Travel^SM portal with Ultimate Rewards® points.

To access Chase Travel^SM, you'll need to have a credit card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, Chase Freedom Unlimited® or Chase Freedom Flex®.

The easiest way to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points quickly is by taking advantage of the lucrative welcome bonuses offered by certain rewards cards: 

• You'll earn 60,000 points by signing up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred and spending $4,000 within the first three months of opening your account. That's worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel^SM
• With the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card's welcome bonus, you'll earn 100k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,000 cash back or $1,250 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Travel^SM.
• The Chase Sapphire Reserve's welcome bonus gives you 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

The card you're using to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points will also affect your point redemption value. For instance, if you're using the Chase Sapphire Preferred to book through the Chase Travel^SM portal, points are worth 25% more (1.25 cents per point). But if you're booking through Chase Travel^SM with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, points are worth 50% more (1.5 cents per point) — the other $0 annual fee Chase cards each carry a redemption rate of 1 cent per point.

That means the bonus points you'd earn from either the Chase Sapphire Preferred's welcome bonus is worth $750 towards travel and the Chase Sapphire Reserve's is worth $900 towards travel.

To reach the Chase Travel^SM portal, log into your Chase account, then click the area near the right side of the screen where it says the amount of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Depending on how many Chase credit cards you have, you may be asked to choose which one you want to proceed with.

The next screen is your credit card's main dashboard, showing how many Ultimate Rewards points you currently have, as well as any deals or bonus opportunities. On the top of the page, you'll see several menus with redemption options.

While not the best redemption in terms of overall value, you could choose to use your Chase points for Apple and Amazon purchases, cash them in for gift cards and experiences. You can transfer points directly to one of Chase's 14 travel partners if you have a specific flight or hotel in mind. Otherwise, click "book travel" to enter the Chase Travel^SM portal.

From here, you'll be able to search for flights, hotels, rental cars, activities and cruises. Simply choose your category, plug in your desired dates and details, and book with points, cash or some combination of the two.

Chase's travel partner programs

Currently, you can transfer your points to the following airline and hotel programs:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United Airlines MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt

There are a few pros and cons to consider when booking flights through the Chase Travel^SM portal. You won't have to worry about blackout dates or limited award availability, which makes it great if you're not flexible with dates and flight times. Just make sure you compare the number of points needed through the Chase Travel^SM portal with how many points the airline would require if you were using its own miles, especially if you're hunting for a good deal on economy seats.

The catch with using the Chase Travel^SM portal is you won't be able to shop for tickets on low-cost carriers like Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines, or Allegiant Air — you can search for flights on Alaska, Southwest, Delta, JetBlue, American, and United. You'll also be able to book flights on most international carriers.

Remember that you can still earn miles and elite credits on flights, as tickets booked through the Chase Travel^SM portal are categorized as "paid" rather than as an award flight since you're "paying" for them with points instead of cash. Consider the taxes and fees you might have to pay if you were to transfer the points straight to one of Chase's travel partners versus booking directly through the portal, and to calculate and compare how many points and miles you'd earn by booking with either method.

You'll be able to search, filter, and sort by price, airline, booking class, departure time, arrival time, and departure airport. For this example, below, consider a round-trip flight from Seattle to Austin booked through the travel portal with a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card (redemptions are worth 1.25 cents per point):

Results included 107 results with an economy mix-and-match United and Delta fare for $370 or about 29,600 points being the most affordable option. For comparison's sake, the points price is about the same as what United and Delta are currently charging if you were to book the awards directly through the airlines, but Delta isn't a transfer partner of Chase. You also won't earn miles if you were to book these awards through the airlines, whereas you will earn miles when booking through Chase.

To finish booking your flight through the travel portal, select your route(s), review the details, choose how many points you'd like to use and complete your purchase.

Remember that if you're booking with money rather than points, you can earn extra rewards on your booking. In our example, if you paid $370 for a flight, you'd earn 1,850 Ultimate Rewards points with your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card. Either card earns 5X points on flight purchases through Chase Travel^SM.

Booking travel with Southwest

In 2023, Chase also added the ability to use Ultimate Rewards points to book Southwest flights directly through the issuer's travel portal. To do so, simply search for the flight using the process described above. Your search results will only show Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus fares. However, when you proceed with the booking, you'll also have the option to select an Anytime or Business Select fare.

While the best redemption rates are usually realized when you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 ratio to hotel partner World of Hyatt, if you're not a huge fan of chain hotels or prefer boutiques or brands like Hilton, Choice Hotels, or Wyndham, it can be a good idea to book them through the travel portal. 

As with flights, you won't have to worry about blackout dates or limited award night availability. However, keep in mind that hotels treat the Chase Travel^SM portal as a third-party booking agency, so you won't be able to earn hotel points on stays as you might by booking your stay directly with the hotel.

Hyatt hotels usually offer better deals when you book directly, and since it's one of Chase's hotel partners, you can transfer UR points instantly at a 1:1 ratio. Marriott and IHG are usually more varied, so you may score a better deal by booking via the Chase Travel^SM portal instead of transferring points over. For this reason, it's a good idea to ring up how much your hotel stay would cost in points through the portal as well as the hotel's website.

Start by searching by destination so you can see a list of all the available hotels. For this example, let's try looking for hotels in downtown Austin. Once the results appear, you'll be able to narrow down your search with filters based on price, star ratings, guest ratings, amenities and neighborhood.

Let's go over a couple of options within the Chase Travel^SM portal, each booked with a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. One option is the Four Seasons Hotel Austin, which is listed for $556 or about 44,500 points per night through Chase. If you book through Four Seasons, directly, you'll pay $561 per night. The hotel chain also doesn't have a rewards program but going through Chase provides a way to pay with points.

Another example is the Hyatt Place Austin Downtown for $288 or about 23,000 points per night through Chase. If you were to book this directly through Hyatt, you'd pay $279 per night as a member of its loyalty program or just 15,000 World of Hyatt points per night if you booked with points. Since you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, in this case, transferring would make more sense.

As you can see, it's worth comparing points required by the travel portal and each hotel's website, as the time of year, location, and other factors may play a part in pricing. To book your stay through the travel portal, select your room type, review the details, choose how many points you'd like to use and complete your purchase.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you also get access to The Edit by Chase Travel^SM — a premium travel booking platform offering complimentary benefits at featured properties. These perks include a room upgrade (if available), $100 property credit and daily breakfast for two, to name just a few.

It's a pretty similar process if you want to book rental cars, tours and other travel activities through the Chase Travel^SM portal. Cruises can also be booked as well, but you'll need to call.

As far as car rentals, make sure you're booking through the travel portal with points that are connected to Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve to take advantage of extra perks like primary rental car insurance — you'll also need to decline the rental car company's auto collision damage waiver when you book to activate this. You'll want to charge at least a few dollars to the card and not use points to cover the entire booking which ensures that you're still "paying" for the car rental with your Sapphire card, which means you'll be entitled to the card's rental car insurance.

Beyond that, simply plug in your itinerary and search. Here's an example for a rental in Austin booked with a Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card:

You'll be able to filter your search by capacity, car type, price per day, company, and car options (like air conditioning and automatic transmission). For a seven-day rental, it would cost around 24,800 points or $310 for the cheapest option. As with other travel portal purchases, you'll be able to enter how many Chase Ultimate Rewards points you wish to put toward the final price. It works the same way for booking tours and other travel activities, so you could potentially enjoy a free — or nearly free — vacation solely on Chase points if you were to plan it all out properly.

When it comes to Chase, your travel benefits don't end with booking. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you also enroll and get access to two airport lounge networks: Priority Pass and Chase's Sapphire Lounge by The Club.

The Sapphire Lounge network officially consists of four lounges:

• Boston (BOS)
• Hong Kong (HKG)
• New York City (LGA)
• New York City (JFK)

Chase also manages and operates a lounge at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) on behalf of Etihad Airways. This lounge isn't branded as a full-fledged Sapphire Lounge, but it features a similar design and follows similar access rules.

Chase is planning to open four more Sapphire lounges in the future: in Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Phoenix and San Diego.

Separately, Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders also receive access to Sapphire Terrace at the Austin-Bergstrom airport in Austin, Texas.

Priority Pass, on the other hand, is a vast network with over 1,500 airport lounges around the world.

Booking through the Chase Travel^SM portal can be a great use of your Ultimate Rewards® points, but make sure to compare the rates against booking directly with an airline or hotel itself. Finally, consider transferring your points to one of Chase's travel partners, especially if you're looking to book a luxury hotel or flight in business class.

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Information about the Chase Freedom Flex® has been collected independently by Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of the card prior to publication.