How to Use the Chase Travel Portal

The Chase Travel portal is a way to book travel through your Chase account. It's available to anyone with a Chase Ultimate Rewards card, including cards in the Chase Sapphire and Chase Freedom lines.

There are a few big benefits of using the Chase travel portal. Many Chase credit cards earn bonus rewards on these types of purchases. You can also use your Ultimate Rewards points to book travel in cash at a fixed rate. Keep reading to find out how to use the Chase Travel portal and when you should book with it.

Here's how to use the Chase Travel portal:

1. Log in to your Chase Ultimate Rewards account. You can do this on the Chase Ultimate Rewards site, or there's also a link available in your online Chase card account.
2. Select "Earn / Use." In the drop-down menu that appears, select "Travel."
3. Choose the type of travel you want to book.

Here are the booking options:

• Hotels
• Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection (only available with select Chase credit cards, see below for details)
• Flights
• Cars
• Activities
• Cruises

After you choose the type of travel, go through the search and booking process. You can complete hotel, flight, car, and activity bookings online. For cruises, you can explore featured offers and search for cruises, but you must complete your booking by phone. To reach a Chase Travel Specialist for cruise bookings, call 1-855-234-2542.

You can pay for bookings in cash using your Chase card, Ultimate Rewards points, or a combination of both.

Let's say you want to buy a $150 airline ticket. You have the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which allows you to redeem rewards at $0.015 per point through the Chase Travel portal. You could pay for that ticket in cash for $150, redeem 10,000 points to cover it, or pay for part of the cost in cash and the rest in points.

Chase's Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection

The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection includes over 1,000 luxury hotels, resorts, lodges, and spas. It's only accessible for cardholders of some of Chase's top travel credit cards, including:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• United℠ Explorer Card
• United℠ Explorer Business Card
• United Club℠ Infinite Card
• J.P. Morgan Reserve Card

If so, the Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection will be available through the Chase travel portal. In addition to having access to the collection, you also receive the following special benefits when you book through the program and pay with your eligible Chase card:

• Daily breakfast for two
• A special benefit worth up to $100 (unique to each property)
• Complimentary wifi
• Room upgrade (if available)
• Early check-in and late checkout (if available)

What you need to access the Chase Travel portal

To use the Chase Travel portal, you need a Chase card in the Ultimate Rewards program. Most Chase credit cards issued exclusively by Chase qualify. This includes cards in the Chase Freedom, Chase Sapphire, and Chase Ink product lines. It doesn't include the cobranded credit cards Chase issues with partners, such as its airline and hotel cards.

The value of your points depends on which Chase card you have. Chase's standard rate is $0.01 per point, which is the same rate you'd get if you redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for cash back.

However, Chase travel cards offer a greater value on travel portal redemptions. Here's how much more you'd get with the current Chase travel cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 25% more ($0.0125 per point)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®: 50% more ($0.015 per point)
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: 25% more ($0.0125 per point)

If you're interested in traveling, you should get one of those cards so your points are worth more.

Here's some more info on these cards.

Advantages of redeeming points through the Chase Travel portal

The two best ways to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel are to transfer them to one of Chase's many airline and hotel partners or book through the travel portal. Here are the benefits of going with the travel portal when you redeem your rewards:

You can use it for a larger variety of travel purchases. This includes hotel bookings with many hotel brands, airfare with most airlines, car rentals, cruises, and even activities you often can't book with credit card points.

When transferring your Chase points, your options are more limited. You can only use your points this way if you want to book airfare with one of Chase's airline partners or a stay at one of its hotel partners. Chase has quite a few travel partners, so this is often a great way to use your points. But you may not always be able to book what you want. Through the Chase Travel portal, you usually can.

The fixed rate provides a solid, consistent value. When you transfer your points, the value of Chase Ultimate Rewards points varies quite a bit based on your award booking. You could get over $0.02 per point, but there are also situations when it's difficult to get more than $0.01 per point. For example, it's almost never worth transferring your points to hotel partners other than Hyatt, because you won't get much value.

That's where the travel portal comes in handy, as you can use it when an awards booking wouldn't be of much value. At $0.0125 to $0.015 per point, depending on your Chase card, you can rest assured you're getting a good deal.

Purchases through the travel portal count as cash bookings. An important advantage of the travel portal is that even when you're paying in points, it counts as a cash purchase instead of an award booking. Here's why that's better for you:

• Cash bookings can earn points through the travel company, whereas award bookings do not.
• Your Chase card's travel protections apply on cash bookings, while they don't when you transfer your points and book that way.

Let's say you're booking a flight with United. If you transfer Chase points to United Airlines and buy an award ticket, you won't earn miles on that purchase. Should anything happen with your flight, you'll need to handle it with the airline.

If you booked the same United flight through the Chase Travel portal, you could earn miles on it with the airline. Your Chase card's travel insurance would apply, which helps if you have any issues, such as a trip delay or lost luggage.

RELATED: A Complete Guide to Chase Credit Card Benefits

When should you use the Chase Travel portal?

The travel portal is the clear choice for car, activity, vacation rental, and cruise bookings. It's the only way you can book those using Chase points. Flight and hotel bookings require a bit more research to decide.

Your best bet is to look up how many points you'd pay if you transferred points to the airline or hotel compared to how many you'd pay through the travel portal. Then, you can go with the option that costs you fewer points.

In my experience, the travel portal tends to get you a better deal on the following types of travel:

• Domestic flights in economy class
• Hotel bookings (with the notable exception of Hyatt)

On the other hand, you're typically better off transferring your points if you're booking:

• International flights, particularly business-class and first-class tickets
• Domestic flights in first class
• Stays at Hyatt hotels

That's not always the case, though. The only way to know for sure is to compare both options.

Still have questions?

Here are some other questions we've answered:

• What Is the Chase Trifecta?
• How Do Credit Card Points Work?
• A Guide to Chase Sapphire Reserve® Benefits