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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:
Here are the booking options:
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.
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:
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:
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:
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.
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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | Chase Sapphire Reserve® | Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card |
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best = Excellent = Good = Fair = Poor |
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best = Excellent = Good = Fair = Poor |
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5
Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale.
5 stars equals Best.
4 stars equals Excellent.
3 stars equals Good.
2 stars equals Fair.
1 star equals Poor.
We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best = Excellent = Good = Fair = Poor |
Apply Now for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
On Chase's Secure Website. |
Apply Now for Chase Sapphire Reserve®
On Chase's Secure Website. |
Apply Now for Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
On Chase's Secure Website. |
Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
Credit Rating Requirement:
Falling within this credit range does not guarantee approval by the issuer. An application must be submitted to the issuer for a potential approval decision. There are different types of credit scores and creditors use a variety of credit scores to make lending decisions.
Recommended Credit Score required for this offer is: Good/Excellent (670-850)
Good/Excellent (670-850) |
Welcome Offer: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠. 60,000 bonus points |
Welcome Offer: Earn 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℠. 60,000 bonus points |
Welcome Offer: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn 100,000 bonus points |
Rewards Program: Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more. 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining and 2x on all other travel purchases |
Rewards Program: Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. 5x points on flights and 10x points on hotels and car rentals through Chase Travel℠. |
Rewards Program: Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases-with no limit to the amount you can earn. Earn 3 points per $1 in select business categories |
Intro APR: N/A Purchases: N/A Balance Transfers: N/A |
Intro APR: Purchases: N/A Balance Transfers: N/A |
Intro APR: N/A Purchases: N/A Balance Transfers: N/A |
Regular APR: 21.49%-28.49% Variable |
Regular APR: 22.49%-29.49% Variable |
Regular APR: 21.24%-26.24% Variable |
Annual Fee: N/A $95 |
Annual Fee: N/A $550 |
Annual Fee: N/A $95 |
Highlights:
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Apply Now for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
On Chase's Secure Website. |
Apply Now for Chase Sapphire Reserve®
On Chase's Secure Website. |
Apply Now for Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
On Chase's Secure Website. |
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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:
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
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:
On the other hand, you're typically better off transferring your points if you're booking:
That's not always the case, though. The only way to know for sure is to compare both options.
Here are some other questions we've answered:
To find the Chase travel portal, log in to your account on the Chase Ultimate Rewards website. Open the "Earn / Use" drop-down menu, and then select "Travel" to go to the travel portal.
Most airlines are available for booking in the Chase travel portal. There are some low-cost carriers that can't be booked through the online Chase travel portal, most notably Southwest Airlines and Allegiant Air. You can book flights with these airlines through the Chase travel portal by phone. The number to reach a Chase Travel Specialist is 1-855-234-2542.
Yes, Chase Travel works for international flights.
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