How to earn, redeem, and maximize Chase Ultimate Rewards points in 2023

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Chase Ultimate Rewards® is frequently considered one of the top credit card programs available today, and for good reason. Ultimate Rewards points, which you can earn from some of Chase's best credit cards, offer some of the most generous and diverse travel redemption options you can find.

But you don't have to redeem rewards for travel if you don't want to. You can cash them out, trade them for gift cards, or even pay for your Amazon cart with them at checkout. Not all these redemptions are a good idea, but it's nice to know all your options.

We're focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won't be worth it if you're paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it's important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Guide

Let's take a look at all the ways to earn and redeem Chase points.

How to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points

The only way to earn rewards in the Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem is by opening and using a Chase card that operates within this program.

Fortunately, Chase points-earning cards are some of the best travel credit cards available today, and each offers a generous welcome bonus and ongoing rewards for everyday spending.

Credit cards that earn transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards points

No-annual-fee cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points

How to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points

If you're considering a Chase credit card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points but want to make sure you'll be able to utilize your points, it helps to know all your options ahead of time.

The important thing to note is that if you don't have either the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you won't have as many redemption options. You won't be able to transfer points to airline and hotel partners, and your points will only be worth 1 cent apiece toward travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards website.

If you do have one of the above cards, Chase lets you pool all your points in one place for optimal redemptions. So you can move points over from, say, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and get 1.25 cents per point for travel booked through Chase, or transfer to an airline or hotel program to book an award.

Here are the main redemption options you can look forward to:

Redeem for statement credits or gift cards (1 cent per point)

No matter which Chase card you have, you can trade points for statement credits at a rate of 1 cent per point. This option can be a good one if you don't want to travel or if you want to use your points to cover a splurge purchase of some kind. All you have to do is charge the purchase to your credit card, then redeem your points at a rate of 1 cent each in order to wipe all or part of the charge away.

Gift cards are another redemption option Chase offers, and you'll normally get 1 cent per point if you go this route. Sometimes Chase even offers gift cards with a better value for specific retailers, which can be a good deal. It's not unusual to see gift cards for retailers like Apple, Panera Bread, or Old Navy for 2,250 points per $25 gift card.

Pay for merchandise (point values vary, not a good deal)

If you prefer to shop directly with your points, you can redeem them for purchases on Amazon.com, PayPal, or with Apple. You'll get 0.8 cents per point when you use points to shop on Amazon or with PayPal, and 1 cent per point when you purchase electronics through Apple.

However, this isn't a good deal. Considering you can redeem points for statement credits to cover any purchase you want at a rate of 1 cent per point, you should make the purchase on your card (and you'll earn points for the purchase). Then, you can erase the charge from your statement by cashing in points for a statement credit at a rate of 1 cent each. 

Book travel through the Chase Travel portal (up to 1.5 cents per point)

You can also book hotels, airfare, vacation rentals, activities, and rental cars directly through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel portal, which is similar to an online travel agency. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you get a 50% bonus when you book with points, thus giving your points 1.5 cents each in value.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you get a 25% bonus when you redeem points through the portal, or 1.25 cents per point.

The Chase travel portal will usually get you the best value for cheap hotel stays and flights, while transferring Ultimate Rewards points to partners is generally a smarter move if you're looking to book a first-class flight or an expensive luxury hotel.

Pay Yourself Back with Chase points (up to 1.5 cents per point)

During the pandemic, Chase introduced a compelling new way to redeem points for everyday, non-travel expenses. Chase Pay Yourself Back lets you redeem Ultimate Rewards points toward purchases in eligible categories. 

However, this option has become less lucrative with Chase's recent devaluation of Pay Yourself Back. The return you'll get for your points varies depending on the card you have, with the best value coming from the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (1.25 cents per point in eligible categories, 1.5 cents per point for charitable donations) and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (1.25 cents per point in eligible categories).

If you don't have any travel plans in the near future, this could be another option for using your rewards to cut down on expenses — and you don't have to feel any guilt about missing out on optimal points value.

Transfer points to airline and hotel partners (2 cents per point or more)

Similar to Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards lets you transfer points to a wide range of airline and hotel partners. All Chase transfer partners let you move your points at a 1:1 ratio, which is not only valuable but also easy to understand.

Because most of Chase's airline partners are in an alliance, you can redeem your airline miles (after you transfer points from Chase) on any of the carrier's alliance partners.

For example, you could transfer your Chase points to United Airlines, then use your United miles to book award flights on Star Alliance partners like Air Canada, Lufthansa, or Singapore Airlines. The same goes for British Airways (Oneworld alliance, which includes American Airlines and Cathay Pacific) or Air France-KLM Flying Blue (SkyTeam alliance, which includes Delta and Korean Air).

Redeem points for experiences (point values vary)

You can also use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book special experiences, including one-of-a-kind events hosted by Chase. It's hard to say what your exact point value will be for these redemptions since Chase often sets the "price."

Past examples include VIP dining experiences, sports games with VIP seating, and Broadway-style shows. Point requirements are all over the place from as low as 10,000 points for a single-day ski resort lift ticket to 760,000 points for a VIP weekend experience at the Sundance Film Festival. These redemptions were largely put on hold due to the pandemic, but are ramping up again.

Lucrative ways to redeem your Chase points

While the best way to use points depends on your personal goals, there are plenty of redemptions that can pay off in a big way. Here are some of the most valuable ways to cash in your rewards if your goal is to book epic and unforgettable travel experiences for free.

Score cheap flights through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal

While transferring Chase points to airlines is often the best deal, don't forget that you can also save big by booking flights through the Chase portal. This is especially true when you find a cheap fare online because the lower the price, the fewer points you'll need to book through Chase.

Here's a good example of how this works in practice: When I was trying to find award flights to Milan, Italy for my family of four and my parents, I almost booked using 30,000 American Airlines miles each plus airline taxes and fees each way.

I ultimately found cheap one-way flights on TAP Air Portugal for $287.80 each. Since you get a 50% bonus value (1.5 cents per point) when you book flights through the Chase portal with points from the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, I was able to book six one-way flights worth $1,726.80 in total through Chase for just 115,120 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

That's a much better value than redeeming American Airlines AAdvantage miles. With the American AAdvantage program, I would have paid 180,000 American miles plus around $100 per person (or $600 for six of us) in airline taxes and fees.

Transfer points 1:1 to Southwest Airlines

If you're OK with flying economy and mostly travel in the US and to the Caribbean or Mexico, you'll definitely want to consider transferring points 1:1 to Southwest Airlines. This frequent flyer program is revenue-based, meaning lower prices mean you can score award flights for fewer points. In fact, you can frequently find one-way flights for as little as 5,000 points during one of Southwest's countless sales.

Southwest also gives each customer two free checked bags, making it a good choice for families who travel with checked luggage. Finally, the airline has a generous cancellation and rebooking policy which means you can usually reschedule your flight — even at the last minute.

Fly cheap economy to Europe with Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Flying Blue (the loyalty program for Air France and KLM) is a truly underutilized Chase Ultimate Rewards partner. This partner lets you fly for cheap to and from Europe from most major cities, and often for less than you'll pay with other airline programs.

You can frequently find one-way awards to European cities like Amsterdam and Paris for less than 30,000 miles one-way with this program, making them a solid option to check out if you're dreaming of a European getaway. Best of all, awards are generally plentiful and you can usually find four or more economy awards on any given flight.

Transfer to airline partners to fly business class

Using airline miles to fly business class makes a lot of sense, and this is particularly true with airlines that have fixed award charts. Fortunately, Chase has several airline partners that make it easy to book premium cabins for a reasonable number of miles.

For example, you could transfer your Chase points to these airlines for an epic redemption:

• Use 107,000 Singapore Airlines miles to fly business class from the West Coast to Singapore with Singapore Airlines
• Use 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles to fly Delta One from the US to Europe (outside of the UK)
• Use 87,500 Air Canada Aeroplan points to fly business class from the US to Asia (under 11,000 flown miles) on Star Alliance partners

These are just a few of the options to consider, although there are many, many ways to utilize Chase points for profitable transfers to airline partners. 

Book hotels through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal

While the Chase Ultimate Rewards program partners with IHG Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt, it's important to price shop awards before you transfer Chase points to these programs.

For example, you may find that a Marriott stay that costs 50,000 points will only set you back 12,000 Chase points through the portal. In that case, it makes more sense to book your hotel stay with points through Chase than it does to transfer all those extra points over to book the same room.

Here's a good example of the exact same hotel stay on the same dates with the IHG Rewards program. While you can book the Holiday Inn Montego Bay Resort for 50,000 IHG points through IHG.com, the same hotel on the exact same dates will only set you back around 18,000 points through Chase Ultimate Rewards with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

Also note that the Chase portal lets you book hundreds of thousands of independent and boutique hotels and resorts, meaning you can use your points to shop around for a good deal.

Book fun excursions you don't want to pay for

Another way to use Chase Ultimate Rewards is for fun day trips and excursions you wouldn't normally want to pay for. Think of snorkeling trips in the Caribbean, a sunset booze cruise in Hawaii for your anniversary, or a cooking class in Florence, Italy. You can use Chase points to book these experiences and more, and often for less than you think.

Remember that you'll get 25% more travel for free when you use points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to book travel through the portal, but this amount goes up to 50% more travel if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

I have used Chase points to snorkel with stingrays in Grand Cayman, swim with sharks in Bora Bora, and see some of the world's oldest ruins in destinations like Italy and Greece. I see splurging for excursions as a fun way to treat myself and my family. And they're my points to spend, so why not?