Will You Get Hotel Elite Status Benefits When Booking Through the Chase Travel Portal?

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Million Mile Secrets reader, Lanny, writes:

Are Hilton Diamond benefits awarded when booking paid stays through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal?

As a Hilton Diamond member, you get money-saving perks like free breakfast and room upgrades.  But will your status be recognized when you book through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal?

I’ll explain how the Chase Travel portal works and why you might not get elite status benefits.

Book Paid Hotel Stays With Your Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Link:   Save Points and Money with the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal

You can earn Big Travel by transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to partners like United Airlines and Hyatt for luxury flights and hotel stays.

But if you want to avoid the hassle of finding award nights and blackout dates another option is to book paid flights or hotels through the Chase Travel portal.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Plus, or Ink Bold (no longer available), you can get 1.25 cents per Chase Ultimate Rewards point when booking airfare, hotels, cruises, and rental cars through the portal.

And sometimes you’ll spend fewer points than if you transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards points to hotel chains like Marriott, Hyatt, or IHG for an award stay!

But you typically will NOT earn hotel points or elite stay credits when you book through a 3rd-party site, like the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal.

Will You Still Get Elite Status Benefits?

Lanny’s Hilton Diamond status comes with great perks like free breakfast, room upgrades, and lounge access (free drinks & snacks).

Unfortunately, Hilton and most other hotels (except Hyatt) require you to book your stay directly to take advantage of elite status benefits.  So Lanny likely won’t get to enjoy these perks or elite status credits if he makes his reservation through the Chase Travel portal.

Some folks have called the hotel and added their member number to their booking, and still received their Hilton Diamond or Gold benefits.  There’s no guarantee, but if he plans on using the Chase Travel portal anyway it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.

If you have an extended stay this can save you Big Money!  Breakfast alone could cost ~$30 per person each day.

So if Lanny wants to use these perks he might want to consider paying cash or earn Hilton points to cover the cost of his stay.  Do the math to see what makes sense for you!

Bottom Line

The Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal lets you book paid stays at hotels with your Chase Ultimate Rewards points, even if the hotel isn’t a transfer partner.

This will give you more options and save you the hassle of finding available award nights.  And sometimes you’ll pay fewer points than if you transferred Chase Ultimate Rewards points to a hotel partner, like Hyatt, Marriott, or IHG.

But by booking this way, most hotels won’t give you elite status credits or benefits like free breakfast and room upgrades.

You can try calling the hotel to add your membership number to your reservation, but there’s no guarantee this work.

So do the math to see it’s worth forgoing these perks!

If you’ve booked a hotel through the Chase Travel Portal, have you received your elite member benefits?  Share your experience in the comments!