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When You Should (or Should NOT) Book Hotels Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal

  • Jasmin Baron

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    One of the best things about earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points is their flexibility.  While you can use them for cash back, gift cards, or Amazon purchases, you’ll usually get much more value when you redeem them for travel.

    This is especially true when you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, or Chase Sapphire Reserve.  That’s because with these cards:

    However, booking hotels through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal only makes sense in certain situations.  In some cases, you could save a significant number of points compared to transferring points to a hotel partner for an award stay – plus there are no blackout dates!

    One of the major downsides is you won’t earn hotel points or elite status credits (and possibly won’t have your status recognized) at chain hotels, because the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal is considered a 3rd-party booking (like Orbitz or Expedia).  But in some cases, that might not matter because you could end up saving a significant number of points.

    Should You Book Hotels Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal? It Only Makes Sense in Certain Situations

    Here’s what you should consider before you book a hotel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

    Should You Book Hotels Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal?

    Here’s a quick primer on the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal if you’ve never used it before:

    The information for the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, Ink Business Cash, Ink Business Unlimited, Chase Freedom card has been collected independently by Million Mile Secrets. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

    Sign Into Your Chase Account to Book Hotels Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, Then Click the “Hotels” Tab

    Now, there are a few good reasons to use the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal to book hotels.  It’s most handy for folks who aren’t flexible with their travel, and don’t want to worry about blackout dates or available award nights at chain hotels – you can still book using points for a free stay this way even if there’s no availability.  And the portal also includes independent hotels and vacation rentals or bed and breakfasts.

    BUT – you’ll get stung on chain hotel bookings.  Because the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal is a 3rd-party site, you won’t get any of the benefits you would with booking directly with a chain hotel, including earning hotel points or elite status credits, participating in hotel promotions, or often having your elite status recognized (like getting upgrades or free breakfast).

    When to Book Chain Hotels Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal

    If you’re comfortable not earning hotel points for your booking, don’t care about stay credits, or aren’t worried about getting perks from your current elite status, booking through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal makes sense if:

    1.   You Don’t Have Points in a Program but Still Want a Free Stay

    Here’s an example.  Wyndham has lots of hotels around the globe, but many folks don’t collect Wyndham points because they’re hard to earn if you don’t stay with them often or have their credit card.

    Even if you don’t have Wyndham points onhand, you can still book a stay with your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

    Instead of Paying Cash for a Night at the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista Disney Resort, You Could Spend ~10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points With Cards Like the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred

    Keep in mind, some rates on the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal are non refundable.  So be sure to read the fine print before you book.

    You’ll also want to consider resort fees.  Some hotels waive resort fees for members who book award stays with points, but you’ll pay resort fees (if the hotel charges them) when you book through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

    2.   There Aren’t Award Nights Available

    You might find that award nights aren’t available if your dates aren’t flexible or you’re booking last minute.  Here’s an example of a Marriott hotel, the EMC2 in Chicago, looking at a room for next weekend – there’s no award availability.  Normally, this hotel costs 35,000 Marriott points a night (and you could transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott for an award stay, but that rarely makes sense unless you’re topping off your account, because there are far more valuable transfer partners).

    There’s No Award Availability for This Marriott Hotel on Short Notice

    But looking at the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, you can book a refundable room at the same hotel, on the same date, for 17,764 Chase Ultimate Rewards points if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred (1.25 cents per point).  Or even less if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve – you’d pay 14,804 Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 1.5 cents per point.

    You Can Still Get a Free Stay at This Marriott Hotel Even If Award Nights Aren’t Available

    Now, keep in mind you won’t earn Marriott points or stay credits when you book this way, and you might not get your elite status perks.  But if staying at a particular hotel is a priority (or you can’t find a room elsewhere), this strategy is a good option.

    3.   Award Nights Are Pricey but Paid Nights Are Cheap

    It’s always worth checking the portal to compare what you’d pay for a hotel using Chase Ultimate Rewards points, versus transferring them to a hotel partner for an award stay.  Particularly if paid rates are low, you might get a much better deal booking this way.

    Here’s an example of the Hyatt Place Niagara Falls in the low season.  You could transfer 12,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt to book this room, but the paid rate is only $72 plus tax so that’s not a good redemption at all.

    Paying 12,000 Hyatt Points for an Inexpensive Room Like This Doesn’t Make Sense

    Most folks would likely just pay the cash rate because it’s so cheap.  But if your objective is to not pay any money at all, the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal offers the same room for significantly fewer points.  With the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred (1.25 cents per point), you’d pay just 6,076 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.  And with the Sapphire Reserve (1.5 cents per point), the price drops to 5,064 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

    You’d Save Nearly Half the Number of Points by Booking Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal Instead

    It bears repeating that you won’t earn Hyatt points or stay credits when you book through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.  And in this case, even though Hyatt Place offers free breakfast to World of Hyatt members, they require that you book directly through the hotel to get this benefit.

    Personally I wouldn’t care in this situation because the number of points saved (nearly 50% or more if you have the Sapphire Reserve) are worth much more than a free breakfast and the points you’d earn on the stay.  You’ll have to run the numbers for your situation to see if it makes sense for you.

    When NOT to Book Chain Hotels Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal

    Again, the biggest downside of booking through the portal is you won’t earn points, stay credits, or always have your elite status recognized.  This can be a very big deal for folks who:

    If you’re trying to earn bonus points from any of the current hotel promotions, you’ll almost always not be eligible if you book through a 3rd-party site.  Also keep in mind that booking through any 3rd-party site decreases the likelihood of getting a preferred room or better view, because most hotels reserve the best rooms for folks who book with them directly.

    And expensive rooms will cost you a lot of points – often much more than what you’d pay for an award stay.  Always compare!

    What About Booking Non-Chain Hotels Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal?

    Independent, specialty, and boutique hotels usually don’t have loyalty programs, which means using points for a free stay isn’t an option.  But you can still redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for many of these stays, as long as the hotel appears on the travel portal.

    I recently booked an independent water park hotel for my family using ~10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which included the room rate and four 2-day water park passes (which I later canceled due to a winter storm – yes, I got my points back).  The cash rate on the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal was actually cheaper than booking through the hotel directly.

    Checking the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal Is a Good Call If You Want to Redeem Points at a Specialty Property, Like Waterpark Hotels

    So you might consider this strategy even if you intend to pay cash.  Chase sometimes has access to special pricing which could save you a few bucks on a paid stay.

    That’s actually what I ended up doing when I rebooked the same property.  Instead of redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points, I booked with my Chase Freedom card through the Ultimate Rewards portal.  That’s because there’s a promotion for Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited cardholders to earn 10% cash back (10X Chase Ultimate Rewards points per $1) on Chase Ultimate Rewards hotel bookings through March 31, 2019 (up to $2,500 in total hotel purchases).  I couldn’t resist earning a nice chunk of rewards!

    Again, it’s always worth comparing prices no matter which way you decide to book.

    Bottom Line

    Booking hotels through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal with points is a good strategy in certain situations, particularly if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, or Chase Sapphire Reserve.  That’s because you’ll get an improved redemption rate (1.25 cents per point with the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred, and 1.5 cents per point with the Sapphire Reserve) compared to other Chase Ultimate Rewards cards.

    You might consider redeeming your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a travel portal hotel booking if:

    That said, hotels treat Chase Ultimate Rewards bookings like any other 3rd-party booking.  So you won’t earn hotel points or stay credits, aren’t eligible for hotel promotions, or often will not your elite status recognized (like getting upgrades or free breakfast).  If that’s important to you, it’s better to book an award or paid stay directly with the hotel chain.

    The Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal is also useful if you want to redeem points for a free stay at independent, non-chain hotels without a loyalty program.  Again, it’s always worth comparing pricing between the portal and booking through the hotel directly (sometimes the portal is actually cheaper!).

    What’s your experience been like booking hotels through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal?

    Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)