Organized a Facial Hair Competition, Family Vacations, and a Bed at 30,000 Feet: The 3 Most Fun Ways I’ve Used Chase Points!

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Folks who are part of this hobby collect miles & points for different reasons.  But regardless of why you are accumulating rewards, they aren’t worth much if you don’t redeem them!

No matter what your travel goal is, there are miles & points that can help you get there!  And if you have flexible points, like Chase Ultimate Rewards points, they can come in handy for all sorts of situations!

Over the past 7 years, I’ve used all sorts of miles & points to travel.  But I’ve consistently found Chase Ultimate Rewards points to be the easiest to use.

Here’s How to Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card – Our favorite card for folks just starting out in our hobby!
• Ink Business Preferred Credit Card – Our favorite business credit card for travel
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® – Our favorite travel credit card for folks who know they’ll travel a lot

And once you have one of the powerful premium cards above, consider adding 2 of these:

• Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card – Our favorite no-annual-fee business credit card
• Ink Business Unlimited℠ Credit Card – Another great no-annual-fee business credit card
• Chase Freedom® – No annual fee
• Chase Freedom Unlimited® – No annual fee

My Top 3 Travel Experiences Using Chase Points

You don’t have to to be an expert award booker to squeeze a meaningful experience out of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.  There are so many ways to redeem them for value, that you pretty much can’t go wrong collecting them for your next trip.

Here are the most fun experiences I’ve redeemed Chase Ultimate Rewards points for!

1.   Organized Bearding Man – a Charity Facial Hair Competition!

In 2011, the National Beard & Moustache Championships came to my hometown and after that I was hooked!  A few years later I organized a local charity facial hair competition – Bearding Man!  And while I’m no longer involved in planning the event, a local facial hair club is continuing the tradition.

To get the event off the ground, I used Chase Ultimate Rewards points to fly in celebrity facial hair judges, like Incredibeard.  I even flew a band over from Ireland (Joshua Burnside) the first year.  And my points saved a ton on hotel rooms for the judges and bands.

Being able to bring in entertainment I wouldn’t have been able to afford without the help of miles & points made the event a success.

With all the money I saved on hotels and flights, I could invest more in games for the attendees, like Pin the Beard on the Bieber.

If you’ve never experienced a facial hair competition, you don’t know what you’re missing!  The relationships I’ve made have been worth more than any travel I could have booked with those points.

Interested in seeing some legendary facial hair in person?  You should attend the Great American Beard & Moustache Championship on September 29, 2018, in Richmond, Virginia.  Not sure if I’ll make it, but it should be a real hootenanny!

2.   Spent Time Away From Home With My Family

This past year my family decided we wanted to take short trip together for Christmas, instead of exchanging gifts.  So I used Chase Ultimate Rewards points (transferred to Hyatt) to book us 3 rooms at the Hyatt Centric Times Square for a night during the week of Christmas & New Year’s Eve!

It’s nice to get away with family from time to time, because if we get together at someone’s house, then inevitably someone (usually mom & dad) are stuck preparing food or taking care of day-to-day responsibilities.  Traveling together let us all have a relaxing time and see some iconic sites, like the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Rockefeller Center, and of course, Times Square!

The best part is, once my family experienced the power of miles & points first hand, they were ready to make the leap.  Since then they’ve signed up for a bunch of travel rewards credit cards, including the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card, and Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express.  And we are already planning our next trip together!

3.   Slept on a Double Bed in the Sky

A couple of years ago Jess and I crossed “hiking across New Zealand” off our bucket list.  And after 4 months of hiking in the wild, we were able to fly in style in Singapore Airlines First Class Suites on the way home!

At the time it only cost us 63,750 Singapore Airlines miles + ~$150 in fees per person to fly one-way from Auckland to Singapore!  We got the miles by transferring a combination of Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Citi ThankYou points to Singapore Airlines.

It was quite the contrast going from living out of our backpacks for 4 months to sipping on the type of champagne rappers sing about!  And we were able to book seats next to each other, which meant we could combine them to make a double bed!

Note:   Singapore Airlines has changed their award chart and the same award now starts at 80,000 Singapore Airlines miles one-way.  And Singapore Airlines has introduced an even more luxurious Suites Class!

Bottom Line

What makes Chase Ultimate Rewards points so valuable is their flexibility.  But what makes any miles or points fun is your creativity!  You can use credit card rewards for just about anything that floats your boat!

In the past, I’ve used Chase Ultimate Rewards points to indulge in my love of extreme facial hair, spend more time with my family, and experience luxury I wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford.

What has been the most fun thing you’ve done with your Chase Ultimate Rewards points?