Chase Ultimate Rewards Points More Important Than Ever For Trips To Hawaii With Record Breaking Tourist Numbers And New Restrictions on Vacation Rentals

  • Jason Stauffer

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    INSIDER SECRET: You can use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book awards flights to Hawaii on all the major US airlines — Delta, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest.

    The number of tourists visiting Hawaii in 2019 is expected to top 10 million — a new record. According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority this growth is driven in large part by the increase in air traffic to the state. On top of that, Honolulu has instituted new restrictions on short-term rentals, like Airbnb. Now short-term rentals of 30 days or less are prohibited unless ” the dwelling is in a resort area or has a Nonconforming Use Certificate.”

    The city has been cracking down hard on violators of the new rule, sending out 5,000 letters last week to rentals that could be in violation of the new law. With the potential of receiving a fine of up to $10,000 a day it’s not surprising that the number of vacation rental advertisements has taken a steep decline.

    With more visitors looking for lodging, and potentially less affordable accommodations to go around, it stands to reason that your next trip to Hawaii isn’t going to be cheaper than the last one. So now, more than ever, it’s important to use every tool at your disposable to save where you can and you’ve got options. Flexible rewards like Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be used to book award flights, hotel stays, rentals cars and even select excursions.

    By Using Chase Ultimate Rewards points to save on lodging and airfare, a dream trip to Hawaii doesn’t have to break the bank. (Photo by Shane Myers Photography/Shutterstock)

    Chase Ultimate Rewards Points For Hawaii

    There are lots of ways to book award flights to Hawaii and Chase Ultimate Rewards points are so helpful because they give you all kinds of flexibility. You can transfer Chase points to 9 different airlines and you can also use them to pay for travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal.

    Sometimes, when there are cheap flights to Hawaii, it’s best to pay for you flight with points because you’ll end up using fewer points compared to transferring them to an airline partner to book an award flight. The value of your Chase points varies depending on which Chase credit card you have, check out this guide to learn more about your Chase point’s value.

    And other times when prices are higher it can be better to transfer to partners like British Airways, Flying Blue or Singapore Airlines because you can use these airlines’ miles to book flights on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines ( with British Airways Avios), United Airlines (with Singapore Airlines miles) and Delta (with Flying Blue miles) or you can transfer them directly to Southwest. For more details on how to use Chase’s airline partners, take a look at this guide on award flights to Hawaii, it breaks down how to get to Hawaii with each of Chase’s transfer partners.

    In order to be able to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points you’ll need one of the annual-fee cards listed below:

    These no-annual-fee Chase cards earn cash back in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards points:

    The points you earn with these cards can only be transferred to Chase’s travel partners if they are first pooled with one of the cards with an annual-fee (Ink Business Preferred, Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve).

    Chase Ultimate Rewards points also can be transferred to 3 different hotel chains:

    The best hotel partner is Hyatt, which only charges 12,000-30,000 for a free night at its locations in Hawaii. This can add up to huge savings. For example, the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort & Spa costs 25,000 Hyatt points per night, but cash rates can easily top $500 a night. You can also use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book accommodations through the Chase Travel Portal.

    To learn more about Chase Ultimate Rewards, check out these guides:

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