Team Article: How to Use 100K Chase Points

Without a doubt, Chase Ultimate Rewards is the most talked-about points program in the 10xTravel community and with good reason. Now, if you happen to have 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, the world is your oyster.

Fortunately, there are several cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points so beginners can dive right into earning enough points for a first trip. Between earning points from some solid sign-up bonuses and leveraging some great bonus categories, you’ll have the points you need in no time.

The key is figuring out how you’d use them. So, today, we’re going to take a look at how several members of the 10xTravel team would use 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points!

Anna Zaks

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are my favorite flexible “currency” because not only can I transfer the points to partner airlines, but I can also use them through the Chase travel portal. My husband has a Chase Sapphire Reserve® card so the points are worth 1.5 cents each when redeemed through the portal.

Some people will say that portal redemptions are not the best way to use Ultimate Rewards points, but I disagree. I’ve used them to book non-chain hotels before and I wouldn’t hesitate to use 100,000 points for a great non-chain hotel again!

I love traveling to smaller cities and towns in Europe that often don’t have any American chains. I have a good stash of various airline miles so I’ll use the portal to book a hotel for my next trip.

I hope that the next country I get to visit is Slovenia. Slovenia’s beautiful capital Ljubljana has a few interesting local hotels and among them the Urban Boutique Hotel.

And because I am going to be so close to one of my favorite countries in the world, Italy, I’ll make sure to visit the nearby Italian town of Trieste.

Savoia Excelsior Palace looks like a beautiful and grand European hotel. I love a good hotel breakfast in Europe, so I’ll definitely book a rate that includes breakfast!

The biggest advantage of booking hotels through the portal is booking a room that can accommodate more than two people. Most chain hotels won’t let you book a room for more than two guests, which could be a huge problem for families. But when you are using the portal, you can easily book a larger room for your entire family.

That’s another reason to use Ultimate Rewards points to book hotels on Chase travel portal.

Carly Helfand

I’m primarily an economy flier, so when I hear “100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points,” I hear two round-trip itineraries abroad. With flights, I’m always thinking about quantity over quality, as I never want to spend all my points in one place!

United is my go-to transfer partner from Chase, and I particularly enjoy flying United’s own metal since my Platinum status helps improve the economy experience. Unfortunately, United scrapped its award chart for its own flights late last year, which means it’s a crapshoot as to what the airline will charge you for a given award.

That said, I have seen plenty of instances where United charges the same number of miles for a given international route that it would have back when it had its award chart. And for the sake of this exercise, I’d be looking to find flights for 30,000 miles between the mainland U.S. and Europe and 20,000 each way between the mainland U.S. and northern South America—in other words, 100,000 miles in total to get to both of those destinations and back.

As far as specific places to visit, these days, I’ve been finding myself wanting to return to places that I’ve already been and loved more than wanting to explore completely new places. I recently had just enough time on a work trip to Switzerland to make me want to really go back, and I’ve been wanting to revisit Colombia since I spent three days there back in 2014.

Travis Cormier

I’m always telling people there’s a lot of great uses for Chase Ultimate Rewards. However, I have a confession. When it comes to using Chase Ultimate Rewards, 99% of the time I end up using them for Hyatt Hotels.

On the low end, category 1 hotels cost only 5,000 points per night. The higher tier category 8 hotels cost 40,000 points per night. Everything else falls in between.

With 100,000 Ultimate Rewards, I’d use them to book a hotel stay at a Hyatt property. Given the low points requirements, it often makes sense to transfer to Hyatt, but always check in the portal first just in case.

I’m a sucker for a beach getaway, and that doesn’t mean having to go far to find a great beach destination. With 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards I’d be looking to stay 4 or 5 nights at a Hyatt all-inclusive resort.

Hyatt has two all-inclusive beach resort brands: Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara. Hyatt Ziva are family-friendly properties, but for me, I’d look at Hyatt Zilara which is adult only. Prices range into 20,000-25,000 points per night for single or double occupancy. If you have more guests, add half that price for each person.

With 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, you could do 4-5 nights at any of these properties and just have to figure out your flights. For me, I’d stretch my points to cover a low-cost flight. I routinely see flights for $100 between my home airport of Houston and destinations in Mexico on carriers like Spirit.

I could cover my flights and do 3-4 nights at one of Hyatt’s all-inclusive properties making for a great long-weekend getaway for truly no cost.

Anya Kartashova

One hundred thousand  Ultimate Rewards points is a hefty rewards balance that simply can’t not burn a hole in your proverbial pocket. It helps that the points are extremely flexible. You can transfer them to airline and hotel programs or book various travel elements via the Chase Travel Portal.

One lucrative way to use Ultimate Rewards is to transfer them to the World of Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. Hyatt offers a cost-effective award chart (even with the introduction of peak and off-peak pricing) and a bang for your buck point.

Although I would prefer to use hotel points for the stay, my Hyatt point balance has seen better days. Having said that, I’m under 5/24, but a Hyatt credit card isn’t on my priority list.

Travis mentioned Hyatt’s all-inclusive properties in various warm-weather locations. Before COVID-19 disrupted everyone’s lives, I’d been eyeing one of those properties in Jamaica: the Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall or the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall. Both of these properties are Category 6 hotels and run for 25,000 Hyatt points per night. Otherwise, rooms here average $400 per night for two people.
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As someone with no kids and a desire to relax on the beach, I prefer the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall, an adults-only hotel. Standard redemption rates offer rooms with a king bed or two doubles.

So, with 100,000 Ultimate Rewards, I can book four nights at this five-star Jamaican resort when we’re able to travel again, of course. I can totally see myself drinking an adult beverage or two—but who’s counting—at a swim-up pool bar.

Unless you count 24 hours at a Sri Lankan beachside resort before I had to return back to the United States on a 12-hour notice in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s been a while since I felt sand between my toes…and who knows how long it’ll be before I can travel to a beach again. For now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll keep fantasizing about my imaginary trip to Jamaica.

Charlie Lewis

Chase Ultimate Rewards is my favorite points program. They are incredibly flexible and valuable. Since I can’t travel right now, I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about my dream trips, and I would have no problem spending 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points.

United is typically my go-to transfer partner because their website is easy to use and the Excursionist Perk offers additional value, but if I had to make a redemption right now, I would book myself on a Singapore Suites trip from New York (JFK) to Frankfurt (FRA) for 86,000 Singapore Krisflyer miles.

Singapore Suites has been my number one aspirational airline product for years, and I’ve already flown most of my other top-choice first class products including Emirates, Etihad, and Thai Airways.

While the New York to Frankfurt route features Singapore’s old first class, I still would jump at the opportunity to fly this product, especially if I could get a friend to use miles to fly with me!

Joe Cheung

Living in Boston, I’ve really enjoyed flying Delta to Europe, specifically to the United Kingdom and France. Delta often gets panned for not offering a lot of saver award availability (and for not having award charts), but I’ve found that from Boston there are a lot of award tickets available to be booked. While the majority of awards are in economy, I’ve also seen Delta One seats available.

Savvy readers know, however, that Chase Ultimate Rewards points are not transferable to Delta Skymiles. But there’s still an option to book Delta award tickets: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles, which you can get by transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

One way tickets from the east coast to Europe start at 50,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles each way in business class (Delta One). That means 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Virgin Atlantic are enough for a round trip flight in business class.

One last note. Sometimes it seems like Virgin Atlantic gets better saver ability on Delta flights than Delta Skymiles themselves get. It’s some weird quirk in the system, but a reminder to check both portals when looking for flights.

Final Thoughts

From the Chase travel portal to Hyatt stays to using Virgin Atlantic miles to fly partner airlines, it’s no surprise that Chase Ultimate Rewards are a go-to program for many travelers. With 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points, you’ll have tons of options to book some amazing trips.

How would you use 100,000 Chase points?