How Would the 10xTravel Team Spend 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points?

Since there are many great credit card options that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, the chances that you’re looking for ways to spend your Chase points is pretty high. Whether you’ve accumulated points over the years and don’t know what to do with them or you plan to apply for a new Chase credit card and will soon have a lot of points coming your way, we’ve got you covered with some exciting ways to spend them.

Excited to see where these points can take you? Here are four trips you can take with 120,000 Ultimate Rewards points.

Lovan Edwards

Chase Ultimate Reward points are one of the best flexible points currency, and with this elevated sign-up bonus, you could earn 120,000 of these valuable points to put toward an incredible trip. Let me walk you through a great use case of these points.

When researching international long-haul routes, you’ll notice that flights from the U.S. to other continents will route to or through an airline’s main hub. For example, you’ll typically find that flights on Singapore Airlines will go to/from Changi Airport, the main hub of Singapore Airlines.
But in certain cases, some airlines will operate what are called fifth-freedom routes, which don’t connect through the carrier’s main hub. Singapore Airlines has one such fifth-freedom route between New York (JFK) and Frankfurt, Germany (FRA).

If you’re like me and are intrigued by flying in amazing business-class products, you’re in for a treat. You can fly this route on Singapore Airlines business class for just 60,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points.

Now, you might be wondering how Aeroplan points can allow you to fly with Singapore Airlines and if so, you should look at our transfer partner cheat sheet to see that both airlines are Star Alliance partners. The points/miles from one airline generally can book a flight operated by another airline in the same alliance.

With moderate flexibility with your travel dates, you can find award space through Aeroplan on this fifth-freedom route. Since outbound flights to Europe are generally overnight flights, I recommend flying business class to Frankfurt and economy back to New York and saving your points.

Economy flights for this route are priced between 30,000 and 35,000 Aeroplan points, which leaves you at least 25,000 Chase points to put toward your hotel stay.

In Frankfurt, there are several Hyatt hotels located around the city center that are priced between 5,000 and 8,000 World of Hyatt points. When you reference our transfer partner cheat sheet, you’ll be able to confirm that Ultimate Rewards points can transfer directly to Hyatt. That gives you the flexibility to book three to five nights at a Hyatt property with your points.

Emily Jaeckel

One hundred twenty thousand Chase Ultimate Rewards is plenty of points to put together a great trip. There are a lot of options, but I’ve got my mind set on one specific spot—Mexico City. I’ve heard incredible things about the food scene there, and I’ll also be at a great advantage coming from the high elevation of Denver. Did you know that the elevation of Mexico City is more than 2,000 feet higher than Denver? It tends to sneak up on people!

Without further ado, let’s get into the planning.

I was able to scope out some nonstop flights from Denver to Mexico City on Aeroméxico. But, Emily! Don’t you know that Chase Ultimate Rewards don’t transfer to Aeroméxico? Great point! However, I’m going to take advantage of partner bookings and use another airline’s frequent-flyer program within the SkyTeam to make the booking—Air France-KLM Flying Blue.

I can transfer my Chase Ultimate Rewards to Flying Blue to book these nonstop flights for just 14,000 points + $72 per person each way in economy.

I would never leave my husband behind for a trip like this, so I’m booking two tickets. That means our point total for flights is 56,000 points. This leaves us a balance of 64,000 for our hotel stay.

With just 64,000 points for lodging, I know I’m going to be looking closely at Hyatt hotels because of their favorable award chart. The Hyatt Regency Mexico City has award nights for just 15,000 points per night, meaning I can turn this into a four-night, five-day trip easily! Because of Hyatt’s peak and off-peak pricing, I can even find some nights for as few as 9,000 points per night, meaning we could stay for up to a week if we can track down the availability.

Just one new cardmember bonus from the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card gives enough points for two people to go on this trip. Now, does anyone have any Mexico City recommendations for me?

Travis Cormier

Part of the problem with figuring out how to use 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards is simply where to go with them. There’s a ton of options, but I wanted to work to put together a complete trip with 120,000 Ultimate Rewards.

If you’re new to points and miles, earning 120,000 Ultimate Rewards is fairly easy. If you can use those points to knock out a trip, then you can pretty quickly go from zero to your first real trip using points and miles.

But I didn’t want it to be just any trip. It needed to be something more memorable than (insert name of place that wouldn’t be interesting to you here—that way I don’t get in trouble with any readers at our next meetup!). However, I also wanted it to be relatively low lift. Something with low barriers of entry—no passport needed, no superbly drastic time zone shifts and involving fairly easy flights.

So. Let’s go to Hawaii!

Now, here’s the thing. Let’s set expectations appropriately. No, we’re not staying at an ultra-lux eight-star hotel, and no, we’re not flying business class. But that’s part of what makes Hawaii so great.

When I reflect on my trip there, my most memorable moments weren’t spent at a resort. They were spent adventuring around, exploring and seeing what the islands had to offer. Part of what makes Hawaii so great is you can have just as spectacular of an experience at a luxury resort as you can elsewhere.

Now, let’s do it.

Flights are actually relatively easy. There’s a number of flights between the U.S. and Hawaii. If you’re on the West Coast, take advantage of British Airways to fly American Airlines or Alaska Airlines for as few as 20,000 miles one way. That’s 40,000 points for one round-trip flight or 80,000 for two round-trip flights. And if you can travel in the off-season, you can find a ton of availability:

Alternatively, you can use Air Canada to book a United Saver award for 22,500 Aeroplan points (45,000 points round trip) in economy from the central states of the U.S.

You could also book Delta Air Lines flights using Virgin Atlantic, which start from 44,000 Virgin points round trip, depending on where you start and how many connections you have. Finally, don’t forget about Southwest Airlines (especially if you have the Southwest Companion Pass).

The point is, there’s a number of ways to get to Hawaii with points.

Then, where to stay? Let’s say your flights cost 40,000 points, leaving us with 80,000 to work with for your hotel. You could blow this all on one night at a fancy resort, but who wants to go to Hawaii for just one night? Instead, let’s get you multiple nights. This is where Hyatt’s award chart comes in clutch.

The Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach is a Category 4 hotel, meaning award nights can cost as few as 12,000 points per night on off-peak dates. Being honest though, I didn’t really find many of these nights. However, there are plenty of nights at the standard rate of 15,000 points per night. With 80,000 points, you can book five nights at this property. Of course, if you booked flights for two people then you would be limited to two nights, giving you a weekend trip.

So, for 120,000 points, you could pretty easily put together a weekend trip to Hawaii for two people or a five-night trip for one. Of course, with more points you can stay longer, but it’s a great way to put your points to work for you and see the value early in your points journey.

Anya Kartashova

Like Emily, I’m a huge fan of Mexico. I love everything about it: the food (especially tacos), the beaches, the people. It’s a country I’ve visited the most times and can keep going back over and over.

As a Salt Lake City resident, I have access to a few nonstop Delta Air Lines flights: to Mexico City, to Cancun and to Los Cabos. So, for this trip, I’ll be focusing on Cabo San Lucas, a resort town on the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula.

Booking a round-trip journey from Salt Lake City to Los Cabos International Airport through the Delta SkyMiles program would require 42,000 SkyMiles on the dates I searched. It’s worth mentioning that Delta implements a dynamic pricing model to its own flights, so in reality, these flights can fluctuate.

However, booking the same flights through Virgin Atlantic, a SkyTeam partner, would require just 33,000 Virgin points, and it’s a set redemption rate for this particular nonstop route.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a Chase transfer partner, and the points transfer at a 1:1 ratio. If I were to take this trip with a plus-one (either my husband or my mom,) I’d need to redeem 66,000 Virgin points, which would leave me with 54,000 points for lodging. It’s not a lot, but I can make it work.

As luck would have it, there’s a Hyatt Place in San Jose del Cabo, which is a Category 1 property. It’s nothing fancy, but the rooms require between 3,500 and 6,500 World of Hyatt points. I told you I could make 54,000 points work—it would be enough points to stay for as many as 10 nights at standard rates or even longer when some nights are priced out at off-peak rates.

This wouldn’t be a luxurious stay by any means, but it would be a great getaway to Mexico for two covered mostly with points. We’d still have to pay taxes on the flights, but it’s only about $130 per person, which leaves more money for scuba diving and tacos.

Final Thoughts

There you have it, folks. A variety of trip options for 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You can visit the beaches of Los Cabos or Hawaii or stroll the streets of Mexico City or Frankfurt. And these are just a few examples of what you can do with this amount of points. Happy travels!

Don’t have enough points for one of these trips? Check out what the 10xTravel team would do with 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.