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The Guide to Chase Transfer Partners

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Chase airline transfer partners

Chase hotel transfer partners, which chase sapphire transfer partners are the best, chase points calculator, how to earn chase ultimate rewards® points, chase travel cards with transfer partners, how do you transfer chase points, using chase transfer partners: is it worth it.

Chase Ultimate Rewards® are some of the most valuable transferable points available. Called Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, they can be redeemed for travel through Chase's travel portal for 1 cent each on certain cards. However, they can be redeemed at a higher value of 1.25 cents each if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or an even more impressive 1.5 cents each if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve® . That type of exchange on its own makes for an excellent way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards® points .

However, that's not necessarily the best way to redeem Chase points because three specific Chase cards available in 2024 offer what might be potentially far more value.

The cards at play here are the:

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card .

Chase Sapphire Reserve® .

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card .

» Jump to learn more about these card options .

With those cards, you have the additional option to send those points to one of Chase's transfer partners , which are generally hotel chains and airlines. And assuming you hold (or someone in your household owns), one of those three Chase cards, you'll very likely unlock even greater value out of your spending rewards when you use one of the Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners. That's because converting Chase points to hotel points or airline frequent flyer miles can often maximize their value.

Here's a summary of each Chase transfer partner and how you can get the most from your Chase points.

» Learn more: The best travel credit cards right now

Of the 14 Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners, 11 are airline mileage programs, which are:

Aer Lingus AerClub

Aer Lingus AerClub became one of the Chase travel partners in 2017. While not officially part of the Oneworld alliance, Aer Lingus partners with several Oneworld airlines — most notably British Airways, Iberia and Qatar .

Air Canada Aeroplan

There are plenty of reasons not to overlook Aeroplan — the newest of the Chase Sapphire airline partners. Air Canada is a Star Alliance member, so you can use Aeroplan points to book award flights on any Star Alliance airline, including United.

Seek out those Aeroplan sweet spots to help boost the value of Aeroplan points to 1.4 cents for award tickets.

» Learn more: A guide to Air Canada’s Aeroplan rewards loyalty program

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Flying Blue is the loyalty program of Air France, KLM, Kenya Airways and a few smaller airlines. Because many Flying Blue airlines are members of the SkyTeam alliance , you can transfer points from Chase to Flying Blue to book award flights on other SkyTeam member airlines, such as Delta Air Lines.

The Flying Blue program offers a monthly Promo Rewards promotion that discounts certain routes by up to 50% — which can make Flying Blue sweet spots even a better deal.

» Learn more: A points collector’s guide to Air France-KLM Flying Blue

British Airways Executive Club

Most travelers might think of flights to London when thinking about British Airways. However, that's not where the value of British Airways Avios lies. In fact, most British Airways Avios sweet spots don't involve flying British Airways.

Instead, use this Chase transfer partner to book inexpensive awards on American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and other Oneworld partners — including flying to the Caribbean .

» Learn more: The complete guide to the British Airways Avios program

Emirates Skywards

Dubai-based Emirates Airlines is best known for its glitzy business- and first-class products. And while premium cabins command huge cash prices, paying with miles through the Emirates Skywards loyalty program is possible and considered the best use of miles (as opposed to using miles to book in the Emirates economy class ). A NerdWallet analysis found that you only get about 0.6 cent per mile in value for Emirates economy, but the value of Emirates miles jumps up if you redeem an award in Emirates business class.

Unfortunately, the Emirates Skywards sweet spots are limited — particularly on partner airlines. That said, the Skywards program is one of only a few ways to book Emirates first class with points since the airline restricts award availability through partner airlines.

» Learn more: The guide to Emirates Skywards

Iberia Plus

Just like British Airways, Iberia is a member of the Oneworld alliance and uses the Avios program. And after Iberia's recent overhaul to its award chart , award rates to book American Airlines flights match the British Airways Executive Club’s rates on partner airlines. However, other Iberia sweet spots include some incredible gems. Iberia often offers among the cheapest business class awards to Europe .

» Learn more: What to know about Iberia Airlines Plus loyalty program

JetBlue TrueBlue

JetBlue uses a revenue-based TrueBlue points program in which the required number of points for an award roughly equates to the cash price of the flight. That means you can't get outsized value from redeeming TrueBlue points.

However, just because the program doesn't have an upside doesn't mean JetBlue isn't a good Chase transfer partner. TrueBlue points are worth 1.5 cents per point — making it a valuable currency for economy flights among U.S. airlines.

» Learn more: The complete guide to the JetBlue TrueBlue rewards program

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Singapore Airlines is another Star Alliance Chase travel partner that can provide excellent premium cabin redemptions. Singapore KrisFlyer sweet spots include flights to Europe and Hawaii, and flights within the continental U.S. Luxury travelers also flock to KrisFlyer, as it's typically the only way to book the award-winning Singapore first class product with points.

» Learn more: The guide to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer frequent flyer program

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards

Like JetBlue, Southwest uses a revenue-based redemption program, where points prices correlate with cash prices. This means you don't have to seek out sweet spots to get good value from your Southwest Rapid Rewards points.

Instead, the value of Southwest Rapid Rewards is a predictable 1.5 cents per point when redeemed for Southwest flights. Steer clear of other Rapid Rewards redemptions for hotels, rental cars or merchandise though, as the redemption value can drop to 0.6 cents per point.

» Learn more: The complete guide to Southwest Rapid Rewards

United MileagePlus

United joins JetBlue and Southwest as the three U.S.-based Chase Sapphire airline partners. MileagePlus miles are worth around 1.2 cents per mile when redeemed for United economy flights .

In addition to redeeming miles on United, you can redeem United MileagePlus miles for award flights on other Star Alliance partners. Just keep in mind that United can charge more miles for partner awards.

» Learn more: The complete guide to United MileagePlus program

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

London-based Virgin Atlantic is a member of the SkyTeam alliance and it uses a different redemption chart for each partner, meaning the Flying Club sweet spots are just as diverse as its partners.

» Learn more: The guide to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Chase has just three hotel loyalty program parters, which are:

IHG One Rewards

The IHG loyalty program is good, but it's generally a weak Chase transfer partner.

NerdWallet values IHG points at 0.8 cent each. But since Chase points transfer to IHG One Rewards at the same 1:1 transfer ratio as all other partners, that makes for a pretty bad transfer that can actually devalue your points. Unless you find a killer IHG redemption, only transfer points from Chase to IHG to top off your account if you're a few points shy of booking a hotel you want with the rest of your IHG points. Otherwise, you’re generally better off booking IHG hotels via Chase's portal.

» Learn more: What you need to know about IHG One Rewards

Marriott Bonvoy

Marriott Bonvoy is one of the largest hotel loyalty programs around. You can redeem Bonvoy points for free nights and room upgrades at over 7,000 properties across more than 30 brands.

However, bigger isn't always better. When NerdWallet analyzed the value of Marriott Bonvoy points , we found that points were worth around 0.8 cent each. That puts Marriott in the same category as IHG, where points often lose their value when you transfer them from Chase to Marriott Bonvoy.

Considering Chase points can be redeemed for 1.25 cents or 1.5 cents each (depending on which Sapphire card you have), make sure that you're getting at least this much value before transferring Chase points to Marriott Bonvoy — which is unlikely. With that, save Bonvoy transfers only for situations where you find an outstanding hotel deal, or if you need just a few more points to book using your existing Bonvoys.

» Learn more: The complete guide to the Marriott Bonvoy program

World Of Hyatt

World of Hyatt is undoubtedly Chase's most valuable hotel transfer partner — and perhaps its most valuable travel partner overall, too. In NerdWallet's analysis, World of Hyatt points are worth 2.3 cents each when used for award stays.

Hyatt is one of a few hotel loyalty programs that still publishes an award chart . That means predictability in planning how many points an award stay may cost. Award nights start at 3,500 points, meaning you can really stretch out your Chase points at Hyatt hotels.

» Learn more: The complete guide to the World of Hyatt loyalty program

So that's a list of all the transfer partners — but which ones are the best? After all, some Chase travel partners are far better than others.

Before we dig into the best Chase Sapphire transfer partners, here's a complete overview of their estimated value, sorted in alphabetical order:

Using that estimated value stated above, here's the ultimate NerdWallet power ranking of the six best Chase transfer partners (with No. 1 being the best) are:

World of Hyatt.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.

JetBlue TrueBlue.

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards.

Air Canada Aeroplan.

Air France/KLM Flying Blue.

Best airline partner for Chase points

As far as Chase's airline transfer partners go, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is Chase' best airline transfer partner. Even still, you can easily get more than 1 cent per point in value from Chase points when you transfer points from Chase to fixed-value programs like Southwest Rapid Rewards and JetBlue TrueBlue.

Other airline transfer partners can be hit-and-miss, such as Emirates, which is generally a miss when points are transferred to book Emirates economy class . But, it's usually a massive hit if you can transfer Chase points to be used for booking the incredibly-swanky Emirates business class on points.

Best Chase hotel transfer partner

Meanwhile, World of Hyatt comes out on top as the best Chase hotel partner. And not only is it the best hotel partner, but it's the best travel partner period given that eye-popping value over 2 cents.

NerdWallet's estimated value is exactly that — an estimate. You might find individually great redemptions while using other Chase transfer partners for specific trips.

Is it worth transferring Chase points to united?

While you might book hotels and airfares with cash or through Chase’s travel portal , it’s clearly often a better deal to put in the extra effort and transfer your points to one of Chase’s transfer partners — especially those named above. That said, folks seeking to maximize value should always calculate the value of the Chase Ultimate Rewards® points relative to the price to pay for airfare or hotel rooms in cash.

Use NerdWallet’s Chase points calculator below to determine the value of your points, based on both the baseline and NerdWallet estimated values:

With a little bit of research, you can get even more value through other Chase Ultimate Rewards® transfer partners versus using them to book travel directly through Chase's travel portal.

The most common way to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points is through spending on a Chase credit card that participates in Chase Ultimate Rewards®. You might earn points through taking advantage of introductory offers — where you can get a windfall of points upon meeting a certain threshold within a window of time upon card approval — and via ongoing spending.

Just note that not all Chase credit cards earn transferable Ultimate Rewards® points. That said, Chase cards that do earn transferable Ultimate Rewards® points include:

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Chase Freedom Flex℠

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

Some of these cards offer bonus points in certain categories, so someone seeking to maximize their points earning might have multiple cards in their wallet to use depending on the transaction. To maximize points, you might use the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to pay at restaurants (it earns 3 points per $1 spent on dining), the Chase Freedom Flex℠ to pay at drugstores (it earns 3% back at drugstores) and the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card to pay the monthly internet bill (it earns 5% back on internet, cable and phone services, up to a combined $25,000 in annual spending).

Even though the latter two cards don't let you transfer your rewards directly to any of the above airline or hotel partners, you can transfer them to another card that you hold (or that someone in your household holds), as long as that card is one of the cards that allows for transfers to partner airline and hotel brands.

The three Chase travel cards with transfer partners are the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card , the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card .

on Chase's website

Annual fee: $95 .

Earning rates:

• 5 points per $1 on travel booked through Chase.

• 3 points per $1 on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout), select streaming services and online grocery purchases (not including Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs).

• 2 points per $1 on other travel.

• 1 point per $1 on other purchases.

Bonus offer: Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

Annual fee: $550 .

• 10 points per $1 on Chase Dining, hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Chase.

• 5 points per $1 on air travel purchased through Chase.

• 3 points per $1 on other travel and dining not booked with Chase.

Bonus offer: Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,125 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

Bonus offer: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,000 cash back or $1,250 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Travel℠.

Use this guide to learn how to transfer Chase points between two credit cards you own.

Here's how to to transfer Chase points to family member or spouse .

Once you've got all the points you need in one account, you're ready to then send them to the actual airline or hotel loyalty program you want to convert your Chase points into. Learn how to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards® points to travel partners here.

Chase may lag other transferable bank point currencies like American Express, Capital One and Citi when it comes to the raw number of transfer partners. But some say that size matters not (at least in terms of number of transfer partners).

It's more about their value — and some Chase travel partners are particularly valuable. Just look at Hyatt as an example. Using this Chase hotel partner can morph a point that might be worth a measly 1 cent each when exchanged for Chase to something worth more than 2 cents when used for a Hyatt hotel room. That offer becomes even more tantalizing when you consider that NerdWallet ranks World of Hyatt among the most valuable hotel rewards programs out there.

With that, Chase Ultimate Rewards® points rank among the most valuable transferable points available.

How to maximize your rewards

You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the best travel credit cards of 2024 , including those best for:

Flexibility, point transfers and a large bonus: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

No annual fee: Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card

Flat-rate travel rewards: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Bonus travel rewards and high-end perks: Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Luxury perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express

Business travelers: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

1.5%-5% Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.

Up to $300 Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!

1x-5x 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases.

75,000 Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

1%-5% Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Earn 5% on Chase travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards®, 3% on dining and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases.

$200 Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.

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Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners and How To Use Them [2024]

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Table of Contents

Chase airline transfer partners, chase hotel transfer partners, earning ultimate rewards, how to transfer ultimate rewards, booking travel with the chase travel portal, other ways to use your points, combining ultimate rewards from different accounts, redeeming ultimate rewards, final thoughts.

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Chase Ultimate Rewards points are perhaps the most valuable points out there. Thanks to their flexibility and transfer options, we regularly give Chase Ultimate Rewards one of the best valuations in our monthly valuations . There are plenty of great ways to earn Ultimate Rewards points and even more fun ways to redeem them for award flights and hotel stays.

In this post, we’ll show you all of Chase’s transfer partners, how to transfer Ultimate Rewards to these partners, and much more. After reading our guide, you’ll be ready to book an amazing getaway!

The Chase Ultimate Rewards program currently has 11 airline transfer partners — the latest program, Air Canada Aeroplan, was added in August 2021.

Points transfer to all these airlines at a 1:1 ratio, which is one of the reasons Ultimate Rewards points are so valuable.

Aer Lingus AerClub

Major Hub: Dublin (DUB)

Airline Alliance: None, but has airline partners

Aer Lingus is a part of the International Airlines Group (IAG), which also includes British Airways, Iberia, and Qatar Airlines, so you’ve got some flexibility when it comes to how you redeem your Aer Lingus AerClub Avios . That said, its award chart isn’t quite as valuable as many of the other Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners.

However, it does offer a couple of solid sweet spots for those looking to travel to The Emerald Isle. On off-peak dates, you can book a one-way ticket from the U.S. East Coast to Dublin for 13,000 Avios in economy or 50,000 Avios in business class.

Air Canada Aeroplan

Major Hubs: Calgary (YYC), Montréal (YUL), Toronto (YYZ), and Vancouver (YVR)

Airline Alliance: Star Alliance

Air Canada Aeroplan is easily one of the best Chase transfer partners for premium cabin award tickets thanks to its lucrative partner award chart .

For instance, you could fly one-way in business class to South America or most European destinations for 60,000 points. If you prefer to fly to Asia in business class, that would be 85,000 points so long as the distance covered is less than 11,000 miles.

Further, Aeroplan can be exceptional for award bookings because of its low taxes and fees on many partner tickets, and you can add a stopover on any itinerary for just 5,000 more points.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue

Major Hubs: Paris (CDG), Amsterdam (AMS)

Airline Alliance: SkyTeam

Another excellent option for economy and business class tickets between the U.S. and Europe is the Flying Blue program . Redemption rates are already quite reasonable, with solid award availability as well. You can often find one-way economy tickets to Europe for as low as 22,500 miles and one-way business class tickets for 56,500 miles.

While those rates are decent on their own, the Flying Blue program offers Promo Rewards each month that can drop the award ticket price for select routes by 25% to 50%, allowing you to get stellar value out of Flying Blue miles.

British Airways Executive Club

Major Hubs: London Heathrow (LHR), London Gatwick (LGW)

Airline Alliance: Oneworld

British Airways Executive Club gets a lot of flack in the points in miles community due to the large fuel surcharges for both economy and business class tickets between the U.S. and Europe. However, British Airways Avios can be incredibly useful for short-haul tickets that can often be relatively expensive.

For instance, U.S. domestic nonstop flights under 1,150 miles on American Airlines and Alaska Airlines cost just 9,000 Avios in each direction, along with low taxes of just $5.60. This can take you between destinations like New York and Miami, Chicago and Houston, or Seattle and Los Angeles.

Emirates Skywards

Major Hub: Dubai (DXB)

While Emirates Skywards offers some of the most sought-after award redemptions for business and first class on its signature A380, and more recently its game-changer first class on the 777 , the airline has also gone through a recent string of devaluations that have made this award more expensive through higher fuel surcharges .

Fortunately, one great sweet spot remains that allows you to fly Emirates’ fifth freedom routes between the U.S. and Athens or Milan, for 85,000 miles in first class one-way, or an incredible 90,000 miles round-trip in business class, with significantly lower taxes and fees.

Iberia Plus

Major Hub: Madrid (MAD)

Another entry into the Avios family is Iberia Plus . Unsurprisingly, its award program has a decent amount of overlap with the others, but its award pricing between the U.S. and Spain presents an incredibly sweet spot for award travelers.

It’s common to see many U.S. carriers charge 30,000 points to fly between the U.S. and Europe in economy class, but Iberia charges just 34,000 Avios to fly between the U.S. and Madrid in business class on off-peak dates — one of the cheapest ways to get across the pond in business class.

JetBlue TrueBlue

Major Hubs: New York (JFK), Boston (BOS)

JetBlue is a low-cost U.S. carrier that is known for its great inflight product both in economy and its Mint business class seats.

However, since its TrueBlue loyalty program ties award redemptions to the cash cost of the ticket, you’ll usually receive just 1.1 cents per point towards Mint redemptions , and 1.3 to 1.4 cents per point on economy tickets.

This can be a better deal than booking through the Chase Travel portal for Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders with a 1.25 cent per point redemption rate, but a poor choice for Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders with a 1.5 cent per point redemption rate. That said, you can often get much more value out of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points using other transfer partners.

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

Major Hub: Singapore (SIN)

While you might overlook Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer as an option for domestic travel, as a Star Alliance partner it offers great award pricing on domestic United flights, including 17,500 miles for flights between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii, and 27,500 miles for flights between the U.S. and Europe.

Singapore miles are also your only option if you want to book a highly sought-after ticket in Singapore Suites class between the U.S. and Singapore or its fifth freedom route between the U.S. and Frankfurt.

Southwest Rapid Rewards

Major Hubs: Atlanta (ATL), Baltimore (BWI), Chicago (MDW), Dallas (DAL), Denver (DEN), Houston (HOU), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), Oakland (OAK), Orlando (MCO), Phoenix (PHX)

Airline Alliance: None

Southwest is the world’s largest low-cost carrier with an award program in Rapid Rewards that’s similar to JetBlue in that it operates on fixed value redemptions, allowing you to usually get between 1.3 to 1.4 cents per point on your redemption that is tied to the cash cost of the ticket.

Since you can often get much more value out of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points than this, we generally advise against transferring to Southwest. However, one sweet spot is for those who have the Southwest Companion Pass , as your redemption value doubles on tickets where your companion flies with you for free.

United MileagePlus

Major Hubs: Chicago (ORD), Denver (DEN), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), Newark (EWR), San Francisco (SFO), Washington DC (IAD)

In addition to being one of the most well-known Chase transfer partners for U.S. flyers, United MileagePlus also benefits from being able to book award travel on fellow Star Alliance airlines with low taxes and fees. In terms of booking tickets on its own metal, now that United has moved to dynamic pricing, getting outsized value using its currency isn’t quite as easy as it once was.

However, it does offer the incredibly valuable United Excursionist Perk , which allows you to tack on a free one-way flight on round-trip bookings for no added miles, so long as the flight is within the same region. For example, you could fly from the U.S. to Istanbul, Istanbul to London, and London back to the U.S., and your Istanbul to London leg (a 4-hour flight covering 1,500 miles) costs no added miles.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Major Hub: London Heathrow (LHR), Manchester (MAN)

The second largest carrier based out of the U.K., Virgin Atlantic doesn’t participate in an airline alliance but offers several great partnerships that award travelers can take advantage of.

One of which is booking Delta One business class awards between the U.S. and Europe for just 50,000 miles one-way, which is far less than what Delta would charge using its own miles to book these awards. You can also book ANA first class awards between the U.S. and Japan for as low as 55,000 miles one-way.

Ultimate Rewards can also be transferred to 3 hotel rewards programs. Like Chase’s airline partners, all transfers to hotel partners occur at a 1:1 ratio.

IHG One Rewards

Headquarters: Denham, England

Number of Properties: ~6,000

The IHG One Rewards program recently went through a revamp, but as a dynamically-priced program, it seldom makes sense to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

For instance, we value IHG One Rewards points at 0.5 cents per point, so any redemptions above that level are generally considered to be a good value. Given that, it wouldn’t make sense to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which are worth a minimum of 1.25 cents per point through the Chase Travel portal, to a program where getting half of that value would be considered a good deal.

Marriott Bonvoy

Headquarters: Bethesda, Maryland

Number of Properties: ~8,500

As with IHG, we seldom advise against transferring your hard-earned Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy where nights at top-tier hotels can cost upwards of 85,000 to 100,000 points per night. Not only is it fairly easy to get more value out of other Chase partners, but you’ll also find that you’d likely be better off booking a Marriott hotel through the Chase Travel portal than transferring to Marriott directly.

World of Hyatt

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois

Number of Properties: ~1,200

If you thought Hyatt would be similar to the other 2 hotel programs, think again. The World of Hyatt program is one of the best Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners and a darling in the points of miles community thanks to the value its award chart offers.

While the program recently went through a devaluation with the addition of peak pricing, even the most expensive award nights in the portfolio don’t exceed 45,000 points per night. This means you can book free nights at top-tier Hyatt hotels for roughly half of what programs like Marriott and Hilton often charge for similar hotels.

Hot Tip: Use our transfer partner tool to see how many points you’ll get when you transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards to partner airlines and hotels!

With several Chase card options available, there are ample opportunities to earn Ultimate Rewards points  that can help you book your next trip.

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

A fantastic travel card with a huge welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred ® card is one of the best travel rewards cards on the market. Its bonus categories include travel, dining, online grocery purchases, and streaming services, which gives you the opportunity to earn lots of bonus points on these purchases.

Additionally, it offers flexible point redemption options, no foreign transaction fees, and excellent travel insurance coverage including primary car rental insurance . With benefits like these, it’s easy to see why this card is an excellent choice for any traveler.

• 5x points on all travel booked via the Chase Travel portal
• 5x points on select Peloton purchases over $150 (through March 31, 2025)
• 5x points on Lyft purchases (through March 31, 2025)
• $95 annual fee
• No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status
• Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel SM .
• Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel SM , 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more.
• Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Travel SM . For example, 75,000 points are worth $937.50 toward travel.
• Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
• Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
• Member FDIC
• APR: 21.49%-28.49% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Chase Ultimate Rewards

A top player in the high-end premium travel credit card space that earns 3x points on travel and dining while offering top luxury perks.

If you’re looking for an all-around excellent travel rewards card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve ®  is one of the best options out there.

The card combines elite travel benefits and perks like airport lounge access , with excellent point earning and redemption options.  Plus it offers top-notch travel insurance protections to keep you covered whether you’re at home or on the road.

Don’t forget the $300 annual travel credit which really helps to reduce the annual fee!

• 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase TravelSM immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually
• 10x points on Lyft purchases March 31, 2025
• 10x points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $250 through March 31, 2025
• $550 annual fee
• Does not offer any sort of hotel elite status
• Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s $1,125 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Travel SM .
• $300 Annual Travel Credit as reimbursement for travel purchases charged to your card each account anniversary year.
• Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel SM  immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
• Get 50% more value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Travel SM . For example, 75,000 points are worth $1125 toward travel.
• 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
• Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass TM  Select and up to $100 application fee credit every four years for Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck ®
• APR: 22.49%-29.49% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees: $0

This all-purpose cash-back card offers great bonus categories, including bonus points for every purchase you make!

The Chase Freedom Unlimited ® is easily one of the best cash-back credit cards on the market. There aren’t many no-annual-fee credit cards that offer multiple great bonus categories like 5% back on travel purchased through Chase, 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases, and 1.5% back on all other purchases.

When paired with other Chase cards in the Ultimate Rewards family, you can transfer that cash back into points if you wish – making it one of the most lucrative cards in your wallet.

• 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49% - 29.24%.
• 5% back on travel purchased through Chase Travel
• 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases
• 3% foreign transaction fee
• INTRO OFFER: Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back!
• Enjoy 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more; 4.5% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 3% on all other purchases (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year).
• After your first year or $20,000 spent, enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
• No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
• Enjoy 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49% - 29.24%.
• No annual fee – You won't have to pay an annual fee for all the great features that come with your Freedom Unlimited ® card
• Keep tabs on your credit health, Chase Credit Journey helps you monitor your credit with free access to your latest score, alerts, and more.
• APR: 0% Intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49% - 29.24%.
• Foreign Transaction Fees: 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars

The Freedom Flex card is an excellent no-annual-fee card that still earns big with 5% cash-back on travel and other bonus categories.

The Chase Freedom Flex℠ sure does pack quite a punch — especially for a no-annual-fee card.

The Freedom Flex card is an incredible option for those looking for a well-rounded cash-back card, or a powerful point-earner when paired with a premium card in the Ultimate Rewards family.

• 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49%-29.24%.
• Powerful cash-back earner: 5% back on quarterly categories and travel purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases, and 1% back on all other purchases
• No annual fee
• 3% foreign transaction fees in U.S. dollars
• Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
• 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter!
• 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards ® , our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more
• 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
• No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
• No annual fee - You won't have to pay an annual fee for all the great features that come with your Freedom Flex℠ card
• Keep tabs on your credit health - Chase Credit Journey helps you monitor your credit with free access to your latest score, real-time alerts, and more.
• APR: 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49%-29.24%.

Business owner? See our list of the best Chase business credit cards .

Chase Shopping Portal

You can also shop through the Shop through Chase portal to earn extra Ultimate Rewards points when making purchases online. This is an easy way to boost your earnings on purchases you would make anyway.

Once you have some Ultimate Rewards points and are ready to transfer them to a partner to book your next big vacation, here are the simple steps to make the transfer process easy.

Step 1: After logging into the Ultimate Rewards site , select the appropriate card. If you want to transfer points, you will need to select a premium Ultimate Rewards card with an annual fee — these include the Chase Sapphire Reserve card , Chase Sapphire Preferred card , and the Ink Business Preferred ® Credit Card . You can combine Ultimate Rewards points under your chosen card from others that don’t have annual fees.

Step 2:  Select Transfer to Travel Partners under the Earn / Use drop-down menu.

Step 3:  Choose your desired airline and select Transfer Points .

You can also select from Chase’s hotel partners using the same steps.

Step 4:  If you haven’t already added your frequent flyer number or hotel rewards number, you will be prompted to do so.

Step 5:  Once you have linked your airline or hotel account to your Ultimate Rewards account, choose how many points you would like to transfer. Transfers must be done in increments of 1,000.

Step 6: Confirm the number of points you’re transferring and complete to transfer.

Step 7:  Head over to the appropriate airline or hotel program’s website to book your award flight or award stay.

Sometimes, making your flight or hotel booking through the Chase travel portal can make a lot of sense. With the Chase travel portal, the points needed for specific redemption are tied to the cash cost. So, if a flight or hotel stay is relatively inexpensive, to the point where the point cost ends up being less than going through a transfer partner, then the Chase travel portal is a perfect option.

If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, each Ultimate Rewards point is worth 1.5 cents when booking through the portal. If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card or Ink Business Preferred card, each point is worth 1.25 cents when booking with the Chase travel portal.

Similar to the transfer process, you simply select Travel under the Earn / Use Points drop-down menu.

Check out an example of a travel portal booking below:

This round-trip economy class booking with Star Alliance airline United from San Francisco (SFO) to Honolulu (HNL) costs as few as 7,900 Ultimate Rewards points.

Should You Transfer to a Partner or Book Through Chase?

Let’s think about the booking discussed above. If you were to book this same itinerary by transferring the points to Chase partner United Airlines, it would cost 12,500 miles. In this case, booking through the portal would be a much better deal.

Bottom Line: To ensure you get the most out of your points, it’s important to check both the portal and transfer options when searching for flights.

The Chase travel portal allows you to book hotels at the same 1.5 cents per point for cardholders of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card or 1.25 cents per point with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or Ink Business Preferred card.

You can also redeem your points for gift cards to merchants including Airbnb , Lowe’s, Home Depot , and Amazon . Additionally, you can redeem your points for statement credits. Unfortunately, these options are a very poor use of points in terms of value, and we do not recommend them!

Combining Ultimate Rewards from your different Chase accounts is a simple process. In the menu bar, you will see the points you have earned on your selected card. If you hover over the points available, you will see a drop-down menu of your cards and the available points from each.

Select Combine Points to consolidate your points under a single card. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, keep your Ultimate Rewards points there since they’ll be worth a minimum of 1.5 cents each.

Hot Tip: You can also combine points with 1 other household member . This is a great way to pool points with your significant other for a great redemption. 

Using your Ultimate Rewards points for travel is the best way to get the most value out of them. With multiple transfer partners and countless ways to redeem points for travel, it can be overwhelming!

We’ve compiled multiple lists of the best ways to use your Chase Ultimate Rewards for some incredible travel experiences. See below:

• The Best Ways To Use Ultimate Rewards Points
• The Best Ways To Use 10,000 (Or Fewer) Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
• The Best Ways To Use 100,000 Ultimate Rewards Points

The Chase Ultimate Rewards program should be a staple in your points-earning strategy. If you are just starting your miles and points journey, we recommend earning Ultimate Rewards initially. Check out our Beginner’s Guide to get started on the right track.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are easy to earn, easy to redeem, and can get you excellent value when you use them properly. Before you know it, you’ll be taking a trip of a lifetime … and then doing it again!

The information regarding the Chase Freedom Flex℠ was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What airlines can chase ultimate rewards points be used for.

There are multiple airline and hotel partners that you’re able to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to. Refer to our table in this post for the most up-to-date transfer partners!

Can you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to another person?

You can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards to another person as long as they are a member of your household.

Can you transfer points between Chase credit cards?

Yes, but only to another Chase card that earns Ultimate Rewards points belonging to you or 1 member of your household.

Can you transfer points from an airline to Chase Ultimate Rewards points?

You cannot transfer miles or points from an airline to Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You also cannot get back any Ultimate Rewards points that you have already transferred to an airline partner — all transfers are final.

Do Ultimate Rewards points expire?

Your Ultimate Rewards points will not expire as long as your account remains open and in good standing.

How much are Ultimate Rewards points worth?

Generally, your Ultimate Rewards points will be worth 1 cent toward cash-back, 1.25 to 1.5 cents through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal (depending on which card you hold), or 2+ cents for redemptions made through transfer partners.

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About Jarrod West

Boasting a portfolio of over 20 cards, Jarrod has been an expert in the points and miles space for over 6 years. He earns and redeems over 1 million points per year and his work has been featured in outlets like The New York Times.

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This bonus value is an estimated valuation calculated by UP after analyzing redemption options, transfer partners, award availability and how much UP would pay to buy these points.

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Chase Ultimate Rewards  are perhaps the most valuable transferable points. With instant or short transfer times and strong transfer partners like United Airlines, Southwest and Hyatt, you can travel nearly anywhere in the world on points.

Chase  travel credit cards  are also some of the best on the market. There are several direct Chase transfer partners, but you can also access indirect partners. That gives you lots of ways to travel for pennies on the dollar.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are easy to earn with big sign-up offers and bonus categories. By transferring to the right partners, you could get even more  value from your Chase points  via a single welcome bonus.

Here are all the details about Chase’s transfer partners and what you should know before you book award travel.

Chase transfer partners

Chase transfer partners  include airlines and hotels, all of which have a 1:1 transfer ratio. That means when you transfer 1 Chase Ultimate Rewards point, you’ll earn 1 mile or point in the program you send them to. Transferring your points to travel partners is the  best way to use Chase points .

Chase Airline transfer partners

There are 11 direct Chase Ultimate Rewards airline transfer partners:

British Airways

Flying blue (loyalty program of air france and klm), singapore airlines, united airlines, virgin atlantic.

Through these airlines, you can book award seats through all three major airline alliances, including:

• Oneworld airlines (British Airways and Iberia)
• SkyTeam airlines (Flying Blue)
• Star Alliance airlines (Singapore Airlines and United Airlines)

Knowing how to work through the major alliances is your ticket to dozens of airlines beyond the 10 direct airline partners. Note that you can use Chase points to book award travel on other partner airlines which aren’t part of any alliance. For example, you can use British Airways Avios points to book an award ticket with Alaska Airlines, or Virgin Atlantic miles to fly on Hawaiian Airlines.

Knowing Chase’s airline partners — and then each partner’s partners — can unlock nearly limitless award opportunities.

Chase hotel transfer partners

The Chase Ultimate Rewards program has three direct hotel transfer partners:

In general, you’ll get a better deal redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points with airline partners, but Hyatt is the exception. It has a generous award char, and award rooms start at just 5,000 points per night. In fact, some of the team’s biggest travel awards have been for Hyatt stays.

If you’re close to an award stay with IHG, it can make sense to top off your account with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. But there are a number of other ways to earn IHG points, too.

And much like with IHG, if you’re a few points shy of a free stay at Marriott, it can make sense to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to your Marriott account. Always run the numbers before you make a transfer because there’s no reversing it.

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer times

Here’s a look at the estimated transfer times for each of the airline partners.

Most Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfers are instant. This is great news if you’re in a hurry to book an award flight or get a hotel room.

For the cases where transfers take one or two days, you still have a couple of options while you wait.

Marriott will give you a points advance to book your stay at a Marriott or Ritz-Carlton hotel. As long as you have the points in your account at least 14 days prior to check-in, you’re good to go.

And Singapore Airlines will let you hold an award ticket for a Singapore Airlines flight (not for partner award flights).  You need to call to place an award on hold, then call again once the transfer is complete to ticket your trip.  It’s a little more work, but worth it to preserve your award flight while you’re waiting!

Know the Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer rules

All transfers are final.

Once you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to a partner program, you won’t be able to get the points back to your Chase account.

I recommend finding your award flight or room before you transfer your points.  Most transfers are instant, so you can book as soon as you find travel that works for you

Transfers to partners are always in 1,000-point increments

You might need a small or odd number of points to snag an award ticket or hotel stay, but be aware that you must always transfer in increments of 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners.

You can combine any number of points between Chase Ultimate Rewards cards (yup, even just 1 point) or  combine them with others  in any amount.  But when it’s time to send them to travel partners, they have to go out in increments of 1,000 points.

Send your points to a spouse, family member or authorized user

For personal cards,  Chase lets you to transfer points to another person  in the same household.  Here’s  our video guide on how to combine your points with a family member or another card account .

If you want to transfer points from a business card to someone else, they need to be a household member or a co-owner of the company.

You can also combine points with an authorized user, as long as they live at the same address as you.

Award travel with Chase Ultimate Rewards points

Here are just a few ways to get outsized value from your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Transfer to British Airways or Aer Lingus Avios for flights to Dublin

You can redeem British Airways or Aer Lingus Avios points on Aer Lingus and book flights to Dublin.

British Airways and Aer Lingus award prices are distance-based, so shorter flights cost fewer points.  This means award flights from the East Coast to Dublin are a terrific deal. For example, Boston to Dublin requires only 26,000 British Airways Avios points for an off-peak, round-trip coach award ticket.  The same deal is available from the following cities:

• Montreal (starting summer 2019)
• New York – JFK
• Philadelphia
• Washington, DC

You can’t search for or book Aer Lingus award flights on the British Airways website. Instead you can search for “Saver” award seats on the United Airlines website and call British Airways to book. Ask them to waive the phone fee because it’s not possible to book online.Also, Aer Lingus classifies certain dates as peak travel, which means you’ll use more points for award flights during these times.

Transfer to Singapore Airlines for United Airlines flights to Hawaii

United Airlines is a direct Chase airline transfer partner.  But you can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Singapore Airlines, which is part of the same Star Alliance.  Then,  book United Airlines award flights to Hawaii  for cheaper than what United Airlines charges!

For example, you’ll pay 35,000 Singapore Airlines miles round-trip in coach from anywhere in North America to Hawaii.  Compare that with United Airlines’ price of 45,000 United Airlines miles. You’ll save 10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per flight.

Transfer to Hyatt for luxury hotel stays

As mentioned earlier, some of our most valuable uses of Chase Ultimate Rewards points have been at Hyatt hotels around the world.  Here’s  how to transfer your points to Hyatt . Many of us on the MMS team have stayed at Hyatt all-inclusive hotels in Mexico. We loved the endless food and adult beverages. And because I used points for a free stay (that’s right, I paid $0), I treated myself to an opulent massage treatment I’d otherwise never splurge on.

Booking travel through the Chase travel portal

Along with transferring your Ultimate Rewards points to Chase travel partners, don’t forget, it’s also possible to use your points to  book travel directly through the Chase travel portal .

Depending on the cash price of a ticket or hotel room, you’ll sometimes get a better deal using the Chase travel portal to book flights or hotels.

Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders, for example, will get a value of 1.5 cents per Chase Ultimate Reward point when booking through the portal. Those with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Ink Business Preferred Credit Card will get a value of 1.25 cents per point when booking through the Chase portal.

Here’s our guide to  booking travel with the Chase travel portal .

Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points

You can earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points to transfer directly to airline and hotel partners with these three excellent card offers:

These cards are affected by Chase’s stricter application rules. That means if you’ve opened five or more cards from any bank ( except these business cards ) in the past 24 months, it’s unlikely you’ll be approved. And if you have any of these no-annual-fee cards, you’ll need to  combine Chase points  to one of the above cards before you can transfer them:

• Chase Freedom Flex
• Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Ink Business Cash Credit Card
• Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card

Each card has its own strengths, like bonus points for spending in certain categories. That makes it easier to earn even more valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Read our full guide on  how to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points  for all the details.

Bottom line

There are 13 airline and hotel partners within the Chase Ultimate Rewards program.

But thanks to airline alliances and partnerships, you can book award travel beyond the direct transfer partners. This unlocks nearly endless travel opportunities to fantastic destinations around the world.

Most points transfers are instant, but a few partners have one- or two-day transfer times. Because of their flexibility and strong travel partners, Chase Ultimate Rewards are a favorite here at Million Mile Secrets.  We’ve all used Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners for unforgettable trips.

With sign-up offers on cards like 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card after meeting the minimum spending, you could be on your way to Ireland on Aer Lingus, Hawaii with Singapore Airlines miles, or at an all-inclusive Hyatt hotel in Mexico — and that’s just for starters.

Let me know your favorite Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. And  subscribe to our newsletter  for more tips and trick to getting outsized value for your points.

Meghan Hunter

Contributor

Meghan Hunter is an editor for Million Mile Secrets. She covers points, miles, credit cards, airlines, hotels and general travel. Her work has also appeared in The Points Guy.

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The Travel Sisters

List of chase ultimate rewards transfer partners (2023).

by The Travel Sisters | Mar 2, 2023 | Credit Cards , Ultimate Rewards | 5 comments

Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners

Transfers are at a 1:1 ratio (meaning 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points transfer to 1,000 miles/points) unless there is a transfer bonus.

Chase Ultimate Rewards Airline Partners

• AerClub, loyalty programme of Aer Lingus
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM -LIMITED TIME OFFER: Get 25% Bonus Flying Blue Miles when you transfer points through 11:59PM EST on May 15, 2023
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Chase Ultimate Rewards Hotel Partners

• IHG® One Rewards
• World of Hyatt
• Marriott Bonvoy -LIMITED TIME OFFER: Get 50% Bonus Marriott Bonvoy® points when you transfer points through 11:59PM EST on May 15, 2023

The Ultimate Rewards partners I personally find to be most valuable are United and Hyatt. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Flying Blue,  Emirates Skywards and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club are also transfer partners of other points currencies ( Amex Membership Rewards and Citi Thank You points ) so I prefer to use one of those other currencies instead of Ultimate Rewards points which I find most valuable.

How Fast Do Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfers Take

Most point transfers process instantly except for Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and Marriott Bonvoy.

If you click on the name of the travel loyalty partner or downward arrow, the box will expand and you will see a description of the program, partner airlines and expected transfer time.

According to Chase, most Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer point transfers process within two business days and most Marriott Bonvoy™ point transfers process by the next business day.

Which Credit Cards Earn Ultimate Rewards That Can Be Transferred to Travel Partners

Not all Ultimate Rewards points directly transfer to Chase’s travel partners but all indirectly transfer provided you have a “premium” card.

There are 2 type of credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards: 1) premium cards (cards with an annual fee after the first year) and 2) no annual fee cards. Disclosure: This article contains some of our referral links.

1. Premium Ultimate Reward Cards  ( DIRECTLY transfer to travel partners) •  Personal: Chase Sapphire Preferred  and  Chase Sapphire Reserve •  Business: Ink Plus (no longer offered to new applicants) and  Ink Business Preferred

2. No Annual Fee Ultimate Reward Cards  ( Do not directly transfer to travel partners but you can indirectly transfer if you have one of the premium ultimate rewards cards above) •  Personal: Sapphire, Freedom (both no longer offered to new applicants), Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited •  Business: Ink Business Cash  and  Ink Business Unlimited

If you have one of the premium Ultimate Rewards credit cards listed in (1) above, Ultimate Rewards in that account directly transfer to airline and hotel partners. (For a guide on how to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to the travel partners listed above see related post :  How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Travel Partners .)

Ultimate Rewards in a no annual fee credit card account listed in (2) above, DO NOT directly transfer to partners but can indirectly transfer if you have one of the premium Ultimate Rewards cards. The way to transfer Ultimate Rewards points from one of the cards listed in (2) above, is to transfer the points to an account of one of the premium Ultimate Rewards cards. So if you have a Chase Freedom Flex and a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can transfer points from your Freedom account into your Sapphire Preferred account and then transfer to airline and hotel partners from that account.  See related post  How To Combine or Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Between Accounts .

Ink Bold has been eliminated entirely; Chase converted all Ink Bold cards into Ink Plus cards last year. I had two Bolds that were converted.

Thanks did not realize they had been converted. Will delete from the list.

How can one transfer Ink Cash points to Ultimate Reward point? Thanks.

Ink Cash earns Ultimate Rewards points but they are the type that do not transfer to airlines and hotels. Do you have any of the following Chase cards: Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Ink Plus, Ink Business Preferred? If so you can transfer your Ink Cash points into the credit card account of one of those cards and then transfer to airlines and hotels. This post might help: https://thetravelsisters.com/how-to-transfer-chase-ultimate-rewards-points .

Lets said that I found a good deal on one of the airlines, on the chase ultimate reward, how do I know what is the exact amount of point to transfer to the airline site? Its the first time doing it I’m not sure what is the best way to do the point transfer. Thank you

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Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Transfer Partners

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners offer a great way to maximize the value of your points from Chase.

Updated: March 19, 2024

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About Rajiv Baniwal

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How to use chase ultimate rewards® for travel.

Whether you're a longtime cardholder or just starting your credit card journey with Chase, you may be wondering: What is the best way to use Chase points ? The answer will be different for everyone, but if you like to travel, you may find that using your points on your trips is your favorite way to spend them. Learning how to use Chase Ultimate Rewards to make the most of your points could help you pack in a few extra adventures when planning your next getaway.

How to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are redeemable points you can earn through welcome bonus offers or when making purchases with your Chase-branded cards, such as:

• Chase Sapphire
• Chase Freedom
• Chase Ink Business

You may also earn Ultimate Rewards at an accelerated rate on certain purchases or bonus categories — the typical rate is one point earned per dollar spent.

Redeeming Chase Ultimate Reward points

As a general rule of thumb, one point equates to $0.01 in redeemable value. This can fluctuate, however, depending on how you decide to redeem your points. When it comes to travel there are three main ways to redeem Ultimate Rewards points:

• Booking travel directly through the Chase travel portal.
• Transferring your points to Chase travel partners, such as airlines and hotels.
• Redeeming your points for gift cards or statement credits.

Using Ultimate Rewards points for travel

If you decide to redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards to book travel, you may want to know what your options are. The main way you can redeem your points is through the Chase travel portal. There, you can directly find, book and pay for travel expenses such as flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, tours and other activities or transfer points to hotel and airline partners.

When transferring your Ultimate Rewards to Chase travel partners, i.e. airlines and hotels, the transfer ratio is typically 1:1. That means that however many Ultimate Rewards points you have, you'll have the same amount in partner points with whichever Chase Ultimate Rewards travel partner you choose.

Why book through Chase Travel portal?

Something to note when using the portal is that the value of your points can change depending on which card you have.

For instance, if you have the Chase Freedom Unlimited ® card, your points are worth one cent each. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred ® or Ink Business Preferred ® cards, your points are each worth 1.25 cents. You'll get the highest value with the Chase Sapphire Reserve ® , as points are worth 1.5 cents each in the travel portal with that card.

If you have multiple eligible cards, you can combine your points to get the most out of them.

One of the benefits of booking through the Chase travel portal is that you can earn points on paid reservations. For instance, with Chase Sapphire Reserve ® you can earn 5x points on airfare and 10x points on hotels and rental cars booked through the portal.

You can book flights, hotels and rental cars directly through the travel portal, but if you want to book a cruise using Ultimate Rewards points, you'll have to call Chase directly.

There's no right or wrong when it comes to how to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points. However, if you've been bitten by the travel bug, you may find the best way to use them is by transferring them to Chase partners or booking through the Chase travel portal. Take some time to compare points transfers and the travel portal and see which one helps you make the most out of your points.

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Chase Ultimate Rewards: Everything you need to know in 2024

Fortune Recommends™ has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Fortune Recommends™ and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.  

Chase Ultimate Rewards® is superior to its key rivals among travel rewards programs in the same way that a four-star hotel is superior to a three-star one. 

From the outside, a three- and four-star hotel may look exactly the same. Heck, they may even have similar revolving doors that spill into indistinguishable lobbies. 

But once you’re inside long enough, you start noticing the difference. The four-star hotel has a spa. Spin class. A bigger pool. There’s a New York strip on the menu, and the front desk remembers your name. All these little upgrades combine to create a four-star experience, and it’s the same with Chase Ultimate Rewards. 

Compared to its solid (but not quite as nice) competitors, Chase Ultimate Rewards simply has better point values and more ways to redeem your credit card points. Its gift card marketplace has frequent sales, and its transfer partners offer bonus multipliers. Perhaps best of all, Chase doesn’t make you hunt for the best redemption option on a given day—it presents you with a chart. 

Our point is, there are nice little touches everywhere to ensure that you don’t have to “try” to have a good experience with Chase Ultimate Rewards—one is provided for you. 

That said, we still have our niggles with it and competitors like Bilt Rewards are certainly outpacing Chase in terms of creativity and innovation. But overall, it’s a superb program worth joining if you can find the right card. 

So let’s dive deeper, starting with the basics.

What is Chase Ultimate Rewards? 

Chase Ultimate Rewards is Chase’s credit card rewards program. Though perhaps lacking in modesty, it manages to deserve the “ultimate” moniker through sheer quality.

On the surface, Chase Ultimate Rewards works just like every other credit card rewards program. Use an eligible Chase card—co-branded Chase airline credit cards don’t qualify, for example—earn points, cash them in for goodies like flights, hotels, cash back, music festival tickets, Best Buy shopping, back massages and more. 

But from there, Chase does everything just a little bit better than its contemporaries. From point values to transparency, redemption options to gift card sales, Chase Ultimate Rewards stands out in ways that others should follow. 

Which Chase cards offer Chase Ultimate Rewards points in 2024? 

Here’s a list of personal (aka non-business) Chase credit cards that offer Chase Ultimate Rewards: 

• Chase Freedom Unlimited ®
• Chase Freedom Flex℠
• Chase Freedom Rise℠

Chase Sapphire Preferred ® Card

• Chase Sapphire Reserve®

It’s a surprisingly short list because most of Chase’s nearly 30 personal credit cards generate airline miles, hotel points, Amazon-only points or simply don’t generate points at all (in the case of the credit-building Chase Slate Edge℠ ). So if you want to generate Chase Ultimate Rewards, you’ll want one of Chase’s five “original band members” listed above. 

Note that while some of these cards are branded as cash-back cards, when you look at their terms, you’ll see they actually earn points—with each point worth 1 cent upon redemption. That said, you must hold one of the Sapphire cards to fully unlock the Ultimate Rewards program’s full potential, such as transferring points to airline and hotel partners.

How to combine points between Chase cards

Chase Ultimate Rewards pros and cons

• Chase Ultimate Rewards points never expire (as long as you keep your account open).
• Points are always redeemable for at least a penny each in cash back, and there are plenty of ways to stretch them further (e.g. travel bookings and the Pay Yourself Back feature).
• You can see how much your points are worth toward all 10 redemption options on a single screen.
• Gift cards, transfers and even charitable donations often have sales and bonuses (e.g. scoring a $25 Airbnb gift card for 2,250 points).
• You can only move points to Chase’s 14 transfer partners if you have a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred card.
• Just five out of Chase’s 29 personal credit cards actually offer Chase Ultimate Rewards as of this writing.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points explained

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are the primary currency of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program. You’ll earn them by using your eligible Chase card for purchases, meeting the criteria for your card’s welcome bonus, etc.—and you can redeem them for flights, hotels, cash back, charitable donations, Apple mice and more through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. 

Points are always worth at least a penny each in cash back/statement credit, so for example you can rest assured that the 2X you earn with your Chase Sapphire Preferred (on travel not booked through Chase) really does translate to a rewards rate of at least 2% cash back. 

From there, you won’t have to look far to find a redemption option that boosts your values even further—and Chase does a good job of showing you exactly how and where you can get extra value from your points in the More Ways to Redeem screen (pictured below). 

You’ll also have the option to transfer points 1:1 to 14 different loyalty program partners such as United MileagePlus and World of Hyatt . Sadly, however, Chase only allows point transfers if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred cards—all of which have an annual fee. 

Still, it’s an incredibly strong rewards program with only minor caveats to consider.

How to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points

There are three primary ways to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points: 

• Use your Chase credit card – Using one of the five cards listed above can net you anywhere from 1X to 5X per dollar spent on various purchases. There’s even the chance to earn a rate as high as 10X in very specific cases (using the Sapphire Reserve for eligible hotel and rental car bookings through Chase Travel℠).
• Score that hefty welcome bonus – Typically, the Ultimate Rewards-earning cards in Chase’s portfolio come with welcome bonuses ranging from 20,000 points to 60,000 points, though of course offers fluctuate over time. For example, in the past the Sapphire Preferred has offered a bonus as high as 100,000 points.
• Maximize your rotating rewards – If you hold the Freedom Flex, you’ll earn 5X on up to $1,500 of purchases made within the card’s rotating rewards categories every quarter you remember to activate the new category. For example, the bonus spending category for Q2 2024 (April 1 through June 30) is spending at Amazon.com, hotels and restaurants. 

Many welcome bonuses come with a runway of three months to hit the spending requirement. So, mark your calendar for 75 days out so that you have two weeks to trigger the bonus before the deadline!

Once you’ve amassed a nice pile of Chase points, how can you spend them? Let’s take a look.

Intro bonus

Rewards Rates

• 5x 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠ (excluding hotel purchases that qualify for the $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit)
• 3x 3x points on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services
• 2x 2x points on travel purchases not booked through Chase
• 1x 1x points on other purchases
• 5x 5x points on Lyft rides through March 31, 2025 (that's 3x points in addition to the 2x points you already earn on travel)
• Valuable welcome bonus
• Extensive list of transfer partners
• Extra value on travel redemptions
• No premium travel perks
• Has an annual fee
• Additional perks: $50 annual hotel credit, trip cancelation/interruption insurance, auto rental collision damage waiver, complimentary Doordash and Instacart+ membership along with quarterly Instacart+ credits
• Foreign transaction fee: None

How to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points

Chase gives you a litany of ways to spend your Ultimate Rewards points, including: 

• Travel booked through the Chase Travel portal, including hotels, flights, cars, cruises and “activities” like food tours. 
• Pay Yourself Back, aka use points to cover certain purchases on your statement. 
• Gift cards to over 200 companies including Airbnb, Lowe’s, DoorDash and—of course—Amazon. Chase also has “sales” on gift card redemption where you can get select $25 cards for 2,250 points (for example). 
• Chase Dining, aka ordering takeout or booking culinary experiences with Chase’s dining partners. 
• Cash back at a rate of a penny per point, received as statement credit or deposited to the checking/savings account of your choice. 
• Pay with Points during checkout with PayPal or Amazon, but the redemption rate is usually less than a penny per point. 
• Shop Apple which is exactly what it sounds like—buying Apple products. 
• Combine points, aka moving points from one credit card account to another (e.g. moving from your Freedom Flex to your Sapphire Preferred so you can get an extra 25% redemption value when booking travel through the portal). 
• Transfers to Chase’s 14 total transfer partners (listed below), all at a 1:1 ratio. Just keep in mind that you can only transfer points if you have a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred card. 
• Charitable donations to organizations like American Red Cross, United Way and World Central Kitchen. Plus, donations through June 30, 2024 get a 25% bonus multiplier. 
• Experiences such as tickets to live entertainment, sporting events, and private dining sessions. 

That’s quite a big menu and it begs a simple question: which one is best? Which option will help you eke the most value out of your hard-earned Chase Ultimate Rewards points? 

How much are Chase Ultimate Rewards points worth? 

When it comes to point values, Chase Ultimate Rewards sets an example for others to follow. 

That’s because no matter what, your points are always worth at least a penny each as a statement credit to your card or a direct deposit to a bank account. That means earning 1X or 5X with your Chase Freedom Flex really does translate to 1% or 5% cash back if you really need it. 

Needless to say, anchoring your point values to a penny each lends peace of mind, makes mental math at checkout easier and simply raises the overall value of your points compared to other programs. To put things into perspective, American Express Membership Rewards points only have a cash-back value of 0.6 cents each. 

In addition, it’s not hard to stretch Chase Ultimate Reward point values beyond a penny each. If you head to your Chase Ultimate Rewards dashboard and click More Ways to Earn, Chase will show you how much your points are worth towards each major redemption option. Note that Travel and Pay Yourself Back have elevated value attached, and none of these options factor in temporary sales and promos (e.g. purchasing an Airbnb $25 gift card for 2,250 points when such a sale is offered). 

But as is usually the case with credit card rewards, your best-value redemption option may actually be to transfer points to another program entirely. So let’s wrap up our redemption convo by briefly covering Chase’s 14 transfer partners—and the big, fat caveat that comes with them.

Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners

As promised, here’s a complete list of Chase’s transfer partners as of this writing. The aforementioned “big, fat caveat” is that you can only transfer points to one of these programs if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred cards. 

If you do, however, you’re in for a treat. Chase Ultimate Rewards points always transfer at a ratio of at least 1:1, and you’ll often find a 25% bonus multiplier somewhere on this page (for example, at the time of writing, there’s one with Air France KLM). 

• IHG Hotels & Resorts
• Marriott Bonvoy
• British Airways
• Air France KLM
• Singapore Airlines
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic

Wondering where your Chase Ultimate Rewards points can take you ? Read how they helped one of our editors take a holiday vacation to the Big Apple

How Chase Ultimate Rewards compares to other programs

Chase Ultimate Rewards is a superb credit card rewards program. Objectively speaking, it either meets or beats its rivals in virtually every way with only minor exceptions. 

For starters, we love how points are always worth at least a penny a pop in cash back if you need it. That’s also the case with Wells Fargo Rewards, but not with Amex Membership Rewards (0.6 cents) or Bilt Rewards (0.55 cents). 

Chase will also show you how much your points are worth towards each redemption option—on a single screen—so you don’t have to keep seven tabs open with a calculator to find your best option. 

Plus, while some rival programs will offer you the option to trade points for gift cards at a rate of less than 1 cent each (begging the question: why? ), Chase does the opposite, offering “sales” on gift cards where you can trade 1,800 points for $20, 2,250 for $25, etc. meaning you net more than a penny per point in value.  

In a nutshell, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are high value, easy to earn, satisfying to redeem and especially potent when used for travel. The cards you’ll use to generate them range from rock solid to excellent (see our reviews linked above), and even if you let your points sit until your second honeymoon, they’ll never expire on you as long as you have an account open. 

We do wish that Chase would open up its transfer partners to non-Sapphire cardholders—and perhaps one day, it could let you apply points towards your mortgage down payment ala Bilt Rewards. 

But until then, it’s a near-perfect program with massive rewards potential. Do beware when applying for new cards that the bank operates something known as the Chase 5/24 rule. This unwritten rule means if you’ve opened five or more personal credit cards from any issuer in the past 24 months, you’ll be rejected for a Chase card.

If at least one of the five Chase cards listed earlier in the article is a fit for your wallet or purse, you’re in for a four-star rewards experience. And if you’re willing to put in the work to carry multiple Ultimate Rewards-earning cards and then pool the points to maximize your redemptions, you can truly go far with this program. 

You’ve opened a new Chase card and earned the welcome bonus . How should you spend your points?

Please note that card details are accurate as of the publish date, but are subject to change at any time at the discretion of the issuer. Please contact the card issuer to verify rates, fees, and benefits before applying.  

EDITORIAL DISCLOSURE : The advice, opinions, or rankings contained in this article are solely those of the Fortune Recommends ™ editorial team. This content has not been reviewed or endorsed by any of our affiliate partners or other third parties.

• Credit Cards

Citi Launches New Strata Premier Card With One Big Upside That’s Been Missing

Fact Checked

Published: May 13, 2024, 2:21pm

Table of Contents

What the citi strata premier offers, citi strata premier adds travel protections, how does the citi strata premier compare to similar cards, bottom line.

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card * is almost a carbon copy of its predecessor, the Citi Premier® Card * with one big exception—Citi is adding significant travel protections that have been mostly missing from its suite of cards. Citi is a Forbes Advisor partner.

This is largely a rebranding of the Premier card, but does this update put the Strata Premier in direct competition with cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card ? We’ll give you a few points to ponder as you decide which card might be a better fit.

Best Citi Credit Cards Of 2024

The Strata Premier matches the earnings of the former Premier by offering 10 points per dollar on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked on CitiTravel.com, 3 points per dollar at restaurants, supermarkets, gas & EV stations, air travel and hotels and 1 point per dollar on other all purchases. A noteworthy addition is the 10 points per dollar on select travel at CitiTravel.com and EV charging stations at 3 points per dollar. These bonus categories make the Strata Premier a strong contender for everyday spending and for anyone who doesn’t want the hassle of figuring out what card to use to maximize earnings.

It includes an attractive welcome bonus, see Citi’s website for current details.

There is an annual $100 hotel benefit, but cardholders will have to spend at least $500 (not including taxes and fees) in a single stay booked through CitiTravel.com to trigger the credit.

Noticeably missing from most Citi credit cards, travel insurance protections have been added to the Strata Premier.

We don’t know all the details surrounding these travel protections—like what constitutes a delay, or how much you can expect to get for lost luggage—but here’s what Citi is promising for travelers:

• Trip cancellation and trip interruption (common carrier)
• Trip delay coverage
• Lost or damaged luggage protection
• MasterRental coverage for car rentals

Citi has a respectable list of over 15 transfer partners including:

• Avianca LifeMiles
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• Wyndham Rewards

Note that Citi’s only domestic airline partner is JetBlue . While it’s a solid airline, it’s not known for its robust route network, chiefly serving coastal cities in the U.S.

Popular cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card with a similar $95 annual fee include some of the same travel partners, but also offer point transfers to domestic partners like Southwest Airlines and United Airlines . If you don’t do much international travel, you may prefer more domestic partners like these offered from Chase.

The Sapphire Preferred offers rewards at a rate of 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3 points per dollar on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs), 2 points per dollar on all other travel purchases and 1 point per dollar on other purchases. However, the Strata wins the earnings race by adding gas and other travel as categories earning 3 or more points per dollar.

If the travel protections shake out to be similar to Chase coverage, the Strata Premier could be a worthy replacement if you value the earning structure and transfer partners over what Chase offers.

While travel protections haven’t been the deciding factor in whether or not I choose to apply for a card, they have been a reason for me to use and keep a card long term—especially a card with an annual fee. I almost always book travel with a card that includes trip protections just like the ones included with the new Citi Strata Premier card—and it’s saved me more than once.

Should the Strata Premier become your new go-to card? It makes a strong case with several bonus earning categories—and now the difference between it and competitors is mostly the airline and hotel transfer partners included. If Citi’s transfer partners align with your travel patterns, this could be a fantastic card that stays in your wallet year after year.

Find the Best Travel Credit Cards for 2024

Find the best travel credit card for your travel needs.

*The information for the following card(s) has been collected independently by Forbes Advisor: Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, Citi Premier® Card . The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

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Jerod Morales is a deputy editor at Forbes Advisor and a travel rewards expert. He took a deep dive into points and miles in 2016, searching for a way to make travel both possible and affordable for his growing family. Now, as a dad to four sons, he and his wife enjoy introducing their kids to cultures and cities across the globe as often as they can.

Comparing the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey: How does it stack up against other premium travel cards?

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The release of the new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card in March may seem like a good option with competitive rewards rates, but how does it stack up to some of the best travel credit cards on the market today? And does it deserve a place in your wallet?

In this article, we’ll examine the cards’ welcome offers, rewards, benefits and travel partners to assess their overall value. Let’s see how the Autograph Journey measures up to these four competitors:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Citi Premier® Card
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
• The Platinum Card® from American Express

Welcome offers

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey SM Card has a competitive welcome offer of 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months. According to Bankrate’s valuations , Wells Fargo Rewards are worth about 1.0 cents per point, giving the welcome offer a value of $600. After completing the spending requirement, you could have anywhere from 64,000 to 80,000 points, depending on which categories you utilize to meet the spending requirement. That’s a return of 16 percent on the low end to 20 percent on the high end, though you’ll likely fall somewhere in the middle.

How the Autograph Journey stacks up

The welcome offer on the Autograph Journey matches up with the regular offers from the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Citi Premier exactly. All three give the same bonus, for an identical spending requirement and timeframe, with the same annual fee. However, both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Points are worth more, at about 2.0 cents and 1.6 cents per point, respectively, when transferred to a high-value travel partner. This gives the edge to both, with Chase being the most valuable at $1,200 and Citi at $960.

Looking around, the Capital One Venture X offers more miles for the same amount of spending requirement and timeframe. With this card, you’ll get 75,000 miles, but also pay a higher $395 annual fee. Capital One miles are also more valuable at about 1.7 cents per point, making its welcome offer worth $1,275.

The Platinum Card® from American Express offers the most points of any of these offers — at 80,000 Membership Rewards points — but it also requires the highest spending at $8,000, although you’ll get twice as long to meet that amount (six months). It also has the highest annual fee of these cards at $695. Since Membership Rewards points are valued at about 2.0 cents cents per point, this offer has a value of $1,600.

Our decision: Not as good as the competition

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey offers the lowest overall value of any of these welcome offers, due to the lower value of the Wells Fargo Rewards it earns.

When deciding between these cards, consider:

• Whether you can meet the spending requirement
• What you want the points for
• The return on your spending

Based on these criteria, the best overall value comes from the Venture X since your return on spending will likely be a higher percentage — even though the Amex Platinum offers the most points and the highest value.

Rewards and benefits

Outside of its welcome bonus, the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey comes with excellent earning rates in numerous categories focusing on travel. Specifically, you’ll earn 5X points at hotels, 4X points on airlines and 3X points on other travel and restaurants. All other purchases earn 1X points.

You’ll also get a $50 annual statement credit with a $50 minimum airline purchase — utilizing this credit offsets more than half of the $95 annual fee. Additional benefits include:

• Trip protection coverage
• Auto rental collision coverage
• Emergency/roadside assistance
• Cell phone protection
• My Wells Fargo deals
• Visa Signature benefits

As it is, the card earns solidly enough to function as a standalone card, offering excellent protection and benefits. However, let’s compare this more closely with its competitors to assess its actual value.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred®

Both of these cards come with a $95 fee. For travel purchases, the Autograph Journey gets 5X on hotels, 4X on airfare, and 3X on other travel, while the Sapphire Preferred only earns 2X on travel (but can earn 5X if you go through the Chase Travel portal or use Lyft). Chase points also get a 25 percent boost when booking travel through Chase Travel. While both cards earn 3X on dining, the Sapphire Preferred also earns 3X for streaming and online grocery purchases.

Whereas the Autograph Journey has a $50 air credit, the Sapphire Preferred has a $50 hotel credit instead. You’ll also get a points boost on your account anniversary equal to 10 percent of your spending from the prior year. Chase has more extensive transfer partners, including four of Wells Fargo’s airline partners. There are also more Chase cards available that can combine points with the Sapphire Preferred via the Chase trifecta , giving it an even further advantage.

You might choose the Autograph Journey if your travel spending aligns better with Wells Fargo’s bonus categories. However, for most people, the Sapphire Preferred will be the more flexible option.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey vs. Citi Premier®

These cards also have the same annual fee — and once again, the Autograph Journey earns slightly better on hotel and air purchases. While the Citi Premier has limited-time earnings of 10X on hotel and car rentals through the Citi Travel portal through June 30, 2024, it earns 3X in the following categories:

• Restaurants
• Supermarkets
• Gas stations

By covering a more comprehensive range of everyday expenses, Citi Premier gets the edge for earning rewards.

The Citi Premier also offers an annual $100 hotel credit on a stay of $500 or more when booked through the Citi Travel portal — more than double the Autograph Journey’s air credit. While Citi overlaps on a few of Wells Fargo’s transfer partners, it also offers a more extensive list than Wells Fargo. Citi also has the Citi trifecta that allows you to combine points from multiple cards.

As a result, the Citi Premier generally offers more value overall, unless your spending is primarily travel-focused.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey vs. Capital One Venture X

The Capital One Venture X comes with a higher annual fee than the Autograph Journey, coming in at $395 instead of $95. Still, this higher fee can be easily offset with the card’s $300 annual travel credit on the Capital One travel portal and the 10,000 bonus miles you’ll earn on your account anniversary (worth $100).

The main difference between the two is that the Venture X earns a flat rate of 2X miles on all purchases. If you book through the portal, you’ll get 5X on airfare and 10X on hotels and car rentals. If you book travel directly, the Autograph Journey is likely a better choice, but the Venture X still has the potential for higher returns. Non-bonus spending will do better on the Venture X, for example, but you’ll earn more with dining purchases on the Autograph Journey.

Overall, Capital One miles have a higher value and more transfer partners while overlapping most of Wells Fargo’s partners. You’ll also get more benefits and perks like extensive airport lounge access . Even with the higher annual fee, the Venture X is a clear favorite almost across the board.

Wells Fargo Autograph Journey vs. The Platinum Card® from American Express

These two cards approach travel from opposite positions. While the Autograph Journey has a manageable annual fee and earns solid reward rates, the Amex Platinum has one of the highest annual fees out there and mediocre earning rates outside of its 5X rate on airfare and hotels purchased through Amex Travel. Beyond travel purchases, the Autograph Journey is superior for spending.

Where the Amex Platinum shines above the rest is its laundry list of perks and benefits . For as high as the $695 annual fee is, you can still come out ahead if you take advantage of all the credits offered, including:

• $200 annual airline incidental credit with your selected airline
• $200 Uber credit ($15 each month, $35 in December)
• $100 Saks Fifth Avenue credit ($50 semi-annually)
• $200 annual credit with Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts
• $240 entertainment credit ($20 monthly)
• $189 annual CLEAR membership credit
• $300 Equinox/SoulCycle annual credit
• Walmart+ reimbursement ($12.95 monthly cost)
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit once every four years
• *Enrollment required for select benefits

Maximizing these credits more than compensates for the card’s annual fee, covering everything from travel and shopping to lifestyle purchases. In addition, you’ll get extensive airport lounge access, excellent travel protections, a superior list of transfer partners and complimentary elite status with Hilton, Marriott and several car rental companies. Here, the overall value offered by the Amex Platinum’s perks and credits far exceed any other card — if you can fully utilize them.

Our decision: Perks fall short but rewards measure up

These comparisons point to a glaring weakness of the Autograph Journey — its perks and benefits. Each main competitor card offers more value in credits, benefits and point value. Even the higher annual fee cards make up for that difference with superior returns in the benefits category. If you’re looking at this card specifically to handle your travel needs, you may want to consider one of the other cards, all of which give better returns.

However, the card holds up well with its reward-earning rates, particularly in the travel and dining categories. The rates for hotels and airfare purchases are strong and don’t require you to shop through a travel portal. This distinction can be helpful, as many hotel chains and airlines will deny your elite benefits when you book through a third party like this. With plenty of bonus categories, the Autograph Journey should be able to cover much of your everyday spending.

Airline and hotel transfer partners

Each card has its own set of airline and hotel transfer partners — multiple cards can cover some programs, while others may be unique to a single card. We’ve compiled a list of all the partners to help you decide which card is best for you. All transfer ratios are 1:1 unless otherwise noted.

Our decision: The Autograph Journey doesn’t measure up

As you can see, the Autograph Journey has the smallest number of transfer partners — each of which is covered by at least two competitors. Further, considering that the Autograph Journey comes with the lowest overall point value, the card’s competitors are likely to be a better choice if you’re looking for a specific transfer partner, given their wider selection and better value.

You could certainly use the Autograph Journey’s welcome offer to supplement the point balance in one of its partners, but in most cases, you shouldn’t use it as the primary method to accrue those points unless you’re spending in its top categories.

The bottom line

While introducing a travel card with transfer partners is a big milestone for Wells Fargo, the Autograph Journey unfortunately doesn’t quite rise to the level of its competition. While the reward rates are decent, the lower value of Wells Fargo points keeps it a step behind the competition. Given that, this card is best suited for people who may already have a solid portfolio of credit cards and are looking for a new program to supplement their points balances. But if you’re looking for your first premium travel card, you’ll likely get more value from one of the other cards in this space.

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Credit Cards

Why the Chase Ink Business Unlimited is part of my core credit card setup

Eric Rosenberg

Julie Sherrier

“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.

Grace Pilling

Published 6:43 a.m. UTC May 14, 2024

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In my quest to travel as much as I can for the lowest possible cost, I focus heavily on earning points in the ultra-valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards® program . To earn Chase points, I use a combination of personal and business credit cards from Chase , enabling me to earn the maximum possible points on each purchase.

For business spending, I use the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card and the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card . These cards both offer points I can combine with my personal Chase travel cards to redeem for free and discounted flights and hotels, among other redemption options. 

Here’s a closer look at why the Chase Ink Business Unlimited credit card is part of my core credit card setup and how it fits into my larger miles-and-points-earning strategy.

our partner

Blueprint receives compensation from our partners for featured offers, which impacts how and where the placement is displayed.

Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card

Welcome bonus.

Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Regular APR

Credit score.

Credit Score ranges are based on FICO® credit scoring. This is just one scoring method and a credit card issuer may use another method when considering your application. These are provided as guidelines only and approval is not guaranteed.

Editor’s take

• No annual fee.
• Introductory purchase APR period.
• Generous welcome bonus.
• High balance transfer fee.
• Charges foreign transaction fees.
• Few additional benefits.

Card details

• Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
• Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business
• No Annual Fee
• Redeem rewards for cash back, gift cards, travel and more through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
• Earn rewards faster with employee cards at no additional cost. Set individual spending limits for greater control.
• Round-the-clock monitoring for unusual credit card purchases
• With Zero Liability you won’t be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
• 0% introductory APR for 12 months on purchases
• Member FDIC

Why Chase Ink Business Unlimited?

As an accounting-minded business owner, I know how important it is to keep and track my personal and business expenses separately. I have dedicated business cards for business spending and use personal cards for my family’s spending needs. The majority of my business purchases are made with the Chase Ink Business Unlimited card.

The Ink Business Unlimited offers an unlimited 1.5% cash back on purchases. This is worth the same as 1.5 points per $1 spent when converting to Ultimate Rewards points, and there’s no annual fee. While I can earn a little more in certain categories with my Ink Business Cash card, the return on spending I get from Ink Business Unlimited is tough to beat, particularly with no annual fee.

The Ink Business Unlimited also sports benefits well beyond that of the average card. While I wish it also had return protection for the occasional bad purchase, it does come with these purchase and travel protections:

• Purchase protection for new purchases: If a purchase is damaged or stolen in the first 120 days, I can recover up to $10,000 per claim up to $50,000 over the lifetime of the account.
• Extended warranty coverage: For eligible purchases, the card offers the same benefits as the original manufacturer’s warranty for an additional year.
• Primary auto rental damage collision waiver: I can skip expensive rental car company insurance at the checkout counter knowing my credit card will cover the cost of an accident.

You can expect better benefits when using a card with an annual fee, such as the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card * The information for the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. . But for a card with no annual fee, the Ink Business Unlimited has a decent set of protections.

Other Chase cards in my wallet

In pursuit of Chase points, I also have these cards in my wallet or safely tucked away in my home office.

Ink Business Cash

The Ink Business Cash card gives me 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year, 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year, and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

While I stick with the Ink Business Unlimited for the “everything else” categories, I pull out the Ink Business Cash for office supplies, my internet bill and business meals, among other purchases to earn the elevated rewards rates.

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

While I’m not sure I’m going to keep this one for much longer — I’m considering downgrading back to the more affordable Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card — the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card is my go-to for personal restaurant and travel purchases. With this card, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth 1.5 cents each when redeeming for travel through Chase, including the points I combine from other Chase cash-back or Ultimate Rewards cards.

The Sapphire Reserve offers 5 points per $1 on flights and 10 points per $1 on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel℠ after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3 points per $1 on other travel and dining and 1 point per $1 on other purchases. Plus I get a statement credit for the first $300 in travel purchases I make with the card each year. It’s loaded with a ton of valuable benefits and credits, including airport lounge access through Priority Pass (enrollment required) and a limited number of Chase Sapphire lounges. But at $550 per year, I’m considering saving the money by switching to its lower-cost sibling card.

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is my “everything else” card for personal purchases. It’s basically the personal version of the Ink Business Unlimited card, offering the same flat-rate back everywhere. I can easily convert these into Chase Ultimate Rewards points to redeem for a boosted rate with my Sapphire Reserve card.

With no annual fee, there’s no extra cost to carry this card in addition to my favorite Chase Sapphire card. I make just about every purchase outside of the boosted categories from the Chase Sapphire Reserve and rotating bonus categories from the next card on the list with this credit card.

Chase Freedom Flex℠ * The information for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

I’ve had the Chase Freedom Flex℠ * The information for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. for years (I actually got it before its new name, when it was just called the Chase Freedom card). With this card, I earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in categories that rotate quarterly (requires activation), 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on dining and drugstores and 1% cash back on all other purchases. As of this writing, the current quarterly categories are Amazon.com, restaurants and hotels booked directly with the hotel.

There’s no annual fee, so I plan on keeping this one indefinitely. Even if I don’t use it at all some calendar quarters, I come out ahead when using it for the elevated cash-back categories when I would shop there anyway. The biggest hassle is that you have to click a link in an email to activate the bonus categories every quarter.

Other Chase cards I consider

Two other cards regularly show up on my consideration list for earning Chase rewards. Those are the premium business rewards cards, the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card * The information for the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. and the Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card * The information for the Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. . Both require an annual fee, however, and my very small business doesn’t spend enough per year for me to justify the upgrade.

If your business spends more than mine, here are the biggest perks of those alternatives to Chase Ink Business Unlimited.

• Ink Business Preferred: With this card, you’ll earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases. But with a $95 annual fee, you need to spend a lot in those categories for the card to pay off.
• Ink Business Premier: With this card, you’ll earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more, and 2% cash back on all other purchases. But with a higher $195 annual fee, I would again have to spend more on my business for the card to be worthwhile.

Making the most of Chase Ultimate Rewards

While I like some of the luxury travel benefits offered by The Platinum Card® from American Express , my favorite travel rewards points come from Chase. As long as you can manage them well, there’s no rule against having multiple Chase cash-back and Ultimate Rewards cards. After all, I have five myself. Just keep in mind the unofficial Chase 5/24 rule , which limits how many cards you can apply for with any issuer in a given time period.

When combining points across all my Chase accounts, I have access to free or discounted travel to nearly anywhere on earth. That’s a huge draw, and the combination of cards is ideal for my family’s travel goals.

*The information for the Chase Freedom Flex℠, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card and Ink Business Premier℠ Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy . The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.

Eric Rosenberg is a financial writer, speaker, and consultant based in Ventura, California. He is an expert in topics including banking, credit cards, investing, cryptocurrency, insurance, real estate, and business finance. He has professional experience as a bank manager and nearly a decade in corporate finance and accounting. His work has appeared in many online publications, including Business Insider, Nerdwallet, Investopedia, and U.S. News & World Report.

Julie Stephen Sherrier is a personal finance writer and editor based in Austin, TX. She is the former senior managing editor for LendingTree, responsible for all credit card and credit health content. Before joining LendingTree, Julie spent more than a decade as the managing editor and then editorial director at Bankrate and CreditCards.com. She also served as an adjunct journalism instructor at the University of Texas at Austin.

Grace Pilling is a deputy editor for credit cards at USA TODAY Blueprint. She believes credit cards are the ultimate choose-your-own-adventure tools of the financial world and gets excited about helping people discover the best credit card strategy for their unique goals. Prior to joining Blueprint, Grace worked on and led personal finance teams at Bankrate, CreditCards.com, MoneyUnder30 and MoneyGeek. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and writing and a diploma in editing and publishing.

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How to use the chase sapphire preferred hotel credit, the chase sapphire preferred's hotel credit goes a long way toward paying off the card's annual fee..

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card currently has an elevated intro offer of 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on the card in the first three months from account opening. This card has a $95 annual fee , but, you can earn back over half of that cost every year by taking advantage of a single easy-to-overlook perk — the annual hotel credit.

Sapphire Preferred card members can receive a $50 annual Chase Travel Hotel credit every account anniversary year for hotels booked through the Chase Travel SM  portal . Here's what you need to know about how to use this credit and when it makes sense.

Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus and perks

What is the chase sapphire preferred $50 hotel credit, how to use the chase sapphire preferred's $50 hotel credit, when does it make sense to use the chase sapphire preferred's $50 hotel credit, alternative cards with hotel credits, bottom line, chase sapphire preferred® card.

Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, and $50 annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more.

Welcome bonus

Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's over $900 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

Regular APR

21.49% - 28.49% variable on purchases and balance transfers

Balance transfer fee

Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater

Foreign transaction fee

Credit needed.

Excellent/Good

Terms apply.

Read our Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card review .

The Sapphire Preferred's intro bonus offer is currently 15,000 points higher than the standard offer. This makes it a great time to apply because you're getting the same ongoing card benefits along with the additional upfront value.

This card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which are some of the best travel rewards thanks to their versatility. You can redeem Chase points for cash back or similar redemptions for one cent each. And if you use your Chase points to book travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, you'll get a 25% boost in value as a Sapphire Preferred cardholder (1.25 cents per point).

You can really ratchet up your points' value by taking advantage of Chase's transfer partners . Chase points transfer to 14 airline and hotel loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio. Through these programs, you can book business-class award flights or luxury hotels and dramatically increase the value of your rewards. This includes plenty of one-way Star Alliance business-class flights from North America to Europe for only 60,000 to 70,000 Aeroplan miles, flights that normally costs thousands of dollars.

The Sapphire Preferred also comes with a long list of travel and purchase insurance benefits. You'll get trip delay reimbursement, primary rental car collision coverage , purchase protection, extended warranty coverage and more.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred annual hotel credit can earn you an automatic statement credit of up to $50 every card anniversary year. To qualify for the credit, you need to book a hotel through Chase Travel SM and pay for the booking with your Sapphire Preferred card.

The $50 in hotel purchases that earn you the credit will not earn Chase points. Once a qualifying transaction is posted to your account, the statement credit should get credited within one or two billing cycles.

To use the Sapphire Preferred annual hotel credit, you book a hotel stay through Chase Travel SM . This platform works like booking through another online travel agency like Expedia , Priceline or Kayak . Simply search for the dates and the location where you need a hotel and book from the available options.

To use the hotel credit, first log in to your Chase credit card account and navigate to the Ultimate Rewards page. Next, select the "Travel" drop-down menu and click "Book travel."

Choose "Hotels" and enter the information for your trip. Once you start a search, you can filter the results by star rating, brand, cost and more.

After you've selected the hotel and specific room type, you'll be able to see the final cost in dollars and points.

To earn the full $50, you need to charge at least $50 on your card. If you want to pay with points, just be sure to redeem points for all but $50 of the cost. You can easily adjust how many points you're using for the booking in the "Points redeemed" box, just be sure to click the update button when you change the number of points you want to use.

From here follow the steps to enter the traveler information and payment card info before you finalize the reservation. Be sure to pay with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card. If you don't book with your Sapphire Preferred, you won't earn the credit.

The Sapphire Preferred hotel credit is straightforward — just book a hotel through Chase Travel SM to qualify for the offer. However, you should compare prices for the same dates, hotel and room type to ensure you're getting the best price when booking with Chase. As long as you aren't paying more for the booking, taking advantage of this credit makes sense.

If elite status perks are worth more to you for a particular stay, you may want to consider trying to maximize this credit on a different booking. That's because when you book hotels through a third-party site such as Chase Travel SM you typically won't earn elite status credit. You also won't normally receive elite status benefits, such as free breakfast or room upgrades.

If you're looking for hotel credits and benefits, a co-branded hotel credit card will typically offer the most value, but the perks will be tied to a specific brand. For statement credit perks that are more universal, you'll likely need to consider a general travel credit card.

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (see r ates and fees ) offers an annual travel credit of up to $300 for bookings made through Capital One Travel. This credit applies to hotels, but also flights, rental cars and more. When you combine this travel credit with the card's annual 10,000-mile bonus, it's not hard to justify keeping this premium credit card .

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

10 Miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars, 5 Miles per dollar on flights when booked via Capital One Travel; unlimited 2X miles on all other eligible purchases

Earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening

19.99% - 29.99% variable APR

$0 at the Transfer APR, 4% of the amount of each transferred balance that posts to your account at a promotional APR that Capital One may offer to you

Foreign transaction fees

See rates and fees . Terms apply.

Read our Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card review.

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card has an incredibly easy-to-use travel and dining credit worth up to $325 every year. To qualify for the credit you don't need to book through a specific site. Instead, you just pay for travel or dining with the card and you'll earn the credit on the first $325 in eligible spending.

U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card

5X points on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked through the Altitude Rewards Center; 3X points on every $1 on eligible travel and mobile wallet spending

Earn 50,000 bonus points (worth about $750 in travel) after spending $4,500 within the first 90 days of account opening

22.24% to 29.24% (Variable)

3% of the amount of each transfer, with a $5 minimum

See  rates and fees , terms apply.

For a limited time, the Chase Sapphire Preferred has an excellent increase welcome offer. However, it also has an extensive array of ongoing benefits for cardholders. These benefits include an annual $50 hotel credit that applies to hotel bookings you make through Chase Travel SM .

Money matters — so make the most of it. Get expert tips, strategies, news and everything else you need to maximize your money, right to your inbox.  Sign up here .

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Bilt Mastercard® Review 2024

Bilt mastercard®.

Credit ranges are derived from FICO® Score 8, which is one of many different types of credit scores. If you apply for a credit card, the lender may use a different credit score when considering your application for credit.

If you want to earn credit card rewards on rent payments, the Bilt Mastercard could be a good option.

Expert Take: If your rent payment is your biggest monthly expense, why not use it to earn credit card rewards? The Bilt Mastercard ® is a no-annual-fee credit card ( see rates & fees ) that allows you to earn Bilt Points on rent payments (up to 100,000 each calendar year), travel and dining. Use the card five times each statement period to earn points ( see rewards & benefits ). Read our Bilt Mastercard review to learn whether this unique rent credit card could be right for you.

• Earn credit card rewards on rent payments, travel and dining
• Use BiltProtect to withdraw rent payments directly from a linked bank account
• Help build your credit history when renting at a Bilt Alliance property and making on-time payments
• Must use card five times per statement period to earn rewards ( see rewards & benefits )
• Limited perks outside of Rent Day benefits
• Not a great option for people who don’t rent

Vault’s Viewpoint on the Bilt Mastercard

The Bilt Mastercard offers a unique opportunity to renters—the chance to earn credit card rewards on their monthly rent payment. With Bilt, you can earn 1 point per dollar on rent paid through the Bilt app or website, with no transaction fee, for up to 100,000 points each calendar year. You can also earn 3X points on dining, 2X points on travel and 1X points on other purchases—and on Rent Day (the first day of the month), those points double (excluding rent, to a max of 10,000 points per 1st of the month). You have to use the card five times each statement period to earn points ( see rewards & benefits ).

This no-annual-fee credit card ( see rates & fees ) is best for renters, and many people might appreciate the option to use BiltProtect, which withdraws your rent payment from a linked bank account, allowing you to earn points on rent without running up a high balance on your Bilt credit card. Even renters who pay via check can use Bilt to send checks to their landlord, earning points with every monthly transaction.

While this card doesn’t offer much to people who don’t rent, it’s a good option for people who want to take one of their biggest monthly expenses and turn it into a rewards-earning opportunity.

“The Bilt Mastercard is best known for letting you earn points on rent, but it’s an excellent travel card even if you don’t rent. It has no foreign transaction fees, access to good transfer partners (including some rare ones), monthly Rent Day promos and good rewards rates on dining and travel—all for no annual fee.” — Raina He

Bilt Mastercard Highlights 

Earning rewards with the bilt mastercard.

Bilt Mastercard rewards are designed to reward renters. But you’ll also earn Bilt Points on travel and dining purchases, with the opportunity to double those points on the first day of the month (excluding on rent). 

Here’s a quick overview of what you can earn with the Bilt Mastercard:

• 1X points on rent paid through the Bilt app or website, with no transaction fee, for up to 100,000 points each calendar year
• 2X points on travel
• 3X points on dining
• 1X points on other purchases
• On Rent Day (the first of the month) earn 4X points on travel, 6X points on dining and 2X points on other purchases not including rent (maximum of 10,000 bonus points with this offer each rent day)
• Use the card five times each statement period to earn points. See rewards & benefits .
• Select ‘Learn More’ to learn more about the product features, terms, and conditions.

Redeeming Rewards

Believe it or not, much of the Bilt Mastercard value comes from its reward redemption options. Not only can you redeem your points at a 1:1 ratio with many popular airline and hotel loyalty programs, but you can put your Bilt Points toward a future rent payment—or, if you prefer, save up your Bilt Points and use them as part of the down payment on your future home.

You also can redeem rewards for travel bookings, fitness classes, Amazon.com purchases and more. And make sure you check the Bilt app on Rent Day (the first day of the month) for valuable Bilt Mastercard benefits such as Lyft Credits, SoulCycle Credits and opportunities to win a month of free rent.

Rates and Fees

The Bilt Mastercard doesn’t charge transaction fees on rent paid through the Bilt app or website. Plus, cardholders don’t pay an annual fee.

Here’s an overview of the rates and fees of the Bilt Mastercard:

• Annual fee: $0
• Variable APR: See terms
• Balance transfer fee: 5% or $5, whichever is greater
• Rent transaction fee: $0
• Foreign transaction / conversion fee: No Foreign Currency Conversion Fee
• Late payment fee: Up to $40
• Cash advance fee: See terms
• Cash advance APR: See terms
• See rates & fees

Bilt Mastercard Benefits

The biggest Bilt Mastercard benefit is the ability to earn credit card rewards on rent payments with no transaction fee. Even if your landlord prefers to receive payments via PayPal, Venmo or a written check, you can still use the Bilt app or website to complete the transaction and earn points (as long as you use your card five times each statement period). With BiltProtect, you can pay rent without using your available credit line. When you submit rent payments with BiltProtect turned on, a debit will be initiated from your linked bank account and money will be transferred to pay your rent through the Bilt Mastercard network, while also providing points on rent payments without using your available credit line. A BiltProtect ACH transaction is not a credit card transaction and will not affect your Bilt Mastercard account.

Here are some additional Bilt card benefits that come with the Bilt Mastercard.

• Trip Delay Reimbursement
• Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection
• Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
• Concierge Service
• Cellular Telephone Protection
• Purchase Security (theft and damage protection)

Plus, cardholders can take 3 rides in one calendar month and get a $5 Lyft credit with their Bilt Mastercard.

See rewards & benefits .

Who Is the Bilt Mastercard Best For?

The Bilt Mastercard is best for renters who can take advantage of BiltProtect. If you’re willing to allow BiltProtect to withdraw money from your bank account every month to cover your rent, you can earn rewards on every rent payment without worrying about paying off a big credit card charge each month.

If you aren’t certain whether you’ll have enough money in your bank account every month to take advantage of BiltProtect, you may want to avoid the Bilt Mastercard. Putting your rent on credit is dangerous, especially if you are unable to pay off your balance in full by the end of your billing cycle. Earning rewards on rent is a good deal if you can afford to cover your credit card bills, but carrying your monthly rent payments as credit card debt could hurt you financially in the long run.

Who Should Consider an Alternative to the Bilt Mastercard?

If you aren’t a renter, there’s little point in applying for the Bilt Mastercard. Even though Bilt offers rewards on travel and dining—giving you the opportunity to earn and redeem Bilt Points even if you don’t rent a house or apartment—non-renters are likely to find better rewards rates with other top credit cards on the market.

How Does the Bilt Mastercard Stack Up to Its Competitors?

While the Bilt Mastercard offers a unique opportunity to earn points on rent payments, it’s still worth comparing the Bilt Mastercard to a few other top credit cards before deciding whether to apply.

Here’s how the Bilt Mastercard stacks up to some of its competitors:

Bilt Mastercard vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited®

For no annual fee, the Chase Freedom Unlimited regularly earns 1.5% cash back on all other purchases, plus 5% back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 5% total cash back back on qualifying Lyft rides through March 31, 2025 and 3% back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery service).

Although there’s no rent-specific category, if you pay rent with this card, you may be able to earn 1.5% cash back. Rewards can be redeemed for travel bookings, Amazon.com purchases, statement credits and more.

Bilt Mastercard vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

If you’re considering the Bilt Mastercard because you want to earn rewards on travel, it might be worth taking a look at the Chase Sapphire Preferred . This top travel credit card offers 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel, and your points are worth 25% more when redeemed for travel through Chase Travel.

You also earn 2X points on general travel purchases; 3X points on dining; online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs) and select streaming services; 5X points on Lyft rides through March 31, 2025; and 1X points on everything else. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred charges a $95 annual fee, but many travelers have found the card to be well worth its fee. You can also take advantage of over $200 in additional partnership value with popular services like DoorDash, Instacart, Peloton and Lyft.

Bilt Mastercard vs. Wells Fargo Autograph SM Card

The Wells Fargo Autograph Card is one of Wells Fargo’s best rewards cards. First off, you can earn an unlimited 3X points on travel, gas stations, restaurants, transit, streaming services and phone plans and 1X points on other purchases. 

The Wells Fargo Autograph card is a no-annual-fee card and could be a good alternative to the Bilt Mastercard—but it might be even better to put these two cards together. Use the Bilt Mastercard for rent, dining and Rent Day purchases and deals, then use the Wells Fargo Autograph card for other purchases. Just make sure you make at least five purchases on your Bilt Mastercard during every statement period. Otherwise, you won’t be able to earn Bilt Mastercard rewards ( see rewards & benefits ).

Is the Bilt Mastercard Worth It?

If you’re looking for a credit card that allows you to earn rewards on rent payments, the Bilt Mastercard could be more than worth it. Not only will cardholders who rent at Bilt Rewards Alliance properties see their monthly rent payments reported to major credit bureaus if they opt-in, but anyone who can take advantage of BiltProtect can have their rent payment withdrawn from a linked bank account—enabling them to earn credit card rewards on rent without running up a credit card balance.

Plus, cardholders who use the Bilt app or website to make rent payments won’t get stuck with costly transaction fees—and you can use the app or website even if your landlord accepts only physical checks. All in all, the benefits associated with Bilt Mastercard rent payments account for a significant portion of the card’s value.

That said, there are a few other reasons to consider the Bilt Mastercard. Its rewards redemption program lets you transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio to many popular travel partners, and cardholders who check the Bilt app on Rent Day (the first day of the month) can find plenty of rewards-boosting opportunities. These include transfer bonuses, point accelerators, credits for popular services like Lyft and potentially the chance to win a free month of rent. 

Once you consider all the ways you can use the Bilt Mastercard to streamline your rent payments, help build your credit and earn rewards, you might decide the card is exactly what you’re looking for.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who issues the bilt mastercard.

Wells Fargo issues and administers the Bilt Mastercard. That said, you can’t combine your Bilt Points with other Wells Fargo credit cards.

Can You Pay Your Mortgage With the Bilt Mastercard?

Unfortunately, your Bilt Mastercard does not offer points or rewards on mortgage payments. While you might be able to pay your mortgage with your Bilt Mastercard—assuming your lender accepts credit card payments or lets you use a third-party service to complete the transaction—you won’t earn any rewards for doing so.

Is It Hard To Get Approved for the Bilt Mastercard?

If you have good or excellent credit, it may be easier to get approved for the Bilt Mastercard. If your FICO or VantageScore credit score is lower than 700, you may want to build your credit before applying for the Bilt Mastercard. 

The post Bilt Mastercard® Review 2024 first appeared on Newsweek Vault .

Can I book budget carriers on the Chase portal? What you need to know

Update : Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here .

Budget carriers — commonly referred to as "low-cost carriers" — can be a great way to save money on shorter domestic and intra-region flights. These carriers tend to offer lower fares with no-frills, and you may have to pay for things like seat assignments and checked bags.

The Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal is another great way to save on travel. You can use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to cover paid flights through the portal and offset the costs of your trip. As a refresher, you can redeem your points through the portal at a set rate, depending on the card you have. For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card redeems at 1.25 cents per point through the portal, while the Chase Sapphire Reserve card can redeem at 1.5 cents per point.

You can book most major carriers through the portal — but not all budget carriers. For a reason unknown, Chase's booking partner, Expedia, doesn't let you book most budget carriers through its travel portal. And if you can, you may have to call in to book (and you could or lose out on perks).

So in this article, I'll discuss if you can book popular budget and low-cost carriers through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal and if it even makes sense to do so. I'll break down the post by airline. I'll also give you a look at if the current state of booking budget carriers through the Chase portal could change in the future.

For more TPG news delivered each morning to your inbox, sign up for our free daily newsletter .

Booking budget and ultra-low-cost carriers with the Chase portal

As discussed in the intro, most budget and ultra-low-cost carriers aren't bookable online through the Chase travel portal.

You may have luck calling Chase to book carriers that don't show on the travel portal, but your results may vary. I've had mixed results in the past, and it seems to vary by airline and by the agent you speak to. If one agent won't book a ticket for you, politely end the call and call back to see if another agent can help. It's safe to say that a carrier is not bookable if you call twice and get the same answer.

Let's take a closer look at if you can book major budget and low-cost carriers through the Chase portal.

Related: The best credit cards to use on low-cost carriers

Allegiant Air

Allegiant Air is a fast-growing ultra-low-cost carrier in the U.S. It mostly operates point-to-point routes from smaller cities to popular leisure destinations but has expanded operations to major airports like Chicago-Midway (MDW), Los Angeles (LAX) and Newark (EWR).

The airline is exactly what you expect when you think of an ultra-low-cost carrier. It has low fares, but everything from carry-on bags to seat selection to onboard drinks costs extra.

Unfortunately, Allegiant flights do not show up on the Chase portal. We've heard mixed reports of being able to book Allegiant flights over the phone, so proceed with caution.

Related: Southwest vs. Allegiant: What it's like to fly a low-cost airline during a pandemic

EasyJet is one of the largest ultra-low-cost carriers in Europe. It flies to most major European cities and operates point-to-point flights between major cities and tourist destinations.

EasyJet flights don't show on the Chase travel portal. You may have luck calling in to have an agent book a ticket for you, but we've heard reports of agents not being able to book EasyJet flights over the phone either.

Related: Everything you need to know about flying EasyJet

Frontier Airlines

Frontier Airlines is a major ultra-low-cost carrier in the U.S. It has a hub in Denver (DEN) and focus cities in Chicago-O'Hare (ORD), Philadelphia (PHL) and Las Vegas (LAS), among others. You'll find the airline flying major leisure routes from most major metro areas.

Frontier flights previously showed on the Chase portal, but I cannot find them after Chase switched to Expedia for its booking partner in 2018. However, as you'll see later in this article, this may change again when Chase switches away from Expedia later this year.

Related: Frontier Airlines adds — then drops — mandatory 'Covid Recovery Charge,' ends temperature checks

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue may not be the first airline that comes to mind when you think of a budget carrier. After all, it operates many business-heavy routes and offers its award-winning Mint business class product on select domestic and international routes. Including upcoming flights from Boston (BOS) and New York-JFK to London-Heathrow (LHR) and London-Gatwick (LGW) .

That said, many still categorize it as a budget carrier due to its largely all-economy fleet and relatively limited route network. It's one of the few budget carriers you can currently book through the Chase portal and you can do so without paying any extra fees.

There is one downside to booking through the Chase portal: you won't earn as many points as booking direct. JetBlue offers 1 bonus point per dollar spent on Blue Basic and 3 bonus points per dollar spent on Blue or higher fares booked directly with the airline. These are not awarded when you book with Chase.

Other than that, everything else is the same. You won't pay more for a JetBlue flight through the portal and still receive the same baggage allowance, etc.

Related: Where should I credit my flights? Maximizing American and JetBlue's new loyalty partnership

Ryanair is the largest low-cost carrier in Europe. It flies a slew of point-to-point routes from its various bases around the continent, and with new planes incoming, it shows no signs of slowing down in a post-pandemic world.

Like EasyJet, you have to pay extra for every bell-and-whistle from an onboard glass of water to a carry-on bag. This translates to extremely cheap fares — for example, it's not uncommon to find one-way fares from the low $20's on popular routes.

Unfortunately, you cannot book Ryanair flights with Chase at this time. Again, we hope this changes when Chase switches booking partners this year.

Related: The ultimate survival guide for flying Ryanair

Southwest Airlines

Like JetBlue, Southwest Airlines isn't a traditional low-cost carrier. The airline operates all-economy flights on leisure and business routes but doesn't have many of the fees you'll find on Frontier or Spirit. For example, each ticket includes two checked bags and a full-size carry-on.

At the same time, however, you cannot pick a seat ahead of time. Instead, you're assigned a boarding number and choose your own seat once on the plane. You can purchase priority boarding if you want a better shot at a specific seat.

One oddity of Southwest is that you cannot book its flights through online travel agencies like the Chase portal. If you want to book with your Chase points, you have to call in and ask an agent to book it for you.

Other than that, there are no major restrictions or differences when booking Southwest flights with Chase points versus booking online. I've found that Southwest flights booked over the phone cost the same as if booked directly on the Southwest website, and you still get the same baggage allowance.

Of course, you can also transfer your Chase points to Southwest Rapid Rewards and book award flights on Southwest's website. However, there are a few things to be aware of if you do this — check out TPG's full guide to booking Southwest flights with Chase points for more info.

Related: Battle of the airlines: Why I think Southwest Airlines is the best

Spirit Airlines

Spirit is the largest ultra-low-cost carrier in the U.S. and has grown a lot over the past decade. You'll need to pay for all extras when flying on Spirit, but that's reflected in its super-low fares. Like Ryanair, you'll often find extremely cheap fares on Spirit flights when booking in advance.

Unfortunately, you cannot book Spirit flights through the Chase portal at this time. We're hopeful that this will change when Chase switches booking partners.

Related: Hear us out: Why Spirit gives Delta a run for its money in our head-to-head comparison

Sun Country

Sun Country is a Minneapolis-based ultra-low-cost carrier that's rapidly expanding into new markets . At the time of writing, you cannot book the carrier's flights through the Chase travel portal.

Related: Budget airlines muscle into big airports as coronavirus creates new opportunities

Volaris is a major ultra-low-cost carrier in Mexico. Unfortunately, you cannot book flights on the airline through the Chase portal at this time.

Related: 11 things you should know before visiting Mexico

WestJet is a Canadian budget carrier that operates domestic Canadian flights and flights from Canada to Central America, the Caribbean, Europe, and the U.S. It's started to act more like a traditional airline over the years by adding business class to transatlantic routes and partnering with Delta but keeps its budget carrier roots with low fares.

You can book WestJet flights through the Chase portal without any difference in price or features. Just beware that the U.S.-Canadian border is still closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, so it may be some time before you'll want to book a WestJet flight.

Related: Delta and WestJet announce reciprocal elite benefits

This may change in the coming months

While you can't book most budget carriers through the Chase portal now, this could change in the coming months. Chase recently acquired cxLoyalty , which operated the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal until Expedia took over in 2018. This company currently manages Citi and Capital One's travel portal.

The acquisition likely means that Chase will switch away from Expedia in the coming months. In turn, we should see budget carriers return to the Chase portal. I ran a test search on Capital One's cxLoyalty-powered travel portal and found that many budget carriers appear in search results.

For example, I'm able to book a Spirit Airlines flight with my Capital One miles:

Likewise, Frontier flights showed in search results:

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find flights on EasyJet, Ryanair or Volaris. I'd like to see cxLoyalty include these airlines before taking over the Chase portal. This would make Chase points more valuable for budget-minded international travelers who want to use their points to cover international tickets.

Related: 7 takeaways from my first Frontier Airlines flight in over 4 years

What's the best way to book low-cost carriers with points?

Budget travelers are best using Chase points for redemptions with transfer partners. If domestic travel is your goal, read TPG's guide to using Chase points for domestic travel . We go in-depth on booking flights with each major alliance, so you'll be able to book flights on major carriers like American, Delta and United.

Using your points for travel abroad can be easy too. You can transfer points to Avios and book intra-Europe flights with Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and other partners. Likewise, you can transfer to United MileagePlus to book intra-Europe on Lufthansa Group airlines like Austrian, Brussels Airways, Lufthansa and Swiss.

With the limitations of the Chase portal, Ultimate Rewards points aren't the best for those that want to offset the cost of airfare on budget airlines. Instead, you'll want to use something like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card to pay for your budget tickets. Then, you can offset the charges with your miles at a rate of 1.0 cents per mile.

The Venture card currently offers 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. The full bonus is worth $1,388 per TPG's most recent valuation of Capital One miles (not provided by the issuer).

Related: TPG beginner's guide: Everything you need to know about points, miles, airlines and credit cards

Bottom line

Here, I showed you everything you need to know about booking budget carriers through the Chase travel portal. While most budget carriers aren't bookable through the portal, we may see that change when Chase switches from Expedia to cxLoyalty as its travel booking partner. Only time will tell when this will happen, but we'll keep you updated.

Feature photo by Jetlinerimages/Getty Images