How to Use 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points: 5 Real-Life Travel Redemptions
If you want a simple, beginner-friendly way to travel for free, start by earning Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the card we most often recommend to get going. With 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you can cover flights, hotel stays, or even whole vacations that would normally cost thousands of dollars. You don’t need to be an expert to make this work, and below we’ll show you 5 real ways our members and our founder Zac have done exactly that.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are some of the most flexible and valuable in all of travel. You can redeem them in a few beginner-friendly ways: Book travel through the Chase Travel℠ portal, or transfer them to airline and hotel partners like Hyatt, Air Canada Aeroplan, and Southwest, which is often where the biggest value shows up.
How to Earn 100,000+ Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points
Before we get to the fun part (the trips!), here is the good news: earning 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points is more doable than most beginners think. Right now, three of our favorite Chase cards are each offering 100,000 Bonus Points as a welcome offer, so you can pick the one that fits you best.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card – Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months. This is our top pick for beginners.
- Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card – Earn $1,000 cash back (equivalent to 100,000 bonus points) after spending $8,000 in the first 4 months.
- Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card – Earn $1,000 cash back (equivalent to 100,000 bonus points) after spending $8,000 in the first 4 months.
Two of these are business cards, which scares off a lot of beginners, but you may qualify more easily than you think. These cards are designed for small businesses too, so your side gig or freelance work may qualify.
Want to look beyond these three before you decide? You can browse every top current offer on our public CardGenie® page and filter by what matters to you, no account needed.
See all the best current offers on CardGenie® →
How to Use 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
From luxury flights and hotels to once-in-a-lifetime getaways, here are 5 real-world examples from Travel Freely members and our founder Zac showing how 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points can cover flights, hotels, or even entire trips.
One quick note regarding the Hyatt examples below: When these trips originally happened, all eligible Chase cards transferred to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, so the point totals in the linked stories reflect that. We have updated the numbers below to show the more recent 4:3 ratio for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, meaning 4 Chase points now transfer to 3 Hyatt points. Hyatt also now prices award nights across several demand-based tiers, so the examples below use whichever rate fits that trip and its dates, from off-peak lows to busy high-season rates. Your own cost will land somewhere in that range depending on when you travel, so flexibility on dates stretches your points further than it used to.
1. NYC Weekend Getaway – 2 Flights + Hotel for 100K Points
Melanie and her family used 52,000 Ultimate Rewards points for round-trip flights to NYC on United airlines and about 40,000 points for their hotel stay downtown booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal. A classic example of a simple weekend trip made free with 100K points.
2. 5-Star Hotels in Japan
Travel Freely founder Zac went to Kyoto and Tokyo and stayed at some incredible hotels using Hyatt points transferred over from Chase. In Tokyo he had several options, like the Grand Hyatt and Park Hyatt, but settled on the Andaz Tokyo. By traveling in one of the city’s quieter shoulder-season months, he found a standard room at 35,000 Hyatt points per night, which is about 46,700 Chase points at the 4:3 ratio, so 100,000 Chase points covers two nights at a 5-star Tokyo hotel with points to spare.
3. European Hotels with a Toddler
Andrew, Kathleen, and their toddler transferred Chase points to Hyatt for a luxury stay in London. By booking on quieter weekday dates, they landed the Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars at 20,000 Hyatt points per night, which is about 26,700 Chase points at the 4:3 ratio. That means 100,000 Chase points covers three nights at a luxury London hotel – plenty for a long family weekday stay in the city — with points left over toward the next leg of the trip.
4. Alaska Adventure on Chase Points
April’s family of four transferred Chase points to Hyatt for their stay in Anchorage, right in the heart of pricey Alaska summer season. Because summer is high-demand, the Hyatt Place Anchorage prices at its Moderate tier of 20,000 Hyatt points per night, which is about 26,700 Chase points at the 4:3 ratio, so two nights come to roughly 53,000 Chase points. Even at peak summer rates, that is only about half of a 100,000-point bonus, leaving plenty for the rest of the trip.
5. Business Class to Europe on Air Canada Aeroplan
Kate wanted to fly to Edinburgh in style, so she transferred Chase points to Air Canada Aeroplan, one of Chase’s airline partners. A one-way business class seat from her home airport in Georgia to Edinburgh prices at 60,000 Aeroplan points at the saver level, and because Chase transfers to Aeroplan 1:1, that is 60,000 Chase points for a lie-flat seat across the Atlantic. With 100,000 Chase points you can book that seat and still have points left over. One quick beginner note: Aeroplan uses dynamic pricing, so 60,000 is the low-end saver rate, and actual prices vary by date and availability, so it pays to be flexible and confirm the price when you book.
Bottom Line: Chase Points = Free Travel
100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points is an incredible foundation for travel. Whether you’re flying round trip across the country, booking luxury hotels, catching a lie-flat seat to Europe, or even going all-inclusive, these real-life examples show what is possible. And some of these stories came from beginners!
Don’t wait to start your own free travel story. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a great place to begin, and you can learn how to apply below. You’ll be traveling freely in no time. =)
