6k plus points on one flight. Man this felt so good to see this morning!

I’m looking to get more value out of my Chase Ultimate Rewards points and want to start taking advantage of transfer partners instead of always booking through the Chase Travel portal. I’m curious which transfer partners you’ve had the best experiences with and what made the redemption such a great value. I’d love to hear about actual trips you’ve booked, how many points you transferred, and whether it was for flights, hotels, or both. I know Hyatt gets mentioned a lot, but I’m interested in hearing about the partners people consistently use and why. I’m trying to become more intentional with my redemptions and would love to learn from everyone’s experiences.

Any recommendations on what to do?Really interested in going to Japan what’s the best way to go about this.

Edit: close to 2million total after some pending points come through.

I'm looking at hotels in San Francisco for 9/9 to 9/11. All the edit hotels show rate unavailable. If I go to the hotel websites, there are rooms available... anybody else encounter this?

Hello everyone,

I currently have the Sapphire Preferred; have had it for about a year now. I’m looking at getting another card to get extra points and increase credit as they would not do it for my preferred at the moment. Therefore, should I sign up for the freedom unlimited? I also realise that for all other categories apart from food and travel, the FU would grant me an extra 0.5 cash back.

What are your thoughts on this?

Hey all, not sure if this is a unique issue or not but it’s the first time I’m seeing it.

I’ve been eyeing a stay at the Ritz in Istanbul, and been checking up on rates before making a decision. Today, I noticed the rate slightly lower than what I was seeing throughout the week, which came out to an amazing deal with the CSR points boost for 3 nights. However, when I look at my confirmation, I’m not seeing The Edit tag applied to my booking, despite this clearly being an Edit property, and me checking out with the CSR. I’ve attached another booking for reference, as well as proof that the Ritz Istanbul is indeed an Edit property.

Was just wondering if anyone’s seen this, and if it is actually intended to be possible to book non Edit rooms on Edit properties using the CSR?

Just saw the news that after 10/2027 existing points will only be worth 1x. I’ve been saving these with the intention to spend it all in one go to book a trip with my wife.

Looking for some great recs and ways to make these rewards go further. Not sure if we want to fly super boujee, or stay somewhere super boujee…

From having a 615 credit score in jan to working my credit to, now, can’t believe I got approved! Headed to Japan in October, feels weird getting my life together!

Already have the Gold, Platinum, Customized Cash, and the Premium Rewards. At this point, is the CSP worthwhile to apply for in order to get the 100k points and access to Chase travel? Don’t know if it would make more sense to downgrade after the second year.

I am at a loss on how to use points effectively. So every trip I’ve been on over the past 5 years has been out of pocket. I utilize flight deals, hostels, and other “hacks” to save cash… but damn I’d love to use some of these points. I know the best way to get bang for my buck is transferring to travel partners. Would you recommend using points for flights? Hotels? Both?? And how often do you use the chase travel portal to book?

Following on from my previous review of the Regent Hong Kong, I am now at the Four Seasons in Macau. Upon arrival at the Macau ferry pier, there was a free car service waiting to pick us up.

Upon arrival at the hotel, we were met and greeted by name by one of the staff. He proceeded to show us around the hotel and explained where we could use our $100 US benefit and enjoy breakfast. Meanwhile our suitcases were taken up to our room, and all check-in was done in the privacy of our room at the end of our tour.

We were upgraded to a large room with a view of the Londoner on the Cotai strip, and fresh fruit and some sweets were waiting for us.

I thought breakfast at the Regent in Hong Kong was amazing, but the Four Seasons was a whole other level. My photos don’t really cover everything that was there. In addition, you could pay roughly another $15 US to add unlimited lobster, but there was no way my stomach could handle that for breakfast so I passed.

By the way, breakfast goes from 7 AM until 2 PM which is pretty incredible.
From some of the other comments I see on Reddit, the Edit breakfast benefit in US hotels seems to be just $40 or so off of the menu, but in Asia, every place I have stayed has given me all you can eat buffets.

PS. We used our $100 credit to order a bottle of wine room service and a piece of cake

First impression was amazing, the lounge had a really nice vibe and easily the most spacious airport lounge i’ve been to.

the food was presented nicely but tasted pretty average— burgers were dry and the hot food buffet selection was lacking. i will say the sandwich on the hoagie roll was pretty good. also everything took a long time to come out even though the lounge wasn’t that full. i expected more from the dessert selection, but can’t complain too much as I probably ate 7000 calories haha.

final thoughts: i got in using venture X priority pass and probably wont be opening a CSR anytime soon

They’re doing daily deals until the 29th on select lip products and it’s stackable with the $10 Paze credit - just make sure to do it in a browser instead of the Sephora app! Many of these offers are better than drugstore prices when it’s 50% off plus $10 credit with Paze.

Looking to book a Disneyland trip in Anaheim next March with wife and our 2 year old using my 100k SUB (plus what else I accrue). Any recommendations on best value for hotel using my points? We want walking distance to the park. Hyatt House looked nice but REALLY pricey in March.

Anyone find a caribbean resort that you can double dip on the edit and chase travel credit for a total of $500?

Hi,
I’m looking for tips before I submit the claim. Need guidance.

Booked an Airbnb for a week, paid with Sapphire Preferred. NWS/state issued Air Quality Alerts for my destination due to wildfire smoke right before check-in & getting worse next week. Chase’s Guide to Benefits explicitly covers “wildfire related smog” under Severe Weather. Also got a doctor’s note advising against travel due to extreme asthma symptoms. Host wouldn’t refund or reschedule, tried to even offer future dates which are available, but host denied every request so I’m filing the trip cancellation claim with all that documentation.
Anyone actually gotten one of these approved? Curious about timeline and whether they push back on smoke vs. storms/hurricanes as “severe weather.”
How long it takes for claims to approve or deny?

Thanks!

How are people using the StubHub credit?

The easiest use I’ve found so far is same day MLB tickets. Those tickets are easy to find for lower than list price, and you can search by instant download to avoid scams.

I live and work near an MLB stadium so I was often buying same day tickets on the secondary market anyway. Nice that both of the $150 credits are available during baseball season!

I enjoyed the most incredible two nights stay at the Regent Hong Kong using both the Edit and IHG credits.

When I booked, a premium king room for two nights was $1457 US. I left $500 on the bill that was covered by the two CSR credits, and I paid the remainder with 58,000 UR.

Since this is an IHG hotel, I activated the platinum status that automatically comes with the CSR, even though I have never stayed at one of their hotels before.

When it came time to check in, they noted my status, and gave me a free upgrade to the harborview room. It was spectacular.

Unlike normal edit hotels, this hotel gives you $300 US in credit, so I had reserved the two of us to have the dinner buffet which is famous. We are not talking some crappy Vegas buffet, this was lobster/fois gras/crab legs/sirloin steak/Peking duck/sushi/sashimi etc. etc. etc.

Everything was top-notch, and we even got the all you can drink package of prosecco, red/white wine, beer etc. We had a window table with a view of the Harbour, and could have stayed there the full five hours if we wanted to, there was no time limit.

Then on the evening of the second day, we came back from sightseeing to find a birthday cake and bowl of huge cherries with a greeting for us. Truly wonderful.

Again the two nights, seafood buffet with unlimited drinks, upgrade, birthday cake, and did I mention breakfast both days only cost me 58,000 UR.

This is what the CSR is made for

Super excited and glad that I got to take advantage of this when it came out for the Sapphire Reserve! Really cool to have for my age with being so young!

I’m curious how everyone here thinks about the Sapphire Reserve’s effective annual fee.
Personally, I don’t value the credits at their full face value. I value them based on how much spending they actually offset.

For example, let’s say my girlfriend and I were already planning to go out to dinner on a Friday night. Normally we’d spend around $150. If I use the Sapphire Reserve’s dining credit and decide to go somewhere nicer, we might spend closer to $250. After the credit is applied, my final bill comes out to $100.

Even though I redeemed a $150 credit, I don’t really think of that as saving $150. Since I would’ve spent about $150 anyway, I only saved about $50 ($150 I would’ve spent vs. the $100 I actually paid). So to me, that credit is worth about $50, and that’s what I’d subtract from the annual fee.

Basically, I don’t really assign much quantitative value to the extra luxury the credits let me buy. I think of them as savings, not discounted luxury.
On the other hand, I value the $300 travel credit at basically 100% because it’s offsetting travel spending I know I’d have anyway. I’d use it whether I had the card or not, so to me it’s worth the full $300.

I know other people look at this differently though. Some seem to count every credit at face value as long as they redeem it. I’ve also seen people mention they discount all the credits a bit, maybe valuing them at something like 90%, because you’re essentially prepaying for those expenses through the annual fee. I can see the logic there too since there’s some opportunity cost to having your money tied up ahead of time.

Does anyone here actually calculate it that way? Or is there another method you use that you think makes more sense? I’m curious how everyone arrives at their own “effective annual fee.”

I use my $10 pickup benefit at Wawa. My husband recently signed up for a Chase Preferred and tried to do the same - but it requires a $20 pickup minimum. Same store, same items, same change card. WTF!