How To Use The Chase Ultimate Rewards® Travel Portal

If you have previously struggled to make sense of airline mileage or hotel points programs, the Chase travel portal does away with all the complexity and helps you streamline the redemption process. You can book travel without blackout dates, capacity restrictions or limited airlines and hotels.

Currently, the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal allows you to book hotels, flights, cars, activities and cruises. Let’s take a look at what it offers and how to use it.

Right off the bat, the main benefit of leveraging the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal is the ability to make bookings for a variety of airlines and boutique and independent hotels without limiting yourself to partner programs. You have access to fantastic travel options you may otherwise never have encountered.

When booking, you can choose from charging the costs to your card (and earning points in the process) or using your points to pay for the reservation (and reducing or eliminating the need for cash).

With dozens of options for booking trips, you might be tempted to write it off in favor of the sites you’re already used to. However, you could be missing out on earning extra rewards, discounts when booking trips or higher value when redeeming rewards.

Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards on Travel Booked Through Chase

All personal credit cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards include elevated earning rates for travel booked through the Chase travel portal. These high earning rates are a fast way to accumulate extra rewards. For example, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®* earns 10 points per dollar on hotels booked through Chase Travel℠ compared to only 3 points per dollar for hotels booked through other channels.

Other cards also earn bonus points for Chase travel bookings, in addition to other bonus categories which vary by card:

• Chase Freedom Flex℠*: 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases 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
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®: 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on eligible dining and drugstores and 1.5% on all other purchases, plus an additional 1.5% cash back on the first $20,000 in purchases the first year
• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card*: 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
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®*: 5 points per dollar on flights and 10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals when purchasing travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3 points per dollar on other travel and dining and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card: 3 points per dollar on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases

Enjoy Credits Toward Chase Travel

One perk of the Sapphire Preferred is that it comes with up to $50 in statement credits each anniversary year toward hotel stays purchased through Chase Travel. There are no restrictions on length of stay, destination or which hotel you book, making this a relatively easy credit to take advantage of. It does, however, mean that Sapphire Preferred cardholder’s should be using the Chase Travel portal at least once per year to obtain their credit.

Simply book your hotel through Chase Travel and pay with your Sapphire Preferred. The statement credit will be applied to your account automatically within a few days.

Redeem Rewards Toward Chase Travel

Some Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning credit cards, offer a nice bump when redeeming rewards for travel booked through Chase. You’ll get 1.25 cents per point with the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card* and 1.5 cents with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®*, compared to only 1 cent per point when you redeem for cash back.

An extra 25% in value goes a long way, especially if you’ve accumulated a sizable balance through a welcome bonus or other earnings. For example, 50,000 points would be worth $500 cash back but uplifts to $625 when redeemed toward Chase Travel bookings at 1.25 cents each. At 1.5 cents, it works out to $750 in value.

There are two ways to access the Chase Travel portal. You can log into your Chase account and navigate to the Chase Travel portal by clicking on the Rewards balance on the right of your screen. Alternatively, you can also go directly to the Chase Ultimate Rewards website and log into your account using your Chase credentials.

After you’re logged in, if you have more than one Ultimate Rewards credit card, you will be prompted to select a specific card for your transaction. This can be a potentially significant decision since different Chase credit cards earn and redeem rewards at different rates.

Once selected, you will be presented with a dashboard showing your Ultimate Rewards point balance as well as a landing page with all your reward options. From there, click on the Earn / Use button at the top and navigate to Travel.

You are now ready to start booking your travel using the portal.

The main travel homepage will look a lot like the travel websites you may ordinarily use. You can switch between tabs that allow you to book different types of travel—such as flights or hotels—and then simply enter the details for your intended trip.

Similar to any popular booking website, your search will return a variety of booking options to look through.

How To Book Flights on the Chase Travel Portal

Once you have chosen Flights from the options menu, you will be redirected to the flight search engine.

Here, enter your preferred details for departing and destination airport cities, dates, whether you need a one way or round trip ticket, amount of passengers and class of service.

After you click search, you will be shown all the flight options matching your search criteria with a detail of the cash and points cost for each of them.

Diving into the details will bring up the rules and restrictions associated with that booking. For example, when booking flights you’ll see details like whether bags or specific seat choices are included with your fare.

Once you’ve selected the exact travel arrangements that appeal to you, you can click Continue Booking to be taken to a review page. This page will also be your first opportunity to apply points toward payment, if you wish. You have the option to pay entirely with points (if your rewards balance is high enough), charge the full amount to your Chase credit card or pay with a combination of points and a card in any proportion you like.

Once you click the button to begin checkout, you’ll be walked through the booking process. You’ll need personal information for all travelers—such as full names as issued on official ID cards and dates of birth—as well as contact information. You’ll also need a Chase credit card number handy if you’re charging all or some of your purchase to your card.

Whether you choose to pay with money, points or any combination of the two, your flights will typically be considered as revenue tickets by the airline, which will allow you to earn miles when you fly. Don’t forget to add your frequent flier number on the reservation to accrue those miles, as well as any trusted traveler program you are a member of.

Always keep in mind that Chase Ultimate Rewards can be transferred directly to airlines if you wish to leverage proprietary frequent flyer programs. Sometimes, this may lead to a better value than paying for travel through the portal at a flat rewards rate.

How To Book Hotels on the Chase Travel Portal

Booking hotels is just as easy. Choose hotels on the main menu and you will be able to enter all the info to find a hotel at your destination.

After searching, the portal will return a list of hotels matching your search parameters.

Remember, the initial search results typically default to showing the cheapest options when comparing prices—nonrefundable rooms at hotels, for example. Upgrades like suites or refundable rates are typically available when clicking on a specific hotel name. You’ll also see additional details on whether anything is included in your rate, such as breakfast.

Once you have selected your preferred option, the next page will allow you to choose how you want to pay. Once again, you have the option of cash, points or a mix of both.

The next page will guide you through entering traveler information before you review your itinerary and provide payment. Once you go through all these steps, your hotel booking will be confirmed and you will receive an email with all the necessary information.

Unlike flight bookings made with Chase Ultimate Rewards, hotel reservations are considered third-party bookings. You may not be eligible to receive the same hotel loyalty benefits you would if you had booked the same reservation directly with the hotel. However, the Chase Travel portal does give you the option to enter your loyalty number for over 15 hotel chains.

How To Book Rental Cars on the Chase Travel Portal

Booking your car rentals through the Chase Travel portal is, as you might expect, very straightforward. Just click on cars on the main menu and run a search like you would on any other rental car company’s website.

As usual, you can trim down the results until you find something that suits your needs, using filters like car type, capacity or rental car company. Add your preferred options to your itinerary and complete all the information prompted onscreen.

You can select how you want to pay for your booking the same way you would for flights or hotels, dialing up or down the use of points or cash.

When paying with a combination of points and card, you do not have to use the same credit card that you are redeeming points from. For example, if you are redeeming points from your Freedom Flex for a rental car, you could use your United℠ Explorer Card to pay the balance in order to take advantage of primary rental car insurance.

Enter all required information, review your itinerary and finish checking out. You will receive confirmation of your booking both onscreen as well as via email.

How To Book Activities, Cruises and More on the Chase Travel Portal

The Chase Travel portal also allows booking activities from tours to airport transfers, dining experiences and many more. Simply search for the location and dates you want to choose activities for, and follow the onscreen prompt to book. Just head to the Activities tab on the portal’s menu.

Cruises are also bookable through the portal, ranging from Caribbean to Mediterranean, small or large, budget or luxury. To book, click on Cruises on the main menu and browse through the list of offerings. Once you find what you are looking for, you will have to call the phone number listed so you can use your Chase Ultimate Rewards for those reservations. You cannot book cruises online, though you can still earn or redeem points by phone.

Although there are strong reasons to book your future trips through the Chase travel portal, there are also a few downsides.

First, like with all online travel agencies, all hotel reservations are considered third-party bookings. This means you’re typically ineligible to earn reward points or elite-qualifying credits directly through the hotel’s loyalty program. You may also be ineligible for any elite benefits you’d normally receive, such as suite upgrades or food and beverage vouchers. Additionally, rates may be higher than booking directly—you’ll need to compare prices to confirm.

Second, making changes or cancellations to your reservations must be completed through Chase Travel. So, for example, if your flight has a schedule change, you’ll need to work through Chase rather than with the airline to find a suitable alternative. In some cases, this can be an extra layer of complexity and inefficiency.

These limitations won’t necessarily be dealbreakers, but you should keep them in mind before making reservations.

Previously, cardholders needed to notify Chase of travel to avoid misguided fraud alerts or denied transactions. However, recent technology and enhanced security measures no longer make this necessary.

You don’t need to formally notify Chase about your travel (and in fact, they’ve removed the option to do so online). If they notice suspicious behavior on your account, they’ll reach out proactively.

If your card is misplaced during travel, you can lock your card online through Account Services. This will temporarily stop purchases from going through but won’t re-issue a card with a new number. But if your card is permanently lost or stolen, call Chase as soon as possible at 1-888-262-4273 for Sapphire cards, 1-800-955-9060 for other personal cards and 1-888-269-8690 for business cards. They will deactivate your card so no one else can use it and send you a new card (with a new account number) for future use.

While the Chase Travel portal looks and works a lot like every other online travel agency, it comes with a few advantages when it comes to earning or redeeming points. Learning how to use the platform should be relatively intuitive. It’s worth a look, especially if you hold one of Chase’s premium travel cards that come with hotel credits or redemption bonuses when booking travel.