How to Book Flights, Hotels & More Through Chase Travel℠ With Points

What's better than booking an insanely cheap flight or hotel deal? Using credit card points to make it free. And there's no simpler way to pull it off than booking through Chase Travel℠ with your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points.

That's why we're big fans of both the *chase sapphire reserve* and the *chase sapphire preferred*. These two cards (among others) earn Chase's valuable Ultimate Rewards points, and booking through Chase Travel is one of the easiest ways to use them for free travel. Historically, each point was worth 1.25 cents or 1.5 cents (depending on which card you have) when used this way. But thanks to Chase's new Points Boost feature, that's changed. 

Chase will officially sunset the increased redemptions on all travel through the portal as of Oct. 26, 2027, in favor of  these new “Points Boost” offers. Until then, if you've got one of these cards or the *chase ink preferred* (before June 23, 2025), you can continue redeeming points for enhanced value on all travel bookings – but only for points earned prior to Oct. 26, 2025.

If you're just getting started, there's likely no better time to snag one of these cards. Chase is offering big welcome bonuses on all these cards.

We'll walk you through exactly how to use your Chase points to book just about any flight deal you want – whether you find a gem through Google Flights or from a Thrifty Traveler Premium membership.
 

 

Using Points Through Chase Travel 

Before we get into the mechanics of redeeming Chase points through Chase Travel, let's back up a bit.

While it might be easy to equate each point to a penny, certain Chase cards (opened before June 23, 2025) get even greater value when redeeming through the portal:

• With the *chase sapphire preferred*, each point is worth 1.25 cents.
• With the *chase sapphire reserve*, each point is worth 1.5 cents.
• With the *chase ink preferred*, each point is worth 1.25 cents.

So you're getting a better deal on your points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, and Ink Business Preferred. 

Chase also has a list of travel partners – hotel and airline programs to which you can transfer your points to book flights and hotels, which can often lead to even more outsized value for your points. But you can book with almost any airline, hotel, rental car, and more through Chase Travel – easy peasy. Some budget airlines are not available, but you can, however, book Southwest fares through Chase Travel!

Let's make it real with an example.

We recently sent our Thrifty Traveler Premium members a flight deal alert to Orlando (MCO) for under $248, including a fare from Detroit (DTW) for just $209 roundtrip – flying nonstop on Delta, to boot! Here's a look at what's bookable directly via Delta.

 

 

But it gets even better (and cheaper) if you book the same flight using points through Chase instead. Just log in to your Chase account, navigate to Chase Travel, and search for this exact same fare … and book it with points instead!

 

 

From here, you can search for the exact same cheap fare you just found on Delta's site. Most (but not all) of the flight pricing you see through Google Flights or in your inbox with a Thrifty Traveler Premium membership should be bookable at the same rates – though you may occasionally see pricing mismatches.

 

 

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can book this $209 fare for just over 16,700 Ultimate Rewards points. The same is true for Chase Ink Preferred cardholders.

 

 

But the deal gets better with the Chase Sapphire Reserve: With each point worth 1.5 cents, you can book the exact same fare for under 14,000 Ultimate Rewards points.

You'll go through the exact same process with any cheap flight deal you find, using points to book instead. The cheaper the fare, the fewer points you'll need to book it and make it free. The Chase portal even walks you through the different kinds of fares and lets you pick between them, just in case you'd like to avoid booking a basic economy ticket.

 

 

The same goes for hotels. Say you want to book a weekend getaway in San Antonio and plan to stay at the InterContinental San Antonio Riverwalk. You could book two nights here for $563 through Chase Travel … or use 40,321 points (plus, $59 for the resort fee) with the Sapphire Preferred, where each point is worth 1.25 cents each. 

 

 

If you instead have the Sapphire Reserve, you'd only need 33,601 points (plus, $59 for the resort fee) to book this same room, since each point is worth 1.5 cents each. 

 

 

Here's how that's changing for new cardholders and existing cardholders starting on Oct. 27, 2025.

 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card 

With Chase's new “Points Boost” offers, your points will be worth up to 1.5 cents each on thousands of hotels and flights with select airlines through Chase Travel – and up to 1.75 cents each on premium cabin tickets on select airlines.

For example, if you're looking to book an extra-legroom Economy Plus ticket on United and see one of these offers available, you could redeem 37,546 Chase Ultimate Rewards instead of paying the $564 cash that the airline is charging. 

 

 

Since your points are worth more for premium cabin bookings, it would actually cost you fewer points to book first class with one of these offers. At 34,525 points for a first class seat, you're paying less than the airline's cheapest economy offering when redeeming points at 1 cent each. 

If you got your Sapphire Preferred before June 23, 2025, you can also redeem any points earned before Oct. 26, 2025, for 1.25 cents each on all travel through the portal. As mentioned, this option will be going away entirely come late October 2027.  

Note: The screenshot above shows a redemption rate of 1.25 cents each for “Economy” and “Economy Fully Refundable” because I have a legacy Sapphire Preferred card. 

 

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

With the Sapphire Reserve, your points are worth even more – up to 2 cents each – on rotating offers through Chase Travel. Cardmembers can use Points Boost to maximize the value of their points on premium air cabin tickets and select hotels, including The Edit by Chase Travel.

In that same example from above, booking a $605 United first class flight would only require 30,250 points instead of the 34,525 points needed with the Sapphire Preferred. 

If you had your Sapphire Reserve card prior to the relaunch on June 23, 2025, you can also redeem any points earned before Oct. 26, 2025, for 1.5 cents each on all travel through the portal. Again, this option will be going away entirely come late October 2027.  

With both cards, you can often get far more value out of your points by turning to Chase's slew of transfer partners – airlines and hotel chains to which you can directly transfer your points. In this case, the value of your points is the same no matter which card you hold (all points transfer 1:1).

 

Should You Redeem Your Points via Chase Travel?

Pros 

There are a handful of advantages to booking your flights, hotels, and rental cars through Chase Travel. The biggest one is simplicity.

There's no need to dive into the convoluted world of transfer partners, find award availability, or calculate and pay additional taxes and fees. Just find a cheap flight (or other travel), boot up Chase Travel, and book it with your points.

The cheaper the booking, the fewer points you'll need to make it free. It's that simple.

While you can potentially get far more bang for your buck by transferring Chase points to partners like Air Canada Aeroplan or British Airways, that requires extra legwork and know-how, booking through Chase Travel, you're done within just a few clicks.

One of the best parts of booking flights through Chase Travel is that you'll also earn airline miles and elite status credits when you actually take your flight. That's not the case with most airline award redemptions you'd book with the likes of American Airlines AAdvantage miles, United MileagePlus miles, or many other airline points programs. And unlike those airline mileage redemptions, booking with Chase points means no additional out-of-pocket costs: It covers any taxes and fees you'd otherwise have to pay using miles!

Don't have enough Chase Ultimate Rewards points to complete your booking – or don't want to blow all your points? Don't worry, you can use any combination of points and cash that you would like. You can select the number of points you want to use, and the remaining balance will be billed to your credit card.

 

 

 

Cons 

There are some potential pitfalls to using Chase Travel.

In good times and bad, it's almost always better to book directly with the airline, not an online travel agency (OTA). When you book with Chase points, you're essentially booking with an OTA.

Following the pandemic, major airlines have made the process of changing or canceling flights easier (and free!), but booking with an OTA like Chase means they're your middleman. You'll need to work with them to cancel your flight, not the airline directly. 

Finally, there's no question that there are ways to squeeze much more value out of your Chase points by using Chase transfer partners. Especially if you're looking to fly something fancy like Lufthansa First Class, transferring points to partner airlines like Air Canada is the ticket: You can book a one-way ticket from Chicago-O'Hare (ORD) to Frankfurt (FRA) for 100,000 Chase points … instead of the 1 million points it'd probably cost you booking through Chase Travel. 

Still, this is a valuable option. And if you're not looking to dive deep into the weeds of maximizing airline programs, it doesn't get much easier than this.

Read more: The Best Ways to Redeem Chase Points

 

How to Earn Chase Points

In order to earn and use these Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you need to hold one of the right Chase credit cards. 

There's no better place to start than the *chase sapphire preferred*: bonus_miles_full

Not bad for a card with an annual fee of only $95, right?

In addition to the welcome bonus, the card also earns 3x points per dollar spent on dining purchases and 2x points per dollar spent on all travel purchases and 1 point per dollar on all other eligible spending. You also get a $50 annual credit when booking hotels through Chase Travel.

Read more: 6 Reasons to Pick Up the Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Reserve

 

 

Learn more about the *csp*.

 

There's also the *chase sapphire reserve*, Chase's premium travel rewards credit card that comes with a ton of travel benefits. But those benefits come at a cost: It has a hefty annual fee of $795.

bonus_miles_full

In addition to the sign-up bonus, the card also earns 8x points on Chase Travel bookings, 4x points directly with hotels and airlines, and 3x points on dining purchases. All other eligible purchases earn 1x point per dollar spent. 

You'll also get Chase Sapphire and Priority Pass Lounge access, an annual $300 travel credit, a semi-annual $250 The Edit hotel credit, a semi-annual $150 Chase dining credit, and much more.

Read our full review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve!

 

 

Learn more about the *chase sapphire reserve*.

 

If you've already got a Sapphire card, there are some other Chase credit cards that can help bolster your Ultimate Rewards points balance.

While Chase Freedom cards typically earn cashback, holding one of these no-annual-fee cards in tandem with a Sapphire card makes them exponentially more valuable. That's because you can transfer the cashback these cards earn into your Chase Ultimate Rewards points balance.

But there are two Chase Freedom cards to choose from, and each version differs.

Read up on the differences between Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited to see which card is right for you.

 

 

Learn more about the *freedom unlimited*.

 

 

Learn more about the Chase Freedom Flex® (for full disclosure, this is our personal referral link).

 

Chase also offers several business credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points. If you are a small business owner, this is another great opportunity to bolster your Ultimate Rewards points balance. 

The best place to get started for most business owners is the *chase ink preferred*: bonus_miles_full

 

 

Learn more about the *chase ink preferred*.

 

Does your business spend big? The brand new *sapphire reserve for business* is worth a look. While it comes with a big annual fee of $795, it also comes backed with tons of premium travel (and business) benefits that can easily offset the fee. Not to mention, it comes with a huge welcome offer bonus.

Current welcome offer bonus: bonus_miles_full

 

 

Learn more about the *sapphire reserve for business*

 

Bottom Line

Leveraging Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book flight deals through Chase Travel is one of our favorite benefits of Chase credit cards.

It allows you to make a cheap flight or hotel booking even cheaper (or free). Not to mention it's one of the easiest ways to redeem points, period.