How to Stay in Hotels and Resorts for Free Using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points!
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How to get free nights stays at hotels and resorts!
What if I told you that we have never once paid for a hotel stay of a particular hotel loyalty program from the power of Ultimate Rewards points from using Chase credit cards? This is actually quite possible and easier than most people think!
Chase Ultimate Rewards Program
In case you don’t know, Chase Bank has its own unique set of travel credit cards that it promotes and it comes with its own points system and set of benefits. Most people, including ourselves at one time, would go to redeem the UR points for travel and get a basic redemption of a 1 to 1.5 cent-per-point valuation on flights and maybe hotels. However, we want to show you a simple method, using Chase’s transfer partners, where you will be able to redeem your UR points for usually at least 2 cents-per-point (possibly even more)! Transfer partners can sometimes be intimidating for a beginner, but this simple strategy has made it so that we never have to pay for a hotel stay ever again!
The Easiest Method to Redeem Chase UR Points for Free Hotel Nights
Transferring Points to Hotel Partners
Instead of taking the easy way of redemption by using the Chase Rewards Portal to get a measly 1 cent-per-point value for your hard earned UR points (or 1.25 to 1.5 with the Sapphire cards, which would be a bit better), we want to show you a simple method of utilizing transfer partners to increase the value of your points of up to 2 cents and beyond! We know as a beginner that transfer partners can be a bit intimidating, especially when you are first starting out in the credit card points and miles game. However, we will give you a step-by-step guide that will give you a basic understanding of how to utilize this method, and you will be redeeming free hotel nights in no time!
Step-By-Step Method
- You will go to World of Hyatt, and sign-up to be a member if you are not one already (free to sign up)!
- Once you have a membership in the World of Hyatt hotel program, you will link your account to in Chase by going to transfer partners (must have one of the Sapphire cards), going into hotel partners, and selecting the World of Hyatt program.
- From here you will be able to transfer your earned Chase UR points directly into your World of Hyatt account to start redeeming free nights!
In our opinion, World of Hyatt is one of Chase’s most valuable transfer partners due to the value of Hyatt points and the ease to book a rewards nights! World of Hyatt has a points chart with all of the points rates for every room type and certain category hotels (higher the category, the more luxurious the property). It includes off-peak, normal, and peak season pricing and there are also no black-out dates when booking free nights!
World of Hyatt also includes a chart for all-inclusive resorts and a separate one for Miraval Resorts.
We will go through a few example hotels in the U.S. to show you how valuable Hyatt points can be!
Hotel Examples of a Good Redemption Value
Park Hyatt New York
The typical Chase UR point is valued around 1 cent-per-point to 1.25 or 1.5 cent-per-point with one of the Sapphire cards. 45,000 UR points would be valued up to $450.00 or anywhere between $562.50 and $675 with the Sapphire benefits used in the Chase travel portal. However, if you were to transfer your 45,000 UR points to World of Hyatt, you could potentially book this Park Hyatt in New York, costing around $2,156.00 for one night! That is a value of nearly 4.8 cents-per-point, which is quadruple the value of what you would be getting if you had redeemed your UR points in the Chase travel portal!
Alila Ventana Big Sur
Similar to the Park Hyatt New York, 45,000 UR points would be worth $450.00 for a statement credit or $562.50 and $675 in the travel portal of Chase with one of the Sapphire cards. Alternatively, you could transfer the 45,000 UR points to World of Hyatt to book around a $2,141.00 a night room at this property! Again, this is well over 4 times the value of what you would be getting if you had just used redeemed a statement credit or used Chase’s travel portal!
Hyatt Regency Orlando
Maybe you don’t want to book such a high category hotel and wanted to stay in a mid-tier Hyatt. Take a look at this property. 15,000 points would land you this $437.00 average a night hotel in Orlando! This is over 2.9 cents-per-point, which is pretty significantly more than the average valuation of Chase’s UR point as a statement credit ($150.00 for 15,000 points) or in the travel portal ($187.50 or $225.00 for 15,000 points)!
Thompson Atlanta Buckhead
Here is another mid-tier Hyatt property that gives you similar value! 15,000 World of Hyatt points would allow you to book a standard free night at this property in Atlanta, which is around $358.00 per night! This is nearly a value of 2.4 cents-per-point and still beats the standard 1 to 1.5 cent-per-point that you would be getting with Chase!
Hyatt Regency Chicago
Lastly, this property in Chicago can be booked with 18,000 World of Hyatt points. It averages around $563.00 a night, which means your points are valued at over 3.1 cents-per-point if you were to book this property with your points! Again, compared to Chase’s valuation at 1 cent to 1.5 cent-per-point, you would only be getting $180.00 back as a statement credit or $225.00 to $270.00 as a credit in the Chase travel portal! You would be getting over double the value if you were to transfer your Chase points to World of Hyatt and book a night at this property!
Maximizing Your Chase UR Points Earning Potential
Best Chase Cards for Hotel Stays
You are probably wondering what would be the best Chase cards to use to effectively use this strategy and optimize your free night reward stays. We will go through 3 personal cards as well as 1 optional personal card that we highly reccomend to enhance your stay and overall experience with World of Hyatt!
Recommended Chase Credit Cards
Click the Links to Apply!
Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve
One of these cards is a requirement if you want to be able to transfer points to one of Chase’s airline or hotel partners! The Chase Sapphire Preferred only has a $95 annual fee, while the Chase Sapphire Reserve comes with a $550 annual fee. Of course, there are more benefits that come with the Reserve that we won’t touch in detail, but the cheaper one (Preferred) will do just fine!
When you first apply for this card, you can earn a 60,000 points bonus after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months of opening the card! As far as multipliers, the Reserve will earn x3 UR points for any travel purchases as well as dining!
Chase Freedom Flex
The Chase Freedom Flex is another fantastic card from Chase as it is a beast when it comes to the x5 multiplier on rotating categories, making it easy to accumulate a ton of UR points. The card has no annual fee and you will earn 20,000 points after spending $500 in the first 3 months of card opening! The card has additional multipliers that will earn you x3 points per dollar spent on dining and drugstore purchases!
Chase Freedom Unlimited
The best “catch-all” card in the Chase system is the Chase Freedom Unlimited! You will earn x1.5 UR points on all purchases! Similarly to the Freedom Flex, there is no annual fee, and you will earn 20,000 points after spending $500 in the first 3 months of card opening! Additionally, like the Freedom Flex, you will get 3x points per dollar spent on dining and on drugstore purchases!
World of Hyatt Card (Optional but Highly Reccomended)
Finally, a co-branded credit card to add to your setup would definitely be the World of Hyatt Card! Since you will be redeeming rewards nights with Hyatt by transferring your Chase points, it only makes sense to hold this card for the complimentary Discoverist status and annual free night certificate that it comes with every year! Discoverist status will allow opportunities for complimentary room upgrades, early check-in, late check-out, and additional perks that just increase the value that you are already receiving!
The card has a $95 annual fee, but the free night certificate, alone, pretty much offsets this cost. As far as the bonus, you will earn 30,000 points in your World of Hyatt account after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of card opening. You additionally have the option to earn another 30,000 points by earning x2 points on everything (on up to $15,000), giving you the opportunity to earn a total of 60,000 points with World of Hyatt! To get the best multiplier spend, you can use the card during your World of Hyatt stay to earn x4 points per dollar on incidental costs at World of Hyatt hotels & resorts! It also has a multiplier for fitness and gym memberships that will earn you x2 points per dollar.
Business Card Options
We won’t go too much in detail but there are also optional Chase Business Cards that you could apply for to get even more UR points through the welcome bonuses! They include the Chase Ink Business Cash, Ink Business Unlimited, and Ink Business Premier! You can explore these options using this link!
Maximizing Points with this Setup
After hitting all of the minimum spend and getting all of the welcome bonuses, you can use all of the cards together, depending on its multiplier, to maximize your potential point earnings:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve for x3 points on travel and dining purchases
- Chase Freedom Flex on its rotating category for x5 points. It can also be used for dining and drugstore purchases to earn x3 points
- Chase Free Unlimited for all other purchases to earn x1.5 points
- World of Hyatt card for x4 on incidentals when staying at Hyatt properties and on your fitness or gym membership for x2 points
This will give you the maximum amount of point earnings with all of your everyday spend, making it very easy to accumulate Chase UR points to be able to transfer to World of Hyatt and stay in free hotels for your future travel plans!
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Poor Redemption Values
The biggest thing to look at before redeeming a free night with Hyatt is to see if you point valuation makes sense. Ideally, it should exceed your standard redemption rate with Chase, which would be 1 to 1.5 cent-per point. An easy formula to figure out if you are getting a good redemption is listed below:
Cash price of redemption / Number of points required = Cent-per-point
Example: Hotel room costs $300 and requires 15,000 points to redeem:
$300 / 15,000 points = $0.02, which equates to 2 cents per point
Avoid redeeming anything that is below 1 cent-per-point, and consider even paying cash for the property if this is the case. We have made a couple mistakes when using this strategy when we were beginners, and we were not aware that our redemption was so low! Definitely, incorporate the formula above, and try to aim for at least 2 cents-per-point when redeeming free nights at Hyatt properties!
Hyatt Properties We Have Stayed In (All For Free)
We don’t mean to brag or show off where we have all stayed, but we just wanted to let you know the potential of using this method! These are several properties that we have stayed in the last couple years and have not paid a dime for the hotel stay:
- Hyatt Centric Buckhead Atlanta
- Hyatt Regency LAX International Airport
- Hyatt Regency Bangkok Sukhumvit
- Hyatt Ziva Puerto Vallarta
- Andaz Singapore
- Hyatt House San Juan
- Hyatt Place New York/Midtown- South
- Hyatt Regency Chicago
- Grand Hyatt Dubai
- Hyatt Regency Delhi
- Hyatt Regency Waikiki Beach Resort and Spa
- The Venetian Las Vegas
If we were to book all of these properties with cash, we would most likely of had to pay an upwards of $8,000 in hotel & resort costs! Another great thing about redeeming rewards nights, is that your resort fees (per night) are waived, saving us potentially even more money! We believe anyone would be able to take advantage of this method for free hotel stays, no matter how much money you make!
Conclusion and Action Steps
We have showed you the simple method of transferring your UR points to World of Hyatt to redeem free nights at their properties, giving you a boost of your point valuation! We have also talked about the best Chase credit card setup to use in order to boost and maximize your potential earnings and expedite your rewards!
We want to encourage you to try this strategy whether you are a beginner to credit card points, have other travel credit cards, as well as no matter how frequent or how far you may want to travel to! Even though Hyatt doesn’t have the largest footprint (like Hilton and Marriott), they still have some wonderful properties all over, especially in major cities! This has been a game changer for us, and all of our stays with Hyatt have been some of our best hotel experiences that we have ever had, from their customer service to pleasant surprises in our room with complimentary treats and decorations, getting additional hotel credits, early check-ins & late check-outs, and even significant room upgrades for free!
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