Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) Guide: Earning, Chase Travel, and Transfer Partners

Introduction to Ultimate Rewards

Ultimate Rewards (UR) is the points system for some Chase credit cards. You can earn UR through spending and other methods, and UR is quite flexible to use: you can redeem it directly for cash, use it for travel purchases, or transfer it to airline miles and hotel points for potentially higher value. This article explains some basics about UR and how to get the highest value from it.

• Point value: The average value is 1.6c/p, so 100 UR = $1.6 (Point Values and Analysis)
• Direct redemption: Cash redemptions are worth 1c; travel redemptions are worth 1c (without a premium card). Premium hotel redemptions or business/first class flights can yield 1.75c (with Ink Preferred or Sapphire Preferred), and 2c with the Sapphire Reserve.
• Point transfers: Transfer 1:1 to United miles (good for China–US economy, domestic US economy, and one-way tickets); transfer 1:1 to British Airways miles (good for China–Japan and short-distance domestic US redemptions); transfer 1:1 to Hyatt points (great for Hyatt hotel stays, with value up to 1.8 cents per point).
• Point features: Ultimate Rewards points can be freely moved among your own cards. They can also be transferred to one designated spouse or partner. To transfer points to airline miles or hotel points, you need support from Ink Preferred, Sapphire Preferred, or Sapphire Reserve. You can also transfer to the mileage or points account of an authorized user.
• My take: UR’s main airline transfer partners are United Airlines, British Airways, Aeroplan, and Air France. UA can book most Star Alliance award tickets, while BA covers some domestic US AA flights. On the hotel side, Hyatt is the best option and can often deliver about 1.6c in value per point, but Hyatt has a relatively small footprint in the US, so your choices may be limited. If you have the Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve, booking flights, hotels, and activities through Chase Travel can get you 1.25c/1.5c in value, which is one of the best high-value options for beginners. Cash/gift card redemptions are worth 1 cent.
• Detailed analysis: Ultimate Rewards Guide >>

Earning Ultimate Rewards

Earning Through Credit Cards

Personal credit cards

Business card lineup:

Opening new cards is definitely the fastest way to earn a large amount of UR. For everyday spending, earning UR points through the Chase Freedom Flex quarterly 5x categories is the fastest and most suitable option for people with a lot of daily spending. If you have a lot of travel spending, Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred can be your first choice. If you have a lot of office supply or business spending, choosing the business credit cards above is also a very good option. For specific ways to combine these cards, see our summary:

• Introduction to the Full Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) Setup

In addition, because Chase has the extremely frustrating 5/24 policy, the UR cards above should be relatively high priorities. I recommend applying for Chase’s UR lineup while you are still under 5/24, instead of opening cards randomly and then shutting yourself out of the most valuable Chase cards. Currently, Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve can be held at the same time; they are no longer mutually exclusive as they used to be. One final note: the UR points on each card are kept separately, and as long as you hold the card, the UR on that card will not expire. So if you plan to close a card, be sure to transfer all of its UR points to another card that is still open before closing it. No-annual-fee cards can also preserve UR points, so holding at least one is enough.

Shop and Earn

Shop and Earn is an online shopping portal launched by Chase. It is not very different from most cash-back sites, except that Shop and Earn gives you UR points. The merchants and extra earning rates shown for the cards listed above may differ. If you hold multiple Chase UR cards, you can compare on cashbackmonitor to see which Chase card is better to use. For example, the merchant Staples may sometimes have different extra earning rates on different cards. In addition, these extra points can stack with the rewards earned from the credit card’s own spending category. Shop and Earn is simple and straightforward to use. Enter through Shopping & Experiences in your Chase account, and after clicking a merchant you will be redirected to the merchant’s website. It is best to complete the purchase directly within the same shopping session; do not click through and then come back to check out much later. According to the official terms, points usually appear within 15 days after purchase, but it may take up to 60 days. Of course, based on my previous experience, the most troublesome part of these shopping portals is still tracking. After placing an order, just keep an eye on the confirmation email from Chase and your points activity. If it does not track properly, handle it according to the promotion terms in effect at that time.

Transferring Points Between Accounts

Ultimate Rewards can be transferred among Ultimate Rewards accounts for several credit cards under your own name, and you can also combine points with one household member at the same address. So in theory, a household only needs to keep one annual-fee card that supports point transfers, plus several no-annual-fee cards.

Using Ultimate Rewards Directly

First, let’s look at what Chase Ultimate Rewards can do, using the Ultimate Rewards interface for the Chase Sapphire Preferred as an example. The main ways to use Chase Ultimate Rewards include travel, gift cards, cash back, transfer partners, and direct use at Amazon. We will cover the simpler options here, and discuss transfer partners together below.

Chase Travel Portal

This is, in my opinion, one of the best and most practical ways to use Chase Ultimate Rewards. In Chase Travel, you can use Ultimate Rewards points to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and various activities. Chase Travel redemptions have now changed to a base value of 1c/p plus Points Boost, rather than simply redeeming at a fixed 1.25c/p or 1.5c/p depending on which card you hold.

• Cards such as Chase Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, and Ink Cash have a standard redemption value of 1c/p;
• For Sapphire Preferred and Ink Preferred, eligible flights and hotels with Points Boost can reach up to 1.5c/p;
• For Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve Business, eligible flights and hotels with Points Boost can reach up to 2c/p;
• Points Boost applies only to select flights and hotels, and the eligible options rotate. It is not available on every Chase Travel booking.

In addition, some older accounts have a transition period for the old fixed-value redemption rates for points earned before October 26, 2025: eligible Sapphire Preferred/Ink Preferred points can continue to be redeemed through Chase Travel at 1.25c/p, and Sapphire Reserve points at 1.5c/p, through October 26, 2027. If the same booking has a higher Points Boost value, the system will use the higher value. Which points qualify is subject to what is actually shown in your Chase Travel account. If you usually book economy class, you can first compare the cash fare, the number of points required through Chase Travel, and the number of miles required after transferring to an airline program. Cheap cash tickets can often be a very good deal when redeemed with Ultimate Rewards through Chase Travel if they happen to have Points Boost; without Points Boost, a regular redemption is only 1c/p, so it may not be worthwhile. Let’s still use the old example in the screenshot: a March round-trip from San Francisco to Beijing. The round-trip fare was only $488. Under the current rules, if this ticket had a 1.5c/p or 2c/p Points Boost, the number of UR points required would be much lower than redeeming directly at 1c/p; if the alternative required 70,000 United miles, using Chase points directly could still be much better value. So when airfare is relatively low, redeeming Chase points directly is still an option you definitely need to compare. Next, let’s talk about hotels. My personal rule is to first look at award redemptions with hotel chains, such as IHG, Marriott, Hyatt, and so on. In most cases, using hotel points is better value, but many places do not have properties from these hotel groups, or they may be far from where you plan to spend your time. In those cases, using Chase UR to book hotels is one good option. Regular Chase Travel hotel bookings are essentially still through a third-party channel, so whether you can earn chain hotel points, elite nights, and elite benefits needs to be confirmed based on the specific hotel and booking. We will keep the old screenshot below to give a rough idea of what the hotel selection in Chase Travel looks like. These days, when booking hotels, I directly compare prices on the hotel’s official website, Chase Travel, and commonly used sites such as Booking.com and Hotels.com. If there happens to be Points Boost, Chase Travel can be very useful; if not, there is no need to force a booking there just to use up UR points. For car rentals, I personally compare Chase Travel, Costco, Hertz.com, Avis.com, and other sites, and use whichever is cheaper. If you plan to rely on the Primary Auto Rental Coverage provided by the Chase Sapphire Preferred itself, you need to pay the eligible rental car charges with this card according to the insurance terms and decline the collision damage insurance offered by the rental company. You should not simply assume that booking through Chase Travel automatically gives you coverage. As for activities, this option is still worth an extra look. Airport transfers, nearby day trips, shows, local experiences, and other activities can all be found in Chase Travel, and some expenses you would have paid during a normal trip can be paid directly with UR points. Offerings and prices change quickly, so just search before departure. Whether you want something practical or something flashy, you may find something useful.

Other Options

• Redeeming for cash: For people who do not travel often, cash is the best-value and most convenient option. You can redeem UR points directly to a Chase credit card as a credit to pay down the card balance, or redeem them directly to your own Chase checking or savings account. You can also redeem to an account at another bank. To redeem to one of your other accounts, you just need to enter the account number and routing number in the table below.
• Redeeming for gift cards: The rate is 1:1 (1 point = 1 cent in gift cards). Chase UR offers a fairly wide selection of gift cards, including common ones such as Amazon, Target, Lowe's, and Homedepot, as well as hotel gift cards such as Ritz-Carlton. Although there are many choices, because the rate is only 1:1 and discounted gift cards can be bought on many websites, redeeming for gift cards is basically a waste of Chase UR. So I personally do not recommend using Chase UR for gift cards. However, at certain times there may be a 10% discount on redemptions, which can be worth considering.
• Using points on Amazon: The redemption value is 0.8c/p, which I do not recommend at all. You are better off cashing out first and then paying directly with a card.

Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners

Requirements for Transfers

If you want to make good use of UR, you need to understand its flexible transfer system. First, to transfer UR points to airline miles or hotel points, you need to hold an annual-fee card that supports transfers. These mainly include:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95 annual fee)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve ($795 annual fee)
• Chase Ink Preferred ($95 annual fee)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve Business ($795 annual fee)

Although the cards above all have annual fees, the ability to convert UR that can otherwise be cashed out at 1c/p into airline miles and hotel points for higher value is still very worthwhile. Of course, in theory you only need to keep one transfer-capable card long term. One important thing to note is that not all partners and all credit cards now have a uniform 1:1 ratio. Hyatt in particular has already started using different transfer ratios depending on which Chase card you hold, which we will discuss below.

Airline Partners

If you are based in North America, Chase’s strong airline transfer partners are also very useful. Chase UR’s current airline transfer partners include Aer Lingus AerClub, Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Iberia, JetBlue TrueBlue, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Southwest Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, with the standard ratio being 1:1. Transfer partners can change, so before actually transferring points, it is still recommended to check the current partners and ratios in your Chase account. Use the text list above and the account page as the reference. As a leader in Star Alliance, United has a powerful system and award-seat availability that many airlines cannot match. After repeated devaluations and redemption restrictions, it is far less attractive than before, but still much better than Delta and AA. United miles are quite good for awards between the U.S. and Europe, and between the U.S. and Africa. Awards on China-U.S. flights are not especially outstanding, but the low taxes and fees and broad partner network are advantages. It is also often possible to find award tickets from small U.S. cities to small Chinese cities, which is quite nice.

• Introduction to United Airlines (UA) membership and miles [fully updated for 2024]

Air Canada is a good option for redeeming partner business class and first class, such as on ANA, Asiana, Lufthansa, Air New Zealand, and the like. Aeroplan adjusted its award chart again in June 2026, so it is best to search directly to see exactly how many miles are required. Partner awards do not carry high traditional fuel surcharges like some programs do, but each partner award does have a fixed booking fee. Domestic U.S. economy awards are also good. Its infant award tickets are especially good value, so if you are traveling with a baby under two years old, you may want to consider it first.

• Air Canada Aeroplan miles guide

Using Singapore Airlines miles to book business class or first class within North America is excellent. Redeeming for premium cabins from the U.S. to Europe is also good, especially from the West Coast. Singapore Airlines adjusted its award chart in November 2025, so the most accurate way to check the exact mileage required is to use the calculator on its official website.

• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles program introduction

British Airways highlights include: American Airlines or Alaska Airlines flights to Hawaii; economy awards to Mexico or the Caribbean for 12,000 Avios; and some short-haul flights outside the U.S.:

• British Airways Avios miles guide “2025 full update”

Air France highlights include: award tickets for ages 2-11, regularly available 25% off promo routes, Delta flights between the continental U.S. and Hawaii, short-haul flights between the U.S. and Mexico, the continental U.S. and Colombia, award tickets between the U.S. and Europe, the continental U.S. and North Africa, the continental U.S. and Central/Southern Africa, Kenya Airways intra-Africa flights, and award tickets with a stopover in Europe

• Air France/KLM Flying Blue mileage program introduction “2025 full update”

Virgin Atlantic highlights include: award tickets + infant tickets, redemptions for ANA, Hawaiian Airlines awards, short-haul Delta flights, and Air New Zealand business class

• Virgin Atlantic (VS) membership program and miles introduction “2025 full update”

Others

• Southwest Airlines miles and membership program introduction
• JetBlue miles and membership program introduction

Hotel partners

UR can now be transferred to four hotel partners: Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, and Wyndham. Based on our current valuations, Hyatt is worth about 1.6c/p, IHG about 0.5c/p, Marriott about 0.7c/p, and Wyndham about 0.8c/p. So aside from Hyatt, in most cases the other three are not worth transferring UR to at a 1:1 ratio. Unless absolutely necessary—for example, if you are only 1,000-2,000 points short of a hotel redemption—I generally would not use UR to top up these balances. Hyatt is one of the better values in the hotel points world. We currently value Hyatt points at about 1.6c/p, but in practice, when used during peak season or at higher-end properties such as Park Hyatt New York, Park Hyatt Maldives, or resort-area Hyatt Zilara or Hyatt Ziva properties, you can often get 3c/p in value or even more.

• World of Hyatt loyalty program detailed introduction

However, if you are transferring to Hyatt now, you need to pay close attention to which Chase card you hold. Chase Sapphire Preferred cards newly applied for after June 15, 2026 already transfer to Hyatt at a 4:3 ratio. Sapphire Preferred cards applied for earlier, as well as Ink Business Preferred, Ink Plus, and certain business cards, will also switch to 4:3 starting October 1, 2026. Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve Business are currently still 1:1. So if your main use for UR is Hyatt redemptions, this distinction has become very important.

Wyndham is also currently a UR hotel transfer partner, at a 1:1 ratio. Based on our current valuation of about 0.8c/p, it is likewise not worth transferring in the vast majority of cases. However, Wyndham still uses fixed-tier redemptions that are not tied to the hotel’s current cash price, so when cash rates are especially high, there can still be opportunities to get very strong value. Through September 14, 2026, Wyndham still has three redemption tiers: 7,500/15,000/30,000. Starting September 15, 2026, it will change to four tiers: 5,000/15,000/30,000/45,000. The lowest tier dropping to 5,000 is a positive change, but some higher-end hotels will move into the new 45,000-point tier. If you already have a specific Wyndham hotel in mind, you can check how many points it requires now and then decide whether to transfer points and lock it in early.

• Wyndham hotel program introduction