If you want to maximize your credit card rewards, I always recommend earning transferable points currencies for your spending whenever possible. In this post I wanted to take a detailed look at how to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points, as this is one of the most popular points currencies out there.
Continue reading: Best Ways To Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I typically try to use them for Hyatt GP redemptions as I have found that to be the best use as you mentioned. I have also gone the route of using them to book a hotel room via their travel portal and some of the results have been a better value than using the hotels own points redemption. I can recall the exact example but I think it was a Hilton in Greece that HH wanted 90k per night for and because the nightly rate was under $200 so it was only like 13k UR points per night. Some hotels even run some deals so the redemption value can be better than the standard.
@Ben/Lucky, after years of gaslighting, do you even know the difference between what started out as a fabrication and what is real anymore?
The beauty of World of Hyatt is that there are no blackout dates, so as long as a standard room is available for sale, you can redeem points for it.
Given that World of Hyatt's T&C explicitly state that the classification of room/suite types for the purpose of award redemptions or elite room upgrades is "in the sole discretion" of the applicable hotel, the quoted claim is yet more gaslighting.
In the real world, WoH members can redeem points only for a subset of rooms that a hotel, in its sole discretion" classified as standard rooms, a process that is correctly referred to capacity control and not "no blackout dates" as it is referred to in the bogus claim.
How do we know the claim is bogus? Well, because, you see, when a Hyatt hotel runs out of the subset of rooms that it set aside for redeeming with points, it will let you know, quite explicitly, with a pop-up message that says:
Unfortunately, this hotel is not accepting World of Hyatt points or award stays.
...even when standard rooms are clearly available for sale! The way self-anointed "travel gurus" have tried to rationalize hotels not honoring the made-up claim that "as long as a standard room is available for sale, you can redeem points for it" has been to accuse hotels of "playing games with award availability"!
Don't take my word for it. Just search for "Hyatt hotels play games with award availability" to reveal the gallons of cyber-ink that have been spilled accusing World of Hyatt of duplicity when all their hotels do is to correctly interpret the program's T&C! One of my favorite is a thread over at FT titled, very à propos, "Unfortunately, this hotel is not accepting World of Hyatt points or award stays." Check it out...
We provide the facts, you decide!
I was just checking out Emirates for a flight and there appear be be plenty of flights available to my destination (out of ORD) but they were adding $1,000 on to the ticket for those pesky surcharges. A pretty big downside.
Any way to avoid those?
No unless you can find an award on Emirates via a partner that does not tack on those fees.
Ultimate Rewards is also useful for topping up a United Mileage Plus account. Not that UA ever offers great mileage redemptions anymore. But if you already have a cache of miles and want to use them - adding a small amount of UR points can be worthwhile. Sometimes its worth to pay up for business class and getting the exact flight you want, vs weird routings and stops. YMMV.
One problem is the cost of the ticket with the travel center is much higher than you can get from redeeming airline points or paying for the ticket.
I have seen recommendations for LifeMiles and Aeroplan and so I always check them when looking for redemption opportunities but save the one time I was able to get a decent price on TAP for a trip to Italy (and that was subsequently cancelled by the airline with no reason provided) I have never found good redemptions at either. LifeMiles typically has no availability at all for business class.
Maybe I am doing something wrong but I find neither to be useful.
Likely because the post is titled "the best" and United transfers are certainly an option but not considered the best use by most.