If you’ve been eyeing the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, now’s the time to make a move. The current welcome offer is among the highest we’ve seen in years: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
When it comes to travel rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards® points remain one of the most valuable currencies in the game. Thanks to flexible redemption options and top-notch transfer partners, your points can stretch far beyond a simple cash-back redemption.
Sure, you could redeem 100,000 points through the Chase Travel℠ portal at 1.25 cents each, which is solid. But you can also get outsized value by utilizing transfer partners to book business-class flights or five-star hotel stays worth several thousand dollars.
All Chase partners transfer at a 1:1 ratio, but some offer much better bang for your buck.
Here are three of the best ways to maximize 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Transfer Your Points to World of Hyatt for High-Value Hotel Stays
When it comes to Chase’s three hotel transfer partners — Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, and IHG One Rewards — World of Hyatt consistently delivers the highest value.
While Chase points transfer 1:1 to all three programs, award nights for comparable Marriott or IHG hotels can often cost double or even triple the amount of points compared to Hyatt’s rates.
How World of Hyatt’s Award Chart Works
The World of Hyatt program uses an award chart that prices properties from Category 1 to 8, with off-peak, standard, and peak rates. One of the best aspects of using points with Hyatt is that if you stay at a resort property, resort fees are waived.
You can also redeem points directly for suites and club lounge access, or book all-inclusive resorts under a separate award chart.
How Far 100K Points Can Go
To really stretch your points and book the maximum number of hotel nights possible, staying at a Category 1 Hyatt hotel on off-peak nights is the way to do it. Off-peak Category 1 rates are 3,500 points per night, which would equal 28 nights for 98,000 points.
While many Category 1 properties are airport hotels or suburban locations outside of the city center, there is plenty of value to be had. You can stay beachfront at the Hyatt Place Los Cabos, explore one of Europe’s most charming cities with a stay at the Hyatt Place Krakow, or even experience a bit of luxury with stays at the Grand Hyatt Amman or the Hyatt Regency Cape Town.
On the opposite end of the range, upper-category hotels also offer immense value for five-star luxury accommodations. Some of the top Category 8 hotels include Alila Ventana Big Sur, Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort Costa Rica, and the Park Hyatt New York.
You’ll pay 35,000 points off-peak, 40,000 points standard, and 45,000 points peak for Category 8 hotels. But keep in mind that these hotels often cost upwards of $1,000 per night, meaning you could easily get 2.5 cents or more per point using the standard award rate — far better than the fixed 1.25 cents you'd get booking through Chase Travel.
Screenshot from hyatt.com
Transfer Your Points to Emirates Skywards
One of the most luxurious ways to fly is in a premium cabin seat on Emirates. And you don’t have to go all the way to Dubai to experience it.
Emirates operates two fifth-freedom flights to Europe departing from the United States: New York City (JFK) to Milan, Italy (MXP) and Newark (EWR) to Athens, Greece (ATH). A fifth-freedom flight is when an airline flies between two countries that aren't its home base.
Emirates Skywards Sweet Spots
You can use 87,000 Chase points to fly Emirates business class one-way from JFK to MXP or EWR to ATH (or vice versa). Or even better, if you can book the more difficult-to-find saver award space, the redemption costs 108,000 points round-trip.
The Milan flight is on an Airbus A380, which has an onboard bar. The A380 also features showers, but these are only available to first-class passengers, which can be booked for 102,000 points one-way.
⚠️ Heads Up: Transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Emirates Skywards will be temporarily unavailable between May 29, 2025, and tentatively June 30, 2025.
Cross the Atlantic with Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Photo by Senitra Horbrook / Daily Drop
Fancy a trip across the pond? Virgin Atlantic flies nonstop from 11 U.S. cities to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR), and your Chase points can get you there for as few as 6,000 points one-way in economy. If you’re traveling as a family of four, you would only need to redeem 48,000 points for your round-trip flights. You’d still have more than 50,000 points left over, which you could transfer to World of Hyatt and redeem for a hotel stay.
If you’re looking to fly a little more comfortably, premium economy can be booked for as low as 10,500 points, and Upper Class, Virgin’s business-class cabin, can go for as low as 29,000 points.
Screenshot from virginatlantic.com
Virgin Atlantic’s award chart is dynamic, which means the rates fluctuate based on demand. Having flexibility with your travel dates can help you secure the lowest-priced award flights with Virgin Atlantic.
💡 Pro Tip: Chase often has transfer bonuses with some of its airline and hotel partners, where you can sometimes get 30% or 40% bonus points. Using a 30% bonus as an example, this means for every 1,000 Chase points you transfer, you’ll get 1,300 Virgin points. That’s a great way to squeeze out even more value from your Chase points.
Bottom Line
One of the top travel rewards credit cards, the Sapphire Preferred, is currently offering an elevated bonus of 100,000 points. This welcome offer is one of the quickest ways to earn some of the most valuable points for travel.
Don’t miss out on the card’s lucrative bonus, and be sure to put those rewards to good use by transferring to top partners like World of Hyatt, Emirates Skywards, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
