Chase Ultimate Rewards vs. Capital One miles

When it comes to travel rewards, Chase and Capital One are like the two kids in class who quietly ace every single test. Both have strong transfer partners, flexible redemption options, and cards that make earning miles and points easy.

But if you’re choosing between them (or trying to decide which program to build around), some key differences can make one better than the other, so here’s how they compare.

How These Two Programs Work

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Chase’s ecosystem is super-duper flexible. You can use points to book travel directly through the Chase Travel^SM portal, often with a built-in boost, or transfer to their airline and hotel partners.

The portal is one of Chase’s biggest strengths. With cards like Chase Sapphire Reserve®, your points can be worth up to two cents each on select flights and hotels, which makes it easy to get solid value without worrying about award charts or blackout dates.

Capital One miles

Capital One takes a more “cash-like” approach. You can redeem miles to retroactively cover travel purchases within 90 days, book through Capital One Travel, or transfer to more than 20 airline and hotel partners.

Unlike Chase, every Capital One mile is worth a fixed one cent when used to cover travel purchases, which gives you predictable value and a lot of flexibility, especially for budget stays that don’t belong to big hotel chains.

Earning Points: Chase vs. Capital One

Both issuers have cards that make earning rewards fine and dandy, but each card has its own niche.

Comparing Transfer Partners

Transfer partners are where flexible points programs really start to separate themselves.

Capital One has more than 20 partners, and Chase has 13.

Capital One has expanded its partner list a lot over the last few years, and many transfers are now 1:1, which rocks. That’s great for booking sweet spots with programs like Turkish Airlines (great for domestic United flights) or Flying Blue (often solid for Europe).

Chase’s main deal, though, is World of Hyatt. Hyatt redemptions are consistently some of the best value in the hotel world, and no other major issuer has them as a transfer partner (at least for now). 🙂

Travel Portals vs. Point Transfers

• Capital One Travel: Miles are worth one cent per point through the portal or when covering travel purchases. The upside is you can book travel anywhere — Airbnb, boutique hotels, budget airlines, you name it.

• Chase Travel Portal: Through the Chase travel portal, your points are worth up to 1.5 cents per point with the Sapphire Preferred and up to two cents per point with the Sapphire Reserve. That can stretch your points far without even involving transfer partners.

If you want predictable, flexible redemptions, Capital One is great. If you want more value for fewer points, Chase might win out here.

Let’s say you’re booking a round-trip economy flight over to Europe.

• With Chase, you could use points through the portal or transfer to Air France/KLM Flying Blue if you find a good saver fare.

• With Capital One, you could either transfer to Flying Blue as well or just charge the flight to your card and cover it with miles later.

Both get you there. Chase requires less if you’re using the portal, but Capital One gives you more flexibility in how you actually book.

Hotel Redemptions

• Chase: Hyatt remains one of the single best hotel transfer options in the game. No dynamic pricing, just predictable award charts and strong value.

• Capital One: No Hyatt here, but you can redeem miles for any hotel, even small, independent ones, which can be great if you don’t like sticking to one hotel brand.

My Take

Neither program is “better” across the board. It depends on what kind of traveler you are. If you love high-value redemptions, like luxury hotels or premium flights, Chase has a slight edge, especially with Hyatt and the new points-boost situation.

If you care more about flexibility and don’t like being boxed in by transfer partners, Capital One gives you the freedom to book whatever, wherever.

And honestly? Having both is your best move. Pairing the Sapphire Preferred or the Sapphire Reserve with the Venture X gives you the best of both worlds. ¿Por qué no los dos?”