There’s are a few cards turning heads right now, and rightfully so. Chase has updated the Sapphire Preferred, and the rewards card has an exciting new value proposition.
Earning 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points as a welcome bonus from the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, is a really exciting way to say “hello, new rewards credit card” and after a bit of spending, it’s not hard to reach 100,000 thanks to new card multipliers.
For many readers, getting the card and hitting the spending to earn the bonus is relatively easy – so it’s actually making the most of the bonus that’s a bit more difficult, or rather – exciting!
I currently hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card so I’m ineligible for the lovely bonus, but I can still dream of what I would do, if I could get another with the current bonus! Hopefully, it might inspire some thinking beyond standard ideas.
Here’s a few ways I would consider spending 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, and why it might be too good an offer to pass up. And if you want to know more about the 80,000 point card offer beyond the points, head here.
3-8 “Free” Nights In Tokyo (Or More)
Tokyo is one of my favorite cities in the world, and also incredibly expensive for luxury hotels. Sigh. World of Hyatt – a 1:1 ratio points transfer partner of Chase – has some of the best in that category, and many top hotels go for 25,000 or 30,000 points per night.
Wanting the best of the best, I could grab 3 nights (which could easily cost $1800 if paying cash) at the Andaz, or Park Hyatt, for 30,000 Chase Points (transferred to Hyatt) per night, with 10,000 left over. I’d pay $0 for three nights, rather than $1800. Nice!
If I could settle for something upper class and wonderful, but not quite jaw dropping, other options like the Hyatt Regency Tokyo require only 12,000 points per night, so I could do an entire 8 night stay on points, and the Grand Hyatt at 25,000 Points gives me 4 nights in Tokyo “for free”.
Bargain Business Class To Europe
It’s not insanely uncommon for Delta, British Airways, United or American to offer a $1600 round trip fare from US gateways to Europe in business class, round trip. They come fast and leave fast, but they exist.
I can use the 100,000 point welcome bonus from the Chase Sapphire Preferred with airline and hotel transfer partners, or as “cash” through Chase Travel at a rate of 1.25 cents per point. In simple terms: my 100,000 points are worth $1250 cash with Chase Travel.
If a $1600 fare of interest were to come around, I could snag it for $350 out of pocket, with my 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points covering $1250 of the purchase price.
Not only does this just feel awesome (as it should), but since the airline thinks it’s a cash ticket, you still earn miles and elite status on the flights, which can help fuel other rewards.
Emirates First Class For A YOLO
I’ll be frank, Emirates First Class is every bit as wowing as anyone has told you. Even for those accustomed to private jet travel, the comfort, privacy and amenities are tough to beat. Very few private jets have private shower suites — Emirates first class does!
Emirates has spent its time during the pandemic making it near impossible to book their first class cabin using any points other than their own. Fortunately, Chase Points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred welcome bonus can be transferred to Emirates, which solves that problem.
Sadly, a one way flight will run nearly 100,000 points, but if you plan it right, you can get 10-14 hours of enjoyment out of it. It’s a frivolous way to use these lovely points – and far less impactful than say, a round trip to Europe, but YOLO. You only live once and this is pretty cool.
A $1250 Vacation With No Regrets
I’m not sure I’ve ever been on a trip I regretted. Many people like to make their Chase Sapphire Preferred Points go further, or to be used for niche wins like first class on exotic airlines (and I get that, as I just alluded) but a free trip is a free trip.
These points can be used as “cash” through Chase Travel, which means you could book an awesome package flight + hotel trip, or flight + hotel + car rental, and the points could potentially cover the whole thing. Again, 100,000 points equals $1250 toward travel, since Chase gives 1.25 cents per point of value.
Whether it’s Washington DC for a weekend, or something far more exotic, it’s just really fun to take a trip and think “wow, I hardly paid for anything”. For me, that’s a green light to unleash the budget on food, which I also rarely regret!
Upgrades On British Airways Or Virgin Atlantic
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have a few things in common. For one, you can upgrade any Premium Economy ticket to business class, provided points seats are available in business class.
British Airways also lets you upgrade any business class ticket to first class, for just about 20,000 points one way, and typically no extra cash. Since both airlines are transfer partners of Chase Ultimate Rewards, I could gladly bag myself a few nice upgrades from business to first, or premium to business.
When you travel across the pond as frequently as I do, every penny and every upgrade counts, and this is just a really solid way of extracting value, bit by bit!
Chase Sapphire Preferred 80,000 Point Bonus
I really can’t think of a better welcome bonus than Chase offering 80,000 points for just $4,000 in total spending, within the first 3 months of account opening.
This is one the biggest welcome bonus this card has ever offered, and if you don’t hold it, this is a fantastic opportunity to consider. You can check out the current Chase Sapphire Preferred Card point welcome bonus here.
