S1E13: Best (and most underrated) Ways to Use Ultimate Rewards to Book Any Flight, Hotel, or Cruise

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<v Speaker 1>Today, I wanted to talk about some of the most underrated ways to use Ultimate Rewards Points.

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<v Speaker 1>What I love about these redemption options is they are really flexible.

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<v Speaker 1>You can use them to book such a wide variety of flights and hotels, and even cruises or Disney tickets or Airbnbs.

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<v Speaker 1>Yet most points bloggers and influencers look down their noses at these options.

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome back to Points for Normal People.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Katie and I'm here because I know that travel costs add up, especially for a family, but I believe that travel isn't just for the rich.

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<v Speaker 1>That's why, on Points for Normal People, I share the tips and tricks that my family has been using for over a decade to help you use your everyday expenses and credit card welcome offers to supercharge your travel points so that you can pay for entire vacations every year.

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<v Speaker 1>Today, this is truly an episode for normal people.

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<v Speaker 1>We're talking about using credit card points and, specifically, ultimate rewards to offset all kinds of general travel expenses.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, this is some of the easiest ways to use points, but it is almost always criticized when you get into points communities.

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<v Speaker 1>So we're going to talk about why I actually like these options, when they make sense, and how to understand the common criticisms.

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<v Speaker 1>Now, if you're a person who cares primarily about flying business class flights and maximizing your cent per point values, you probably won't find this useful.

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<v Speaker 1>Your cent per point values you probably won't find this useful.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you're listening to this podcast, you've probably realized that I approach points and travel with a different mindset.

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<v Speaker 1>As I said in earlier episodes, I don't find cents per point to be a very helpful metric.

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<v Speaker 1>I think that it is a metric that is very often distorted for the sake of bragging rights, so I don't put too much stock in it.

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<v Speaker 1>The strategies I'm going to talk about today are going to give you a fixed cents per point ratio.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not going to look particularly exciting on paper.

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<v Speaker 1>It's going to be anywhere from 1.25 cents per point to 1.65 cents per point.

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<v Speaker 1>Cents per point to 1.65 cents per point In other words, 10,000 points is going to cover 125 to 165 dollars of travel expenses.

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<v Speaker 1>But this is what's important.

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<v Speaker 1>It opens up a lot more ways to use your points, and this, in turn, might mean that you can find a far better way to book travel in a way that matches your travel style and what you value, instead of just chasing a higher cents per point value.

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<v Speaker 1>It also might save you money and points.

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<v Speaker 1>This is your regular reminder to not get caught up in comparison to any points redemptions you might be seeing on Instagram or YouTube.

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<v Speaker 1>You know how, in the Princess Bride seeing on Instagram or YouTube.

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<v Speaker 1>You know how, in the Princess Bride, wesley says life is pain.

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<v Speaker 1>Anyone who says differently is selling something.

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<v Speaker 1>This is true in the points world.

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<v Speaker 1>It is possible to book super fancy business class flights with points.

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<v Speaker 1>Absolutely it is, but it's usually a pain.

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<v Speaker 1>Besides earning a lot more points, you'll need to set up lots of alerts as well as be very flexible on your travel dates.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want to go for that, go for it.

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<v Speaker 1>I know some people really love that, but there's plenty of podcasts about that, and this podcast is about how to use your points in easy ways that aren't a pain, or at least the least amount of pain as possible.

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<v Speaker 1>I've advised literally thousands of people who are learning to use credit card points, and what I hear again and again is that most people want simple ways to cover Airbnbs, car rentals, flights, etc.

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<v Speaker 1>And this is what we're talking about today.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm particularly passionate about sharing these options because for a long time, my biggest personal goal with my points was to get my travel costs for our family as close to zero dollars as possible.

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<v Speaker 1>I love the thrill of basically zeroing out that line item in our budget, and that's a different mindset than maximizing the theoretical value of every point.

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<v Speaker 1>Again, all styles are welcome here, but I want to be sure to give airtime to a variety of ways to use points, because I celebrate them all.

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<v Speaker 1>Today we're going to talk about chase travel, about a lesser advertised pay-yourself-back trick, lesser advertised pay yourself back trick.

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<v Speaker 1>Briefly about Capital One cards and then a few other bonus ways that people can use to offset these general travel expenses that we all have.

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<v Speaker 1>So let's start with Chase Travel.

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<v Speaker 1>If you listened to episode 10, I did dive into this a bit.

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<v Speaker 1>When it comes to hotels specifically, chase Travel is a third-party booking platform that you can access when you're logged into your Chase account.

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<v Speaker 1>It basically functions like Expedia or Kayak.

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<v Speaker 1>When our family did nine months of full-time travel, we booked a lot of hotels and some flights through Chase Travel.

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<v Speaker 1>Now the first reason you will see this option poo-pooed is that booking through Chase Travel means you're booking through a travel agency.

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<v Speaker 1>You're not booking directly through the airline or through the hotel website.

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<v Speaker 1>For the vast majority of family travelers or even normal travelers.

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<v Speaker 1>This doesn't make much difference to their experience.

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<v Speaker 1>But if you do need to make changes to your reservation, you should know that you will need to call Chase Travel rather than the hotel or airline, so you end up dealing with a middleman instead of dealing direct.

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<v Speaker 1>We've personally never had a big issue when dealing with Chase Travel, especially when we compare it to other situations dealing with an airline directly.

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<v Speaker 1>The one time it was really a pain was in March 2020, and we had to book a very last minute ticket home from Paris because all the shutdowns were happening and we did have an issue with our ticket and my husband was on hold for literally like four to five hours.

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<v Speaker 1>But again, this was right when all the shutdowns were coming into place and every single airline had a wild hold time.

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<v Speaker 1>In my experience, booking via Chase Travel isn't too much different than when we use points to book onto a partner airline.

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<v Speaker 1>We haven't talked much about that yet, but we will in future episodes.

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<v Speaker 1>But as an example, we booked a flight to Japan and we used Avianca Life Miles, but we booked onto a United Flight which is one of their partners.

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<v Speaker 1>If we had needed to make a change, we would have contacted Avianca Life Miles, but we booked onto a United flight which is one of their partners.

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<v Speaker 1>If we had needed to make a change, we would have contacted Avianca and not United.

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<v Speaker 1>The next reason this option is often ignored is that it is providing a flat redemption rate.

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<v Speaker 1>If you have a Sapphire Preferred and you redeem 10,000 points, you'll be able to cover $125.

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<v Speaker 1>You redeem 10,000 points, you'll be able to cover $125.

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<v Speaker 1>You're never going to be able to claim that you used 10,000 points to cover a $750 flight and got 7.5 cents per point.

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<v Speaker 1>But that's okay.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm going to talk about when it makes sense to use Chase Travel in a minute.

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<v Speaker 1>But first I want to remind you that if you start planning a trip and realize you want to book through Chase Travel, you might want to consider upgrading to the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're going to redeem more than 60,000 points through Chase Travel, you should upgrade to the Sapphire Reserve.

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<v Speaker 1>That's because you get 1.5 cents per point instead of 1.25 cents per point.

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<v Speaker 1>I went into the math on that in episode 10, if you missed it.

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<v Speaker 1>The reserve is what we had when we were using this redemption a lot on our year traveling around full-time.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's what I think the best uses are for chase travel.

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<v Speaker 1>The first is cheap cash flights.

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<v Speaker 1>Remember how I mentioned that people really distort their cents per point.

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<v Speaker 1>I see this a ton when people talk about the supposed value of their economy tickets to Europe, for instance, that they booked with points.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the easiest ways to distort value is by comparing a ticket with points to a one-way flight to Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>It makes sense that it would be a fair comparison, but it's not.

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<v Speaker 1>The fact is that most round-trip tickets to Europe cost almost the same as a one-way, so it's not uncommon that a one-way would be $605 and a round-trip would be $615.

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<v Speaker 1>So if someone tries to say that their one-way flight to Paris would have cost $1,000 in economy, this may technically be true for that exact flight booked on that certain day, but probably a round trip would have been the same.

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<v Speaker 1>Specifically also to Europe, I see people compare to full price tickets, but the reality is that sales are super common to Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>It's extremely common to see round trip flights from the US to Europe in the $400 or $.

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<v Speaker 1>See round-trip flights from the US to Europe in the $400 or $500 range.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes, even in the summer If you don't have any flexibility.

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<v Speaker 1>This might be harder to find, but truly sales to Europe are very common.

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<v Speaker 1>So, especially if you live near a bigger airport, booking a cheap flight via Chase Travel can save you points 37,000 points would cover a flight that costs $462 if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred.

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<v Speaker 1>And even better, booking via Chase Travel incorporates your taxes and fees into the cost of the ticket, so you can really bring your travel costs down to zero.

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<v Speaker 1>Last year I was helping my sister find the best option to use her ultimate rewards to fly her family of five to Portugal from Denver, and we looked at all the various options for transferring her points to different airlines and ultimately the best deal by far for her the lowest cash and points out of pocket costs was to book Via Chase Travel on British Airways.

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<v Speaker 1>She paid about 40,000 points per person to buy tickets that were about $600 each, and she didn't have to pay a dime out of pocket because that covered her taxes too.

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<v Speaker 1>She did use her Sapphire Reserve, and so she did get that better rate.

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<v Speaker 1>If you want to do this, an easy way to find and track cheap cash flights is on Google Flights.

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<v Speaker 1>I sometimes even set up alerts for any destination we're considering just to see how prices go up and down throughout the year, and so I can get a sense of pricing.

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<v Speaker 1>Chase Travel is also a good option for independent hotels, as we discussed in episode 10.

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<v Speaker 1>Those are my top uses that I'd recommend To cover cheap flights, to cover flights if you want to incorporate your taxes, and to cover independent hotels.

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<v Speaker 1>You can book rental cars via Chase Travel, but it has been rare that their prices come close to the best prices I can find at autoslashcom.

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<v Speaker 1>Another card family that does this really well is the Capital One Venture family.

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<v Speaker 1>There is the Venture and the Venture X, and both allow you to use points to cover any travel expense.

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<v Speaker 1>That would be a better option for rental cars or for any of those other options I mentioned.

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<v Speaker 1>The Venture X is the second card I recommend in my three-year plan because it adds some key benefits that the Sapphire Preferred lacks.

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<v Speaker 1>The rate that Venture Miles gives you to offset travel is one cent per point, so 10,000 points offsets $100 of travel.

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<v Speaker 1>Like with the Sapphire cards, there are possibilities for transfer partners as well as other types of redemptions.

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<v Speaker 1>You can even use them for baseball tickets with a Venture card.

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<v Speaker 1>I'll have some episodes in the future about this card.

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<v Speaker 1>Like I said, it is the future about this card.

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<v Speaker 1>Like I said, it is the second card in my three-year plan, so I rate it really highly.

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<v Speaker 1>For today, I will link my blog post about it in the show notes.

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<v Speaker 1>So those are very easy options as well that you can add if you like this type of redemption.

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<v Speaker 1>Beyond Chase Travel and the venture cards, there's another, even more flexible option to use your ultimate rewards points to cover any travel expense.

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<v Speaker 1>This option is a more intermediate level option and I know I promised easy, but I will say that I think these steps are pretty straightforward and I'll walk you through them.

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<v Speaker 1>I also have an article that I will link in the show notes that has screenshots.

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<v Speaker 1>For this to work, you'd need to open an Aeroplan card, which is also issued by Chase.

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<v Speaker 1>Aeroplan is the loyalty program of Air Canada and this card earns Aeroplan points, but I promise they're useful.

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<v Speaker 1>It also has some benefits specific to travel with Air Canada.

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<v Speaker 1>It also provides a statement credit of up to $100 every four years for TSA pre-check or global entry, which is a benefit that the Sapphire Preferred card does not have.

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<v Speaker 1>Points earned with an Aeroplan credit card have a unique redemption option through December 31, 2024.

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<v Speaker 1>We're hoping to see this extended beyond this, but we'll have to wait and see beyond this.

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<v Speaker 1>But we'll have to wait and see.

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<v Speaker 1>So you can use these points to pay yourself back for any expense you've put on your Aeroplan card that codes as a travel expense.

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<v Speaker 1>You get the same rate as Chase Travel 1.25 cents per point.

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<v Speaker 1>But you can use it for any travel purchases, which means you can book directly with an airline a hotel, a cruise, an Airbnb, and if you make a travel purchase with your Aeroplan card, you can offset it with your points anytime within the next 90 days of the purchase.

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<v Speaker 1>You can offset a full purchase or just part of it.

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<v Speaker 1>As a side note, the Aeroplan credit card also does have robust travel protections, including trip delay protections, trip cancellation, baggage delay and more, so you can feel confident booking trips with it.

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<v Speaker 1>These are a lot of the same benefits that the Sapphire Preferred card has that we discussed earlier in this season.

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<v Speaker 1>So what does this have to do with ultimate rewards?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, ultimate rewards can be transferred to Aeroplan at a one-to-one ratio.

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<v Speaker 1>So that means you can transfer your ultimate rewards from a Sapphire Preferred to your AeroPlan card and use this redemption.

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<v Speaker 1>But even better, if you hold an AeroPlan card, you'll get a 10% bonus anytime you transfer ultimate rewards points to Air Canada AeroPlan when you transfer 50,000 points in a single transaction.

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<v Speaker 1>Air Canada Aeroplan when you transfer 50,000 points in a single transaction.

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<v Speaker 1>So if you transfer 50,000 ultimate rewards, you'll have 55,000 Aeroplan points.

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<v Speaker 1>The terms for pay yourself back for travel specifically state that you can use any Aeroplan points you've earned from the Aeroplan card or that you've earned by transferring in from Ultimate Rewards, and you can use those to pay yourself back for travel.

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<v Speaker 1>Then here's the next level Through July 31st 2024, you can also get a 20% bonus when you transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Aeroplan.

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<v Speaker 1>While this is a limited time offer, we do see these promotional transfer bonuses regularly from Chase points to Aeroplan.

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<v Speaker 1>This means that if you transfer 50,000 Ultimate Re Chase Points to Aeroplan, this means that if you transfer 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points to Aeroplan and you have an Aeroplan card, you'll actually end up with 65,000 Aeroplan points.

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<v Speaker 1>You'll get 10,000 from that limited time transfer bonus and 5,000 from the credit card perk.

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<v Speaker 1>You could then use those points to offset an $812 travel purchase that you put onto the Aeroplan card.

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<v Speaker 1>That's because using 65,000 points at 1.25 cents per point to pay yourself back can cover $812.

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<v Speaker 1>I know for some people this extra step of the Aeroplan card will feel more complicated than it's worth, and that's fine.

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<v Speaker 1>But I really like to explain it as an option because I know a lot of people like to cover Airbnbs with points, for instance, and this is an alternative way to use your points to do this and to stretch your points further.

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<v Speaker 1>You do need to open an Aeroplan card for this to work and it is a personal card, so it will add to your 524 count, but again, it may be worth it for you if you like to offset these general travel expenses.

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<v Speaker 1>I even explain in the article I'm linking down below in the show notes how to use this to book Disney tickets or even Hyatt Ziva Cancun, which isn't a good value to book straight with Hyatt Points anymore, but can be with this.

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<v Speaker 1>So I'm kind of going from least to most time consuming in this episode.

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<v Speaker 1>So I'm kind of going from least to most time consuming in this episode.

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<v Speaker 1>Easiest and least time consuming is to book via Chase Travel which, as I've said, can be a particularly good option for cheap flights, for incorporating taxes and fees and for independent hotels.

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<v Speaker 1>Same is true for the venture cards.

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<v Speaker 1>Adding an Aeroplan card to your wallet and using Pay Yourself Back can give you even more flexibility and you can cover any travel expense that will code as travel.

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<v Speaker 1>Two more strategies I have used to offset general travel expenses are by opening bank accounts for bonuses and by earning swag bucks.

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<v Speaker 1>Both of these are a little more time consuming and so they aren't for everyone, but I wanted to at least mention them here, even even though it's slightly off-topic from our season on Chase Ultimate Rewards.

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<v Speaker 1>In some ways, bank account bonuses operate similarly to credit card bonuses and welcome offers.

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<v Speaker 1>Basically, banks are trying to incentivize you to open a bank account and move your money there.

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<v Speaker 1>You've likely noticed these promotions before we even get them, sometimes in our ValPak, in our mail.

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<v Speaker 1>The requirements to get the bonus money can vary.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes you need to have a certain amount of direct deposit money go into them.

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<v Speaker 1>Usually you need to keep the money there for 90 days.

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<v Speaker 1>Sometimes you need to make a certain number of debit card transactions.

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<v Speaker 1>It can really vary.

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<v Speaker 1>But overall I'd say most of these bonuses will offer $300 to $500.

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<v Speaker 1>And in my experience they probably take about three hours total of my time Because you need to apply, you need to get the online account set up, you need to make sure you're following the terms and then later you need to close the account and withdraw your money.

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<v Speaker 1>But that's still over $100 an hour.

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<v Speaker 1>If it took me three hours for a $300 bonus and that's a great return on time invested I'll link a resource from Doctor of Credit that compiles current best bank account bonuses if you're interested in learning more about this.

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<v Speaker 1>I used to do these really regularly but frankly, haven't done many in the past two years just because I haven't prioritized this.

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<v Speaker 1>But for many years I did a lot of them and I'd walk into my accountant's office to do my taxes each year with a stack of 1099s from banks for these bonuses, and he would just laugh because he told me I was his only client that had so many 1099s from banks.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, you can use those cash bonuses for anything, but, like I said, my goal used to always be to get my expenses as close to zero dollars as possible, so I use those bank account bonuses to earn spending money for trips.

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<v Speaker 1>And then the last option I want to mention is Swagbucks.

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<v Speaker 1>Swagbucks is an online platform where you earn bonus points for making certain purchases or by clicking through before you make purchases.

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<v Speaker 1>Then you can redeem your points for gift cards.

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<v Speaker 1>Some deals take very little work but earn a decent number of points.

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<v Speaker 1>In October every year I run a $500 in 50 days challenge where I help people get started with Swagbucks.

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<v Speaker 1>If you're on my email list, that's the easiest way to get on that specific Swagbucks challenge list.

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<v Speaker 1>When that starts in October, I usually use my Swagbucks that I earn throughout the year to buy Airbnb gift cards and book Airbnbs that way.

00:19:42.316 --> 00:19:47.478
<v Speaker 1>So how can you take this info and make it actionable for you today For this episode?

00:19:47.478 --> 00:19:49.744
<v Speaker 1>I think this will really vary person to person.

00:19:49.744 --> 00:19:53.857
<v Speaker 1>It will also vary depending on where you are in your trip planning process.

00:19:53.857 --> 00:20:07.364
<v Speaker 1>If you have a big travel expense coming up and you don't have a great way to offset it with points, but you'd like to, I suggest looking to see if getting an Aeroplan card with the current bonuses can fit with your card strategy.

00:20:07.364 --> 00:20:12.298
<v Speaker 1>Otherwise, the VentureX or Venture cards are great options for the same purpose.

00:20:12.298 --> 00:20:20.430
<v Speaker 1>You can read my blog post, linked in the show notes, for an overview on the Aeroplan card and Pay Yourself Back and also on the VentureX card.

00:20:20.430 --> 00:20:29.490
<v Speaker 1>Currently there is a transfer bonus through July 31st 2024 with Aeroplan and, like I said, we do see these bonuses somewhat regularly.

00:20:29.490 --> 00:20:32.884
<v Speaker 1>So even if you miss this one, it's likely to happen again.

00:20:32.884 --> 00:20:40.318
<v Speaker 1>But even more than that, I think this episode is another good time to do a few minutes of goal setting, if you haven't already.

00:20:41.221 --> 00:20:43.855
<v Speaker 1>How do you want to use your points in the next one to two years?

00:20:43.855 --> 00:20:52.864
<v Speaker 1>Would offsetting some more of these general travel expenses help you lower your travel line item on your budget and free up money for other things?

00:20:52.864 --> 00:20:56.260
<v Speaker 1>If you really value luxury hotels, it might not.

00:20:56.260 --> 00:21:01.520
<v Speaker 1>If you want to stay at more Airbnbs or you want to cover Disney tickets, it might.

00:21:01.520 --> 00:21:10.444
<v Speaker 1>Remember that this is really a choose your own adventure situation, and the only person who you should compare yourself to is yourself.

00:21:10.444 --> 00:21:23.724
<v Speaker 1>If you are spending less on travel than you were a year ago, or if you're able to travel more with the same budget, or if you're able to travel more luxuriously on the same budget, all of these are winning.

00:21:24.626 --> 00:21:29.347
<v Speaker 1>I want to say a quick thank you to everyone who has taken a minute to review the podcast.

00:21:29.347 --> 00:21:33.563
<v Speaker 1>It's a way that you can offer support that doesn't cost you anything?

00:21:33.563 --> 00:21:45.567
<v Speaker 1>Christy from Wisconsin recently wrote a review that is titled A Travel Podcast for the Rest of Us and she said I am not a road warrior and I don't have high spend, but I do love to travel.

00:21:45.567 --> 00:21:49.300
<v Speaker 1>This podcast fills a niche that I've been hoping somebody would fill.

00:21:49.300 --> 00:21:57.605
<v Speaker 1>It's a podcast for people like me who want to play the points and miles game, but not at the level of the other podcasts.

00:21:58.115 --> 00:21:59.642
<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much for starting this.

00:21:59.642 --> 00:22:01.200
<v Speaker 1>Thank you, christy.

00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:11.923
<v Speaker 1>These reviews and the emails and DMs I get are so encouraging to me to see that this info is resonating and it's helpful For anyone who's ready to do a deeper dive.

00:22:11.923 --> 00:22:19.847
<v Speaker 1>You can also find a link to my 100% free course in the show notes or just go to learnkatiestraveltrickscom to find it.

00:22:19.847 --> 00:22:22.279
<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much for being with me today.

00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:27.738
<v Speaker 1>I look forward to seeing you next time, where we will continue to unlock these secrets of travel points together.