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When my friends and family ask what the best starter travel card is, I always defer to my trusty Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
Nobody just starting out with points and miles wants to pay an exorbitant annual fee — and it’s easy to justify the $95 yearly cost of the Chase Sapphire Preferred once you review its long list of benefits.
What makes the Chase Ultimate Rewards program so valuable is the ability to book travel in two key ways. First, you can book flights, hotels, car rentals and more through the Ultimate Rewards portal at a rate of 1.25 cents each.
While that’s a great value, you’ll find the most value from Chase’s 11 airline and three hotel loyalty partners, as you can transfer your points to these programs at a 1:1 ratio. In this fashion, TPG values Ultimate Rewards points as worth more like 2 cents each.
Since I opened my Chase Sapphire Preferred about a year ago, I’ve redeemed more than 300,000 Ultimate Rewards points that I’ve accrued from the sign-up bonus and everyday spending. Even so, I still have almost 90,000 points in my award balance waiting to be used.
By that measure, I effectively received and used around $6,000 in travel rewards in a year — making that $95 annual fee a no-brainer in comparison.
As I’ve reached my first anniversary with the card, here are my top five favorite redemptions I’ve made, in no particular order. Hopefully, this post inspires you to redeem your Ultimate Rewards points this year for your dream trip.
Costa Rica
It’s unlikely that you’ll utilize every single one of Chase’s transfer partners, but a good place to start is knowing which programs offer the best value.
World of Hyatt is one of my favorites, as the program charges reasonable rates for remarkable properties — including the Los Altos Resort, a five-star property in Costa Rica.
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Cash rates were around $450 per night, but instead, I transferred my Ultimate Rewards points to my Hyatt balance and booked my stay for just 25,000 points per night. I got a fantastic three-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath suite, a large kitchen, living room and multiple balconies overlooking the Costa Rican rainforest.
I also loved the infinity pool, free morning yoga classes and hiking trails sprawled throughout the resort.
Related: Welcome to the jungle: How I redeemed 100,000 Chase points to book a Costa Rica trip of a lifetime
Iceland
While you can often find some great flight deals to Iceland, it’s an entirely different story once you’re on the ground.
That’s why my strategy for my Iceland trip was to pay cash for my airfare and look for accommodations via points. Hyatt hit a home run on this one.
At 25,000 Hyatt points per night, I stayed at the cozy Hotel Rangá in southern Iceland. Its proximity to must-see tourist sites but distance from light pollution (so that you can hopefully catch the northern lights in the winter) are among the reasons why I loved my stay.
Related: Iceland on a budget: Why you should seriously consider renting a campervan
Montego Bay, Jamaica
Yet another World of Hyatt success story was one of my most recent trips: to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica, the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall.
While I rarely take all-inclusive vacations, I appreciated that all the restaurants and amenities were on the property, making for a great last-minute winter getaway. I also felt like I got an especially great deal using my travel rewards (25,000 Hyatt points per night) for this resort since all of the food and drinks had been taken care of, stretching the value of my points even further than what’s normally possible.
Related: Why I was denied boarding to Chile — and spent Christmas in Jamaica instead
Spain
One of the cheapest ways to fly business class to (or from) Europe is to leverage the Iberia Avios program. For just 34,000 Avios and under $300 in taxes and fees, you can score a lie-flat seat to Madrid.
Unfortunately, I had a stomach bug on the way home, so my whole journey was spent asleep. While I cannot attest to the quality of the meals or inflight entertainment, the ability to sleep during the entire eight-hour flight made this redemption incredibly worth it for me.
Related: The seat carries the flight: A review of Iberia’s business class on the A350, New York to Madrid
Morocco
This past year, I got to try out Air France’s business class for the first time — and on the carrier’s 777-300ER aircraft. I had flown to Morocco via TAP Air Portugal’s business class and wanted to fly home in comfort and style.
By transferring my Ultimate Rewards points to Air France/KLM Flying Blue, I scored my flight home, with a layover in Paris, for 53,000 Flying Blue miles and around $300 in taxes. It was nice to take a hot shower in the Air France lounge and enjoy an afternoon nap as we flew across the Atlantic.
Bottom line
As you can see, World of Hyatt is one of my transfer partners of choice. Otherwise, I prefer to save my points for business-class flights, as I can often find even more than 2 cents of value per point.
Going forward, my strategy is to continue accruing as many Ultimate Rewards points as possible with my Chase Sapphire Preferred so that I can look back in another year and reflect on some more great redemptions (and travel memories).
Official application link: Chase Sapphire Preferred with an 80,000-point sign-up bonus after you spend $4,000 in the first three months of account opening.
Additional reporting by Ryan Wilcox.
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