Showing posts sorted by relevance for query chase sapphire. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query chase sapphire. Sort by date Show all posts

Saturday, November 19, 2022

Last Chance To Apply For the 80,000 Bonus on the Chase Sapphire Reserve

It's the last few weeks to apply for the 80,000 bonus on the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.  The offer ends December 1st. This is my favorite card and has saved me thousands of dollars on travel. 


What can you do with 80,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points? 

So many things. 
  • For one, you can use them in the Chase Travel Portal where the Chase Sapphire Reserve makes the points worth 50% more. 
  • You can also transfer them 1:1 to dozens of airlines including United, Jet Blue, Southwest and more. 
  • You can transfer them to Hyatt, Marriott and IHG hotels at 1:1.
  • Through the end of the year, you can use them to erase Airbnb and dining purchases. 



Chase says the value of 80,000 CUR points is $1,200 towards travel. But it could be more if you play your cards right. 

On my trip to Ireland last summer I used Chase Ultimate Reward points to cover my daughter's round trip flight which I booked through the Chase travel portal for 30,000 points. 
I erased all of our Airbnb stays at 50% value for 50,000 points and I erased most of our dining with another 30,000 points. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card also comes with a $300 travel credit so we used that to erase parking and a portion of the rental car. 


The other benefit is that you can transfer CUR points from your other credit cards to your Reserve card and then redeem them for 50% more. Woohoo! 

This card also comes with a $100 Global Entry credit, Priority Pass lounge access and FREE Dashpass membership, Instacart+ and $10 Go Puff monthly credit. 

The card does come with a hefty annual fee of $550, but as long as you use the $300 travel credit, Global Entry and lounge access, it will be worth it. 

Couple of important notes about this card. If you already hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you are NOT eligible to apply for the Reserve card. You can only hold one at a time. However, your spouse, partner or other family member could apply for the Reserve card. You can also only earn the bonus on the Reserve only once every four years. 

If you decide to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, please consider using my referral link. 
 

Monday, June 27, 2022

How You Can Stay At An Airbnb For FREE

 


After flights, accommodations are the biggest expense when you travel. 

But you have a few more days to cash in your Chase Ultimate Reward points to erase Airbnb purchases. 

It's part of the Pay Yourself Back program on the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve credit cards. The program was launched during the pandemic so you could use your points even though you were not travelling and fortunately, it stuck. 

Back then, we could use the points to erase groceries and dining which was pretty awesome. 

Now you can use the points to erase the following:
  • Airbnb 
  • charitable contributions
  • dining (with the Sapphire card only)
  • membership fee (with the Sapphire card only)
And the best part is you get a bonus, the same bonus you get if you book travel through the Chase Travel Portal. On the Preferred card, you get a bonus 25% and with the Reserve you get a 50% bonus. 

But the offer ends June 30th, 2022. So don't wait. 

I erased several Airbnb purchases just today at a value of $700. 

I am going to walk you through exactly how to do this. The first thing you need to do before you erase anything, transfer any Chase Ultimate Reward points you have on a Chase FREEDOM or Ink card to your Preferred or Reserve. 


It's easy to "combine points":

  • Log into your Chase.com account
  • click on the card you want to transfer points FROM
  • click redeem points
  • then click on the three little lines at the top left
  • scroll to the bottom
  • click combine points. 



Once you have moved your points to your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, then you are ready to erase your purchases. From the Chase Ultimate Rewards home page, scroll down until you see the Pay Yourself Back promotion. 


Click on the promotion and you will see a list of your eligible purchases. Only purchases made in the past 90 days are eligible to be erased. There is even a handy countdown above each purchase. 



Since I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can see my points are worth 50% more when I use them to erase Airbnb purchases. Just check the box for the ones that you want to erase. I usually start with the oldest ones, but since this promotion ends on June 30th 2022, it doesn't matter. 

You will be able to erase all of the purchase or just some of it so check as many boxes as you want. 
 

The purchases will be applied as a statement credit and it will take about 5-7 days to see that happen. 


Keep checking your Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve accounts too as the June 30th date gets closer or wait until the last day to cash in. After I cashed in 41,000 points, another 9,000 points showed up so I cashed those in too. 
And if you haven't booked your Airbnb yet for a trip coming up, book it and erase it before June 30th. 
If you do not have these cards yet, please consider using my referral link. It costs you nothing, but will award me for referring you so I can bring you more great information about how to FLY free. Right now, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering 60,000 points for a $4,000 minimum spend. Those points are worth $750 in the travel portal or if you erase an Airbnb purchase. But hurry, the Pay Yourself Back promotion ends June 30th. 



Thursday, October 20, 2022

My Favorite Credit Card Is Offering An 80,000 Point Bonus!

 


This past summer, I spent two weeks in Ireland and had the opportunity to hike along the Cliffs of Dover. Amazing! And I'll let you in on a secret. This trip was almost FREE thanks to one of my favorite ways to travel for FREE using Chase Ultimate Rewards points. 

For this trip to Ireland, I cashed in CUR points for my daughter's flight and erased all of our Airbnb's for the entire trip! 

One of the best ways to earn and redeem those points is by using the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. 


What can you do with 80,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points? 

So many things. 
  • For one, you can use them in the Chase Travel Portal where the Chase Sapphire Reserve makes the points worth 50% more. 
  • You can also transfer them 1:1 to dozens of airlines including United, Jet Blue, Southwest and more. 
  • You can transfer them to Hyatt, Marriott and IHG hotels at 1:1.
  • Through the end of the year, you can use them to erase Airbnb and dining purchases. 



Chase says the value of 80,000 CUR points is $1,200 towards travel. But it could be more if you play your cards right. 

So for the trip to Ireland, I used Chase Ultimate Reward points to cover my daughter's round trip flight which I booked through the Chase travel portal for 30,000 points. 
I erased all of our Airbnb stays at 50% value for 50,000 points and I erased most of our dining with another 30,000 points. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card also comes with a $300 travel credit so we used that to erase parking and a portion of the rental car. 


The other benefit is that you can transfer CUR points from your other credit cards to your Reserve card and then redeem them for 50% more. Woohoo! 

This card also comes with a $100 Global Entry credit, Priority Pass lounge access and FREE Dashpass membership, Instacart+ and $10 Go Puff monthly credit. 

The card does come with a hefty annual fee of $550, but as long as you use the $300 travel credit, Global Entry and lounge access, it will be worth it. 

Couple of important notes about this card. If you already hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you are not eligible to apply for the Reserve card. You can only hold one at a time. However, your spouse, partner or other family member could apply for the Reserve card. You can also only earn the bonus on the Reserve once every four years. 

If you decide to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, please consider using my referral link. 
 

Tuesday, November 29, 2022

Time is Running Out To Apply for the 80,000 Bonus on the Sapphire Reserve

This offer ends December 1st. 

Now this card is offering 80,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. 

This my favorite card by far! 

What can you do with 80,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points? 

So many things. 
  • For one, you can use them in the Chase Travel Portal where the Chase Sapphire Reserve makes the points worth 50% more. 
  • You can also transfer them 1:1 to dozens of airlines including United, Jet Blue, Southwest and more. 
  • You can transfer them to Hyatt, Marriott and IHG hotels at 1:1.
  • Through the end of the year, you can use them to erase Airbnb and dining purchases. 



Chase says the value of 80,000 CUR points is $1,200 towards travel. But it could be more if you play your cards right. 

For my recent trip to Ireland, I used Chase Ultimate Reward points to cover my daughter's round trip flight which I booked through the Chase travel portal for 30,000 points. 
I erased all of our Airbnb stays at 50% value for 50,000 points and I erased most of our dining with another 30,000 points. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card also comes with a $300 travel credit so we used that to erase parking and a portion of the rental car. 


The other benefit is that you can transfer CUR points from your other credit cards to your Reserve card and then redeem them for 50% more. Woohoo! 

This card also comes with a $100 Global Entry credit, Priority Pass lounge access and FREE Dashpass membership, Instacart+ and $10 Go Puff monthly credit. 

The card does come with a hefty annual fee of $550, but as long as you use the $300 travel credit, Global Entry and lounge access, it will be worth it. 

Couple of important notes about this card. If you already hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you are not eligible to apply for the Reserve card. You can only hold one at a time. However, your spouse, partner or other family member could apply for the Reserve card. You can also only earn the bonus on the Reserve once every four years. 

If you decide to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, please consider using my referral link. 
 

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

New $1,000 Bonus Travel Offer On Capital One Venture

 

Great new offer from Capital One! 

Apply for the Capital One Venture credit card and get $250 to use as a travel credit in the Capital One travel portal plus 75,000 points. That's $1,000 in free travel. Wow! The minimum spend is still $4,000 and the annual fee is just $95. 

This offer is equivalent to the Venture X offer, but the annual fee is $300 less. Amazing! 


This is my go to credit card for any purchases that don't earn bonus points on the Chase FREEDOM or Sapphire Reserve credit cards. The Capital One Venture card earns 2x points on all purchases. The beauty of these flexible points is you can transfer points to a dozen different airlines including my new fave FlyingBlue.com, a few hotel chains and of course, you can erase travel purchases. 

The travel credit is only good for travel purchases made in the Capital One Travel portal, but I have found that the portal has improved and is actually quite reliable and easy to use. 


I actually got this card when we were going on a family trip to Costa Rica. By family, I mean extended family trip, you know, like a group of 20 people. The deal was everyone had to pay for their own airfare, but then once in Costa Rica, the trip would be a gift. Pretty sweet! The only other catch is we all had to fly on the same Delta flight. Since I didn't have enough Delta miles for 5 round trip airline tickets, my husband and I each applied for the Capital One Venture card. We charged the plane tickets and everything else to those cards to meet the minimum spend and we ended up getting three of the tickets FREE. 


Now I still like this card, however, I like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards better. Here's why:
  • Capital One every purchase earns 2 points per dollar
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve - most purchases earn 1:1, but dining and travel earn 2:1 and there are categories where you can earn 5:1 if you have Chase FREEDOM, FLEX or INK cards. 
  • Capital One points value are 1:1 when you use them to erase purchases
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred values points at 1:1.25 if you use them in the travel portal or as a statement credit
  • Chase Sapphire Reserve values points at 1:1.5 if you use them in the travel portal or as a statement credit 
  • Capital One and Chase offer 1:1 transfer values to airline miles, but Chase offers way more partner airlines and hotels. 

I still think the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve offer more flexibility than the Capital One.  But if you already have the Sapphire cards or the airline partners on the Capital One list work better for you, this is a great option. 

If you decide to give this one a go, consider using my referral link. You get the same great bonus offer and I get a little something for referring you and can use it to bring you more great ideas on how to travel for Almost FREE. 

If you would like to join my travel coaching program, you can use this link.   I would love to help you and your family travel for almost FREE. Use the promo code FREETRAVEL for $50 off. 




Thursday, February 6, 2020

How To Sign Up For Lyft Pink With Your Chase Sapphire Reserve


One of the new perks of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is a Lyft Pink membership. Why am I excited about Lyft Pink, I'll tell you. But first, let me show you why the Sapphire Reserve is my new favorite travel card. Even though the annual fee just increased from $450 to $550, I'm probably going to hang on to this one. Here's why. 

The Sapphire Reserve comes with the following benefits:
  • Flexibility with Ultimate Reward Points 
  • 1.5 value in the travel portal 
  • $300 travel credit 
  • $100 global entry credit 
  • Priority Pass Lounge membership 
  • FREE Lyft Pink membership
  • FREE Doordash Pass 





I don't know about you, but the 3 FREE bikes and scooter rides per month is pretty fun! If you ride with Lyft often or travel often, 15% off every ride will add to big savings. 

To activate your Lyft Pink membership:
  • Open the payment tab in the Lyft app
  • Tap add card 
  • Enter your Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred credit card information 
  • You will be prompted to start your one-year membership in Lyft Pink 

If you don't have a Sapphire Reserve or Preferred credit card yet, this is my favorite card. Please use my referral link if you decide to go for it. You will get 60,000 Ultimate Reward Points and I will get 10,000 points for referring you. Thank you and keep traveling! 



Friday, May 31, 2024

Why You Should Jump On This Bonus Offer Before It Ends

 


We are hearing that the increased bonus offer for the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit cards is ending "soon." 

Though we don't know exactly when soon is, if you are thinking about jumping on this offer, you should do it sooner rather than later. 

These cards are my favorites because Chase Ultimate Reward points are so flexible. You can transfer points to dozens of different airlines, hotels, use them in the Chase Travel Portal or even pay yourself back though I don't recommend doing this.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards also offer great benefits and should have a primary spot in everyone's wallet and travel strategy. The Sapphire Preferred credit card is also an excellent card for a student once they have built enough credit to qualify. 

Right now, you can earn 75,000 CUR bonus points with a $4,000 minimum spend. The Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee and the Reserve has a $550 annual fee, but the Reserve card also comes with a $300 travel credit, $100 global entry credit, Priority Pass membership and an increased value for the points in the Chase Travel Portal.

I love CUR points because of their flexibility. You can:

  • transfer them to dozens of different airline loyalty programs 
  • transfer them to several hotel chains (Marriott, IHG, Hyatt) 
  • use them to buy hotels, flights, activities and car rentals in the Chase Travel Portal 
  • pay yourself back 
  • get a statement credit 
75,000 points equals $750, however, if you use them in the Chase Travel Portal with your Preferred credit card, you get 25% more value making them worth $1,000. And if you combine the points with your Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, then they will be worth 50% more in the Chase Travel Portal for a whopping total of $1,250. 

If you don't have one of these in your wallet yet, this is the time. If you decide to apply, please consider using my referral link. 

Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Why You Should Apply For This 75,000 Bonus Offer

 


Two of the best credit cards for Chase Ultimate Rewards just increased their bonus offer! Woohoo! 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards offer great benefits and should have a primary spot in everyone's wallet and travel strategy. 

Right now, you can earn 75,000 CUR bonus points with a $4,000 minimum spend. The Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee and the Reserve has a $550 annual fee, but also comes with a $300 travel credit, $100 global entry credit, Priority Pass membership and an increased value for the points in the Chase Travel Portal.

I love CUR points because of their flexibility. You can:

  • transfer them to dozens of different airline loyalty programs 
  • transfer them to several hotel chains (Marriott, IHG, Hyatt) 
  • use them to buy hotels, flights, activities and car rentals in the Chase Travel Portal 
  • pay yourself back 
  • get a statement credit 
75,000 points equals $750, however, if you use them in the Chase Travel Portal with your Preferred credit card, you get 25% more value making them worth $1,000. And if you combine the points with your Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, then they will be worth 50% more in the Chase Travel Portal for a whopping total of $1,250. 




Like this redemption in the Chase Travel Portal through my Chase Sapphire Reserve account, this Hilton in Moorea has rooms at $938 dollars or 62,554 CUR points. 

And if you transfer them to an airline or hotel, the points could be worth even more depending on the specific flight or the number of rewards needed per night.
Plus if you transfer points to IHG and buy three nights, you get a fourth FREE so that could be very lucrative. 

Hyatt hotels usually fall in the sweet spot of redemption value as well.  

You can only hold one of these cards at a time and you can only get the bonus once every 4 years. You can apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve here using my referral link. 

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Why I'm Hanging Onto My Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card


One of our best family trips ever was almost a month in Thailand. This trip really launched us into the world of points and miles. One of the credit cards that was on my bucket list was the Chase Sapphire Reserve. This card carries a hefty $550 fee, but here's why I thought it was worth it and now why it's an even better deal. 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve falls under the 5/24 rule which means you can only be approved for 5 Chase credit cards in 24 months. It earns Chase Ultimate Reward points which are super flexible since you can use them in the Chase Travel Portal or transfer them to dozens of airlines, Marriott, IHG and Hyatt. 

Why I'm Hanging Onto My Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card 

This card comes with
  • a 50,000 point bonus (with a $4,000 min spend in the first three months) which is valued at $750 
  • a $300 travel credit 
  • Doordash membership with a $120 credit ($60 in 2020 and $60 in 2021)
  • 10x points on Lyft rides 
  • Priority Pass Lounge membership. 


After all the benefits, the annual fee is really less than a hundred dollars. Pretty sweet. And if you already have the card and it is coming up for renewal between April 1 and July 1, Chase gave you a $100 credit to offset the new increased annual fee. 

Now Chase announced that the $300 travel credit will be a $300 grocery and gas credit. It will automatically post to your account as you make purchases. Chase also announced that through September, if you want to trade in your points for cash, you will recieve 1.5 times just like if you used them in the travel portal instead of 1:1. 

For the Chase Sapphire Preferred, holders can cash in their points at 1.25:1 same as the value in the travel portal. The Preferred has only a $95 annual fee, but way less perks. 

So if you are looking for a long term card with tons of flexibility, don't get scared off by the hefty annual fee. 

Thursday, July 13, 2023

How To Squeeze More Value Out Of Your CUR Points

 


My favorite flexible travel points are the Chase Ultimate Reward points. I used them to fly our family of five to Europe a few years ago. 
You can transfer them to dozens of airlines and a few hotel chains plus use them in the travel portal or just pay yourself back. 

Right now, the Chase Ink Business Preferred is offering 100,000 bonus points with a $8,000 minimum spend. Wow! That's $1,250 worth of travel. 

The secret here is to have the right mix of Chase cards to max the value out of the points. 

The Chase Ink Business Preferred and the Sapphire Preferred gives you 25% more for your points in the pay yourself back and Chase Travel Portal, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you 50% more. 

How To Squeeze More Value Out Of Your CUR Points 

So here's the secret. Chase allows you to combine your points from one credit card to another. So you can easily move your points from your FREEDOM FLEX or Unlimited card to your Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve to get more value. 



 
  • Click on the earn/use points and you'll see this dashboard. It's expanded a lot since the pandemic started. One of the things I love about Chase is how user friendly the site is. You can see exactly how many points you have, how to use them, and how to earn them. 
  • Click on combine points and you will see the option to move points from one card to another. You can also move points from one family member to another if your family member only has a no fee card or even a Preferred card. 


Chase will ask you how many points you want to move, review your order and bam, instant transfer. 

How To Squeeze More Value Out Of Your CUR Points 

Now you can use those points for travel or to pay yourself back for any qualified purchases you made in the past 90 days. 

If you decide to apply for the Chase FREEDOM FlexSapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Business Ink please consider using my referral link. You get the same bonus and I also get a small bonus for referring you. That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com 

Monday, July 25, 2022

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000

 


Just returned from two weeks in Ireland, amazing! In the photo, you can see my family and I on a five mile hike along the top of the Cliffs of Moher. Fabulous! We also spent time in Dublin, stayed the night in a castle and took the Black Taxicab Tour in Belfast. 

And guess what? The trip from soup to nuts cost approximately $1,000 for all four of us. Yep, that includes flights, hotels, rental car, food and tours. 
I am going to break it down for you step by step so you can see how we did it. 


My goal is to teach everyone how to fly and stay for FREE so travel is accessible for all families. 



My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 


Step1 
The first thing I work on when planning a trip are the flights. Now that may seem so logical to you, but I have met people who book their hotels first. Wrong! 

You have to book the flights first because sometimes in order to get FREE flights, you have to be flexible with your dates/times and even destination. For example, it might be cheaper to fly to Paris and then catch a budget airline over to Dublin than to fly directly. 

For this trip to Ireland, we knew we wanted to leave around the end of June. Aer Lingus is the obvious airline of choice and usually it offers the best points deals. I had earned the 100,000 Avios bonus a few months back and planned to use those points to get us there. 





But when I started searching up flights, the fuel charges were so outrageous, it would have cost me 50,000 points plus $282 for each ticket. That's not FREE. 
So I checked American Airlines, Delta and United, but it was the same problem. Outrageous fuel charges. 
My next step was to look at the travel portals. Both Chase and Capital One offer travel portals where you can use points to "buy" your flights. 
Each portal works a bit differently and you can read about them here. 

After researching both portals, my best option was to book tickets for my husband and myself through the Capital One travel portal and "erase" the purchase with points. Those tickets cost us 55,000 points each, but no fuel charges. My husband had earned the points through the 100,000 bonus points Capital One Venture X credit card offer. Read about my ultimate Capital One Travel Portal hack here! 

And to buy my daughter's flight through the Chase Travel Portal on my Sapphire Reserve account with points. Since the Sapphire Reserve offers 50% bonus on points when you book through the portal, her round trip ticket cost 33,000 points. Read about the what you need to do before you book your flight through the Chase Travel Portal. 
My son was already in Europe. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 


Step 2
Now that we have flights secured, we move onto hotels. I use awardmapper.com to check the areas for hotel chains. I notice there is a Holiday Inn Express Dublin City Centre that has rooms available. I cash in a FREE night certificate for the first night and then book three nights on points. IHG offers buy 3 nights with points and get a 4th night FREE. Now we have the first 5 nights covered for 89,000 points. We had earned those IHG points a few years back with a bonus on the IHG credit card. 
Back to awardmapper.com to check Belfast for hotels and bam, an AC Hotel by Marriott offers rooms for just 21,000 points per night. I'll take two nights there please. 
The rest of the nights, I book on Airbnb.com using my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card which is running a promotion where you can use points to erase Airbnb.com purchases. 
The Capital One Venture X also came with a $300 credit on Airbnb.com so I used that to pay for the night in the castle.  
Now all the hotels are FREE. 


My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 


Step 3
I book the rental car and due to a technical issue at pick up end up paying for it on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card so I'll end up paying for that one. 

Step 4
While on the actual trip, I use the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to pay for all parking and dining. This card comes with a $300 travel credit so as we charge travel, it's erasing the charges. It also earns 3x points on dining and then when I return home, I erase another $700 worth of purchases with the pay myself back program.  Some may argue that you can get more value out of the points by transferring them to an airline, but it all depends on your travel plans. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 


Step 5
I rent my house when I go on vacation and use those funds to pay for the trip too so that covers almost all the rest of the purchases less $1,000. 

Does it take some work and some planning, yep, is it worth it? Family time, memories and a chance to visit a beautiful country. I think so! 

If you want your entire trip to be FREE, you need to plan in advance and I recommend joining me at Families Fly FREE. We have teamed up with my friend and national travel blogger Lyn. She has created a simple system to help families fly free. 




If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :)

If you are thinking about applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, please use my referral link. 

If you are thinking about applying for the Capital One Venture X credit card, please use my referral link.