Yet Another Reason Why I LOVE Chase Ultimate Rewards

 

I've used Chase Ultimate Rewards to travel all over the world for FREE. The points came in very handy to erase Airbnb reservations (this promotion ended) and for flights when we visited the Perito Moreno glacier in Patagonia, Argentina. 

I love CUR rewards because they are so flexible. If you don't know where you want to stay or where you will be traveling, then these points are for you. That's because you can transfer them to dozens of different airlines and three hotel chains, Hyatt, IHG and Marriott. 

Sometimes the deal is even better transferring CUR than using the points in the travel portal and sometimes the portal is a better value. 

Yet Another Reason Why I LOVE Chase Ultimate Rewards 

Here is an example that happened just last week. 

I had my eye on the Hyatt in Evanston, Illinois, just outside of Chicago for an upcoming trip. 

The cash price was showing $350 per night, ouch! 

In the Chase Travel Portal, it was showing $320 per night or 48,005 points. I get 50% more value for my points in the portal because I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. The Chase Sapphire Preferred gets 25% more value in the portal.  

But when I checked the Hyatt website, standard rooms are just 12,000 points per night. 

Woohoo! That means by transferring CUR to Hyatt at 1:1 cuts the number of points needed in half and has a value of $740. Nice. 

It's simple to transfer CUR points to dozens of airlines and hotel chains. When you log into your Chase.com account and click on redeem points

Then click on the menu in the top left hand corner and choose transfer to travel partners. 

CUR points transfer immediately to Hyatt and you must transfer in 1,000 point increments. Sometimes Chase will offer a bonus when you transfer. 

You will need to create an account with the EXACT name on your Chase account BEFORE you attempt to transfer the CUR points. 

Once you submit, you cannot get the CUR points back so be certain this is what you want to do. 

When I transferred to Hyatt, the points showed up immediately in my new Hyatt account and I could book the hotel in Evanston. Amazing! 

Yet Another Reason Why I LOVE Chase Ultimate Rewards 

Right now, the Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card is offering a 100,000 CUR bonus with a $8,000 minimum spend. It's a hefty minimum spend, but usually it is set at $15,000 so you might say this minimum spend is a bargain. If you have a big expense coming up or can handle the minimum spend, this bonus can be worth thousands of dollars. 

We are hearing this bonus may end September 23rd. 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

 

I love when I see my rewards summary in my inbox. Now you may look at this Chase Ultimate Rewards summary and say, wait, you only earned 23,363 points in 2023. But let me explain. 

This summary is for my Chase FREEDOM FLEX credit card. It's a no annual fee card with 5x points rotating bonus categories. 

What does that mean? FREE money! Woohoo! 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

I earned those 23,363 points on purchases that I was going to make anyway like gas, groceries, Amazon, Paypal etc. 

But I intentionally used this credit card when Chase offered 5x points on those types of purchases. 

Chase rotates the categories every quarter. This quarter the categories are groceries and gyms. You can activate the offer in your Chase.com account.

The secret here is to earn the points on the Chase FREEDOM FLEX credit card and then transfer those points to your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account to squeeze more value out of them for incredible trips like this one in Chile. 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

The reason is that when you spend the points from your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account, you get 1.25% or 1.5% more when you book travel through the Chase Travel Portal and you can transfer the points to a dozen different airlines and three hotel chains. You can click here to find out how we use Chase points to book insanely cheap nights at Hyatt. 

 

The Chase FREEDOM FLEX is offering a $200 or 20,000 CUR points on $500 minimum spend. This no annual fee card earns 5x points on rotating bonus categories and 5x points on gas and groceries for the first year up to $12,000. Please use my referral link if you decide to apply for this card. 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

If you don't have a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve credit card, you can read about these cards here. They are the key to our success, we love the flexibility of the Chase Ultimate Rewards points for almost FREE travel. 

Again, if you decide to add any of these card to your strategy, please use our referral links and if you would like support with your travel goals, join our Travel Coaching Program. 

90,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Bonus on No Fee Ink Cards - Wow!

Small Business Saturday just passed and in honor of that, let's talk about one of the best offers I've ever seen for the Chase Ink Business credit cards. The two FREE cards are offering 90,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points as a bonus and the $95 annual fee card is offering a whopping 100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points as a bonus. Wowza! 

I'll run down the difference between the cards in a minute, but first, I have to share with you why I love Chase Ultimate Reward points and what you can do with all those bonus points. 

This past summer, I took my family to Ireland, you can check out my blog to read all about this amazing country and people. 

But I used Chase Ultimate Reward points to erase the cost of all of our Airbnb stays during the trip, much of our dining and one plane ticket. I love these points because of how flexible they are. You can transfer them to dozens of airlines, Hyatt, Marriott and IHG. You can erase purchases just like a Capital One card. You can buy travel with them in the Chase Travel Portal. Plus if you have a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card, you can combine your Ink CUR points and get even more value. 

So what's this new offer all about? and which card should you choose? 

The Chase Ink Business Unlimited  - No annual fee! 1.5% cash back or 1.5x points on every purchase. 

The Chase Ink Business Cash  - No annual fee! 5% cash back or 5x points at office supply stores, phone, internet, and cable. This is the card I have had for years! 2% or 2x points at gas stations and restaurants and 1% or 1x points at everything else. 

The Chase Ink Business Preferred  - $95 annual fee. 3% cash back or 3x points on shipping, advertising on social media sites, internet, cable and phone services and travel. 1% or 1x points on everything else. 

Look at the types of purchases your business makes to determine which credit card makes sense for you to leverage your spending for maximum points. And remember, your "business" doesn't have to be a Fortune 500 company. A business can easily be selling items on Etsy or Ebay, freelance services, property management, vacation rentals and more. 

You can hold all of these INK cards at the same time, but you can't get the bonus on any of these cards more than once every 24 months. 

And you can transfer your the CUR points from your INK account to your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card and bam, almostFREEfamilytravel. 

Amazing! 

Please consider using our referral ink if you apply for any of these credit cards. Thank you for your support. 

Unlocking the #1 Hyatt Points Sweet Spot

 

You already know how much I love flexible points like Chase Ultimate Reward points and Capital One points. You can use them in the portal, transfer them to dozens of airlines and hotel chains or just use them for a statement credit. 

One of the sweet spots is transferring Chase Ultimate Reward points to Hyatt. I wrote about an awesome redemption in Chicago last year, but here we go again. 

I was looking at Hyatt Place in Raleigh Durham and found one for just 5,000 points per night. Check out the cash price of $280 per night. Can you believe it? I couldn't. Now I didn't have any Hyatt points, but I had Chase Ultimate Reward points. 

Unlocking the #1 Hyatt Points Sweet Spot

So I transferred 20,000 CUR points to Hyatt. The transfer happened almost instantly. And then I could book four nights in the hotel at 5,000 points per night. 20,000 points = $1,140. Amazing! Remember, once you transfer the points, you cannot transfer them back to Chase, but you can cancel the reservation and the points will be returned to your account, in this case, to my Hyatt account. 

There are quite a few ways to earn CUR points, but the easiest is to open a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve credit card. The Chase FREEDOM UNLIMITED OR FLEX are no annual fee cards that are great to pair with the Sapphire cards. 

This is just one of the reasons why I love flex points like Capital One and Chase. 

If this interests you, but seems confusing, let me help you. Enroll in my travel coaching program. We will explore your travel goals, review your credit cards and make a plan. Then you can join our monthly live coaching sessions for more support. 

Find Out If You Qualify for a Business Credit Card!

 

Chase just dropped the minimum spend for the Ink Business Preferred credit card to $8,000 in the first three months. This sounds high, but it is half of what it was at $15,000. So for business owners, this could be an easy 100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points. You can read here about why I love these flexible points and how I use them for FREE travel. 

Do I Qualify For A Business Credit Card?

So the question is what qualifies as a business? You might be surprised. 

Obviously a business with lots of employees qualifies, but what about small businesses? 

Actually, most small side businesses can qualify. If you freelance, sell things on Etsy or Ebay, tutor, babysit, consult, blog, those all qualify for businesses. 

Plus Chase does not care if you use the credit card for personal or business expenses.

Do I Qualify For A Business Credit Card?

You can apply for a business credit card with an EIN number OR if you are a sole proprietor, then you can enter your social security number as your tax ID number. You do not need to become an LLC or Corporation. 

But you will need a credit score between 670-850. 

A few tips when filling out the application:

1. if you are a sole proprietor, your business name is your name. 

2. your business address can be your home address

3. type of business - Corporation, LLC or sole proprietorship

4. tax ID number - an EIN number if you have it, otherwise, use your social security number

5. annual business revenue - how much does your company make in a year

6. age of business - how long have you been in business

7. number of employees - you count as one employee

Do I Qualify For A Business Credit Card?

You can hold more than one Chase Ink credit card at a time so even if you already have one, you can still apply. 

This offer is for the Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card with an annual fee of $95. It comes with a few perks including 3x points on shipping, travel, advertising on social media and search engines and internet, cable and phone. CUR points are worth 25% more in the Chase travel portal so it's still better to combine points to your Chase Sapphire Reserve. 

What are 100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points worth? Approximately $1,250 in the Chase Travel Portal and possibly much more if you transfer the points to an airline or hotel. You can learn more about the value of Chase Ultimate Reward points here. 

If you decide to apply for the Chase Ink Business Preferred, consider applying through my referral link here. You get the same great offer and I get a small bonus for referring you. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

You could say that I am so ready to travel that the next year is going to be awesome or a bit crazy. 

Days after the world started to shut down back in March 2020, my family of 5 were supposed to leave on an epic adventure to Santiago, Chile, surf near Vina Del Mar, hike the glacier in El Calafate Argentina and tango in Buenos Aires.

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

The entire 2.5 week trip was free. The flights, most of the very inexpensive airbnb’s, the car rental, even the hike on the glacier. Yep, all booked with points, miles or erased with our Capital One Venture card. 

And poof, in a matter of days, instead of us going on an epic adventure, my daughter who was studying in Chile came home and finished her semester abroad in our living room. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

Two years later, it’s time to resurrect the trip. So the question, things have changed, the world has changed, airline alliances have changed, so could we do it again! 
The answer is yes. And I'm going to show you how I did it. Hint, it has to do with Marriott Bonvoy points. 

One of my big secrets to flying a family of 5 is to fly when no one else wants to. Think overnight flights. Think holidays. The biggest holiday Christmas. Yep, no one wants to fly on Christmas Day except us. So the deals are there to be had. 

I was able to score 5 one way tickets with points from Los Angeles to Santiago, Chile without too much trouble. For 25,000 American Airlines points each, all of us on the same flight booked directly on the American Airlines website. Very straightforward. I had collected more than enough American miles to buy these tickets. No problem. 

You may be thinking to yourself that scoring one way tickets is silly. You may be right. I am betting on the fact that I can find a return for five people with points. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

Now my second tip about flying over the holidays. Even though no one wants to fly on Christmas Day, they sure want to fly over the holidays. So you need to be ready. Flights open approximately 330 days in advance. You want to be ready to book with your points in hand when that happens. You can actually watch the calendar advance day by day on the website so you will know exactly when the flights will open. 
The hardest part is to figure out exactly how many points you will need. That's why I love flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards just in case I need to top off a few more points. 

How I Just Got Five FREE Flights To South America

For this trip, I checked American return flights and they were outrageous, more than 90,000 miles per ticket. I started looking at other airlines and it turned out that Delta seemed to offering return trips from Buenos Aires for 25,000 miles each as consistently as the days were being released. So I decided to go for it. 

Now I didn't have very many Delta Airlines miles, but I had a lot of Marriott Bonvoy points. Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to dozens of different airlines at 3:1 and for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points you transfer, you get an additional 5,000 airline miles. So for every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, you get 25,000 airline miles. Follow me?

With the devaluation approaching this past March, I decided to cash in. For 5 return flights from Buenos Aires, I would need 300,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. Once I transferred these points to Delta Airlines, it would total 125,000 Delta miles enough for all the flights. You can check out a video that shows you exactly how to transfer the points here. I do recommend doing the transfer in 60,000 point increments and the names on both accounts need to match exactly. 

Allow up to 2 weeks for the points to transfer, but in my experience, it only takes a few days unless there is a problem. 

Once the points settle into your account and the flights open up, bam! It's that easy. 

If you do not have any Marriott Bonvoy points, there is a new 100,000 bonus offer available with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant. It has a $5,000 minimum spend and a $450 annual fee. BUT it also has a $300 Marriott credit, $100 Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit and Priority Pass Lounge Membership. If you decide to apply for this card, please consider using my referral link. 

By the way, AlmostFREEFamilyTravel has teamed up with Families Fly FREE to bring more value to you. If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :) I'll be sharing testimonials from some happy members and I'll let you know when I'll be offering webinars. 

Time To Activate Your Q2 Chase Bonus Categories

 

So it's that time, time to activate your Chase Bonus categories for the second quarter. Several Chase credit cards offer rotating bonus categories. They are Chase Freedom (no longer available) and the Chase Freedom Flex. You can register from March 15th - June 14th. The 5x bonus is retroactive, but I recommend registering your cards now. If you have both cards, register both and you can earn the bonus twice. 

Q2 Bonus Categories

This quarter the bonus is for gas and home improvement purchases. It is 5x points per dollar so you can rack extra Chase Ultimate Reward points pretty quickly. 

The bonus maxes out at $1,500, but that's a lot of gas. 

If you are planning a bit of road tripping for Spring Break, why not earn some bonus points while you are at it. 

Why I love Chase Ultimate Reward Points

Chase Ultimate Reward points are one of my favorites due to their flexibility. You can transfer them to more than a dozen different airlines and three hotel chains. You can also use the points in the Chase travel portal if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card. Chase is also still offering the pay yourself back feature so you can cash your points out. If you do that, your points increase in value to 1:1.25 or 1:1.5. Pretty sweet! 

If you don't have the FREEDOM FLEX card yet, you can get a $200 bonus when you reach the $500 minimum spend. This card has no annual fee and earns 5% cash back on the rotating categories plus 5% back on travel purchased in the Chase Travel Portal, 3% on drugstore and dining and 1% everywhere else. Please consider using my referral link if you decide to apply for this card. 

On my way to a Southwest Companion Pass!

I opened email the other day to see that I had been approved for the Chase Marriott Premier credit card. I jumped for joy! Not because I love Marriott or have some destination in mind, but because the 80,000 bonus points that come with this card will put me very close to earning a Southwest companion pass for next year and the year after.
Since my daughter will be going to college next year, this will help us afford the multiple trips we will need to make across the country.
You may be scratching your head asking how do Marriott points earn you a Southwest companion pass? 
And why did you doubt you would be approved?
First, Chase has recently changed their authorization policy so if you have opened 5 credit cards with any bank in the last 24 months, Chase is denying you for new cards. This changes the game for a lot of people who collect points and miles. Chase has a lot of cards so this puts a serious dent in the hobby.
But I was approved, hooray.
Now how does this help me get a companion pass. This is a bit tricky, but definitely worthwhile because the Southwest companion pass is one of the most valuable out there.
The pass allows you to take a companion along for FREE anywhere Southwest flies. Think of it as a buy 1, get 1 FREE pass.
Awesome!
So I have enjoyed having this pass for the past year and this current year. I was able to earn the pass by opening several Southwest credit cards each with a bonus of 50,000 points. This is by far the easiest way to earn the pass. However, you can only open these cards every 24 months so to earn the pass again, I needed to find a new way.

Here's what I found. I opened 2 Marriott Premier cards, one personal and one business card. My husband also opened a Marriott card. Each card comes with 80,000 points plus 7,500 for authorized users. The business card only came with 70,000 points and no authorized user unfortunately. Now here's the interesting part. Marriott offers flight/hotel packages in its reward program. One of the packages is for Southwest points plus a week at a Marriott hotel category 1-5. You need 270,000 Marriott points to buy that package.
With my points and my husband's points and a bit of spend on my Marriott card, we should have enough points to buy the package.
And when the Southwest points hit my account, I will earn the companion pass. BAM!
This takes some work and some planning so the points hit your account in January, but the reward is the companion pass for the next 2 years. And in my book, that is definitely worth a bit of work.

Time To Activate Your Chase Bonus Categories

 

Time to activate those Chase bonus categories for your FREEDOM (no longer available) and FREEDOM FLEX credit cards. These are rotating 5x points bonus categories every quarter. For Q3 this year, Chase is making grocery stores and select streaming services worth 5x points instead of the usual 1x points. 

Time To Activate Your Chase Bonus Categories 

You must activate your card first and then make that card your go to for grocery purchases for the next three months and rack up the points. 

You can earn points up to $1,500 in combined purchases. 

Keep in mind that grocery does NOT include Target and Walmart. 

Select streaming services includes:

• Disney+
• Hulu
• ESPN+
• Netflix
• Sling
• Vudu
• Fubo TV
• Apple Music
• SiriusXM
• Pandora
• Spotify
• YouTube TV

I will actually mark each card with the bonus categories for that time period so I remember. You can also keep a running list somewhere. 

Why I love Chase Ultimate Reward Points 

The points add up quickly and Chase Ultimate Reward points are my current fave since they are so versatile and flexible. You can transfer them to dozens of hotels and airlines or just use the pay yourself back tool for cashback or use the travel portal to book flights. So many options and if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, your points are worth more than 1:1. 

If you do not have the Chase FREEDOM FLEX card, consider using my referral link for a $200 bonus offer. 

How You Can Use Capital One Points To Erase Travel Purchases

 

Oh yes, the island of Moorea in French Polynesia is the picture of that perfect vacation. And what makes it even better is when you pay with points and it's almost FREE. 

If you would pay cash for this vacation, it would really put a dent in your wallet. 

Hopefully you have been following along as I walk through using points and miles for our family of 5 to spend a few weeks in French Polynesia. 

How You Can Use Capital One Points To Erase Travel Purchases 

First we secured flights for FREE for all five of us, then we secured the over the water bungalow and garden room. Next, we worked on the airbnb.com and tours. 

Now, we paid for the rental car using points. 

And this time, I used one of my favorite tricks. The travel eraser by Capital One. 

Some will say this is not the best use of your points since it really is a statement credit. But I believe that the value of points and miles is in the eye of the beholder and if I can get a $1,300 charge for the rental car down to $0, then it's worth it to me. 

How You Can Use Capital One Points To Erase Travel Purchases 

And the best part is that I never even paid for this purchase. Keep reading and I'll show you this trick. 

So we are assuming that you have already earned the bonus on the Capital One Venture or Venture X or Venture X Business cards and the points are in your account. You can access them by logging into your Capitalone.com online account and clicking on view rewards. 

If you scroll down, you will see "cover travel purchases." If you click there, you will see your travel purchases for the past 90 days that are eligible to be erased. It is a 1:1 value. 

You can choose to erase the entire purchase or just a portion. It can take a few days for the credit to post to your statement. If you can time the credit after the purchase and before the statement closes, you actually never pay for the purchase at all.

How You Can Use Capital One Points To Erase Travel Purchases 

If you look below, I made the purchase for the rental car on Feb. 2nd and then erased it on Feb. 4th and the credit posted on Feb. 6th. The statement closed on Feb. 8th with a balance minus the credit. 😊

Since I thought I would pay for the rental car closer to the actual trip, I had used some of my points to erase ferry tickets. But to get a $950 discount on the rental car, it's worth it. 

This is just one of the reasons why I love flex points like Capital One and Chase. 

If this interests you, but seems confusing, let me help you. Enroll in my travel coaching program. We will explore your travel goals, review your credit cards and make a plan. Then you can join our monthly live coaching sessions for more support. 

5 Reasons Why You Might Want To Visit Tahiti Instead Of Hawaii

Crystal clear water, colorful fish, over the water bungalows, lots of seafood, yep, Tahiti is gorgeous. And I'll let you in on a secret. I actually liked it better than Hawaii. Yep, I said it. 

And if you want to take a big trip next summer, now is the time to plan. 

Did you have FOMO watching your friends post photos from Hawaii, well, starting planning now for next summer and you can vacation in an even better location for almost FREE. 

First, let me tell you why I like Tahiti more than Hawaii. 

5 Reasons Why You Might Want To Visit Tahiti Instead Of Hawaii

#5 International Travel - this can be both a pro and a con. But for me, I love to travel internationally, it's really my jam. Tahiti is located in French Polynesia which is a French territory. What that means is that yes, you will need a passport and Global Entry is helpful, but it also means French wine, French cheese and fresh baguettes. Yum! It also means you can practice your French. For some, just leaving the country is a con, but this may be an easy way to start travelling internationally. It's safe, easy to navigate, direct flight from the West Coast, simple to use points and miles to snag flights, the people are friendly and helpful, English is used everywhere, credit cards are accepted almost everywhere and you can rent a car and driving here is also easy. Picture one road around the island. Easy! 

#4 Easy to use points and miles for flights and hotels - It takes a lot of points and miles to travel to Hawaii and Tahiti for almost FREE, but both are doable. I think there is actually more availability on flights to Tahiti just because it is less popular and less crowded. You can read here about how I used points and miles to save $15,000 on our family trip to Tahiti and Moorea. There are also inexpensive food trucks with huge portions on Tahiti and on Moorea, you can find local "Snack" restaurants with fresh fish for about what you would pay in the US. There are also grocery stores on both islands. For our family of 5, all of the meals we ate out cost about $20-$25 per person including one alcoholic drink. 

#3 Over the water bungalows - This is the bucket list dream for a lot of people and you can do this in Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora. And the best part is that you can use points and miles to pay for it, woohoo! We stayed at the Sofitel Resort on Moorea using Chase Ultimate Rewards and it was fantastic. Our stay included breakfast always a plus. Because we are family of 5 and the over the water bungalows allow a max of 3 people, we also booked a garden room. Booked both rooms on points and miles and shhhh, we all stayed in the OWB bungalow. 

The OWB bungalows are everything you think they are going to be

• Lounge chairs sitting on the deck over crystal blue water. 
• A ladder connected to your personal deck so you can snorkel and swim right off your bungalow. 
• Rays and colorful fish swimming below. 

Other hotels with OWB include The Hilton Moorea, Manava Resort in Moorea, Intercontinental in Tahiti and the St. Regis, Four Seasons and The Conrad in Bora Bora. 

#2 Rays, Sharks, Turtles and colorful fish - Yes, in Hawaii, you can see rays, turtles, sharks and colorful fish, but in Tahiti, I would argue that there are just more and the water is so crystal clear, you can see everything with your naked eye. The water is also warm and the islands are surrounded by reefs so the water is very calm and great for kids. My favorite tour was a 6 hour Sharks and Rays Lagoon Tour With Lunch by Moorea Miti tours. The tour includes a cooking lesson to learn how to make Poison Cru with real salt water and fresh coconut. You can book this through our partner Viator. 

 5 Reasons Why You Might Want To Visit Tahiti Instead Of Hawaii

#1 Stunning scenery and crystal blue waters - Besides the wildlife, the scenery is stunning just like in Hawaii, but it's not crowded and more accessible. You can drive to the black sand beaches, waterfalls, scenic views and mountain hikes. To me, Tahiti felt like what Hawaii was probably like fifty years ago. Very local, very calm and tranquil. Though there are tours and hotels, it's just not crowded. There are very few lines and nothing seemed sold out. 

If you would like help planning your Tahiti adventure or using points and miles to take this bucket list vacation, check out our website for travel advising and our new Travel Coaching Program. We would love to help you and your family make memories!