One thing that I’ve learned from earning and using points is that Chase Ultimate Rewards points are wonderful and go a long way when booking your vacation, but they are not always the best option. Depending on where and when you’re going, sometimes the best option could be transfer Chase points or to even not use points and spend the money.

Most of my vacations are booked using my Chase points, it’s so much fun to go on vacation and having it feel ‘free’. But, what I’ve learned this year is that Chase points are not the end-all-be-all of the points game, sometimes it can be better to use other options. This concept is sort of hard to explain and, truth be told, I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t have a real world example. So below you’ll find two of my real life scenarios for when Chase points were not always the best option.

The moral of the story isn’t that Chase points suck and you shouldn’t use them, but that you should check the math before you book anything!!

Jasper, Canada 

In Jasper, Canada we are staying at Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and luckily I was available to use Chase points with Chase Ultimate Rewards. I always get really excited when I get to use my points and stay at a Fairmont for “free”! However, in this instance, it was actually cost effective (or points effective) to pay for this hotel instead of using my Chase points, and here’s why.

We went to Jasper from October 5 through 8. For those three nights, the price on Chase Ultimate Rewards was $897 but the price on the Fairmont website was $588 ($757 CAD converted to USD). Therefore, I ended up saving almost $300, in points, by booking at Fairmont.com vs using my Chase points. In this instance it was actually more cost effective to use my own money on this hotel vs using points. Because it would have cost me $300 more in points.

Fairmont Website: 

Chase Ultimate Rewards:

Buenos Aires, Argentina 

In Argentina, I stayed at Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt Buenos Aires and it was amazing! The cost per night, for the nights that I’m going to be there, was $410 (yikes!). Now, of course there are cheaper options for hotels and Air BNBs in Buenos Aires but I’m a loyal Hyatt member and this hotel simply looked so amazing and I knew I wanted to stay there. Because of the high cost per night, I had to use my points. What was surprising is that I ended up using my Chase points and not my Hyatt points. A couple things to remember about Hyatt points.

1. Unlike Chase, the points per night are set in stone and not based on the price of the hotel room but rather the category of the hotel. The nicer the hotel, the more points per nights. 
2. You can transfer points from Chase to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio.

Now the real question, why is this important? It’s important when you start paying for your trip. Since Chase points are determined by price and Hyatt points are determined by category you might be able to ‘cheat the system’ and come out with a really good deal!

Since the Hyatt hotel in Buenos Aires is a category 5, 1 night will cost 20,000 (“20K”) in points, always, no matter the time of the year. Chase points are always worth $0.0125, unless you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve then they are worth $0.015. Therefore, doing the math, 20K points with Chase are worth $250 (20,000 * 0.0125). However, if I transfer these 20K Chase points into 20K Hyatt points then they are worth $410, because that’s the average cost of the Hyatt per night for the category 5. By doing this, my points are instantly worth $160, per night, more in points. So I’m getting more bang for my buck.

From my research, the typical rule of thumb is to always transfer Chase points to Hyatt if you’re staying at a Hyatt hotel. In all my calculations, they are worth more. But, do the math anyway just to be safe.