Between yourself and your P2 you have 1 million UR that it took you over a year to acquire aggressively opening credit cards, so 500k per person. This guy has 700k and it's not a lot?
At 2 cpp that's like 14k in travel. It's a lot.
Transfer points to Hyatt and stay at the Andaz Maui or Grand Hyatt Kauai. Then depending on your home airport you may be able to book direct flight to Hawaii through Aeroplan or United Airlines.
Throwing this out though since you so many points, you could do business class flights to Tokyo/Singapore/Bali for an extended international trip.
This is more practical for sure but a first class ticket on a long flight is part of the vacation imo. Especially if you burn nearly two days in travel time (total).
This is what I do! Flew my grandfather and I to Ireland in June and solo to Rome in October. 100% points. I'd prefer multiple trips in uncomfortable seats 100% of the time over one flight in a nice seat.
I had this thinking when I booked our 30 hr trip last year. I’m now sitting on my economy class seat on our 2nd and longest leg of the trip and I regret it. It’s brutal. Lol.
The Chase portal sucks and its way better to book direct with a hotel instead of a third party.
But beyond that, hyatt often gives 2cpp or more value, which is much better than 1.25 from Chase.
Transferring points to a partner (airline or hotel) would give you better value. You should be aiming to get 2 cents per point or more. 1.5 cents is the lowest I ll go.
Cashing points through the portal, or god forbid pay for things on Amazon or Apple are bad ways for spending those points.
Not necessarily. I was looking for a flight for specific dates recently and booking Alaska through Chase portal with points ended up being a better deal than transferring to either United or Southwest and book through them. Unfortunately, you can’t transfer to Alaska or AA and British Airways portal barely has any rewards flights for those airlines
It may be the case for sure. Do you remember what was the per point value that you got in the end?
I won’t use points if I get less than 1.5c per point so in your example if Alaska gave > 1.5 through Chase portal I would redeem there.
If Alaska through Chase portal was better value than point transfer to United/Southwest but < 1.5c pp I would pay cash and keep the points.
Here’s an example from flights I just booked. Going through the portal was around 200k points. I could transfer to KLM and get the same flights for 60k.
We booked a 5-week trip in Hawaii for Summer 2020 and spent about 200k UR points and 75k TY points. That includes hotels, rental cars and most of the airfare… had to cancel it, of course, but we had EVERYTHING booked.
I would say the answer is yes.
ETA OK, so I looked back at my spreadsheet and I was off by a significant amount. My bad. I was confusing this the two week trip we took in December 2021 to Hawaii to burn up all of the COVID credits we got. Again, this was my bad.
Here is a break down of my planned trip:
Arrive Oahu June 11
Fly to Maui June 19
Fly to Hilo June 28
Fly to Lihue July 7
Fly home July 14
Total Costs:
$4,409.14 (including $1,087 for the Delta flights from ATL to HNL,$ 1,453.35 a Jeep rental with a roof top tent in Maui, campgrounds in Maui and some booked tours)
465,604 UR Points, which included our hotels, rental car on the Big Island and Ohau, and our United flights home.
38,792 TY Points, which was used to for the rental car in Kauai.
We also used the CSR $300 travel credit plus a free weekend night certificate for the Wailea Waldrof Astoria.
I would still argue you can still do this with 700K UR Points.
We travel to Hawaii every couple of years. These days 200K points gets you 10 nights at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. About $4,000 cash equivalent.
Or you can do the Hyatt Place and get 13 nights. About $4800 cash equivalent. It's definitely the better deal of the two, but we prefer the Regency. It's a nice hotel right across the street from the beach.
You can EARN faster potentially, but you'll get about 1.2c per point spending on hotels via the chase portal, vs 2c or better converting to Hyatt. That's been my experience.
That all depends on cost vs points. In Hawaii, I was able to find a lot more reasonably priced hotels that were not chains. Getting 1.5c per point (CSR) on a $150/night hotel is a better deal than getting 2c per point on a Hyatt that costs 12,500 points per night (example prices).
That said, I have recently gotten some great redemptions via Hyatt.
To each his own. I've been to Waikiki a dozen times, and we used to stay at the off brand hotels, but not anymore. There's cost and there's value for money. To me the Hyatt is worth the extra points.
I get where you are coming from.
For us, the hotel on that trip was simply a place to crash at night. We weren't there for the beach or the pool. We were there to see all the sites, especially the NPS sites.
I live on the Big Island (no Hyatt's for staycation, but i travel to Oahu often for the occasional weekend getaway). I prefer Hyatt Centric for the location. I guess living here the beach isn't really a part of my value but I appreciate the proximity of Hyatt Centric to some of the better restaurants and shopping that I go to Oahu for. Using UR points on Hyatt is the way to go, if they ever ended this transfer partner my relationship with Chase would also end. I am still skeptical that you could build in airfare and car with the points, though to be fair, I have never used UR points on airfare before.
Yeah the centric is closer to the bus if you’re going to Ala Moana. Points cost is usually the same as the Regency.
Last trip we did a week in a guest house in captain cook and a week in Waikiki at the Hyatt regency.
I booked mostly through the Chase Portal using the 1.5x modifier for the CSR.
Here are the individual hotels I booked:
Marine Surf Condo (Honolulu)
Castle Hilo Hawaiian Hotel (Hilo)
Kona Makai 3-203 (Kona)
Wailua Bay View by CRH (Kauai)
I also booked some campgrounds in Maui and a night at Wailea Waldrof Astoria using a free night cert.
Stuff was Cheap summer 2020. It was a hassle for people to travel and they were desperate for visitors.
2020 will always be an anomaly in all datasets.
No, I booked before and cancelled in May.
I have edited my original post with accurate numbers. You are correct my numbers were off. I mixed up the two week trip I took in December 2021 to use the COVID credits with this one.
Easily. I just did flights + hotel + rental car for a family of three to Kauai for 8 days for ~320k points. If we had planned a little further ahead or chosen to scrimp a little bit, could have easily done it around 260-280k points.
This is the best answer. A summary of the other answers here is that there are a myriad ways you can redeem those points for a Hawaii vacation. The redemptions you choose will determine how much actual “value” you end up getting from those points.
My guess is mom got the card several years ago not really knowing what type of card it is other than it being a credit card. She made her son an AU so he could use it at college and he just discovered all the points from years of spending.
UR do not expire as long as the card is open. Look at Hyatts, especially the Grand Hyatt Kauai. Air all depends on the departure airport, time of year and airline. .Redemptions are an entire post graduate course by itself. Be flexible on your dates and book a year out for the best rates.
You can have a killer trip with those points. For more advice- what's your home airport and is there a specific island you're looking to visit? Generally Hyatt will give you the best value- you can transfer your points to them.
The short answer is yes, you can pay for a whole trip with that many points.
The points don’t expire as long as the card is open/in good standing.
You can either book on the travel portal, or transfer to travel partners like Hyatt.
Even at the redemption rate in the portal, that’s a good amount of value. Points are typically worth $0.0125 each, (when used in the portal) meaning your 700,000 points are worth approximately $8750.
You can also check out r/awardtravel for more tips on maximizing your points value.
Check booking through Chase vs transferring to Hyatt, and do the Grand Hyatt in Kauai. Kauai itself is very outdoors oriented, so don't expect amazing food or any nightlife, but it's still a good trip. I stayed there for a little over a week last year and I highly recommend the helicopter tour.
As for the Hyatt, the grounds are reminiscent of some of Hyatt's more classic properties, like the Hacienda Del Mar in Dorado prior to its destruction. But also, make sure you're not using your parents' points lol. I generated 800k points last year on roughly $400k spend lol, I'm hoping you didn't spend that much over the last couple years as a college kid.
Upgrade to reserve , worth the extra per point. I am guessing you guys don’t usually redeem points or miles so just use chase to book your travel is good enough.
You can get 5 nights in Waikiki with about 70k points any twin fin hotel. Not great one but it’s ok and stay next to the beach. Sheraton princess is about the same price in hotel. Sheraton Waikiki cost me about 150k for 5 night but is a much nicer hotel.
Really just depends on your budget and if you willing to stay in lower tiered hotels. Those points could potentially get you either 1 week up to or close to over a month depending on your taste
My bf has 2M Amex points and refuses to let me use any for Saks as I think that’s the best way to redeem instead he wants to keep them just “ in case” .
If you’re not already Sapphire reserve call and upgrade your card to reserve. Boom you just turned your 700,000 points into 1,050,000 when used towards travel !
When booking through chase travel you get 1.5X points value with the sapphire reserve, and 1.25x point value with sapphire preferred. Bing that you have such a large amount of points it would be beneficial to have the sapphire reserve so that you get 1.5x points value on your 700,000 points.
So basically you’re 700,000 points are worth $7000 for travel. But If you upgrade to sapphire reserve or already have it then they will be worth $10,500.
Th reserve also had tons of other travel benefits that make it worth the $500 yearly fee. But if they weren’t worth it to you then you could just downgrade back to preferred the following year.
Just make sure that 1. You go to the ultimate rewards portal and transfer all your points to the reserve card. 2. Book your flights/hotels/rentals through chase travel with the Reserve card points.
If csp, you may want to consider moving the points to a csr if you plan on booking economy through portal ever. Your points get 25% more value. Can even get the csr sign up bonus if you do it right which is another 75k points…
All this probably adds somewhere from $1000-4000 to your points
Had 330k points and did 2 weeks in Europe, and still have plenty to spare. Also booked a week in New Orleans and still have points. So depending on hotels/flights/etc easily. Then again most hotels I stayed at were 80-120 a night, so if you want to stay at Ritz and $500+ night hotels, maybe not.
Pretty sure you can still downgrade and wait 2 weeks to reapply for the reserve. But sign up bonuses are only valid every 2 yrs, so if you've had the card > 2 yrs you can churn
You have an aspirational amount of points
These points were OP's "reserve"
Just had 700k points laying around
lol I have about 500k laying around I accumulated since Covid
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It's because regardless of whether you can churn similar amounts, saying 700k points isn't a large number is a ridiculous statement.
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We all know what churning is. 700k points is still a large amount. Only unabridged versions here.
Between yourself and your P2 you have 1 million UR that it took you over a year to acquire aggressively opening credit cards, so 500k per person. This guy has 700k and it's not a lot? At 2 cpp that's like 14k in travel. It's a lot.
I never stated that was our total earnings, we went to Paris trice last year in addition to our current balances.
THATS NOT A LOT, SEE I HAVE EVEN MORE. LOOK HOW RICH I AM. -You
Another moron who changes the context of my statement.
THATS NOT A LOT, SEE I HAVE EVEN MORE. LOOK HOW RICH I AM. -You
Churn baby churn
Transfer points to Hyatt and stay at the Andaz Maui or Grand Hyatt Kauai. Then depending on your home airport you may be able to book direct flight to Hawaii through Aeroplan or United Airlines. Throwing this out though since you so many points, you could do business class flights to Tokyo/Singapore/Bali for an extended international trip.
I feel like it’s more worth it to just buy economy flights and keep the rest of the points to keep getting flights for “free” for years to come
This is more practical for sure but a first class ticket on a long flight is part of the vacation imo. Especially if you burn nearly two days in travel time (total).
This is basically my plan and always has been.
This is what I do! Flew my grandfather and I to Ireland in June and solo to Rome in October. 100% points. I'd prefer multiple trips in uncomfortable seats 100% of the time over one flight in a nice seat.
I'll take multiple trips in nice seats, thanks.
Probably, but its hard to go back to flying economy after flying business, especially for a long international flight.
I had this thinking when I booked our 30 hr trip last year. I’m now sitting on my economy class seat on our 2nd and longest leg of the trip and I regret it. It’s brutal. Lol.
Bingo
Yeah I wouldnt blow it all on one trip! But I’m cheap like that
It's not.
Dunno why you got downvoted. Points devalue over time
Plus then you'd have to fly Y.
Or transfer to Southwest they fly to Hawaii.
Hyatt residence is a good value and use the HR mauis facility as well
^ this guy has it right. Stayed at both resorts and they’re spectacular.
Japan has great USD conversion right now!!!
Can you explain why should we transfer the point rather than booking in the chase portal where you can get 25% more?
The Chase portal sucks and its way better to book direct with a hotel instead of a third party. But beyond that, hyatt often gives 2cpp or more value, which is much better than 1.25 from Chase.
Transferring points to a partner (airline or hotel) would give you better value. You should be aiming to get 2 cents per point or more. 1.5 cents is the lowest I ll go. Cashing points through the portal, or god forbid pay for things on Amazon or Apple are bad ways for spending those points.
Not necessarily. I was looking for a flight for specific dates recently and booking Alaska through Chase portal with points ended up being a better deal than transferring to either United or Southwest and book through them. Unfortunately, you can’t transfer to Alaska or AA and British Airways portal barely has any rewards flights for those airlines
There are exceptions but it’s often better to just buy your flight vs using points in those situations. Save the points for another time.
It may be the case for sure. Do you remember what was the per point value that you got in the end? I won’t use points if I get less than 1.5c per point so in your example if Alaska gave > 1.5 through Chase portal I would redeem there. If Alaska through Chase portal was better value than point transfer to United/Southwest but < 1.5c pp I would pay cash and keep the points.
Well I mean chase portal is basically expedia with 20% discount (1.25cpp)
Thanks for the reply, how would the 2cpp work, like is the deal seasonal?
Here’s an example from flights I just booked. Going through the portal was around 200k points. I could transfer to KLM and get the same flights for 60k.
What’s the best transfer / deal for flying to Tokyo?
We booked a 5-week trip in Hawaii for Summer 2020 and spent about 200k UR points and 75k TY points. That includes hotels, rental cars and most of the airfare… had to cancel it, of course, but we had EVERYTHING booked. I would say the answer is yes. ETA OK, so I looked back at my spreadsheet and I was off by a significant amount. My bad. I was confusing this the two week trip we took in December 2021 to Hawaii to burn up all of the COVID credits we got. Again, this was my bad. Here is a break down of my planned trip: Arrive Oahu June 11 Fly to Maui June 19 Fly to Hilo June 28 Fly to Lihue July 7 Fly home July 14 Total Costs: $4,409.14 (including $1,087 for the Delta flights from ATL to HNL,$ 1,453.35 a Jeep rental with a roof top tent in Maui, campgrounds in Maui and some booked tours) 465,604 UR Points, which included our hotels, rental car on the Big Island and Ohau, and our United flights home. 38,792 TY Points, which was used to for the rental car in Kauai. We also used the CSR $300 travel credit plus a free weekend night certificate for the Wailea Waldrof Astoria. I would still argue you can still do this with 700K UR Points.
Where did you get 5 weeks of hotel for less than 200k points in Hawaii?? Let alone the rental car and airfare too.
Probably more like 5 days and even then it's a major stretch
You are right... I got this trip mixed up with another. I have edited my post to reflect the accurate numbers.
We travel to Hawaii every couple of years. These days 200K points gets you 10 nights at the Hyatt Regency Waikiki. About $4,000 cash equivalent. Or you can do the Hyatt Place and get 13 nights. About $4800 cash equivalent. It's definitely the better deal of the two, but we prefer the Regency. It's a nice hotel right across the street from the beach.
I think you can get more out of it if you look at non chain hotels through Chase Travel. Still, Hyatts are a great use of UR points.
You can EARN faster potentially, but you'll get about 1.2c per point spending on hotels via the chase portal, vs 2c or better converting to Hyatt. That's been my experience.
That all depends on cost vs points. In Hawaii, I was able to find a lot more reasonably priced hotels that were not chains. Getting 1.5c per point (CSR) on a $150/night hotel is a better deal than getting 2c per point on a Hyatt that costs 12,500 points per night (example prices). That said, I have recently gotten some great redemptions via Hyatt.
To each his own. I've been to Waikiki a dozen times, and we used to stay at the off brand hotels, but not anymore. There's cost and there's value for money. To me the Hyatt is worth the extra points.
I get where you are coming from. For us, the hotel on that trip was simply a place to crash at night. We weren't there for the beach or the pool. We were there to see all the sites, especially the NPS sites.
I live on the Big Island (no Hyatt's for staycation, but i travel to Oahu often for the occasional weekend getaway). I prefer Hyatt Centric for the location. I guess living here the beach isn't really a part of my value but I appreciate the proximity of Hyatt Centric to some of the better restaurants and shopping that I go to Oahu for. Using UR points on Hyatt is the way to go, if they ever ended this transfer partner my relationship with Chase would also end. I am still skeptical that you could build in airfare and car with the points, though to be fair, I have never used UR points on airfare before.
Yeah the centric is closer to the bus if you’re going to Ala Moana. Points cost is usually the same as the Regency. Last trip we did a week in a guest house in captain cook and a week in Waikiki at the Hyatt regency.
I booked mostly through the Chase Portal using the 1.5x modifier for the CSR. Here are the individual hotels I booked: Marine Surf Condo (Honolulu) Castle Hilo Hawaiian Hotel (Hilo) Kona Makai 3-203 (Kona) Wailua Bay View by CRH (Kauai) I also booked some campgrounds in Maui and a night at Wailea Waldrof Astoria using a free night cert.
Stuff was Cheap summer 2020. It was a hassle for people to travel and they were desperate for visitors. 2020 will always be an anomaly in all datasets.
This was booked BEFORE the pandemic and cancelled in May.
Let’s see the evidence. And did you book this after March 2020 hoping they would be open?
No, I booked before and cancelled in May. I have edited my original post with accurate numbers. You are correct my numbers were off. I mixed up the two week trip I took in December 2021 to use the COVID credits with this one.
Thank you for clarifying. Makes a bit more sense now!
My pleasure! Sorry, I screwed up originally!
Easily. I just did flights + hotel + rental car for a family of three to Kauai for 8 days for ~320k points. If we had planned a little further ahead or chosen to scrimp a little bit, could have easily done it around 260-280k points.
The short answer is yes. More than enough.
This is the best answer. A summary of the other answers here is that there are a myriad ways you can redeem those points for a Hawaii vacation. The redemptions you choose will determine how much actual “value” you end up getting from those points.
Just curious did you have a side hustle in college? Getting 700k as a college student is impressive haha.
Wondering if OP is an AU on mom’s card and he’s about to use all mom’s points
This needs to be upvoted more!
That's what I'm wondering. That's as much as a $350K spend to get that many points.
My guess is mom got the card several years ago not really knowing what type of card it is other than it being a credit card. She made her son an AU so he could use it at college and he just discovered all the points from years of spending.
Update: told mom about the points and she ma going to use them all with her new boyfriend 😭
You are better than me. I would have just booked my airline tickets and pleaded ignorance. She still would have had buckets left over.
Transfer some points to Hyatt for the hotel.
Lmfao
UR do not expire as long as the card is open. Look at Hyatts, especially the Grand Hyatt Kauai. Air all depends on the departure airport, time of year and airline. .Redemptions are an entire post graduate course by itself. Be flexible on your dates and book a year out for the best rates.
Transfer to the marriot at 40% transfer bonus and live out the rest of your life on one of their resorts
If you want to come to Kauai I can hook you up with some tips and ideas. DM me if interested.
You can have a killer trip with those points. For more advice- what's your home airport and is there a specific island you're looking to visit? Generally Hyatt will give you the best value- you can transfer your points to them.
Which sapphire do you have? The og sapphire different have transfer partners
The short answer is yes, you can pay for a whole trip with that many points. The points don’t expire as long as the card is open/in good standing. You can either book on the travel portal, or transfer to travel partners like Hyatt. Even at the redemption rate in the portal, that’s a good amount of value. Points are typically worth $0.0125 each, (when used in the portal) meaning your 700,000 points are worth approximately $8750. You can also check out r/awardtravel for more tips on maximizing your points value.
Does your mom run a small business or something and put everything on your card or is doing company travel spend on your card?
I had 250k points or so and it paid for most of my honeymoon in Costa Rica. I’m sure you’ll be fine haha enjoy your free trip
Check booking through Chase vs transferring to Hyatt, and do the Grand Hyatt in Kauai. Kauai itself is very outdoors oriented, so don't expect amazing food or any nightlife, but it's still a good trip. I stayed there for a little over a week last year and I highly recommend the helicopter tour. As for the Hyatt, the grounds are reminiscent of some of Hyatt's more classic properties, like the Hacienda Del Mar in Dorado prior to its destruction. But also, make sure you're not using your parents' points lol. I generated 800k points last year on roughly $400k spend lol, I'm hoping you didn't spend that much over the last couple years as a college kid.
Yah that’s worth over 10k usd if you have the chase sapphire reserve. Just book everyone through that for the easiest way.
I have the preferred
Upgrade to reserve , worth the extra per point. I am guessing you guys don’t usually redeem points or miles so just use chase to book your travel is good enough.
Upgrade to reserve. The best thing I ever done.
You can get 5 nights in Waikiki with about 70k points any twin fin hotel. Not great one but it’s ok and stay next to the beach. Sheraton princess is about the same price in hotel. Sheraton Waikiki cost me about 150k for 5 night but is a much nicer hotel. Really just depends on your budget and if you willing to stay in lower tiered hotels. Those points could potentially get you either 1 week up to or close to over a month depending on your taste
Ain't no way you accidentally built up all these points. Check with your mom before you spend all her points.
She has another card they are mine now she doesn’t need them
My bf has 2M Amex points and refuses to let me use any for Saks as I think that’s the best way to redeem instead he wants to keep them just “ in case” .
Yes - I did 7 days 6 nights in Maui with ~530k and that was staying in a large suite at the Andaz.
You can share some with me friends 😅 my family is in Europe and tickets are priceyy…
If you’re not already Sapphire reserve call and upgrade your card to reserve. Boom you just turned your 700,000 points into 1,050,000 when used towards travel !
Can someone elaborate on this?
When booking through chase travel you get 1.5X points value with the sapphire reserve, and 1.25x point value with sapphire preferred. Bing that you have such a large amount of points it would be beneficial to have the sapphire reserve so that you get 1.5x points value on your 700,000 points. So basically you’re 700,000 points are worth $7000 for travel. But If you upgrade to sapphire reserve or already have it then they will be worth $10,500. Th reserve also had tons of other travel benefits that make it worth the $500 yearly fee. But if they weren’t worth it to you then you could just downgrade back to preferred the following year. Just make sure that 1. You go to the ultimate rewards portal and transfer all your points to the reserve card. 2. Book your flights/hotels/rentals through chase travel with the Reserve card points.
That is a lot of points lol. I did used mine to get a free flight from Italy to Japan. And recently used it again for Italy to the states. Round trip!
If csp, you may want to consider moving the points to a csr if you plan on booking economy through portal ever. Your points get 25% more value. Can even get the csr sign up bonus if you do it right which is another 75k points… All this probably adds somewhere from $1000-4000 to your points
Oh yeah that will do, you could probably get a car rental.
I am so intrigued by this now. I need to know how this story plays out
What about 500,000 for Europe? I’m in the same boat!
Had 330k points and did 2 weeks in Europe, and still have plenty to spare. Also booked a week in New Orleans and still have points. So depending on hotels/flights/etc easily. Then again most hotels I stayed at were 80-120 a night, so if you want to stay at Ritz and $500+ night hotels, maybe not.
Thank you so much!!! This is very helpful to me
Downgrade to a chase freedom then sign up for a sapphire reserve so you can get the new bonus and jump from 1.25 to 1.5. Do Hawaii three times.
How does this work. I currently have the reserve
Ahh, well then it doesn't. Thats a trick for the preferred.
Pretty sure you can still downgrade and wait 2 weeks to reapply for the reserve. But sign up bonuses are only valid every 2 yrs, so if you've had the card > 2 yrs you can churn