Originally Posted by
Jon Maiman
I believe with Chase Rewards, though I am far from an expert on the program, you can pay for a property with your Chase Card and then retroactively request credit on your Chase bill. If that is correct, on the surface you would be better off using that method rather than having Chase book the room for you via their portal. From Marriott's perspective, it would like any other normal reservation you paid with your credit card and you would get points and elite night credit. Is there an advantage to booking via the Chase Rewards portal where it costs less points than retroactively reimbursing yourself?
--Jon
not really
you redeem 1.5cent/point by booking via chase rewards portal. Chase likes this because they earn commission from the portal (maybe even markup if you don't price compare with outside travel agencies)
if you redeem after the fact, it'll just be redeeming points against purchases (statement credit ) or redeeming points for cash. Chase brands this as 'pay yourself back'
generally only 1 cent/pt, though they temporarily raised it to 1.5cent/point for supermarket/dining (but not travel)
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-pay-yourself-back/
(You may be looking at the annual $300 travel credit. That one mean you get credit back for the first $300 in travel purchases made in a year, can be directly with airline or hotel, or usually any online travel agency too or tolls)