If you have way more points than you could use in the next few years, what's the minimum cpp you'd redeem your chase points for? I'm looking to book a hotel where the cpp would only be ~1.23. In the past I've only used points when it's 1.5+, but I'm realizing that I will never use up all my points this way, so I'm leaning towards using the points now for this redemption. What do you do in similar situations?

Btw I don't use Chase points for flights very much, in general I'm not looking to book international J/F flights since availability is hard to come by and I'd much prefer travel whenever I want. I do have Amex/AA/AS miles for occasional flight redemptions.

Transferring your UR points to Hyatt and then redeeming for a stay at a Hyatt property can often yield 2.0 cents per point in value, especially if you factor in the after-tax cash price of the room. (Redemptions using a hotel chain's own points are typically exempt from most taxes.)

I know, and I'm specifically talking about using it with Hyatt. E.g. I'm traveling to Singapore soon where the Andaz seems like the better hotel there. The current rate is ~$300 per night, or 25k points. I'm debating between the two options. On one hand, it's only a little over 1.2cpp, very low redemption value. On another hand, I still have way too many points (almost 2 million) to be used, so if I don't use them, they are just sitting there worthless and will be devalued before I can use them.

Do you expect to travel to other destinations where Hyatt points might be worth more?

Yes, but generally it�s been less than 2cpp, closer to 1.5 recently from traveling to EU and SEA countries. It feels like Japan is the only place where I�d get outsized value. Beach destinations seem to be good but they aren�t my thing�

How many points required if you book the same hotel though Chase Travel?

pretty close, main thing is booking through Chase doesn�t give me globalist benefits, so it�s not worth it

It sounds like, going forward, you might be better off using cash-back credit cards.

The US Bank Altitude Reserve card -- which earns 4.5% in credits for travel booked directly with airlines, hotels, and rental-car companies, as well as for ALL mobile-wallet purchases -- is rumored to be closing to new applicants later this week. But I still see the card available today on the US Bank website. FYI.

Your profile shows that you are a Hyatt Globalist, as am I.

IMO, the best use by far for UR is to send them to Hyatt and apply a SUA. In fact, I�ve done that very thing at the Andaz Singapore.

You�re holding a large quantity of UR and, per your point, it�s probably wise to start using them soon. Unannounced program changes and devaluations are a common occurrence in this world.

You will have some amazing stays with that amount of UR points.

Enjoy -

Maybe the US AR. But if those URs were earned in one of the 3X categories, then 3X redeemed at 1.2 cents still beats the standard 2% cashback card by a wide margin, no?

With 2 million URs I would start redeeming even at 1.2c.

Definitely.

If you're yielding more than 2cpp in Hyatt value consistently you might consider loading up on points now during their sale that runs into January.

Buy 137,500 Hyatt points for $2640 (1.92cpp). Buy those points on a 2+% cash back card they get even cheaper, of if you use the purchase to hit a sign-up bonus they get cheaper yet.

You can combine points for redemptions, so that means P1 + P2 could load up on 275,000 Hyatt points right now.

Is that really worth it? It obviously depends on how much more than 2cpp one gets consistently, but at exactly 2cpp, isn't the math as follows?

Consider a room award for 12,000 points. At 2cpp that equals an all-in room rate of $240. 12,000 points purchased at 1.92 cpp cost $230.40. With a 2% cashback card, you can shave off $4.61, so a net cost of $225.79. That means, on that award we saved $240.00 - $225.79 = $14.21.

But wait. If we had paid the $240 in cash, we would have earned points on the spend. As a Glob, 6.5 points per dollar, I think? If we assume a 10% tax rate, $216 in spend (90% of $240) would have earned 1404 points. And if paid with a Hyatt credit card, we would have earned another $240 * 4 points = 960 points, for a total of 2364 points, worth (assuming same 2cpp) $47.28.

So, either pay $225.79 for points for a "free" room, or pay $240 for a rev room and get $47.28 in points back (net cost $192.72). If my math is correct.

The math (and outcome) obviously changes as the consistent valuation increases. Someone else can calculate the break-even point, but according to my (perhaps flawed) spreadsheet at 2.5cpp I start earning a tiny profit with my purchased points ($300 room, earning points worth around $74 on rev room, so net cost of $226).

And obviously room benefits aren't exactly equal for revenue vs. award rooms (free parking comes to mind).

The questions I'd ask myself are:
1) How certain am I that I won't be able to use the points? They can go pretty quickly when used at Cat 7/8.
2) How quickly/easily can I get more points if needed?
3) Am I points rich, but cash poor?
4) What's the opportunity cost vs devaluation risk?

Ultimately for me, the opportunity cost is too great to redeem at 1.23 as I readily get north of 2. I'd be willing to hold them as the downside is fairly limited with 1cpp cash out and 1.5cpp via Chase Travel (granted those could be what gets devalued).

In your shoes, I'd book the Andaz with cash, stop using whichever cards accumulate UR and start using Chase Travel at 1.5cpp for simple flights (still booking directly with airlines for complex itins).

Hmm I never considered booking flights through Chase. Do you get elite benefits that way?