Points to Paradise: Book an All-Inclusive Beach Trip With 100K Chase Points

One of my favorite things about miles, points, and credit card rewards is the ability to travel in ways that I used to think were impossible. I have 6 kids, so before I discovered the tricks to using credit card rewards to travel, we weren’t able to travel very much.

Now, my family can travel in ways that I would have never thought possible. Using flexible rewards points, like Chase Ultimate Rewards, is a great way to use a rewards currency to build an amazing trip.

Here’s a look at how you can use a single welcome bonus offer for an all-inclusive beach trip!

How To Earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

Remember: You are in charge of your own trip, and the best use of your points is to get you where you want to go and when you want to go. Reading best-uses articles or trying to measure your cents-per-point value may make you feel like your deal isn’t as possible. Ultimately, the best redemption is one that leads to memories your family will treasure forever, regardless of how many cents you squeezed out of each point.

The example we’re using in this article is only for 2 travelers, so if you’re planning a trip for a family, you may need to earn additional points. Of course, depending on where you live, your transportation costs might be more or less. Planning a trip on a budget — even a points budget — is all about deciding where you want to compromise.

Before we start building our dream weekend beach trip, let’s talk about the new welcome bonus offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card. For a limited time, eligible applicants can earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months of account opening:

Because we value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents apiece, this welcome offer is worth more like $2,200 for travel!

Other Ways To Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

In addition to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, there are many Chase credit cards that can help you earn Ultimate Rewards points. Don’t forget you can also earn Ultimate Rewards points besides opening a new credit card, including:

• Shopping in the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal
• Eating out with Chase Dining
• Shopping with promotional Chase Offers

Use Chase Points To Book Flights to the Dominican Republic

While Chase Ultimate Rewards points do transfer to a variety of airline programs, including Southwest Rapid Rewards and United MileagePlus, don’t forget to check the Chase Travel portal for airline deals. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, your points are worth 25% more for redemptions via Chase Travel — so a $100 flight would require 8,000 points.

That’s exactly what we are going to do for our theoretical weekend beach getaway as we fly to the Dominican Republic. In our example, we’ve got a weekend flight on JetBlue from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) to Punta Cana (PUJ).

These “Blue” fare flights are priced at $443 per person, bringing the total to $886 for 2 travelers. If you’re redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points instead of cash, you have 2 options:

• Transfer 44,000 Chase points to JetBlue TrueBlue and pay $260 in taxes and fees
• Book through Chase Travel for ~70,500 points, with no additional taxes or fees

You’re likely better off transferring points directly to JetBlue — this way, you’ll still have 56,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points left to put toward your all-inclusive resort stay.

3 Nights at the Dreams Dominicus La Romana

This weekend beach trip is going to be at a Hyatt all-inclusive resort. World of Hyatt is one of Chase’s most valuable transfer partners, with points transferring from Chase Ultimate Rewards to World of Hyatt points at a 1:1 ratio.

For hotels, Chase also transfers 1:1 to IHG One Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy, but transferring to World of Hyatt typically yields better value because most Hyatt hotels cost fewer points per night than the typical IHG or Marriott hotel.

Hyatt has a separate award chart for all-inclusive properties, with hotels in Categories A through F costing between 15,000 and 50,000 points per night. The Dreams Dominicus La Romana is a Category B, costing 17,000 points per night in the off-peak season, 20,000 points during standard dates, and 23,000 points during peak nights.

With 56,000 remaining points, you could book 3 nights at the Dreams Dominicus La Romana during the off-peak season. After meeting the minimum spending requirements of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card’s welcome bonus, you could have more than enough points to book during standard dates, too.

If your dates are during the peak season, you may have to spend extra points, but this example just gives you an idea of what is possible.

Final Thoughts

Our theoretical weekend beach trip took 44,000 Ultimate Rewards points for flights for 2 from New York City to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and 51,000 points for 3 nights at the Dreams Dominicus La Romana all-inclusive resort. That brings us to 95,000 Ultimate Rewards points, with a few thousand points you could use for activities or other travel expenses.

Of course, this is somewhat of a contrived example since the cost of flights and hotels will vary based on a number of factors. But hopefully, it can serve as a bit of inspiration for just one of many things you can do with 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred card welcome bonus offer.