How I Used 100K Chase Sapphire Preferred Points for a Trip to Thailand

The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card has been a mainstay in my wallet, and thanks to the card’s recent refresh, I actually find it much easier to earn rewards on frequent, everyday purchases.

I’ve had this card for a few years now, and my strategy for rewards has always been to accrue a large pile, then take a big trip. Here’s how I used 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for a trip to my favorite country in the world: Thailand.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Overview

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card recently had a benefits refresh, now offering perks such as a $100 hotel credit in Chase Travel (an easy way to offset the $95 annual fee), a complimentary 1-year Apple TV+ subscription (if activated by December 31, 2026), and up to a $120 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS every 4 years.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

U.P. Rating 

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A fantastic travel card with a great welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

A fantastic travel card with a great welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.

Welcome Offer

Earn 75,000 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

75,000 100,000 points

UP's Offer Valuation*:

$2,000

Annual Fee

$95

APR

19.24% - 27.49% Variable

Credit Recommended

Upgraded Points credit ranges are a variation of FICO^® Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit card application.

Good to Excellent

Why We Like This Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred^® card is one of the best travel rewards cards on the market. Its bonus categories include travel, dining, online grocery purchases, gas, EV charging, vacation homes, and streaming services, which gives you the opportunity to earn lots of bonus points on these purchases.

Additionally, it offers flexible point redemption options, no foreign transaction fees, and excellent travel insurance coverage including primary car rental insurance and emergency evacuation. With benefits like these, it’s easy to see why this card is an excellent choice for any traveler.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 5x points on all travel booked via the Chase Travel portal
• 3x points on dining purchases, online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target, and wholesale clubs), gas, EV charging, vacation homes (such as Airbnb and Vrbo), and select streaming services
• 2x points on all other travel worldwide

Cons

• $95 annual fee
• No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status

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Card Highlights

• Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, 3x on vacation homes, 3x on gas & EV charging, 3x on top streaming services and online groceries (excluding Walmart, Target, and wholesale clubs), 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases
• Earn up to $100 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays through Chase Travel
• Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
• Get a year of complimentary Apple TV when activated by December 31, 2026 - a value of $156.
• Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders.
• Receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card for a Global Entry, TSA Precheck^® or NEXUS application.
• Transfer points to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs
• Member FDIC

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 19.24% - 27.49% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

Rewards Center

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Thanks to refreshed bonus earning categories, I now earn the following:

• 5x points on all travel booked via the Chase Travel portal
• 3x points on dining purchases, online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target, and wholesale clubs), gas and EV charging, vacation homes (such as Airbnb and Vrbo), and some streaming services
• 2x points on all other travel worldwide
• 1x points on everything else

I can rack up a lot of points with everyday spending on the card, including eating out, online grocery shopping, gas, and streaming. However, if you don’t yet have the card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card has a rare, higher-than-usual welcome offer right now:

• Earn 75,000 100,000 points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.

There’s a lot you can do with 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, like a vacation to Europe. I used them to take a points-fueled trip to one of my favorite destinations, Thailand.

Redeeming 100K Points for a Trip to Thailand

Although you might be able to get round-trip tickets to Thailand or a longer hotel stay, I used my points for a one-way flight to Bangkok from the U.S. and a few nights in a hotel in Bangkok.

Flights to Bangkok

I flew Qatar Airways from Atlanta (ATL) to Bangkok (BKK), with cash prices hovering around $1,200 one-way on my chosen dates. After searching on their website, I found various dates with award availability that cost 47,500 Qatar Avios one-way with a layover in Doha (DOH), less than half the current welcome offer of 100,000 points.

One important thing to note is that Qatar Airways isn’t actually a transfer partner of Chase — but there was a workaround that turned my Chase points into Qatar Avios.

British Airways is a Chase transfer partner, so I was able to transfer 48,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to British Airways Avios at a 1:1 ratio. Then, because I had previously connected my British Airways Avios and Qatar Airways Avios accounts, I was able to move the points from BA to Qatar using the transfer tool on Avios.com at a 1:1 ratio, so I ended up with Qatar Airways Avios and was then able to book my ticket, spending 47,500 Avios and about $150 in taxes and fees.

We value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at about 2 cents per point, so I estimate that, after subtracting taxes and fees from the $1,200 cash price, I got about 2.2 cents per point in value, slightly more than the Upgraded Points valuation. Plus, we value British Airways Avios and Qatar Airways Avios at 1.25 cents per point, so if you look at it from that angle, I got a great deal.

Will I be flying for about 20 hours in small economy plane seats? Yes.

But considering my flight was nearly free, I don’t mind smushing into a small economy seat and saving my cash for mango sticky rice and tuk-tuk rides in Bangkok.

Hotels in Bangkok

After purchasing my flight, I was left with 52,000 Chase points, enough for a 4-night stay at the Hyatt Regency Bangkok Sukhumvit, which has an outdoor pool, 24-hour-a-day fitness center, and easy, direct access to the Nana BTS station. The price was 12,000 Hyatt points per night (or $256 in cash per night).

I applied for and was approved for my Chase Sapphire Preferred card before June 15, 2026, which means I can still transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt points at a 1:1 ratio until October 1, 2026.

Unfortunately, after the card’s most recent refresh, new Chase Sapphire Preferred card members (and all cardholders after October 1, 2026) have a transfer ratio of 4:3, meaning those Chase points are worth about 25% less when moved to Hyatt.

This means that to book a Hyatt hotel costing 12,000 points per night, you’d have to transfer 16,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt for the redemption. In this situation, I would only have been able to afford 3 nights with my leftover Chase Ultimate Rewards points, or I would have had to consider a more affordable hotel if I wanted to stay longer. This is a real bummer, because Hyatt was one of my favorite Chase transfer partners.

We value Hyatt points at 1.4 cents per point, and given the cash rates of $256 per night, I was able to get a value of 2.1 cents per point (still more than we value Chase points at, which is 2 cents per point).

The good news is that since I was grandfathered into the former Chase-Hyatt 1:1 transfer ratio, I still had a few thousand Chase Ultimate Rewards points left in my account for my next trip.

If you’re hoping to get as many hotel nights as possible out of your Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, there are a few Hyatt-branded properties in Thailand, such as the Hyatt Place Bangkok Sukhumvit, that cost just 4,500 Hyatt points per night.

Even if you’re only getting 75% of the points after the transfer, you can still get value. Just make sure to check cash prices and do the math to ensure it’s a good deal.

Booking the Rest of My Thailand Trip

It’s true that 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points didn’t get me an entire trip to Thailand for free, but it did significantly lower the cost of a vacation to a destination that’s really far from the U.S. and expensive to reach.

That’s why I combine my Ultimate Rewards points with other card perks and rewards. In the end, I used the $300 travel credit on my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card to buy flights in Capital One Travel between Bangkok and Koh Samui (USM) and IHG One Rewards points to pay for the Holiday Inn Bophut Beach Resort on the island, earned on my IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card.

I used American Airlines miles (transferred from Citi ThankYou Points earned on my Citi Strata Elite℠ Card) to fly Qatar Airways home from Bangkok, with a stop in Doha (DOH).

Using points and miles, largely earned with my Chase Sapphire Preferred card, enabled me to take a dream trip to Thailand I might not have been able to afford otherwise.

Final Thoughts

If you don’t already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, now is the time to apply with the elevated welcome bonus offer. 100,000 points could land you a flight and a few nights of hotel in a dream destination in Thailand.

If you already have the card, you could follow my strategy and save up as many points as possible and transfer them to Hyatt before October 1. However, only do this if you have a redemption in mind, such as a stay in Thailand.