My brother-in-law was about to transfer 65,000 Chase points to Marriott for a hotel in Hanoi, and I stopped him. This is the number one mistake I see a lot of beginners make with their credit card points. They see a transfer bonus on TikTok, Instagram, wherever they consume their content, and they think transferring points is always the best option no matter what. It's not.
I'm going to show you a couple different ways to book the same exact hotel, the math behind each strategy, and how I got him into one of the top luxury hotels in Hanoi for about the same amount of points.
The Transfer Bonus Looks Great Until You Do the Math
So my brother-in-law texted me about a Marriott hotel he found in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Sheraton Hanoi West. He wanted to stay four nights, and it's a Point Saver redemption through Marriott, which means it's already at a discounted Marriott award rate. Often a good deal.
Total cost: 106,400 Marriott Bonvoy points. Let's round that up and call it 107,000.
Chase is running a 65% transfer bonus to Marriott Bonvoy right now. That means to get 107,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, he only needs to transfer 65,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Sounds like a solid deal, right? 65,000 Chase points for four nights at a Sheraton in Vietnam.
These transfer bonuses happen pretty often. Sometimes they're 50%, sometimes 65%, sometimes 70%. They cap out around 70%, and they come around a few times a year. They look great because it's a huge transfer bonus when we typically only see 20% or 25% transfer bonuses. But once you actually do the math, it might not be that good.
Check the Travel Portal First
If you look at the same exact hotel for the same dates, the same room in the Chase travel portal, it's 58,529 points. Let's call it 59,000.
The travel portal is beating the transfer option even with the 65% transfer bonus included. 59,000 points through the travel portal or 65,000 points transferred to Marriott with that transfer bonus. You save 6,000 points and you don't have to move or transfer your Chase points over to Marriott. Your points stay flexible until you book.
I Told Him Not to Make That Redemption at All
The travel portal saves him some points, but I actually told him not to make that redemption at all because I found him a completely different option that was way better. The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi, which is one of the top luxury hotels in all of Vietnam. It's a historic property with a great location, and it's part of the Edit Hotel Collection through Chase.
The Numbers
The cash price for four nights at the Sofitel is $1,644. Of course, we're not paying that. We're paying with points. And it's also Points Boosted, so 82,215 points for that stay.
So why would I tell him to book this? Because he has the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and the Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you a total of $500 in Edit hotel credits a year. It's split into $250 and $250. He can apply that $250 Edit credit to his stay at the Sofitel because it's part of the Edit collection. Cover as much as possible with points and leave exactly $250 to be charged to his card. That $250 charge triggers the Edit credit, and he gets $250 back as a statement credit.
Final cost: 69,700 Chase Ultimate Rewards points and $0 out of pocket.
Why This Is the Play
He was originally planning on spending 65,000 Chase points to transfer to Marriott with that transfer bonus for a Sheraton hotel. For just 4,700 points more, he gets a top-tier luxury hotel instead and gets all the Edit benefits: the $100 property credit to use on the property, complimentary breakfast for two every day, early check-in and late checkout, potential room upgrades, and welcome amenities.
That's what points maximizing actually looks like. You're getting way more for just a little bit more in points. A high-end luxury experience versus a mid-range Sheraton experience.
The hotel is also Accor loyalty program eligible. He's not super interested in earning Accor points, but it's better than nothing, so he'll earn some Accor points on his stay as well.
You Always Need to Compare
I'm not saying never transfer your points. You always need to compare the travel portal versus transferring your points to see which one gives you the most value. Transferring Chase points to Hyatt can still be great for specific properties.
But Hyatt is getting more expensive. The category changes on May 20th are pushing a lot of those hotels up in points. That reliable Hyatt transfer is getting less reliable year after year.
And those Marriott transfer bonuses look impressive at 65%, 70%. But when you run the numbers, it's not exactly that good of a deal. Always compare these three things before you book a hotel with Chase points:
- The transfer redemption (with and without any active bonus)
- The Chase travel portal price
- The Points Boost price (and whether Edit Hotels credits apply)
Why the Chase Sapphire Reserve Is Worth Looking At
The reason this whole play works is the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It unlocks the travel portal and Points Boost with Edit Hotels benefits.
Right now the sign-up bonus is 150,000 points, which is one of the strongest offers they've had in a long time. Chase keeps adding benefits to compete with the American Express Platinum. And Points Boost has been super beneficial, at least for me, to book some hotels that I otherwise would probably never book because I'm still getting a lot of value out of my points through Points Boost.
Points Boost won't match the 3, 4, 5 cents per point value you get from business class flight redemptions. But booking business class and first class award flights has been super hard recently, and availability has been really limited. There's so much competition for a lot of those premium cabin seats. So if you're not booking award flights, Points Boost gives you another way to get strong value out of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for hotels. It opens a whole new set of options that are outside of Hyatt, because a lot of people just transfer their points from Chase over to Hyatt and book Hyatts only.
The Bottom Line
It came down to three options for my brother-in-law. Transfer to Marriott with the transfer bonus: 65,000 Chase points for the Sheraton. Book the Sheraton through the Chase travel portal: 59,000 points. Or book the Sofitel through Points Boost: 69,700 points for a completely different experience with complimentary breakfast, a $100 property credit, and potential room upgrades.
For 4,700 points more than what he was already planning to spend, he gets a high-end luxury experience versus a mid-range Sheraton experience. Check the travel portal and Points Boost before you transfer. Always.
If you're interested in the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can check current offers through my link below. Using those links helps support my work. And if you want to see how I booked all my Asia hotels with points, I have a full breakdown here.
