014 - 11:26:25, 15.33

John Diaz: [00:00:00] Ever dream of going to Japan, not just once, but every year. Me too. I'm John. And that dream became my mission, which is why I started rewarding routes. A podcast about making Japan travel possible. Year after year, I learned how to leverage credit cards to earn points and miles turning everyday spending into flights and hotel stays across Japan.

Each episode I'll share what I've learned from booking award travel to building meaningful itineraries and deep diving into regions, traditions, and experiences that make this country so special. Let's build your rewarding route one trip at a time. Today I personally break down a bank that I've relied on for accommodation for almost all of my stays.

And this bank, I also recommend to pretty much everyone, especially if you're starting in the points and miles hobby. So I. We're gonna be talking about Chase [00:01:00] and the points that it accumulates, which are Chase ultimate rewards. So my goal with this episode is to help you understand Chase, if you're not familiar with it, what the rules are, because the rules are always changing with these banks.

So always keep in mind that even if you're listening to this episode in the future. Rules do change. So make sure you go back and look at maybe changes that are made and I'll do my best to keep you updated when those changes are happening and how to start smart. So. I am going to break down how I started and ways that you can start and the different cards that you can look at.

This episode is going to be a three parter. I wanted to break it up because I wanted to really explain my thought process of why I value Chase points so much and how I use it to book accommodations for my trips. So in this episode, [00:02:00] of course, we'll be talking about Chase ultimate rewards. In the next episode, I'm gonna tease 'em.

We're going to be talking about where to stay in Tokyo in the different neighborhoods there are. And then in the third episode, I'm going to be going over to Hyatt Hotels. You can book with Chase points that are near these neighborhoods. And even beyond, uh, other parts of Japan, not just Tokyo, but other Hyatts that have caught my attention that I plan on booking in the future as.

We continue to visit Japan and explore all the different prefectures. Alright, let's get into it. So what are Chase ultimate rewards? Well, this is Chase's flexible rewards currency. The way to earn these are having chase credit cards, for example, the Chase freedom, the Sapphire, and then the ink business.

It will get into the individual cards later in the episode. But you can use these points for either cash back due [00:03:00] to travel portal, or my recommended way of transferring your Chase. Ultimate rewards over to Chase's travel partners, and we'll be talking more about the travel partners shortly, but why does this matter?

Well, because Chase has its own specific cards that earn ultimate rewards, and they also have co-branded cards which are branded to certain airlines or hotels. For example, I have a Southwest credit card that only. Earns me rapid rewards, which is Southwest's currency of points. So I don't have the flexibility of taking Chase ultimate rewards and spreading those points throughout different travel partners of Chase.

That's why flexible points are so valuable because you can really pick and choose what direction you want to go in. And for me personally, I like to go in the direction of transferring my Chase points [00:04:00] over to Hyatt because. Of the extreme value you get from Hyatt compared to the other hotel brands with other credit card companies that are like Hilton or Marriott or uh, IHG, which is a part of Chase.

And it just allows you that freedom and it's really nice to have those flexible points to. Choose whatever path you want to take and whatever redemptions you wanna make. So let's go over the transfer partners that are with Chase. There's 10 airline partners. You have Lingus, air Canada, air France, K LM Flying Blue, British Airways, Iberia, JetBlue, Singapore, Southwest United and Virgin Atlantic.

With hotel programs, there's three. There's IHG Marriott and Hyatt Chase is really a beginner friendly program to get started with, especially with one of the rules being the five and 24 rule, which we'll talk more about [00:05:00] soon, but it's. Very simple. There's several no annual fee options that you can get started with.

There's clear downgrade paths that you can take, which we'll talk more about soon. And the points are some of the best in the industry. So why do Chase Ultimate rewards matter to me so much? Well, it's because of the insane value from Hyatt and I've been able to experience this in Hyatts, in Hawaii, in Japan, in South Korea and different parts of the us So , I really understand the value and the benefit of having Hyatt as a transfer partner.

And Bill Rewards is also a transfer partner for Hyatt, so it's another way to accumulate Hyatt points. And stay at these great accommodations that really help you save so much money. Southwest, for me, is another travel partner that really benefits myself as Orlando's a major hub for Southwest and it's great for positioning flights from the [00:06:00] East coast over to the west coast, which I then can book a redemption.

For a flight from the west coast over to Asia, uh, especially Japan, but for our previous trip, we took a flight from San Francisco over to South Korea, and with Chase being a transfer partner, I'm able to use those points if I need to top up any Southwest Rapid Rewards, even though I have credit cards with Southwest.

I can also add points from my Chase, ultimate rewards to Southwest if I need to. So you can see transferring these points add more value, but they also add control because I'm able to make decisions and really have that flexibility to transfer my points over to Hyatt, which 95% of the time, that's what I'm doing.

But I have the opportunity if I need a top of Southwest, if I need to maybe get on United Flight or uh, I wanna do a redemption with Virgin Atlantic because Virgin Atlantic can also get [00:07:00] you to Japan. There's options there that I can take, and I have that control. And if you're wondering about the Virgin Atlantic redemption.

I have a whole episode about that. It's a couple episodes ago, all about flights to Japan and Virgin Atlantic is a partner with a NA, so you're able to get those a NA redemptions due at Virgin Atlantic by calling. But I go into more detail in that episode. If you're curious about that, just go back a few episodes.

But you might see wording about cashback and points whenever you're on Chase's website and looking at different cards. Because there are some cards that earn cash back versus points, so I'm gonna explain it here. Cash back is valued at 1 cent per point. So for example, the Chase Freedom Flex earns you $200 cash back, but in points that's valued as 20,000 points Now.

This is basically a statement credit that you get back and you can use it towards that. Or if you want the points to be valued even more and you want to get to [00:08:00] Japan or stay at these awesome hotels like Hyatt, when you transfer your points, they're gonna be valued at a higher rate. You could double your points and.

Instead of earning 1 cent per point with cashback or the travel portal, you can earn two or even more cents per point when you transfer your points to travel partners, and that's why it's so valued to transfer your points because the value of your points just go higher and higher. I thought I'll mention this really quick, but you'll see options to get gift cards.

Don't do that because the value's just terrible for what you get back. For your points, you'd rather just do the cash back or do the travel portal or even the best option. Just transfer your points to travel partners. Now, let's get into the Chase rule of five and 24, and I've mentioned this in previous episodes already.

But Chase typically won't approve you if you've opened up five accounts in the last 24 [00:09:00] months, two years. And these accounts can be on any bank. It could be with American Express, it could be with Citi Capital One. So you want to be mindful. When you apply for Chase cards, because if you know you've opened up five other cards within the past two years, there's a high chance you'll be denied for that Chase card that you're trying to apply for.

So what counts towards the 5 24 is personal credit cards across all banks, store cards, which I don't recommend you ever get because they offer you no value. Um, and being an authorized user, I made this mistake with the Alaska card last year. When I made my wife an author ICU user and it took away one of her five and 24 slots, good thing it didn't really impact us.

But it is a bummer whenever you take up one of those slots because you could have applied for another personal card that could have gotten you a signup bonus, which could really benefit you for a travel goal you're trying to hit. Now, what doesn't count for a five [00:10:00] and 24 slot are business cards. And it's not all business cards.

There are some that do count. Um, I'm not sure of those, but the majority of business cards. Will not count towards the five and 24. And for example, the chase ink business cards do not count towards the five and 24. And this is a strategy I very much do for myself to avoid the five and 24. So some tips. On the five and 24, don't open up any retail cards.

I know they save you money in the moment at a retail store, but they really don't offer you the rewards. And we're here to travel, so if you wanna travel, you'll wanna get these chase cards that earn flexible points. Or even the co-branded cards, but you'll want to start off with the chase flexible cards first.

That way you can accumulate those chase ultimate rewards, which then you have the choice to transfer over to whatever transfer partner you would like. And once you [00:11:00] get those flexible cards and you're good on those, then you can work your way into co-branded cards to build even more points in whatever categories or whatever.

Um, brand or airline or hotel that works for you and that you want to accumulate more points of? So how do I manage my five and 24 and my wife's five and 24? Well, there's an app I use that's the Travel Freely app that you can insert your cards. You don't have to log into your banks account and connect it that way.

You just put the card that you applied for when you applied for it, and it'll go ahead and put it in a five and 24 slot for you. So. You'll be able to see all the cards you have opened up in the past two years. And this is the way I manage my cards now. It's really convenient, really easy to use, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to keep track of their five and 24.

So back in 2016 when I opened a Chase Sapphire Preferred, this was my first Chase card that I've ever opened, and I didn't know about the signup bonus. I didn't really [00:12:00] know much. All I knew is that it didn't have any four transaction fees. 'cause I needed it for our backpacking trip and our trip all the way out to Australia.

And I, that's all I knew. I knew it was good for travel and that was it. So not the best way to start. Uh, it would've been nice to get to sign a bonus and to know more about the card, but this is where it all started. I had that Chase card and once I started learning about Points and Miles and the other Chase cards, that's when I apply for the Chase Freedom Flex Card.

So this will lead me into the Chase trifecta, the backbone of earning Chase ultimate rewards. We'll start with the Freedom Flex. There is no annual fee on this card, and it's a high category earner because of its rotating five times categories up to $1,500 in spend. So what I mean from this is you earn five points per dollar spent in certain categories each quarter.[00:13:00] 

So right now, during this quarter, you can earn. Five points per dollar spent on Chase Travel department. Stores that don't include super centers like Walmart and Target Old Navy. And in the month of December, it'll be five times on PayPal and a lot of online stores take PayPal. So this should be an easy one, especially during the holiday season.

And to give other examples throughout the year in certain quarters, uh, there's examples like getting five times on gas. Amazon grocery stores and even wholesale clubs like Costco and Sam's Club, so you can only maximize your five times categories up to $1,500 in spend. But this is still a good way to earn those Chase ultimate rewards with a card that has no annual fee.

Plus when you sign up for this card, you get $200 cash back, which is equivalent to 20,000 ultimate reward points. But I want to highlight that this card doesn't let you transfer over to transfer partners. [00:14:00] Only the Sapphire Cards will allow you to transfer over to Travel Partners to really maximize your value for your Chase Ultimate rewards.

And that's why we're talking about the trifecta, and I'll be getting to the sapphires really soon. The second card of this trifecta is the Chase Freedom Unlimited. Another no annual fee card. And this one earns you 

1.5 times.

 on all your spend. It's the same signup bonus, so you'll get $200 cash back, which is equivalent to 20,000 ultimate reward points.

When you hit $500 in spend in three months. That's really easy to do. You just put it in some. Uh, just spend on some gas, some groceries, a few bills or subscriptions, and you'll hit that in no time. And this card is just good to use on everything because it earns you 1.5 on everything instead of having to.

Think about the five times categories with the Freedom Flex . I'll be honest, sometimes it slips my mind. I don't really think about those categories [00:15:00] too much because I'm focusing normally on signup bonuses that really earn me those big points. But whenever I'm not focusing on those signup bonuses.

Then I'm looking over at the Chase cards, especially the Freedom Flex are the unlimited, to earn more Chase ultimate rewards because right now I'm currently trying to replenish all the chase ultimate rewards that I used on my last trip to South Korea and Japan, where I really went through a lot of.

Chase points, which I need to replenish. So my plan is to bring those points back and I'll be using these cards more as I wait to apply for another signup bonus, but I'm gonna give it a little bit more time because I just got that Southwest card. You're also allowed to have both freedom cards. Uh, both of these cards are two cards I opened up at the very beginning of my journey when I was getting into points and miles, and these cards were a big reason of why I got five [00:16:00] nights at the Y Kiki Hyatt centric.

I was able to hit the sign up bonus for both cards. Uh, it racked me up a little bit over 40,000 points. And then on top of that I got the Sapphire Preferred, and this was my second Sapphire preferred because I had canceled the old one. I opened back in 2016 and I just reapplied for it to get that signup bonus this time since I never got the signup bonus before.

So that leads me into now the Sapphire cards, the the real engine behind the Chase Ultimate reward points. Now with this card, it is a $95 annual fee. But that's because this card comes with a lot more benefits and, uh, a lot more protections and the ability to transfer your points over to these transfer partners.

And when it comes to a card that I recommend for everyone who wants to get into the points and miles system and just wants to be able to transfer those points over to a, a transfer [00:17:00] partner and use them right away. Or just to have in general, this is the card. The Sapphire Preferred is such a good card.

It's only $95 annual fee. It's a great beginner card. It has great travel partners. It has no foreign transaction fees. It has travel protection, which is trip cancellation, trip delay, lost luggage, auto, uh, rental collision. So discard really does a lot for you for only $95. And you get so much value from it, especially when you pair it with the two Freedom Cards that also help you accumulate these points.

And this card allows you to take those points and maximize those for a memorable trip that you plan on taking with these, uh, points and miles. Now this card has another card that is a tier higher, and it just got a whole revamp, and it's a very high annual fee. But don't get scared because it comes with a [00:18:00] lot of benefits, but it has to make sense for you.

This is a Sapphire Reserve at a $795 annual fee. It comes with some really great perks, uh, lounge access, priority pass, uh, travel credits that you can use. Subscriptions like Apple Music, apple tv, uh, that it pays for. I mean, research it and see if it makes sense for you. Uh, this is a card that I definitely have my eye on, but right now, since we're expecting a child in the next few months, it's something I'm not going to prioritize, but I am going to take a look at it in the future.

Once, uh, we feel more settled and we feel more ready to take trips and I can get this card. Use the lounge access, use the signup bonus, and really take, , advantage of all those perks that it comes with. So as of June 23rd, 2025, there were some changes with Chase. [00:19:00] You can hold multiple Sapphire cards now.

So before you can only hold either the preferred or the reserve. Now you can have both of 'em. A downfall that did happen is you were able to have a Sapphire card hit the bonus, and then in four years you can cancel that card or downgrade it, which I prefer to do, and you should to. You shouldn't cancel a card.

You should always look to downgrade. To a no annual fee. So you keep the relationship good and you don't have to cancel the card. But that whole system of the 48 months of reapplying from hitting the signup bonus on the Sapphire card, that's no longer a thing. So if you ever hit a signup bonus on a Sapphire card, it's only once per lifetime now.

So if you hit it, you canceled, or you downgraded that card and then you plan on. Reapplying for it for another signup bonus, you're not gonna be able to get it because you already [00:20:00] hit that lifetime signup bonus with the Sapphire card. So kind of a bummer there, because my wife was planning to get a Sapphire card since it's been well over five years since she hit the signup bonus on her previous Sapphire card, which she downgraded now to a Freedom Flex card, so she won't be able to get that.

But we do have the Chase Reserve that we never had before or hit the sign a bonus for that card. So that's a card that both of us are gonna be looking at in the future to gain more ultimate reward points and use those benefits that come with the Chase Reserve card. So that's the trifecta right there.

You have the Chase Freedom Flex, the Freedom Unlimited, and then the Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, or both of them if you want a covers categories that you can maximize. It covers everyday spend. If you don't want to think about it and just use your unlimited and get 1.5 on. All purchases and it covers your transfer so you can use those points and transfer 'em over to, uh, travel partners that really [00:21:00] maximize your points value.

And if you decide to get the Sapphire preferred, you have two no annual fee cards, and then one card that has a $95 annual fee. So you have three cards for only one annual fee, and you're really maximizing your chase ultimate reward points. That's why this strategy has worked so well for me, and I highly recommend it for anyone who's beginning or just anyone in general.

This is a really good setup and you can really take advantage of those travel partners, especially Hyatt, and stay at really nice places and really. Uh, just create memories of your travels, and that's what this is all about, to really enjoy life and to experience new places, or to revisit ones that you truly love.

I should also mention that there are, uh, transfer bonuses every once in a while, and you'll see transfer bonuses are, uh, say British Airways has a bonus of 30% more points [00:22:00] when you transfer over. From Chase over to British Airways or Virgin Atlantic or partners like that you, you won't see these with Hyatt, but you'll see these with other airlines or maybe even other hotel brands like IHG.

So if there's a good transfer bonus that you're looking at, and you have a lot of Chase ultimate reward points. Maybe it's worth looking at those because you'll get even more value from your points when you transfer 'em over during a transfer bonus. Now let's take this a little bit further and talk about the Chase Inc.

Business cards. This is a strategy that I've implemented maybe a year, year and a half. And there's some really high value that come with the business cards. And yes, it's a business card, so you might be thinking, well, I don't have a business. But that's not the case because anyone can have a business. You can sell things on Facebook marketplace, [00:23:00] and that's a business you can babysit.

That's a business you pet, sit. That's also a business. So there are ways to have a business and to get these cards. And I'm going to link some articles that I've read that I found very valuable in learning more about the ink business cards and how to apply for them and what to consider. And it just kind of goes step by step and it's really valuable information and I've also been able to really increase the amount of Chase ultimate rewards.

Which this system really benefited me for booking those bigger stays or higher category Hyatts when we, uh, traveled over to Japan and South Korea. So let's get into it. The first one is the ink cash. This is a great five times category card. You can almost think of these three cards that I'm going to talk about, like the trifecta.

But these are the business versions of those. So the ink [00:24:00] cash is almost like the Freedom flex card where it earns five times on certain categories, and these five times are on office supply stores, internet, cable, phone. This card also has no annual fee. Right now it has a welcome bonus of 75,000 points with $6,000 of spend in three months.

Um, just remember that you can always budget these out, look at a spreadsheet or whatever works for you, and divide that 6,000 within three months and see it. Hey, if you can hit that goal, that's 75,000 points that you can get in Chase. Ultimate Rewards. And this card also tends to have limited time offers where it was at 90 k and this is where we got this card, the Chase Inc.

Cash. And we were both able to get 90 K from this last year. So it was a very good card, especially for no annual fee. That's an amazing benefit, an amazing amount of points and something [00:25:00] not to sleep on. So the other ink card is the Ink unlimited. It earns you 1.5 times points. The signup bonus is the same as the ink cash

this card also gets a limited time offer of 90 K, so it's good to keep an eye out because I think one of these cards just recently had a 90 K promotion, so maybe every once a year this card, these cards will get that bonus. Maybe not. It always fluctuates and sometimes it can even go higher, so you never know.

Just keep an eye on it. If you ever see a limited time offer. Definitely consider it because these ink cards don't count towards your five and 24, and that's why we took advantage of these cards because we were both at, I believe, four and 24 or three and 24. So what I like to do is I always like to leave room for one or two.

Personal cards in case there's a limited time offer that comes up that I don't want to pass on and I ha I have the ability or, or my wife has the [00:26:00] ability to apply for and get that signup bonus. And use up that, that slot of the five and 24. So the income limited, it's good for everyday spend without thinking you get, you earned 1.5 times on all purchases for your business, and this card has no annual fee.

So also a very good card to have. The next business card is the Ink Preferred. This is just like the Sapphire Preferred, where this card allows you to transfer those points over to transfer partners. So say you don't have the Sapphire Preferred, but you had the Freedom Cards and you had one of these Ink Cash or Ink Unlimited cards.

Well, if you got the Ink preferred, then that card could be the one. That transfers over to the transfer partners. Or you could have the Sapphire Reserve as long as you have one of the Sapphire cards or the Ink Preferred, you can transfer those points over using those cards. This card [00:27:00] earns you three times on travel, shipping and advertising for your business, and it has great travel protections just like the other two.

Um, Sapphire Preferred and Reserve. So these cards can really benefit you. If you're really wanting to gain even more Chase ultimate rewards, you can get these cards without it affecting your five and 24. So that's also massive and it allows you to get more cards in the future, and you can really. Be strategic with this and, and that's why we took advantage of this and we don't have all the in cards, but we do plan on applying for more of them so that we can replenish our chase ultimate reward points, which helps us replenish our Hyatt point.

We do have an Etsy business that we sell things on, so we also use that as a way of applying for these cards. But like I said, you can sell things on eBay or Facebook, or. Um, you can babysit or, or pet sit it, it could be [00:28:00] anything. And if you're passionate about something, might as well make it a business and you can apply these cards towards whatever you're passionate about.

Just like this podcast, I'm using this podcast as a business and I can apply for these cards because I'm creating something. But like I said before, I'll go ahead and link an article below. Just so you guys can get another, , viewpoint and maybe a step-by-step process, a little bit more visuals to help you understand this step further.

Before I leave the subject of these flexible spend cards, I do want to talk about referrals and having a player two for the Chase ultimate reward points can really benefit you. And I've touched on this before in a previous episode, but. A player too can refer you and you can refer them and bounce back and forth.

And for every referral you'll get a certain amount of points and you can really start racking in [00:29:00] more points than ever by referring each other. And it can really benefit the both of you because you can then pull all your points if you live within the same household. Or it's a spouse. You can pull your points together.

You have to call Chase and talk to an agent, and they'll go ahead and combine your accounts so that you can combine your points. But if you don't have somebody that lives with you, but you're doing a two player system, what you could do to go around this is if you both have Hyatt accounts and you want to maximize on Hyatt, well, Hyatt allows you to transfer your points.

You just have to fill out a form. And then once you fill out the form, you can transfer your Hyatt points to another Hyatt member. And that's just a little workaround for Hyatt. If you wanted to transfer those points with a player two that's not in the same household. Now recently in October. With the Ink business cards, the referrals have changed a little bit, and like I said, rules change consistently with points in [00:30:00] miles.

But before you used to be able to refer somebody, you get 20,000 points up to a yearly maximum of a hundred thousand points. But if that person already has a INK business card. Then you won't get that referral bonus. So that's something that just changed recently, where before you were able to get referral points, regardless if that person already had a ink business card, but now if they have one and they go to apply for another ink card under your referral, , you won't get that referral bonus.

So that's what changed recently. Now we'll quickly go over some co-branded cards with Chase because. Some of these I find very valuable and some of these I have, on my list for fu future targets of cars that I wanna apply for. So with Chase, they have co-branded cards with United, which is a star alliance.

So if you're either in a United Hub or maybe there's a Star [00:31:00] Alliance partner that you want to transfer United Points and book flights with Star Alliance. Then that's another thing that you can do, uh, easy for domestic positioning flights, which leads me to the next co-branded card, which is a Southwest card, which I've talked about in previous episodes.

And I have a Southwest. I have multiple Southwest cards. I have a business and I have a personal now, and this is also a great card if you want to get those domestic positioning flights. Now that Southwest changed its rules to no more free bags. Yeah, having a card with Southwest allows you a free bag to check in.

And you can work towards that Compan companion pass if that's something that interests you. And I talk all about this in a previous episode of what's in my wallet, where the Southwest, uh, plus was the last card I just signed up for, I was approved for, and I just hit the sign up bonus. So now I have companion pass for the rest of this [00:32:00] year and all of 2026.

So. I only pay for, um, myself with points on a flight and my companion, which is my wife, she only has to pay the taxes, which are about $5 and 60 cents. So it's like a BOGO deal. It's an amazing pass, and it's probably one of the best in the airline industry. Now, another co-branded card that I haven't had or my wife hasn't had either is the World of Hyatt Card.

They have a personal card and a business card, and there are rumors of another world of Hyatt card coming soon. Which I'll cover once it does reveal itself. But this is, I mean, we're always trying to earn Hyatt points, and that's the main reason we love Chase so much because we've been able to use so many points for so many incredible stays at different ho different Hyatt hotels in different countries, especially Japan.

I talk all about this in an episode where we spent. About [00:33:00] $220 for a trip that would've cost well over $15,000. And it's one of my earlier episodes, but I go into detail of how I used these points and what hotels I booked during those stays. So the world of Hyatt card, definitely on my list to get soon Surprised I haven't already gotten it, but it just, this kind of tells you that there are just so many cards.

To apply for. And uh, somebody had just asked me recently, like, don't you run out of cards to apply for? And honestly, there are so many cards. There are so many different banks. I mean, I haven't even applied for an American Express card, and that's a major point system that I can really use to get to Japan.

But I'm still working on Chase and I have Capital One. And Citi's another bank I want to get into because it now transfers over to American Airlines, which you can use AA miles to book on Japan Airlines. So [00:34:00] there are just so many different cards and so many different ways to work around. I know it takes some learning and it feels a little overwhelming, but I promise you it's really worth it once you.

Uh, dedicate yourself a little bit to learning the Points of Miles game and finding ways to make these trips more affordable and more consistent in your life. So another co-branded card is the Prime Visa, and this card has no annual fee. It right now, there's actually an offer that you get a $250 Amazon gift card.

When you apply, it's like a signup bonus, uh, a signup bonus for this card. You get 5% back on Amazon. Amazon Fresh, whole Foods, chase Travel. Just know it's important to consider the Prime membership cost as part of our requirement of this card. If you don't have Prime already, which most of us have prime.

But for those who don't, just consider it a cost of prime when you apply for this card. My current strategy with [00:35:00] Chase points right now was hitting the signup bonus with my new card, the Southwest Plus card, which I just hit the signup bonus for, and I got the companion pass plus the 85,000 rapid reward points.

So now I'm good on Southwest points. I can use those for positioning flights. From Orlando over to the west coast, like la, San Francisco, Seattle, wherever I need to be, to then get over to Asia, either that's Japan or another neighboring country, and then take a flight over from there to Japan as Japan's the ultimate goal for us right now and trying to visit different prefectures and of course with a child on the way it's going to be.

More challenging and a lot more things to figure out on how to do the lab child and yeah, it's gonna be interesting. It's gonna be a challenge and I'm sure it's gonna be very rewarding once we figure out how to [00:36:00] travel with our child and who knows? It might take some more time then I imagine maybe, but.

It'll be something that we figure out, and I know it'll be something that's rewarding for us and the memories that come along with it, and we're just excited for that part. So the strategy now is to accumulate more chase ultimate reward points so I can get more Hyatt points to really solidify ourselves with Hyatts once we do travel back to Japan.

And what I'll end up doing is just going back to the trifecta of maximizing the five times categories on the Chase, freedom Flex. Also putting some spend on the unlimited and using the business cards as well. And I'll definitely be keeping an eye on the world of Hyatt new card that's supposedly coming out and is rumored.

So I'll really base a decision off of that. But the world of Hyatt card is [00:37:00] something I'm really eyeing. As my next card, either to personal or business. So I'll let you know what I decide because every, every step I take, uh, using points and miles and cards and booking travel, I am going to talk about all those things on this podcast.

So the more bookings and the more cards I sign up for, the more I'll share that with you so that. You can understand from my experience, even if I get things wrong, we'll learn together. And I think it'll be a great way to really understand the points in Miles system for myself because I'm learning so much as I go on and there's so much I still don't understand and I still don't know.

But we're gonna figure that out together. So we'll be good there. And before I close out this episode, I just want to talk about downgrading because maybe. You have the Chase Reserve right now or the Sapphire Preferred and you don't really have any plans for it going forward. As of right now, you can [00:38:00] always downgrade those cards into the Freedom Cards, which have no annual fee, so you don't have to cancel a card.

It's always good to keep these cards because it keeps a good relationship with the bank, but it also keeps that credit limit that you already had with a previous card. So it really helps with your credit utilization percentage, and it might sound funny, but the more credit you have and the no balance that you carry, the percentage is super low and it actually benefits your credit score.

So that's why it's good to have a good amount of credit and to always pay your cards off on time and keep that percentage extremely low because it'll really boost your credit . So I hope you really were able to learn about Chase and Chase Ultimate rewards. And now in the next episode, we're going to be talking about neighborhoods in Tokyo and where to stay because there's a lot of fantastic neighborhoods, but there's also a lot of different vibes in Tokyo, and it's such a massive city.

So it's important to understand different neighborhoods, [00:39:00] the distances, and where they stand throughout Tokyo. And in the episode after that, we'll be talking about all the Hyatt hotels that you could book in Tokyo that are near some of these neighborhoods. And hopefully it helps you understand and maybe helps you book a future trip to Japan and Tokyo.

And we'll be also covering other Hyatts throughout Japan that are on my radar to visit in the future. So. I hope you're excited for it because I, I definitely am. This was a great episode to talk about and hopefully you got some more clarity on Chase and we'll be having more of these discussions on other banks like Citi and American Express and Capital One.

But Chase for me is probably the be best, uh, points program, especially because of Hyatt Hotels and hopefully Hyatt stays with its incredible value. But things always change in the points in, um, miles industry, so. I know good things can't last forever, so I'm taking advantage of [00:40:00] all the great value that Hyatt has.

And yeah, if you have any questions, just reach out to me and I'd love to have these conversations. And if you have any stories about using Chase points for any other travel, I'd love to hear about it. So yeah, check out my stand store. It's on my Instagram, my Instagram page. Um, email me at Rewarding Routes podcast@gmail.com.

I'll make sure to link some articles that are helpful. Two, uh, understanding how to maybe apply for ink business cards, or just learn about Chase ultimate rewards in general. And I hope you got some great value from this episode and we'll see you on the next one. See ya.