Chase Points Boost Replaces 1.25-1.5 Cent Chase Travel Redemptions

It’s a big day when it comes to Chase news. I’ve covered how huge changes are coming to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and we’re also seeing the introduction of the new Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business.

In this post, I want to cover a more fundamental change to the Chase Ultimate Rewards points ecosystem, as we’re seeing 1.25-1.5 cent redemptions through Chase Travel dropped, in favor of a new Points Boost feature. Let’s look at that in a bit more detail, starting with the bad news.

1.25-1.5 cent Chase Travel redemptions being dropped

There are lots of great ways to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Personally, I like transferring them to Chase’s airline and hotel partners. However, it’s also possible to redeem Chase points toward the cost of a flight, hotel, rental car, etc., through the Chase Travel portal. Historically, the value you’ve received per point has been based on the card you have:

• The Chase Sapphire Reserve has offered 1.5 cents of value per point through Chase Travel
• The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Business Preferred have offered 1.25 cents of value per point through Chase Travel
• Most other cards have offered 1.0 cents of value per point through Chase Travel

As part of Chase’s card overhaul, this is all changing, as Chase is eliminating the 25-50% bonus for Chase Travel redemptions for those who have premium cards. That means all cards will offer a flat 1.0 cents of value per point through Chase Travel, at least as a standard.

The good news is that these changes only kick in gradually. Assuming you’re an existing cardmember, the points you earn through October 25, 2025, will continue to be redeemable at the current rates (so 1.5 cents for those with the Sapphire Reserve, and 1.25 cents for those with the Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred).

For points earned by that date, it’ll be possible to redeem at that rate through October 25, 2027, so that’s awesome news, since we’ll still have a couple of years to redeem that way. Let me emphasize that this only applies for points earned through October 25, 2025.

Furthermore, if you combine points into a single account (which can easily be done online), all the points will be able to be redeemed at that higher rate, as is currently the case. So it could make sense to consolidate all your Ultimate Rewards points in your Sapphire Reserve account by October 25, so all those points have the flexibility to be redeemed at that higher rate.

For points issued on new accounts as of June 23, 2025 (when the refreshed Sapphire Reserve launches, and when the new Sapphire Reserve for Business launches), the new rate will apply.

Chase rolling out Points Boost, to offer more value with points

As of June 23, 2025, Chase is introducing Points Boost, and this will immediately be available to new and existing cardmembers. The idea is that this replaces the existing 25-50% bonuses on Chase Travel redemptions (though for some existing cardmembers, it’ll be possible to pick which way you want to redeem for the next couple of years, to really maximize value).

The idea is that Points Boost gives you more than 1.0 cents of value per point for Chase Travel redemptions. With Points Boost, you can instead redeem points for 1.25-2.0 cents each toward the cost of a travel purchase. How can you do that? Well, Points Boost is available on select flight and hotel bookings.

Those with the Chase Sapphire Reserve will be able to get up to 2.0 cents of value per point for bookings with The Edit by Chase Travel, which offers extra perks at luxury hotels. Meanwhile they’ll also be able to get 1.25-2.0 cents of value toward select flights, based on the airline, class of service, etc.

Those with the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred will be able to get 1.5 cents of value per point for bookings with The Edit by Chase Travel, and 1.25-1.75 cents of value toward select flights, based on the airline, class of service, etc.

Now, we’ll have to wait until this feature is live to truly get a sense of how useful these redemptions are, particularly for flights. But it’s nice to know that in some cases, it’ll be possible to get significant elevated redemption rates.

Bottom line

Chase is making major changes to how Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed. Chase is dropping the standard 25-50% bonus on Chase Travel redemptions for premium cardmembers, allowing you to redeem points for 1.25-1.5 cents each toward a travel purchase. However, this will be a gradual process, and existing cardmembers will have through October 2027 to redeem that way.

Chase is also introducing the Points Boost concept as of June 23, 2025, whereby cardmembers will be able to redeem points for anywhere from 1.25-2.0 cents per point, toward select hotel and flight redemptions. We’ll have to wait until this feature is live to fully determine how valuable it is, though at least there will be some opportunities to get more than a penny per point as “cash” toward a travel purchase.

What do you make of the Chase Points Boost program?