topic Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption in Credit Cards

Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:05:06 GMT

Just wanted to drop a quick review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card...

I've been using it for about three months now and the customer service is very impressive and just as advertised. The card is badass and has garnered many compliments.

Today I tried to use Ultimate Rewards for the first time and I was certainly dissappointed. I'm sure many more experienced people that use concierge/reward services on their cards could already attest, but I was extremely surprised just how poor the "deals" for hotel rooms are when you try to redeem points through Ultimate Rewards. I needed to book a total of 9 hotel rooms for the beginning of April (3 rooms per night, 2 nights at one resort, one night at another) for a bachelor party with 6 guys. As a big-time Type-A personality and Engineer, I did all my homework, researched everything, got online rates, talked to reservations at hotels and found my best deals. I then called Ultimate Rewards to have them book the rooms for me, hoping I would get premium service or upgrades for doing it through them, or at the very least a consolidated itinerary from one company.

I recently signed up for Hilton HHonors (membership, not CC), since I had found my best options to both be Hilton-owned hotels (Daytona Beach and Orlando). After spending 18 minutes on the phone (with a VERY nice woman who was obviously doing everything she could for me), I ended up with zero rooms booked and a big apology. After informing her I was a gov't employee and Hilton offered great savings with a gov't discount, I was told UR can't honor government rates. Ok. But they have their own "deals" worked with the hotels that should be very competitive. Told her to proceed and let me know what she could do. After searching and searching, she came back with "I can get 2 rooms, not three, and it will be $211 per night per room, and I can't request Oceanview or high floor." (Online gov't rate was $101 per night, oceanview). I passed on that deal.

Had her check Orlando, Embassy Suites, and she came back with "There is only one suite available, single King, city view, $197 per night." (Online had three high floor, water-view 2 bed suites for $127). Had to pass on that one too.

Called Hilton reservations, and they set me up with my every request, at the advertised price, and since my room request exceeded the number of gov't discounts I could get, they worked with me to find AAA and florida resident discounts on top of my other discounts. Booked all nine room nights within 10 minutes for half the price, and got exactly what I wanted.

I'm not impressed with Ultimate Rewards... we'll see how my plane ticket purchase goes ina few days.

Just thought I'd share my personal experience for anyone interested specifically in UR redemption.

Thanks for reading.

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

LS2982 — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:09:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just wanted to drop a quick review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card...
I've been using it for about three months now and the customer service is very impressive and just as advertised. The card is badass and has garnered many compliments.
Today I tried to use Ultimate Rewards for the first time and I was certainly dissappointed. I'm sure many more experienced people that use concierge/reward services on their cards could already attest, but I was extremely surprised just how poor the "deals" for hotel rooms are when you try to redeem points through Ultimate Rewards. I needed to book a total of 9 hotel rooms for the beginning of April (3 rooms per night, 2 nights at one resort, one night at another) for a bachelor party with 6 guys. As a big-time Type-A personality and Engineer, I did all my homework, researched everything, got online rates, talked to reservations at hotels and found my best deals. I then called Ultimate Rewards to have them book the rooms for me, hoping I would get premium service or upgrades for doing it through them, or at the very least a consolidated itinerary from one company.

I recently signed up for Hilton HHonors (membership, not CC), since I had found my best options to both be Hilton-owned hotels (Daytona Beach and Orlando). After spending 18 minutes on the phone (with a VERY nice woman who was obviously doing everything she could for me), I ended up with zero rooms booked and a big apology. After informing her I was a gov't employee and Hilton offered great savings with a gov't discount, I was told UR can't honor government rates. Ok. But they have their own "deals" worked with the hotels that should be very competitive. Told her to proceed and let me know what she could do. After searching and searching, she came back with "I can get 2 rooms, not three, and it will be $211 per night per room, and I can't request Oceanview or high floor." (Online gov't rate was $101 per night, oceanview). I passed on that deal.

Had her check Orlando, Embassy Suites, and she came back with "There is only one suite available, single King, city view, $197 per night." (Online had three high floor, water-view 2 bed suites for $127). Had to pass on that one too.

Called Hilton reservations, and they set me up with my every request, at the advertised price, and since my room request exceeded the number of gov't discounts I could get, they worked with me to find AAA and florida resident discounts on top of my other discounts. Booked all nine room nights within 10 minutes for half the price, and got exactly what I wanted.

I'm not impressed with Ultimate Rewards... we'll see how my plane ticket purchase goes ina few days.

Just thought I'd share my personal experience for anyone interested specifically in UR redemption.

Thanks for reading.

That is disappointing, but at least you ended up getting what you need done through AMEX!

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:10:12 GMT

Perhaps a transfer to a hotel partner or booking the room then redeeming points for a credit would work better. Although I have booked hotels with SP, I never used points for them. Amex's FHR works the best for me when traveling.

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

bostonte — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:13:12 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Amex's FHR works the best for me when traveling.

A week or so ago you asked for opinions on FHR because you hadn't used it yet...

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:58:33 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just wanted to drop a quick review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card...
I've been using it for about three months now and the customer service is very impressive and just as advertised. The card is badass and has garnered many compliments.
Today I tried to use Ultimate Rewards for the first time and I was certainly dissappointed. I'm sure many more experienced people that use concierge/reward services on their cards could already attest, but I was extremely surprised just how poor the "deals" for hotel rooms are when you try to redeem points through Ultimate Rewards. I needed to book a total of 9 hotel rooms for the beginning of April (3 rooms per night, 2 nights at one resort, one night at another) for a bachelor party with 6 guys. As a big-time Type-A personality and Engineer, I did all my homework, researched everything, got online rates, talked to reservations at hotels and found my best deals. I then called Ultimate Rewards to have them book the rooms for me, hoping I would get premium service or upgrades for doing it through them, or at the very least a consolidated itinerary from one company.

I recently signed up for Hilton HHonors (membership, not CC), since I had found my best options to both be Hilton-owned hotels (Daytona Beach and Orlando). After spending 18 minutes on the phone (with a VERY nice woman who was obviously doing everything she could for me), I ended up with zero rooms booked and a big apology. After informing her I was a gov't employee and Hilton offered great savings with a gov't discount, I was told UR can't honor government rates. Ok. But they have their own "deals" worked with the hotels that should be very competitive. Told her to proceed and let me know what she could do. After searching and searching, she came back with "I can get 2 rooms, not three, and it will be $211 per night per room, and I can't request Oceanview or high floor." (Online gov't rate was $101 per night, oceanview). I passed on that deal.

Had her check Orlando, Embassy Suites, and she came back with "There is only one suite available, single King, city view, $197 per night." (Online had three high floor, water-view 2 bed suites for $127). Had to pass on that one too.

Called Hilton reservations, and they set me up with my every request, at the advertised price, and since my room request exceeded the number of gov't discounts I could get, they worked with me to find AAA and florida resident discounts on top of my other discounts. Booked all nine room nights within 10 minutes for half the price, and got exactly what I wanted.

I'm not impressed with Ultimate Rewards... we'll see how my plane ticket purchase goes ina few days.

Just thought I'd share my personal experience for anyone interested specifically in UR redemption.

Thanks for reading.

Thanks for taking the time to share! I don't have the CSP but this confirms my suspicion that booking reward travel through Chase or any other CCC is not the best use of points. Rates seem to be worse than if you just booked directly with the hotels/airlines or use a travel discount website like Expedia. It's actually one of the reasons I switched away from using Amex SPG. Starpoints are great if you use C&P at certain properties but in general I am able to find a cheaper hotel than the comparable Starwood hotel in any given city when traveling.

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

crunching_numbers — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:03:00 GMT

I haven't tried to use Chase UR points to book, but when I use AMEX MR I have found my best deals converting them to Hilton Honors points or using them like cash for already discounted airline tickets. The conversion rate for Hilton's program from AMEX is fair.

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:12:03 GMT

Reading this post makes me very happy I just applied and was approved for the AmEx HH Honors Card!

Thanks for sharing this info with us.

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 19:31:59 GMT

@bostonte wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Amex's FHR works the best for me when traveling.

A week or so ago you asked for opinions on FHR because you hadn't used it yet...

And then I did. Quickly deciding that the hotel I stayed in was very nice and that I will be doing this in the future.

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Cory — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 20:58:07 GMT

I don't think the OP have or booked through AMEX particularly. He/or she stated they are a member of Hilton Honors. You can be a member of Hilton Honors without having an AMEX CC.

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Jake0215 — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:15:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@bostonte wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Amex's FHR works the best for me when traveling.

A week or so ago you asked for opinions on FHR because you hadn't used it yet...
And then I did. Quickly deciding that the hotel I stayed in was very nice and that I will be doing this in the future.

Uh huh

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:20:11 GMT

Something wrong Jake?

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:32:44 GMT

Who has the best concierge value?

My guess (based upon experience) is Amex Gold.

Citi Diamond Preferred offers it but the one time I tried using it the CSR really couldn't come up with any deals that beat Kayak or Priceline. I guess it would be good if I was stranded with no computer or smart phone.

Re: Sapphire Preferred : Impressed, but not with Redemption

CreditScholar — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 03:12:58 GMT

I've used UR quite a bit and from what I can see, your best use of points is transferring them to united, southwest (for short fights where spending 25k on united isn't justified), or hyatt. Airfares purchased directly through UR seem to be very similar to what you could find on your own. Hotels though are another story, and are typically 20%+ more compared to elsewhere. YMMV though.