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Helping you and your family save money on your vacations to Disney and beyond

Four Reasons to consider passing on the Chase Iberia Credit Card

Like I wrote about last week, at one point in my miles and points career I applied for cards I didn’t need. That was all well and good when we didn’t have kids and could fly off to Europe for the weekend. It’s less ideal now that our time is limited. One thing I wish I had seen during my “Phase 3” heyday were more reasons not to apply for the shiniest new credit cards out there. So I’ve written this post about reasons to avoid the Chase Iberia credit card with that in mind. If you’re looking for reasons to talk yourself out of this card, this post is for you!

Now let me get this out up front: this is a perfectly good card and will fit a lot of people’s situations. However, every single review you read of a new credit card spends 90% or more of its time talking about what’s good about the card. This post will spend 90% of the time highlighting what’s not so good about the card, but let me get the other 10% out of the way. 50,000 Avios can be very useful to families who live in cities that have good AA space, transferring to British Airways is useful if not cumbersome, and the card not being subject to 5/24 is great.

Alright, let’s get to the reasons why I’m avoiding the Chase Iberia credit card. You can also consider these reasons to be wary of the hype.

The Chase Iberia credit card seems like a good deal, but there are some things you might want to think about before you lob in an application.

1. It’s not really a 75,000 Avios sign up bonus

The first thing I think consumers should be aware of is the advertisement of the sign up bonus being 75,000 Avios rings a bit false to me. You earn 50,000 Avios after $3K in spending, and the other 25,000 after $7K in spending. If you have reliable MS or reselling methods, that 75K might be worth it. But if you’re a bit more average, like myself, 25K for 7K of spending isn’t amazing. I’d rather do 7K spending with my Chase Ink at office supply stores and earn 35K Ultimate Rewards.

Here’s the tricky thing that I need to remind myself. Even though I know I probably wouldn’t earn the 75K total if I applied for this card, just seeing it advertised as 75K has a subtle effect on how I view the card. I know better, but advertisements, which I’d is how I’d characterize 80% of the Chase Iberia credit card posts out there, have one job, and that’s to psychologically fool people into buying products. So I personally need to mentally adjust when I’m reading the hype, and I think others should do the same.

Just remember the opportunity cost of spending an extra $7000 to earn that extra 25K Iberia Avios. It definitely will be worth it to some, but not all. But it’s really a 50K sign up bonus with a 25K spending bonus. At least that’s how I identify it.

2. Avios (both Iberia and British Airways iterations) can be difficult to use in your situation

I used to love British Airways Avios. Even post devaluation, I found being able to take AA flights for slightly cheaper to be invaluable. Then a funny thing happened, AA tightened up all their award space and I had a bunch of kids. Now all of a sudden I’m searching for four tickets during peak school vacation times. Finding nonstop flights that fit those criteria can be very difficult.

One highly touted usage of British Airways Avios is the ability to redeem for flights from the West Coast to Hawaii for 12,500 per segment. That is indeed a great deal! Except:

The Chase Iberia credit card seems like a good deal, but there are some things you might want to think about before you lob in an application.

They say Avios are great for the West Coast to Hawaii, but that’s contingent on award space

Things get better in September but your kids are probably back in school.

Update : counterpoint from @lsjbrooks

That space does my family very little good but hopefully it helps yours

Anyway, sometimes Avios can be super useful, but I generally haven’t found them to be as useful as the internet says they are. You have to get pretty creative, and if you don’t have a lot of time to do your research, you may just be chasing a shiny new sign up bonus that you don’t have the time to put the work into to use properly. Also, if you’re busy, you might not want to go through the hassle of transferring from Iberia to British Airways. It’s only like, two steps, but there’s the 90 day waiting period yada yada yada…I have found as my time has become more precious these small nuisances add up.

In terms of using the Avios for Iberia flights, I’ve had my eye on BOS-MAD on Iberia in the summer (it’s seasonal) for years now, but have never found enough seats for my family. We’d love to go back to Madrid, and you’d think the Iberia credit card could get us there, but in reality…probably not.

3. It’s another card to keep track of in your sock drawer

The earn potential on the card out of the sign up bonus isn’t very exciting. Most people don’t fly Iberia regularly so it won’t be worth it to spend $30K to get a $1000 voucher. (Though at 3.3% back, it’s not bad if you do I guess). But most people aren’t going to be spending on Iberia or British Airways flights regularly, so this card will only earn you 1 Avios per dollar. Obviously you can do better just by using any Sapphire Card which will earn you a minimum of 1 Ultimate Reward point per dollar which you can of course transfer to Avios.

So, most people will just get this card for the sign up bonus and sock drawer it – that’s not going to be worth the hassle for a lot of people.

4. Is the card worth going past 5/24?

A lot has been made about the fact that the Iberia card isn’t subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule. For some people, that’s great because if you’re “LOL/24” you have no chance to ever get back under so any hit of that sweet, sweet Chase is worth it. However, 24 months isn’t that long in the game – I’ve been dropping closer to 5/24 over the past 12 months. We’ve kept my wife permanently below 5/24. So is this card really worth adding to your 5/24 total or putting you over?

Ultimately, the miles and points game is a long game – so make sure you keep that in mind as you make your decisions.

Final Thoughts

If I’m being perfectly honest, I thought there’d be more compelling reasons to avoid the new Chase Iberia card. Turns out, the reasons are mostly subtle, meaning it’s likely a pretty good card! I thought I’d try a new angle while analyzing the credit card, so I don’t know if I’ll do another post like this in the future. In the end, I think my post has at least convinced me that I’m personally going to pass. Because the fact of the matter is, there aren’t many compelling reasons to get this card either. These days I like to keep my credit card applications to the ones I really want, and I’ll stick with that for now. If you’re looking for a more traditional review, DoC’s got you covered.

How about you, does the Chase Iberia card have a new space in your wallet? For the next month or so at least? Let me know in the comments!

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Using bank points to book cash flights and travel: a primer

The miles and points game has definitely changed over the past few years. These days, you may get more value using points to book cash flights instead of stressing searching for award space. Bob Dwyer detailed the rise of bank points in this great post on Saverocity. Then he went ahead and ranked the major flexible currencies over at Milenomics.

The other day, I found out some people I knew spent $500 farming out a reservation to an award booker. Said award booker merely used their points to book cash flights through Chase travel and booked one extra leg using Avios and called it a day. If you plan to earn hundreds of thousands of points, please at least know how to cash them out for cash flights.

This post aims to assist you with that. Up front let me say it won’t be completely comprehensive, I’m no DoC. But I’ll hit some of the main currencies you can use for cash flights and give a quick primer on how to go about doing that. Hope it helps you get the most out of your points.

Shortcuts:

  1. Chase Ultimate Rewards
  2. American Express Membership Rewards
  3. Citi ThankYou Points
  4. US Bank Flexperks
  5. Bank of America Travel Rewards and Preferred Rewards

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Max cash value for travel: 1.5 cents per point (with Chase Sapphire Reserve)

Ultimate Rewards Earning Cards: Sapphire family, Ink family, Freedom family

How to use points to book cash flights and travel

The simplest way to book travel with cash using Ultimate Rewards is to use the Chase travel portal online. Your Ultimate Rewards earning cards should display the balance, if not, click “see balance”, then “redeem”. Then go to “Use Points” in the menu and “Explore and Book Travel”. From that point, the interface looks exactly like Orbitz or any other OTA.

If you want to do something fancier like book a cruise or buy Disney tickets, you’ll need to call in. You can find the number at the bottom of the “Explore and Book Travel” page. I’ve also included the numbers for the cards I have here:

Chase Sapphire Reserve: 1-855-234-2542

Chase Ink or Freedom: 1-866-951-6592

With the Reserve you’ll get 1.5 cents per point, Ink or Sapphire preferred 1.25 cents per point, and 1 cent per point with the Freedom.

You often save money using points to book cash flights instead of trying to figure out how to redeem them for award seats. Here is a simple primer for the different options out there and the value you can get.
This type of interface should be accessible even if you’re not a travel hacker

American Express Membership Rewards

Max cash value for travel: ~1.5 cents per point (with Business Platinum Rebate)

Membership Rewards Earning Cards: Platinum cards, Gold cards, Green cards, Everyday cards, Blue business cards

How to use points to book cash flights and travel

Membership Rewards points can be used to book cash flights online. Click the top left menu and navigate to “Travel”. Click on “Book a Trip” and again you’ll be at an Orbitz type search engine. One nice thing about American Express is the ability to search for cruises online. Not all cruise lines are represented (notably Disney), but that is a nice touch.

If you’d like to book over the phone, just call the number on the back of your card and indicate you’d like to book travel. That will connect you with a travel agent.

Membership Rewards get a standard value of 1 cent per point. The one exception is if you use your Business Platinum card you get a 35% rebate on your points, giving you approximately 1.5 cents per point.

Citi ThankYou Points

Max cash value for travel: 1.25 cents per point (Premier and Prestige, though there are differences)

ThankYou Points Earning Cards: ThankYou cards, ATT Access More (no longer available)

How to use points to book cash flights and travel

Again, booking online is the easiest. Scroll down to “Rewards” at the bottom of the screen after you log in. Click on “view rewards and redeem” on the account of your choosing. You’ll have to select the ThankYou account you are using again (if you have multiple), and then at the top menu navigate to “Travel” => “Flights” (drop down menu). Or hotels or cars, as you like it.

You can book on the phone via the number on the back of your card, indicate you’d like to book travel. Remember with Chase, Amex, and Citi, you can use your points to book Disney hotel packages. If you want to book a cruise, this is the only way to do it. Ask specifically for the cruises and tours department.

If you have the Citi ThankYou Preferred, you get an even 1 cent per point on everything. The Citi Prestige gives you 1.25 cents per point on flights only, Citi Premier gets you 1.25 cents per point on all travel, including cruises.

You often save money using points to book cash flights instead of trying to figure out how to redeem them for award seats. Here is a simple primer for the different options out there and the value you can get.
Great stuff from US Bank

US Bank Flexperks

Max cash value for travel: 1.5 cents per point

Flexperks Earning Cards: Flexperks, Altitude

How to use points to book cash flights and travel

So, of course, you can do the whole online portal thing, but US Bank has introduced a much better way to redeem your points as of last week (unless you have the Amex). Frequent Miler broke the news that you can redeem via Real Time Mobile Rewards. You’ll want to login to US Bank, then go “My Rewards” => “Redeem Rewards & Access Card benefits” => “Card Benefits” => “Real Time Mobile Rewards” => “Activate”.

Then, whenever you make a travel purchase, you’ll get a text asking if you want to redeem points for it. It automatically calculates at a value of 1.5 cents per point. Brilliant. That means if you buy direct from the airline/hotel/car rental, from Orbitz, wherever, you can redeem your points for it. You aren’t a slave to US Bank’s travel portal and their prices.

Of course, if you’d like to book over the phone, call the number on the back of your card. The math is simple for Flexperks, you get 1.5 cents per point redeemed.

Bank of America Travel Rewards, Premium Rewards

Max cash value for travel: 1 cent per point

Rewards Earning Cards: Bank of America Travel Rewards, Bank of America Premium Rewards

How to use points to book cash flights and travel

Bank of America Travel Rewards

While you only get 1 cent per point when redeeming, people love Bank of America Travel Rewards because you can earn up to 2.625% on every dollar spent (if you have over $100K in Bank of America accounts). Online, just click on your credit card account => “view my rewards” => “redeem points”. Travel Rewards is a “zapping” kind of system. After you’ve made a travel purchase, you can choose to redeem points against that purchase in the form of a statement credit. The minimum you can redeem for is 2500 points ($25).

You often save money using points to book cash flights instead of trying to figure out how to redeem them for award seats. Here is a simple primer for the different options out there and the value you can get.
“Zap” your purchase

Bank of America Premium Rewards

Bank of America Premium Rewards works like an online travel portal. Click on your card => “view my rewards” => “redeem points” => “redeem (Travel)”. You’ll be brought to an online booking portal where you can search for flights, hotels, and cars for 1 cent per point.

Hopefully you can combine points between these two products in the future

Final Thoughts

I didn’t include the Capital One and Barclays Arrival cards because I no longer carry them, but they both work in a “zap” your purchase fashion. So basically you can redeem against a travel purchase with points for a statement credit.

Hopefully, you already knew all this and only use this post for reference. Or better yet, you’ve got all this memorized. If not, please remember you can use your points to book cash flights! Use points first, as Freequent Flyer says, and cash last.

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You often save money using points to book cash flights instead of trying to figure out how to redeem them for award seats. Here is a simple primer for the different options out there and the value you can get.

Quick Hits: Get a Chase Disney Debit card for a free meet and greet

Rachel Berkey, a moderator at the Award Travel 101 Facebook group, inspired me with this tip. One of the benefits touted with the Chase Disney credit card is a free meet and greet at Epcot Center, amongst other ancillary benefits. However, the Chase Disney debit card offers the same benefit, doesn’t waste a credit card application, and can be obtained easily for current Chase bank account customers.

I signed up for a Chase checking account years ago and use it occasionally. Since Chase doesn’t have branches in Massachusetts (yet!), I always assumed product changes and the like would be pretty difficult. Why? Because whenever I tried to do the product change to a Disney debit card online it said “product not available in your area.” I assume that’s due to the no branches in MA thing.

I’m not sure you can even sign up for a Chase checking account online if there is no branch in your area, but somebody please correct me if I’m wrong.

Did you know that the Chase Disney debit card is free for Chase checking account holders? Find out how to get a Disney debit card and five minutes and how to use it for a FREE character meet and greet.

Changing your regular Chase debit card to a Chase Disney debit card

Anyway, if you find yourself in a situation like me and want to change your debit card to a Disney debit card for the free meet and greet, follow these simple steps.

  1. Call the Disney Visa Debit Card Customer Service line: 1-877-388-5726. I got the number from disneydebit.com.
  2. Press 2, other options
  3. Press 3, open new account (even though you already have a Chase account)
  4. Press 1, personal accounts
  5. Press 1, new account (again, even though you already have one)
  6. Tell the representative you want to switch to a Disney debit card

That’s it. A simple five minute phone call and a week later your Disney debit card will show up in the mail.

Disney Debit card benefits

The debit card mostly has the same benefits as the Disney credit card, without the Disney dollars earning. I can basically boil it down to two benefits that matter (1.5, really). But again, changing to the card is free and has no practical effect on your account with Chase aside from gaining these benefits. The benefits are:

  1. Free character meet and greet (including Photopass photos) at Epcot (Disney World) or Disney’s California Adventure (Disneyland)
  2. 10% off at various stores and restaurants

There are quite a few random restrictions on the stores and restaurants you get the 10% off at, so make sure you read the fine print. Or don’t, the card is freeeeeeee. My biggest “issue” with the 10% food discount is you have to use the debit card to get it, aka no points. Too much math for me.

The debit card also offers various random discounts at random places, but they’re too niche to consider valuable for all. But definitely valuable for some.

Let’s finish up by talking about the meet and greet. It’s the whole reason why I think the Chase Disney debit card is worth the five minute phone call.

Did you know that the Chase Disney debit card is free for Chase checking account holders? Find out how to get a Disney debit card and five minutes and how to use it for a FREE character meet and greet.
Freeeeeee photo

Epcot Center Meet and Greet

The entrance to the free character meet and greet sits right near Journey to Imagination with Figment. Basically walk up towards the jumping fountains and you should see it to your left.

Let me just detail why this meet and greet is great.

  1. Little to no lines, I had three parties in front of me, which is the most I’ve ever heard of.
  2. Free Photopass photos, meaning you don’t have to pay for the photos. If you don’t want to pay for Memory Maker but want at least a few photos with some characters, this is a great option.
  3. The character meet is Mickey and a friend, and you get to take pictures of them together. That’s always fun since most (though not all) meet and greets are just one character at a time.

That’s it! A short line for a cute meet and greet with free photos. You can do this once a day for up to six people, and just need to flash your card when you get in. I don’t even think I had to swipe anything, just show the card, so…

Final Thoughts

If you already have a Chase checking account, switching to the Chase Disney debit card is fairly easy. If you plan on opening a Chase checking account and ever going to Disney World or Disneyland, consider grabbing the Disney debit card version. You get some nice benefits, your kids get to take a few pictures, and you get to download them for free. Everybody wins!

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Can’t get enough Disney? Check out our Disney planning podcast, Disney Deciphered (latest episode embedded below)!

 

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Did you know that the Chase Disney debit card is free for Chase checking account holders? Find out how to get a Disney debit card and five minutes and how to use it for a FREE character meet and greet.

Quick Hits: Using the Chase Sapphire Reserve to buy Disney World Tickets with Ultimate Rewards Points

The common school of thought posits that you can’t use miles and points to offset your Disney World vacation. The advice lots of big blogs defer to generally revolves around cards like the Barclays Arrival+ or Capital One Venture where you get one cent per point. But as I’ve written elsewhere, you can save money on Disney tickets and hotels if you buy Disney World tickets with Ultimate Rewards points using your Chase Sapphire Reserve. So how do you use Chase points to buy Disney World tickets?

Update: Chase has told its cruise and tours department they can no longer book anything Disney related. Crushing news. 

Did you know you can use Chase points to buy Disney World tickets? Instead of using cash, you can use your hard earned Ultimate Rewards points to save money on your Disney vacation!

Huzzah! You can pay for your Disney tickets with points!

Before we start, the common retort I’d expect to hear at this point is “you could get so much more value using your Ultimate Rewards points for hotel rooms (Hyatt) or for first class flights (Korean, United, etc.)! You’re dumb for this!” I’m not going to get into it, but suffice it to say, use points in a way that will make you happy. If you want to redeem for 1.5 cents per point (if you have the Reserve) for flights, hotels, cars, or Disney World tickets, you just do you.

Now I’ve confirmed this works with Chase Sapphire Reserve (1.5 cpp), Ink Plus (1.25 cpp), Freedom (1 cpp). I sort of assume it will as well with the Chase Sapphire Preferred at a rate of 1.25 cents per point but I cannot confirm this as I ditched my Preferred years ago. If you have any experience please let me know!

Anyway, here’s how to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to buy Disney World Tickets if you have Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Did you know you can use Chase points to buy Disney World tickets? Instead of using cash, you can use your hard earned Ultimate Rewards points to save money on your Disney vacation!
You don’t need to use cash to be off to Neverland!

1. Call 1-855-234-2542

This is the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel agency number. You’ll need your card with you to input the number.

If you are using Ink or Freedom the number is 1-866-951-6592.

2. Select option “2” – Cruise or Vacation Package

Normal business hours are Mon-Fri 9 AM -9 PM EST and Sat 9 AM – 5 PM EST.

3. Tell the agent you are interested in booking Disney World tickets

You may have to clarify you are interested in tickets only. The agent should also ask you whether you are interested in Disney World (Florida) or Disneyland (California), make sure you know where you want to go! You can book room packages as well if you’d like, though I won’t go into that here (see this post for some details on that).

4. Figure out which type of ticket you’d like and confirm price is where you want it to be

One quirk is that you cannot buy one day tickets – Disney wants you to just buy those at the gate. Other than that, you can buy pretty much any ticket you’d like. The base Magic Your Way tickets allow you to visit one park per day. Add a Park Hopper option and you can visit multiple parks in one day. You can also add the Park Hopper Plus option which allows you to visit the water parks.

For some reason, the prices Chase quoted were a little bit off from what I saw on Disney’s website. (Don’t forget, you should be comparing the price to ticket discounters who usually knock a few bucks off).

You’ll need to decide whether you value the points more or cash, but these days I like to redeem points first. If you can earn Ultimate Rewards at a cost of 1 cent each (not too difficult overall), then you’re effectively getting a 33% discount on park tickets. That’s tough to beat.

One important note: Chase can book through two avenues, Disney itself and this company called Funjet. Ask the agent to book you through DISNEY – that way you don’t have to wait until 60 days before your trip to confirm your tickets in My Disney Experience.

Anyway, here are the prices from Chase Travel compared with Disney and Undercover Tourist as of Feb 2018 (including tax):

Ticket Type Chase Travel price Chase Travel price in points (w/ CSR) Disney World price Undercover Tourist price
2-Day Magic Your Way $222 14,800 $211.94 $217.76
4-Day Magic Your Way $373 24,866 $372.75 $356.95
3-Day Magic Your Way $325 21,666 $324.83 $309.99
5-Day Magic Your Way $395 26,333 $394.05 $373.95
6-Day Magic Your Way $416 27,733 $415.35 $394.35
Mickey Not So Scary Halloween Party 2018 (Select Dates) $85 5,609 $84.14 $79.88

As you can see, Chase Travel prices are basically the same as Disney rack rates, but you can pay for them with points! Easy peasy. Also, note that Disney doesn’t offer discounts for 1 and 2 day tickets for buying in advance. 

Final Thoughts

While Citi’s travel concierge won’t sell you Disney World tickets outside of a package, you can use your Ultimate Rewards points to buy tickets with your hard earned points from the Chase Sapphire Reserve. So don’t let anyone tell you you can’t use points to offset costs on your Disney vacation (if you want to). If you have any experience with this, I’d love to hear it, let me know in the comments!

Update: I just called last week (4/21/2018), and confirmed that you can also use Ultimate Rewards to book holiday parties like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party. Also, reader Judah Wilkins e-mailed me to say that Chase told him they could do Annual Passes as well!

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Can’t get enough Disney? Check out our Disney planning podcast, Disney Deciphered (latest episode embedded below)!

 

Did you know you can use Chase points to buy Disney World tickets? Instead of using cash, you can use your hard earned Ultimate Rewards points to save money on your Disney vacation!

One weird trick when using bank points at Disney (and a call for datapoints)

This post was written by Robert Dwyer, who you can follow on Twitter or find at his blog Wellesley Wine Press. He wrote up some thoughts on using bank points (or credit card points) for a Disney hotel stay. Below you’ll find some good tips about how to go about using your points to pay for a Disney vacation. Thanks to Bob for helping to provide content when I’m lazy! 🙂

Joe did a nice job summarizing the approach of using bank points for a Disney hotel stay, usually Chase Ultimate Rewards or Citi Thank You Points (How to pay for Disney hotels and tickets with points). And perhaps bundling park tickets with it as part of a package.

I think the topic is worth discussing in more depth.

The thinking is it’s hard to get discounts on Disney so if you can accrue points for a penny a point or less you’re getting a deep discount. 1.5 cents per point of value with the Chase Sapphire Reserve for example. If you’ve got the Citi Premier you’re getting a 1.25 cents per point. And if you’ve got both the Citi Premier and Prestige you’re getting even more value thanks to 4th night free.

Of course, if you can earn the points for less your discount is even better. Given how voracious the Disney community is for Disney Gift Cards when discounted as modestly as 5-10% I think 33%+ is actually spectacular.

While comparing notes with Joe I was doing a bunch of searches for upcoming trips. I found the prices quoted on Chase’s portal were consistently ~5% more expensive than on Disney’s site. This bothered me because it eats away at the per-point value I’m getting out of my hard earned rewards.

The trick

So I did something we normally don’t recommend: I called.

Whether you’re dealing with Chase or Citi, call the phone number listed in their respective redemption portals and ask for the Cruises & Tours department.

Chase:

To speak to a Chase Travel Specialist, please call 1-855-234-2542. Advisors specializing in flights, hotels, car rentals and activities are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Advisors specializing in cruises are available Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET, and Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET.

Citi:

ThankYou Service Center
1-800-THANKYOU (842-6596)
Monday to Friday8am to 1am ET
Saturday and Sunday9am to 9pm ET

Why Cruises & Tours?

If you want to book a travel package (say a Disney hotel stay that includes park tickets, or a dining plan) you’ll need to talk with the Cruises & Tours department. They handle more complicated bookings like these, seemingly behaving more like a full service travel agent than the reps who just book the same hotels and flights you see yourself online.

Even if you don’t want to bundle park tickets or a Disney meal plan it could be worth contriving a package (say by adding a rental car to a hotel stay) because the Cruises & Tours reps seem more empowered to get better rates than what’s in the portal.

My experience

I called the Chase Cruises & Tours department and got a helpful agent right away.

I described the trip I wanted to take: Disneyland Hotel Club-Level with Park tickets.

I saw a price of $717/nt on Disney’s site:

Consider using bank points at Disney to save money on your vacation. Here are some tips on how to maximize your savings by using points for a Disney Vacation.
Yes, $717/nt is pricey but we don’t go cross country to Disneyland often

The Chase portal was consistently about 5% higher across all room types. $752.18/nt in this case:

Consider using bank points at Disney to save money on your vacation. Here are some tips on how to maximize your savings by using points for a Disney Vacation.
Chase UR portal is 5% more than the price on Disney’s site

Incidentally, Citi’s portal (run by the same people, but with different inventory) was $759/nt:

Consider using bank points at Disney to save money on your vacation. Here are some tips on how to maximize your savings by using points for a Disney Vacation.
Citi’s portal was even more expensive for some reason

I asked the rep if she could match the price I saw on Disney’s site and bundle Park tickets with it to make it a vacation package. She took my information and said she’s call me back. About a half an hour later she called me back with good news: She matched the price she saw on Disney’s site down to the penny and bundled in Park tickets to make it a package. Sold!

Related reading: Is Disney Cruise Line Concierge Level worth it?

Does this work for other hotel chains?

I don’t know. I have some datapoints that say it does not work for other scenarios. I saw a price for Hyatt timeshare property that was $349/nt on Hyatt’s site and about $100/nt more in Citi’s portal. I called and the rep told me to pound sand. That the prices were what they were and if I didn’t like it I could pay cash.

What’s been your experience?

Does calling Cruises & Tours open up hotels not bookable online?

No, it doesn’t. I called Chase back a few weeks later looking for that same Hyatt timeshare. Although it was available in the Citi portal it was not available in the Chase portal. The rep I spoke with, coincidentally the same exact rep who helped me out with the Disney booking, was unable to find the Hyatt timeshare in their booking channels.

Can I stack Citi 4th night free with Park tickets?

I don’t think so. But it’s worth a shot. I think as soon as you try to combine a 4th night free hotel booking with a package you get out of the 4th night free realm. The closest you can come to leveraging 4th night free for a hotel stay that’s more than just a hotel is to book an all-inclusive hotel.

I don’t have great expectations for the food & beverage options at the Disneyland Hotel Club Lounge but I did justify it in my mind by thinking we’d be getting 1.5 cents per point towards a bit of food & beverage in the lounge.

I’d be interested in hearing if anyone was able to get Citi 4th night free (essentially 25% off, before taxes) with any kind of package.

Can I stack Disney Annual Passholder/DVC/other discounts with bank point redemptions?

That’s a great question. I think you can, though I’ve never done it myself. I haven’t done it myself because I’ve never had a discount available for the hotel/room type I’m looking for coincide with my vacation. I say “I think you can” because Disney’s site says to book with Disney or call a travel agent to take advantage of the offer. Chase and Citi effectively act like travel agents when they make these bookings. So I think they’re possible.

Any datapoints on this?

See also: Using Citi Prestige 4th night free at Disney Hotels

Bottom line

If your goal is to take your family to a Disney Park, stay on-site and use bank points it’s worth trying to maximize the redemption. I find it harder to get discounts on Park tickets and dining than airfare and hotels. And it’s relatively affordable to earn URs and TYPs. So it’s a redemption I can justify in my mind.

See also: Going all in on Disney World: On-site trip report

I’d love it if I could stack Citi Prestige 4th night free with a meaty 30+% off Disney discount with 1.25 cpp uplift and bundle in Park tickets and Free Dining while I’m at it. That’s not possible but it’s always fun to try to get as close as possible.

Ping me on Twitter @RobertDwyer if you’d like to connect. I’d love to compare notes on this stuff.

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Consider using bank points at Disney to save money on your vacation. Here are some tips on how to maximize your savings by using points for a Disney Vacation.

Disclaimer

asthejoeflies and the Saverocity Network is Journalistic in Nature, please obtain Professional Representation prior to attempting anything discussed herein. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.