Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection
For years, Chase has bored me. Some of that is on me, though. My wife and I decided years ago to move past Chase and its draconian 5/24 rule, and we’ve come out well ahead for doing so. Chase welcome offers aside, we primarily focus on 5x spend with Chase Ink Business Cash and Freedom products and cash out via the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s Pay Yourself Back options. That works best for us, but it’s certainly not splashy. I recently gave the Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection another look, though, and we’ll pursue certain future redemptions there – a big departure for us. So what’s this collection, and why do I now care?
Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection Basics
The Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection enables select cardholders to book over a 1,000 properties with elite-like benefits. I think of this as Chase’s version of Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts, a program where I’m more familiar. Chase’s program offers the following:
- Daily breakfast for two
- $100 benefit, often a property-wide credit based on my searches
- Room upgrade, when available
- Complimentary wifi
- Early check-in and late checkout, when available
Not all Chase cardholders have access to the collection, though. Only the following cards grant individuals the option to book the collection:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- JP Morgan Reserve
- United Gateway
- United Explorer
- United Quest
- United Club Infinite
- United Business
A Recent, Significant Development
A few days ago, DDG described how 118 Four Seasons hotels joined the Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection. This immediately drew my attention. After all, Four Seasons is a chain which hasn’t offered an official loyalty program, certainly an outlier amidst other chains. True or not, I never considered Four Seasons a chain which needed to resort (pun intended) to such loyalty program hijinks. We’ve stayed at Four Seasons properties a few times, and we paid cash rates. Based on our excellent experiences on those occasions, though, I’m excited to leverage this program for Four Seasons and other stays. But how?
A Gorgeous Stack
Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders can redeem Ultimate Rewards points with 50% extra value via their travel portal. Interestingly, Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection properties are bookable via this portal. That’s maybe not news to some of you, but I’m just now paying attention to this angle.
Reserve cardholders can obtain outsize points value while picking up attractive benefits at aspirational properties. And the rates are competitive. Take the example illustrated above. The flexible rate on the Four Seasons site for a Chicago stay mirror what’s available on the Chase Travel Portal, plus the latter provides all those excellent perks. Sure, the Four Seasons site outperforms the portal on the lowest, non-cancellable rate. But our family prefers more flexible cancellation policies, anyway. Individual situations vary, so take into account your needs and always compare rates, of course.
Conclusion
I look forward to booking the Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection via the travel portal with my Reserve benefits when such a redemption aligns with our overall goals. While Four Seasons additions grabbed my attention, I’m also interested in other options from brands like Fairmont. I still love the Amex Platinum’s perk offering $200 on an annual Fine Hotels & Resorts stay, but Chase may have bested the FHR program in terms of maximizing points redemptions while stacking benefits. Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts offers more properties and a guaranteed late checkout, but it seems Chase can delivers the goods just as well or better from the other angles. I’m excited to redeem with the Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection and will report back with more!
Have you booked via the Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection? How was your experience?
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Benjy, the change that you noted with respect to the Four Seasons is actually broader.
Something happened to several hotel booking platforms a few months back. Prior to the change, certain luxury properties were not available on all platforms. For example, if you wanted a specific property, it might only available on Amex FHR or Chase LHRC but not Chase UR, airlines’ hotel platforms, etc. Then, there were other properties that were available on Chase UR, etc. but typically only entry-level rooms — if you wanted an upgraded room or suite, you were out of luck. Lastly, there was everything else that was available to everyone.
After the change, I’ve found that certain luxury properties that were never available via Chase UR, airlines’ hotel portals, etc., are now available. Perhaps not all properties on all platforms but some on this portal and others on that portal.
The LHR collection used to not be bookable with points, only cash (unlike the Chase Travel Portal)- you couldn’t receive all the extra benies (like you could with AMEX/FHR). Great that Chase is now allowing both discounted points usage + extra benefits on 4S props, consistent with AMEX bookings.
Pam, if one looks at other Chase LHRC properties that are also bookable via Chase UR, if one books via LHRC the benefits attach but if one books via UR the benefits do not attach. It’s about the booking platform not the property. So, my guess is that if one books any property via the Chase UR platform using point, the benefits will not attach even if the property happens to also be an LHRC property.
Thanks for the heads up. Normally I don’t like booking through portals unless I’m getting something extra like Chase LH & R.
Thanks for reading, Steven!
Great post. Ill take a look at this.
Have fun, Robert!