Amex Membership Rewards vs. Chase Ultimate Rewards: Which flexible travel points are more valuable?

CNBC

25-04-2025

American Express and Chase both have incredible travel rewards programs that offer a wide variety of redemptions and exceptional value. Both programs let you use points for statement credits, gift cards, travel bookings and transfers to travel partners.
Although the redemption options are similar, there are key differences when you look under the hood. If you aren't sure which points make more sense for your travel goals, CNBC Select has the details on where each of these programs shine.
There are a variety of credit cards that earn flexible Amex points and Chase points. Premium credit cards have higher annual fees but tend to offset that extra cost with generous annual statement credit offers and luxury perks like airport lounge access. For a less frequent traveler, a mid-tier card can provide many of the same redemption options and valuable travel protections for a much lower cost.
On the American Express site
On the American Express site
The Amex Platinum Card provides access to Amex Centurion Lounges, Delta Sky Clubs, Lufthansa Lounges, Escape Lounges and more. (Enrollment required)
Good to Excellent670–850
See Pay Over Time APR
$695
Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 on purchases on your new card in your first six months of Card Membership
See rates and fees, terms apply. Read our Amex Platinum Card review.
The Platinum Card® from American Express is a premium card loaded with annual statement credits, entertainment benefits, extensive airport lounge access, elite status perks and more. (Enrollment required for select benefits mentioned)N/A
None
On Chase's site
On Chase's site
Points are worth 50% more when you redeem them for travel booked through Chase Travel℠.
Excellent740–850
20.24% - 28.74% variable
$550
Earn 60,000 bonus points
See rates and fees. Terms apply. Member FDIC.
Read our Chase Sapphire Reserve® review.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is a standout premium credit card with plenty of luxury perks and statement credits to justify its annual fee.
Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each balance transfer, whichever is greater
On Chase's site
On Chase's site
Points are worth 25% more when you redeem them for travel booked through Chase TravelSM.
Good to Excellent670–850
19.99% - 28.24% variable
$95
Earn 100,000 bonus points
See rates and fees. Terms apply. Member FDIC.
Read our Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card review.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card packs a punch for a $95 annual fee card, offering annual travel credits, comprehensive travel protections and more.Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
On the American Express site
On the American Express site
The Amex Gold Card offers over $400 in statement credits every year.
Good to Excellent670–850
See Pay Over Time APR
$325
Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points
See rates and fees, terms apply. Read our American Express® Gold Card review.
The American Express Gold Card is great for earning valuable Membership Rewards® points at restaurants worldwide and U.S. supermarkets.None
Information has been collected independently by CNBC Select
Information has been collected independently by CNBC Select
Good to Excellent670–850
See Pay Over Time APR
$150
Earn 40,000 Membership Rewards® Points
See rates and fees, terms apply. Read our American Express® Green Card review.
The American Express® Green Card is geared toward those who frequently travel and eat out often, but don't want to shell out on a premium card.
None
On the American Express site
On the American Express site
Excellent740–850
17.49% - 27.49% Variable; APRs will not exceed 29.99%
$0
Earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points
See rates and fees, terms apply. Read our Amex Blue Business Plus review.
The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is a great option if you're starting a business because it's affordable, earns flexible travel rewards and offers an intro-APR on purchases for a year.N/A
2.7% of each transaction after conversion to US dollars
On the American Express site
On the American Express site
Excellent740–850
18.49% – 27.49% variable
$375
Earn 100,000 Membership Rewards® points
See rates and fees, terms apply. Read our Amex Business Gold review.
The American Express Business Gold Card maximizes spending with flexible bonus reward categories based on where your business spends the most.N/A
None
On Chase's site
On Chase's site
Good to Excellent670–850
20.24% - 26.24% variable
$95
Earn 90k bonus points
See rates and fees. Terms apply.
Read our Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card review.
The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card is an excellent business card with useful benefits, valuable rewards and a generous welcome bonus.Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
There are no consumer credit cards with no annual fee that earn transferrable Amex points or Chase points and are open to new applicants.
However, Chase allows you to combine Ultimate Rewards points. So you can move the points you earn with a no-annual-fee card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® (see rates and fees) or Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (see rates and fees) to a card that allows transfers. While this requires two Chase credit cards, the points you earn through the no-fee card are now much more valuable than before.
On Chase's site
On Chase's site
New cardholders receive a 0% intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers.
Good to Excellent670–850
18.99% - 28.49% variable
$0
Earn $250 cash back
See rates and fees. Terms apply. Member FDIC.
Read our Chase Freedom Unlimited® review.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is a no-annual-fee card that earns generous cash-back on everyday purchases and a lucrative welcome bonus.Intro fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater, in the first 60 days. After that, either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars
On Chase's site
On Chase's site
Good to Excellent670–850
17.49% - 23.49% variable
$0
Earn $750 bonus cash back
See rates and fees. Terms apply.
The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card is a flat-rate cash-back card with a strong intro-APR offer for purchases.Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater
3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars
In general, American Express cards tend to have larger welcome bonuses, especially if you're eligible for a lucrative targeted offer. However, these bonuses usually require you to hit a big spending minimum in order to earn, which can be $6,000 to $8,000 for personal cards and well into the five figures for business cards.
Outside of the American Express® Business Gold Card and American Express® Gold Card (which both feature strong bonus spending categories), many Amex Membership Rewards® cards have subpar rewards rates for the annual fees they charge. For example, The Platinum Card® from American Express only earns 1X points on purchases outside of certain travel booked through AmexTravel.com. So it's not a rewarding option for your spending, even though it has a $695 annual fee (see rates and fees).
With Chase, even the most rewarding limited-time offers typically have reasonable minimum spending requirements, which makes them more approachable. Chase also has several cards with lower annual fees (or no annual fees) that provide additional rewards in popular categories such as dining, drugstores, office supply stores, travel and more.
Winner: Tie. If you can meet the spending requirement for the biggest Amex welcome offers, you'll find it incredibly easy to stock up on Membership Rewards points. However, Chase has a stronger suite of affordable cards with solid bonus spending categories.
American Express Membership Rewards points transfer to 21 airline and hotel programs, including:
Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to 14 airline and hotel programs at a 1:1 ratio, including:
Winner: Amex Membership Rewards
You can use Membership Rewards points and Ultimate Rewards points to book flights with the big three domestic airlines — Delta, American and United — but you may have to jump through some hoops by transferring points to the appropriate international airline loyalty program first.
For example, Amex doesn't allow you to use Membership Rewards to directly book flights on American Airlines. However, you can transfer your Amex points to Qantas Frequent Flyer, which has a partnership with American Airlines, and then book any American Airlines award flights they have available.
One drawback to this method is that you'll have access to far fewer domestic flight choices, and if you need to make changes after you've booked, things can get hairy (to say the least). Directly transferring your points to a domestic airline can sometimes be best, and that's where Chase as an edge over Amex.
Chase points transfer at a 1:1 ratio to United, Southwest Airlines and JetBlue. Amex lets you transfer points to Delta and Hawaiian Airlines at a 1:1 ratio, and to JetBlue at a 5:4 ratio. Amex also charges an excise tax on transfers to domestic airlines. Chase does not.
United and Delta are comparable for domestic travel, and the better option probably comes down to if you live in a hub city. Chase has a better transfer ratio to JetBlue, and Southwest Airlines serves far more domestic locations than Hawaiian Airlines.
While this is a close call, Ultimate Rewards points are likely to be most useful for most people.
Winner: Chase Ultimate Rewards (barely)
The best way to get the most value for your points is to use them to book international award flights in business or first class.
Most of the best programs for booking international award flights with Chase also partner with Amex. You can transfer points from both programs at a 1:1 ratio to Flying Blue (Air France/KLM), Emirates Skywards, Air Canada Aeroplan, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, British Airways Executive Club and Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer.
Amex does have several key partners that Chase lacks. Through ANA Mileage Club, you can book business-class flights on Star Alliance airlines from the U.S. to Europe for 100,000 miles round-trip plus taxes and fees, which is nearly what you would pay for a one-way business-class flight with other programs. Avianca is also a Star Alliance partner and is a good program for booking business- or first-class awards because it doesn't add fuel surcharges to awards, which means you'll pay fewer fees.
American Express is known for issuing many of the best premium cards, so it makes sense it excels at luxury points redemptions.
Winner: Amex Membership Rewards
Both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Amex Membership Rewards transfer to Marriott Bonvoy at a 1:1 ratio. Chase also lets you transfer points to IHG One Rewards Club and World of Hyatt at 1:1 ratios. Amex, on the other hand, partners with Choice Privileges (1:1 transfer ratio) and Hilton Honors (1:2 transfer ratio).
The standout among these hotel programs is World of Hyatt, which has the best transfer ration with Chase. While most hotel loyalty programs offer less value than a typical airline frequent flyer program, World of Hyatt is an exception. Most hotels (and airlines) dynamically price awards based on demand or cost, but Hyatt still has an award chart.
Outside of all-inclusive resorts, top-tier Hyatt hotels cost 35,000 to 45,000 points a night. For context, the most exclusive Hilton properties can cost 2X to 3X as many points per night, even with Amex's 1:2 transfer ratio. Plus, Hyatt's award chart offers a certain level of consistency, whereas other programs can inflate prices without notice.
The drawback of Hyatt is it's a smaller chain with around 1,300 locations compared to IHG, Marriott and Hilton, which all have 6,000+ locations worldwide. This is where Chase Travel℠ comes to the rescue.
Most hotel points are worth around 0.5 to 0.7 cents per point when you use them for an award night. However, when you use Chase points to pay for hotels you book through Chase TravelSM, you receive 1.25 cents per point with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (see rates and fees) and 1.5 cents per point with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees). That means it's usually cheaper to book hotels through Chase Travel℠ than to transfer points to a hotel loyalty program (Hyatt is the exception).
For example, at the time of writing, we found a standard queen-bed room at the Glenn Hotel in Atlanta for 48,000 Marriott points or $265 for one night. The exact room on the same night would cost $279 if you booked through Chase Travel℠ but you could redeem 18,600 or 22,320 Chase points to pay for it, depending on if you're getting 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point. Even though Chase points don't transfer to Hilton Honors or Choice Privileges, you can book those brands through Chase Travel℠ and receive the same value per point.
Amex doesn't offer comparable value or flexibility because you only receive 0.7 cents per point for most AmexTravel.com prepaid hotel reservations.
Winner: Chase Ultimate Rewards
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, your points are worth 25% more when you book through Chase Travel. That means each point is worth 1.25 cents in travel, including hotels, flights, rental cars, cruises and more. If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, your points are worth 50% more (1.5 cents each).
Since Chase allows you to transfer points between Ultimate Rewards accounts, this benefit can apply to the points you earn with other Chase credit cards.
The value you receive when you book through Amex Travel is the same regardless of what card or cards you have. You'll receive at most, one cent per point in value, and you only hit that level when using points for flights booked through Amex Travel. Otherwise, you get 0.7 cents for hotels, rental cars and other bookings.
Chase is the clear winner for using points to book travel through the card issuer's travel site.
Winner: Chase Ultimate Rewards
You can redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for one cent each as cash back, either as a statement credit or direct deposit. You get the same value for gift card redemptions, and Chase frequently has sales offering 10% to 15% off gift card redemptions.
Amex Membership Rewards points are worth 0.6 cents each for statement credits. You can redeem Amex points for up to one cent per point for select gift cards, however, and the value is typically between 0.5 to 0.85 cents per point for most brands.
If you like the peace of mind of having an option to cash out your points, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are a better choice.
Winner: Chase Ultimate Rewards
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Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards are two of the top flexible travel rewards programs. Both have multiple cards you can open to earn points and provide flexibility in how you redeem your rewards. But they each have strengths and weaknesses.
There are more low-cost cards that earn Chase points, and the redemptions can be simpler. Amex has a stronger array of premium cards, and Amex points can be more valuable because you have more options for booking ultra-valuable international business- and first-class award flights. In short, Chase points have a higher floor, and Amex points have a higher ceiling.
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