AwardWallet receives compensation from advertising partners for links on the blog. The opinions expressed here are our own and have not been reviewed, provided, or approved by any bank advertiser. Here's our complete list of Advertisers.
Offers for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ are not available through this site. Some offers may have expired. Please see our card marketplace for available offers
You would need to search far and wide for a better “bang-for-your-buck” small business rewards card than the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees).
This Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card consistently offers fantastic sign-up bonuses, an affordable minimum spend requirement, a modest $95 annual fee, and includes top-value benefits like cell phone insurance and primary collision and damage coverage for rental cars used for business rentals.
It's a favorite among Chase Ink business credit cards.
But one of the best benefits of holding this card is being able to easily book travel directly through Chase Travel℠. Keep reading to find out all the ways you can redeem the Ultimate Rewards earned from this card, including booking $1,000+ worth of travel without the headache of searching for award availability.
- Earn 100k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
- Earn 5x total points on Lyft rides through 9/30/27.
- With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
- Go further when you book with Chase Travel℠. Enjoy competitive rates, seamless booking and premium benefits.
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Receive complimentary access to DashPass by DoorDash.
- Member FDIC
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
Page Contents
Ink Preferred Overview
New to the Ink Preferred? Here's a high-level overview of its current welcome offer and earning rates.
Welcome offer
The Ink Preferred‘s current sign-up bonus is 100,000 after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
100,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth $1,000 in cash back or up to 1.75¢ per point towards travel booked through Chase Travel℠. You can redeem them for even more value when transferring them out to Chase's 14 airline and hotel partners.
Earning rates
When you spend on the Ink Preferred, you'll earn:
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
Additionally, you'll earn 5X points per dollar on Lyft rides through September 2027.
You can redeem Ultimate Rewards in various ways with this card, including cash back and gift cards. But the most valuable way to use your points is to redeem them for travel. And the easiest way to do this is directly in the Chase portal.
Related: Chase Ink Preferred Full Review
Ways to Redeem Ultimate Rewards
There are lots of ways you can redeem the Ink Preferred‘s 100,000-point welcome offer — and all the points you earn on spending thereafter.
Book award travel in the Chase Travel℠ Portal
One of the best features of the Ultimate Rewards program is its flexibility. Among the many ways to use your Ultimate Rewards, you can redeem your points through Chase Travel for a fixed value or transfer your points to high-value travel partners.
The value you receive through the portal changes based on the card you hold, with values ranging from a static 1¢ per point for Chase’s no-annual-fee cards up to 2¢ per point for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), depending on your specific redemption. You can use points at up to 1.75¢ each with both the Ink Preferred and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), again, depending on your specific redemption.
Here are step-by-step instructions for redeeming Ultimate Rewards through the Chase Travel Portal.
Choose the card you want to redeem points from
When redeeming Ultimate Rewards for travel directly through the portal, you'll first need to log into your account. Find the rewards tab on your account summary page and click “Ultimate Rewards Points.” It will show your total points balance across all accounts.
Choose the card you wish to use points with (or transfer from) and continue.
Navigate to “Book travel”
There will be three dots at the top of your Ultimate Rewards homepage that go to a drop-down menu. Choose “Travel” and then “Book travel.” The screenshot below shows exactly where to find this in the top menu.
The next page will allow you to change the card you want to use to book travel. Confirm the card that you want to use (choose the one offering the highest value per point in your wallet), and then you'll be taken to the next page, where you can choose hotels, flights, rental cars, activities, or cruises. It will feel similar to other online travel booking sites like Expedia or Orbitz.
Search for availability
For the example below, I chose a Main Cabin economy fare from New York (JFK) to Barcelona (BCN). The $1,018 round-trip flight costs 101,793 Ultimate Rewards points.
The above redemption provides a value of just 1 cent per point. That's not great when you consider you can simply cash out your Chase points for 1 cent each.
However, if you upgrade to business class on this flight, your Chase points get a lot more valuable. Instead of paying $3,269 round-trip for business class, you can redeem 217,928 Chase points. That provides 50% more value per point thanks to Points Boost.
Benefits of Chase Travel redemptions
Redemptions through the portal are treated, for availability purposes, the same as a paid booking. If there is a plane seat or hotel room available for cash, you can purchase it through Chase using your Ultimate Rewards points.
That means no searching for open award space or worrying about blackout dates. It also provides the ability to redeem your points with airlines or hotels that you can’t transfer points to, plus you can avoid dynamic award pricing and seasonal fluctuations commonly found in award charts. It also allows you to take advantage of the low-cost airfares now so prevalent on budget carriers — both domestically and abroad.
Redeeming directly in the travel portal is great. However, inarguably the best way to use Ultimate Rewards for maximum value is to transfer them out to Chase's travel partners. You can also combine your rewards with other Chase accounts, which we'll discuss below.
Transfer Ultimate Rewards to partners for top value
Chase has four hotel and 10 airline partners that you can transfer Ultimate Rewards to. Once you've transferred your rewards points, you can then redeem them for airline tickets or hotel stays within that loyalty program.
Some of the best transfer partners available from Chase include World of Hyatt and Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards. With these two programs, you can redeem relatively fewer points than other programs charge. There are also several sweet spots on flights within North America that you can maximize when transferring Ultimate Rewards to select airline partners.
Related: How to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points: A Step-By-Step Guide
Combine rewards with other Chase accounts
If you hold other Chase cards from the Ultimate Rewards family, you can maximize your rewards by combining points earned across all your cards and redeeming through the highest-earning card you hold. For example:
- Earn 3x points on bonus categories with your Ink Preferred
- Earn up to 5x points on bonus categories with your Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
- Earn up to 8x points on bonus categories with your Sapphire Reserve, and move points to this card to redeem at up to 2¢ per point through the Chase Travel℠ portal
When you combine the points from the Freedom Flex bonus categories with your Sapphire Reserve and redeem through the portal, you’re essentially getting up to 7.5% back on bonus spending, which is an incredible return.
If you hold both the Ink Preferred and the Sapphire Reserve, you could transfer your points to the Sapphire Reserve to redeem for up to 2 cents per point.
Bonus tip: Close to 5/24 with Chase? While the Ink Preferred is subject to 5/24, it won’t count against your 5/24 total. So you can apply for the Ink Preferred without it impacting your chances of getting a personal Chase card due to this factor.
Final Thoughts
We think the Ink Preferred is one of the most valuable small business credit cards on the market right now. It offers an incredible 100,000-point welcome bonus with great perks and the ability to combine points from all your Ultimate Rewards-earning cards (for free) to redeem for travel experiences — all for a reasonable annual fee.
You can easily redeem the points from the sign-up bonus via the Chase Travel Portal without searching for award availability. Alternatively, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to partners. It doesn’t matter what level of experience you have; you can have fantastic award travel adventures paying just pennies on the dollar from this card's welcome bonus.
Unsure if you qualify for a business card? Read our guide to how (almost) anyone can qualify for a business rewards card; you may already be eligible without even realizing it!
- Earn 100k bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases
- Earn 5x total points on Lyft rides through 9/30/27.
- With Zero Liability you won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information.
- Redeem points for cash back, gift cards, travel and more - your points don't expire as long as your account is open
- Go further when you book with Chase Travel℠. Enjoy competitive rates, seamless booking and premium benefits.
- Purchase Protection covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Receive complimentary access to DashPass by DoorDash.
- Member FDIC
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
