Looks like I got approved for the Chase Sapphire Card....I know the answer will vary depending on individual preferences BUT.....purely on best bang for your buck....What do you think the best redemption is for the 50K UR points that come with this card.....Continental Miles?
For some, cash-in-hand or cash toward travel is preferred over miles/points (may have sufficient mile/point balances, may try to book when mile/point awards aren't available, etc) But it looks like UR aren't great for booking Hotels: (also see the Credit Card Forum)
I definitely think things as flexible as Ultimate Rewards points is a YMMV valuation. CO miles can be a good valuation, but if you're going to redeem the miles for a domestic ticket, the 1.25 UR points per cent for booking airfare might be a better value (on tickets up around $350, depending on the BIS miles)*. If you're booking an international F or C award, then the CO miles win hands down. Similarly, I don't stay at hotels often, so Hyatt points aren't worth that much to me. etc... But if I were to book a Hyatt award, I would probably convert to Hyatt points instead of using the UR booking engine as MyTravels pointed out, even with the 25% bonus for booking on UR. * e.g. I want to book EWR-MSP which is a $320 fare right now. It will take 25,600 UR points to book. It would cost 25,000 CO/UA miles if there is saver availability. However, UA sees the UR ticket as a revenue ticket, so it is mileage earning and I will earn 2,006 EQM and RDM (not counting elite bonuses), so it will be a net of 23,594 UR points/miles. Anyway, the point is with the flexibility, the "Best Value (TM)" definitely depends on your particular wants/needs. It's worth exploring all of your options before making a redemption. Heck, I might even grab a CO Pres club day pass at 2500 UR points for my long EWR layover. Since you're getting the 50k bonus, it's clear that youre getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred, but for other readers only the Preferred card allows transferring UR points to CO miles, Hyatt Points, BA miles, etc...
I may transfer some to Marriott to get me to the point I can use and all inclusive award or a hotel and air award. The hotel and air would in essense let you transfer the UR rewards to more FF accounts than just CO, but you need to have the need for a hotel award first.
