Since I recently used most of my Starpoints for Hawaii for this coming December, and now Whistler, I did not have enough to book a Starwood hotel in Vancouver. Could I have raised the Starwood points? Yes, I could have transferred American Express Membership Rewards points into my Starwood account. (Starwood is a transfer partner and don’t forget, we have A LOT of Amex points because Rob’s firm advertises). However, I opted not to make this transfer. You see the transfer rate from Membership Rewards to Starwood is awful. For every 1,000 Membership Rewards, you get 333 Starpopint or a 1 to 3 ratio. Remember, for this same trip, I transferred Membership Rewards points to Air Canada Aeroplan at a 1:1 ratio, such a better deal!
Next, I proceeded to look into staying at a Marriott, Hyatt or Hilton using points. In my search, I found that there was little availability, or the redemptions were just too high and not worth the points.
I decided for the first time to try to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book a hotel. I have used Chase points in the past to book flights, (like to Telluride), but I had never used them to book a hotel.

There were many hotels available on the Chase Ultimate Rewards website, but again, high point requirements per night. Until I came across the FOUR SEASONS! for 18,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per night! Huh? Was I seeing this right? The only time I ever stayed at a Four Seasons was in Hawaii on my honeymoon! (which BTW we flew to for free on Delta points). I grabbed the room for 3 nights. The room looked really small. I started getting nervous and grabbed another room. (Family of 5!!). I did not have enough Chase points for both rooms for 3 nights so I had to add about $600 to pay for the 2 rooms for the 3 nights. The rooms would have cost about 300 per night or 900 per room, for a total of $1,800. I had to spend $600. I saved about $1,200 and we ARE STAYING AT THE FOUR SEASONS!!!!!!!!