Has anyone booked activities through the Chase portal? The cost is a bit more but since the point are worth 50% more it comes out better.
I booked a few things through Chase portal in August for our San Diego trip for the same reason. (That 50% more on points was a big savings!)
SD zoo two day tickets: Weirdly, for months leading up to our trip, I couldn't put these in my cart on the Chase portal. Even called customer service but their answer was, "We can't sell it to you either. It must be sold out." I kept checking because the savings was so good and one day I was finally able to add to cart. I don't know if the 3rd party processor has run out of inventory on those tickets and finally reupped?? Actual ticket experience was fine, no problems, scanned at the gate as expected.
La Jolla Kayak: Had to move it a day because of the tropical storm. No availability on Chase, so I called the tour operator directly and they were able to change the date in their system without is having to cancel/rebook or anything.
Slot Canyon Tour: Description said private tour, watch for texts from tour guide in the days before with possible changes. No texts, so we arrive at location and there are two other families there. I am surprised, since the description said private, but it's not. He says he's had a few people say that before, it's listed on some site wrong, but he's tried talking to the places that list it and hasn't been able to figure out how to correct. He asks for our phone number to check against his confirm, but the number is wrong. Name is right but the phone is the 800 number for the 3rd party booking site that does the tours, not our cell. That's why we didn't get confirm texts, either: he was texting their 800 number. I honestly don't know if this is the portals fault or if this is a small company that maybe doesn't understand how to use the system. Tour itself was amazing, we never would have hiked a tenth of the places he brought us if he hadn't been there to show the way.
So, definitely mixed reviews on using the portal, but the savings, especially since we were booking for a family of 5, was significant. We have 2 more tours booked through the portal for a couple of post cruise days in San Juan in November. Closer to the date, I do plan on calling the tour operator directly to make sure everything is set, given my experience with the hike.