Link: Apply now for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Over the past decade, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) has probably been the most well-known and well-rounded travel rewards credit card out there. The card has a great welcome bonus, is rewarding for spending, gets you points that are flexible and valuable, and offers great travel protection. Simply put, it’s one of the easiest to justify travel rewards cards out there.
In this post, I want to share nine reasons you should consider getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred. In no particular order…
In this post:
Welcome bonus of 75K Ultimate Rewards points
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering an improved welcome bonus of 75,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 within three months. As a point of comparison, previously the card offered a bonus of up to 60,000 points, so this offer is 25% better.
Personally, I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, thanks to the ability to transfer points to Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners. So to me, that offer is worth $1,275, which is awesome.
Reasonable $95 annual fee
We’ve seen quite a bit of annual fee inflation on credit cards in recent years. The great thing is that the Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to have a $95 annual fee, which is among the most reasonable out there for a premium card. The fee has stayed the same for years, so it’s great to see a card with a low annual fee that’s still incredibly rewarding.
Valuable 2-5x points bonus categories
The Chase Sapphire Preferred has some generous bonus categories, as the rewards structure is as follows:
- 5x Ultimate Rewards points on travel booked through the Chase Travel portal
- 3x Ultimate Rewards points on dining
- 3x Ultimate Rewards points on online grocery stores (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 3x Ultimate Rewards points on select streaming services
- 2x Ultimate Rewards points on all other travel purchases
- 1x Ultimate Rewards points on all other purchases
If you maximize these bonus categories correctly, points will rack up quickly.
10% anniversary bonus points
The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers 10% anniversary bonus points. Every account anniversary year you’ll receive bonus points corresponding to 10% of the amount that you spent on the card. So if you spend $20,000 on the card in an anniversary year, you’d earn 2,000 bonus points.
In other words, in the end you’ll earn over 3x Ultimate Rewards points on dining, meaning this card is actually more rewarding than the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review) for those purchases.
Access to Chase Ultimate Rewards travel partners
The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers extremely flexible rewards points. While you can use these points toward the cost of a travel purchase through the Chase Travel portal, my favorite way to redeem these points is to transfer them at a 1:1 ratio to Chase’s excellent collection of airline and hotel partners.
This is a way to get outsized value, whether you’re transferring points to World of Hyatt for a redemption at a five star Park Hyatt, or are transferring points to Air Canada Aeroplan for a first or business class award on a partner airline.
When you use your rewards this way, you can get way more than one cent of value per point. For example, you could redeem 35,000 to 45,000 points per night for a stay at the all-inclusive Ventana Big Sur, where a paid night would cost well over $2,000. That’s over four cents of value per Ultimate Rewards point.
Maximize no annual fee cards
The benefit of having the Chase Sapphire Preferred isn’t just the immediate rewards you get for having the card, but also the potential value of other cards that it unlocks.
If you have the Sapphire Preferred, there are four no annual fee cards you can get that will also earn you Ultimate Rewards points, allowing you to supercharge your points earning. These cards include the following:
- The Chase Freedom FlexSM (review), which offers 5x points in rotating quarterly categories, and 3x points on drugstores
- The Chase Freedom Unlimited® (review), which offers 1.5x points on all purchases, making it one of the best cards for everyday spending
- The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (review), which offers up to 5x points on office supply stores, internet, cable TV, mobile phones, and landlines, and up to 2x points on restaurants and gas stations
- The Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (review), which offers 1.5x points on all purchases
Personally, I have all four of these cards, and they allow me to maximize my Ultimate Rewards points.
Amazing rental car & travel protection
One of the great and often overlooked perks of a premium credit card is good travel protection, including rental car coverage. This is something we often don’t think about because we hope that our travels will go smoothly, but that doesn’t always happen. That’s another area where the Chase Sapphire Preferred shines. While you’ll want to check your cardmember agreement for the terms, generally speaking, the card offers:
- Primary collision damage waiver coverage on rental cars
- Travel protection, including for flight delays and cancelations, as well as for delayed or lost baggage
The rental car protection has literally saved me over $10,000 (when I was rear-ended in a car rental once), while collectively I’ve saved thousands of dollars with travel protection as well.
$50 annual hotel credit
The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a $50 hotel credit on your account anniversary year. With this, you can receive up to a $50 statement credit when you book a hotel through the Chase Travel Portal.
There’s no minimum spending required, so if you booked a $50 hotel you could get $50 back. For many, that will more than recoup half of the annual fee right there.
Low cost alternative to Chase Sapphire Reserve
With the Chase Sapphire Reserve now having a $795 annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a low cost alternative, and will cost many people way less to hold onto. Not only is the annual fee much lower, but the Chase Sapphire Preferred has some distinct benefits that are worth highlighting:
- The Sapphire Preferred offers 2x points on all travel purchases, while the Sapphire Reserve offers 4x points on direct flight and hotel bookings, but 1x points on other travel purchases
- You can add authorized users to the Sapphire Preferred for free, while Sapphire Reserve authorized users come with significant fees
- With the Sapphire Preferred offering 10% anniversary bonus points, the card is actually more rewarding for dining spending, everyday spending, etc.
So I think it’s worth just keeping in mind that this is a low cost alternative to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, even if you just remember it in the context of having a downgrade option for your card.
Bottom line
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a phenomenal card. It has a reasonable annual fee, a generous return on spending, and fantastic perks, including travel coverage. There’s not a single better travel starter card out there. For that matter, it’s a card that even many who are experienced in miles & points love, given that the card’s value is hard to beat.
For more details, read my full review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Ben - believe you meant Preferred in this bullet - With the Sapphire Reserve offering 10% anniversary bonus points, the card is actually more rewarding for dining spending, everyday spending, etc.
@ Peter -- You're absolutely right, thank you. Fixed!
I second the below comment. Chase is becoming more niche and user unfriendly. The beauty of the previous system was that if you didn't find a transferable partner for the travel you wanted, then the travel portal served as a floor. Now you can continue searching unicorns or recognize that other banks like Wells Fargo make far more compelling cases to acquire your business.
“There’s not a single better travel starter card out there.”
Right, because this is 2016 and WF Autograph Journey doesn’t exist.
Come on, Ben, you’re doing your new readers a disservice with these almost-fanboyish Chase posts. Even the much-hated-on TPG called out AJ as the best new/refreshed card of 2024.
You seriously think mediocre Priority Pass lounge access, car rental insurance, and *slightly better* rewards partners place this card ahead of one earning...
“There’s not a single better travel starter card out there.”
Right, because this is 2016 and WF Autograph Journey doesn’t exist.
Come on, Ben, you’re doing your new readers a disservice with these almost-fanboyish Chase posts. Even the much-hated-on TPG called out AJ as the best new/refreshed card of 2024.
You seriously think mediocre Priority Pass lounge access, car rental insurance, and *slightly better* rewards partners place this card ahead of one earning 4x on flights and 5x hotels… without the need to use a silly travel portal… and with a statement credit that’s super simple to redeem? Unbelievable.
Also… Venture X can surely be considered a starter card too unless you disqualify cards based on high annual fees. There’s a strong argument to be made for skipping Chase entirely these days. Heck, if I was new to the points game I’d largely ignore them unless my local airport had a Sapphire lounge.
(Waits for someone to reply mentioning how CC car rental insurance is the greatest gift to humankind)
@ Redacted -- Hey, all totally fair points, and I appreciate your thoughts. Let me work on an updated post about the card. While I agree with much of what you say, I also think there are some downsides that make me a bit less enthusiastic.
I agree with both the comments that CSP is not the best $95 AF card out there. In my view, Citi Strata Premiere is the best. It has more 3x bonus categories than most. Wells Fargo Autograph has 4x on airfare directly booked with the airlines. However, it has very few transfer partners and they never (AFAIK) offer a transfer bonus to any of their partners. With Citi, I regularly see 25% bonus to LifeMiles,...
I agree with both the comments that CSP is not the best $95 AF card out there. In my view, Citi Strata Premiere is the best. It has more 3x bonus categories than most. Wells Fargo Autograph has 4x on airfare directly booked with the airlines. However, it has very few transfer partners and they never (AFAIK) offer a transfer bonus to any of their partners. With Citi, I regularly see 25% bonus to LifeMiles, 30-40% bonus to Qatar and 25-30% to FlyingBlue and Virgin. Also, Wells Fargo has a reputational problem (opening accounts for the clients without their consent and all) that they are recovering from of late.
WF Journey transfer partners: Choice Privileges, Aer Lingus AerClub, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, avianca lifemiles, British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Virgin Atlantic/Virgin Red.
Chase transfer partners: Aer Lingus AerClub, Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Emirates Skywards, Iberia Plus, JetBlue TrueBlue, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Hyatt, IHG, Marriott
Not sure about you but for me Chase offers far superior transfer...
WF Journey transfer partners: Choice Privileges, Aer Lingus AerClub, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, avianca lifemiles, British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus, Virgin Atlantic/Virgin Red.
Chase transfer partners: Aer Lingus AerClub, Air Canada Aeroplan, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club, Emirates Skywards, Iberia Plus, JetBlue TrueBlue, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. Hyatt, IHG, Marriott
Not sure about you but for me Chase offers far superior transfer partners than WF unless I'm missing something.
Just too few transfer partners. If WF added Aeroplan, even that would make it a lot more compelling.
Their ‘other travel’ definition is also a bit wonky, although if you are a cruiser (I am not), it’s compelling I suppose - timeshare, or vehicle/auto rental, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds. I wonder if this also covers airbnb/vrbo.
That said, it’s $95, and if you make one airline purchase you get $50...
Just too few transfer partners. If WF added Aeroplan, even that would make it a lot more compelling.
Their ‘other travel’ definition is also a bit wonky, although if you are a cruiser (I am not), it’s compelling I suppose - timeshare, or vehicle/auto rental, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds. I wonder if this also covers airbnb/vrbo.
That said, it’s $95, and if you make one airline purchase you get $50 back. So could be $45 a year to have those bonus categories in your back pocket.
But with the $50 hotel credit on the CSP, it’s also $45 a year (after the first year). And think it’s overall a better combo with $0 Freedom Unlimited than WF card alone.
I think the $95 Strata Premier will end up in my wallet well before WF card does. Much more interested in TY point ecosystem and combining it with a Double Cash - can get good value there. Plus pays for itself with the $100 hotel credit.
I do agree Venture X / Savor combo is looking very appealing as compared to the Chase options - and only $95 after the $300 credit. It’s what CSR used to be - a KISS (keep it simple stupid) card.
My CSR is up in February and may very well be downgrading to CSP. By that time CapOne Landing in LGA will be open and can use Venture X to replace Chase lounges in LGA TB and JFK T4.
The AJ doesn't even have trip delay insurance, the absolute bare minimum travel insurance that any real travel card should have as table stakes. It's really not even a contender for a real travel card with benefits this poor.
The AJ doesn't even have with trip delay insurance, the bare minimum travel insurance that every travel card has. The AJ isn't a real travel card. No one talks about it because it's not even in the same league.