Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Review: A Top Travel Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of the most popular rewards credit cards on the market — and for good reason. 

With a host of travel perks, bonus points for spending in certain categories, a solid sign-up bonus, and some of the most flexible points around, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the best rewards cards for beginners and experienced travelers alike.

Here’s everything you need to know about this credit card.

Quick Facts: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

• Rewards rate: 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries; 2x on all other travel purchases; 1x on all other purchases
• Welcome offer: Earn 60,000 points — worth $750 in travel — after spending $4,000 in the first three months
• Annual fee: $95

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Overview of the Chase Sapphire Preferred

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a longstanding favorite card for both frequent and casual travelers, offering a stellar sign-up bonus, many ways to earn extra reward points, and the ability to use points for cashback or travel.

While the card does come with an annual fee, the benefits (such as a sign-up bonus of $750, insurance benefits, and partner credits) can make up for the modest cost.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred also has airline and hotel partners such as Hyatt, Marriott, and Southwest Airlines, so you can get some flexibility in using your rewards points. While you can cash in your Ultimate Rewards points for 1 cent per point, transferring to partners can easily earn you up to 2 cents per point (or more) on the right redemptions.

Overall, this card offers a lot of perks and is considered by many to be the best travel card around. 

Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred®.

Welcome Offer

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering a 60,000-point welcome bonus after spending $4,000 within three months of account opening.

This bonus is worth $750 in travel rewards when booking through Chase Travel℠. While not the highest bonus ever for this card, it’s still a very generous welcome offer.

Earning Rewards

You can earn 1 point per dollar spent on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. However, there are several bonus categories that pay much higher rewards, including:

• 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠ (excluding travel qualifying for $50 hotel credit)
• 3x points on online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
• 3x points on dining (including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out)
• 3x points on select streaming services
• 2x points on all other travel purchases
• 1x points on all other purchases
• 10% anniversary bonus for total purchases made the previous year
• $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit
• 5x points on Lyft (expires end of March 2025)
• 5x points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 (up to 25,000 bonus points, expires end of March 2025)

The 3x rewards on restaurants and online grocery shopping can add up quickly, especially with today’s prices. Plus, if the Chase Sapphire Preferred is your everyday spending card, the 10% anniversary bonus can give you a substantial points boost once per year.

Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred®.

Redeeming Rewards

Using Chase Ultimate Rewards can be somewhat complicated, so it’s important to understand how the redemption process works before redeeming your points.

Here are the different ways you can use your Chase rewards points:

Cashback

You have the flexibility to redeem your points for cashback or ‘pay yourself back' for purchases. With both of these options, you essentially pay off a portion of your card balance at a rate of $0.01 per point.

This redemption rate is decent and notably better than American Express Membership Rewards, which redeem at $0.006 per point.

However, while these are straightforward ways to use your points, there are more lucrative redemption options available.

Chase Travel℠ portal

You can use your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book flights, rental cars, hotels, cruises, and experiences through Chase Travel℠. Plus, you'll earn 5x rewards points when booking travel this way, along with a 25% booking bonus — that means 10,000 points would be worth $125 in travel!

The prices can vary a lot when you're using the travel portal, and sometimes are much higher than just booking directly. Compare prices before completing your booking to ensure you’re getting the best deal.

Transfer partners

Probably the best value available for Chase Ultimate Rewards is using their transfer partner program. Chase partners with 14 hotel and airline loyalty programs and allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards directly to a partner program.

Here are the partners currently available with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Canada
• Air France KLM
• British Airways
• Emirates
• Hyatt
• Iberia
• IHG Hotels & Resorts
• JetBlue
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Singapore Airlines
• Southwest
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic

Partners such as Hyatt, Southwest, and Virgin Atlantic offer great redemption options and can easily net you $0.03 or $0.04 per point when booking rewards travel. 

Make sure to compare prices and confirm you can make your intended booking before transferring points. Once the points have been transferred, you cannot transfer them back to Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Gift cards

You have the option to redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for gift cards through the Ultimate Rewards portal. While most cards can be purchased for the standard $0.01 per point redemption value, occasionally select gift cards will go on sale.

Additional Benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

In addition to bonus points and rewards, there are a ton of benefits offered by the Chase Sapphire Rewards card:

• Purchase protection: Chase provides purchase protection, covering theft, damage, or involuntary and accidental loss within 120 days from the date of purchase (up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account). Extended warranty coverage is also available on purchases.
• Travel protection: This card offers trip delay, trip cancellation, baggage delay, lost baggage, and primary auto coverage insurance.
• Doordash DashPass: You can get the Doordash DashPass for free for up to 12 months if you enroll by Dec. 31, 2024.
• Instacart+ Membership: Complimentary six-month membership if activated by July 31, 2024.
• Roadside assistance: Roadside assistance is included, covering up to five miles of towing, tire changes, fuel delivery, and more.

Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred®.

Who Should Get the Chase Sapphire Preferred?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the best rewards cards for beginners. With flexible points, a decent sign-up bonus, and lots of travel perks for a low annual fee, it’s almost a no-brainer.

It’s also a great everyday spending card if you want to earn more miles on travel bookings and food-related spending.

Who Shouldn’t Get the Chase Sapphire Preferred?

If you are a frequent traveler who wants more premium travel perks, such as lounge access, status upgrades, or TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credits, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is not the card for you.

While this card has some great perks, it can’t compete with cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or The Platinum Card from American Express when it comes to premium travel benefits.

Also, Chase enforces a 5/24 rule, which says that an individual cannot apply for more than five personal credit cards within the last 24 months. So if that's you, you're out of luck for now.

Alternatives to the Chase Sapphire Preferred

While the Chase Sapphire is widely regarded as the most recommended starter rewards card and is an excellent fit for most casual travelers, it may not be the ideal choice for everyone.

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve®

• Rewards rate: 10x points on hotel stays and car rentals through Chase Travel℠; 5x points on dining purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards and on Lyft purchases (through March 2025); 5x points on flights booked through Chase Travel℠ (after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually); 3x points on restaurants and travel; 1x points on everything else
• Welcome offer: Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first three months
• Annual fee: $550

. . .

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the gold standard of rewards cards, however, its big brother, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, boosts the travel benefits (and annual fee) as the issuer’s flagship travel rewards card.

This card comes with a slew of luxury travel perks with a value that can easily outweigh the annual fee if you can make the most of them.

Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve or read our full review.

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. American Express Green Card

• Rewards rate: 3x points on travel, transit, and restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery; 1x points on all other purchases
• Welcome offer: Earn 40,000 Membership Rewards® points after spending $3,000 in the first 6 months
• Annual fee: $150 (rates and fees)

. . .

Both Chase and American Express offer flexible rewards points that can be used for cashback, travel rewards, gift cards, or transferred to travel partners. The American Express Green Card is comparable to the Chase Sapphire Preferred in regards to travel perks and benefits, with a slightly higher annual fee.

All information about American Express Green Card has been collected independently by Erika.com. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

• Rewards rate: 5x miles on hotel and rental car purchases through Capital One Travel portal; 2x miles on all other purchases
• Welcome offer: Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 within three months of account opening (worth $750 when booking through Capital One Travel)
• Annual fee: $95

. . .

Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card come with a modest annual fee and a range of travel benefits. However, Venture Rewards stands out with a higher sign-up bonus.

It's worth noting, though, that the points from Venture Rewards are worth less when redeeming for cashback (0.5 cents per point versus 1 cent per point with Chase Sapphire Preferred).

Learn more about the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or read our full review.

FAQs

What are Chase points worth?

Chase Sapphire Preferred points are worth 1 cent per point when redeeming for cashback or gift cards. However, they are worth 1.25 cents per point when redeeming through Chase Travel℠. You can also transfer Ultimate Rewards to travel partners and potentially get better redemptions for your points.

Do Chase rewards points expire?

So long as you keep your Chase Sapphire Preferred account open or transfer your points to another account that earns Ultimate Rewards, your points will never expire. Note that closing your account could lead to any unused points expiring.

To Sum Up…

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of the most popular travel credit cards, thanks to all the benefits it offers for an affordable annual fee. If you're looking for a card that will score you flexible travel points, plus perks like purchase protection, this card may be right for you.

Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.