Chase Sapphire Preferred Review: $1,250 in Travel for New Cardholders

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One of the Best Travel Rewards Card for Beginners and Experts Alike

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® (Rates and Fees) is one of the gold standards for earning strong travel rewards. As a travel card, it comes with generous travel insurance benefits and various purchase protections, plus a $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit that offsets more than half the annual fee. Cardholders can also earn points faster with elevated rewards on travel, dining, online groceries and select streaming expenses. If you’re looking for a strong travel card with an affordable annual fee, flexible redemption options and access to a long list of popular transfer partners, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is an excellent option.

Pros

Points are easily transferable to airlines and hotel partners
Accelerated earnings on dining, travel & household purchases
Excellent travel and purchase protections
No foreign transaction fees

Cons

Not ideal for the highest spenders
$95 annual fee

Sign-Up Bonus

The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers one of the best credit card bonuses on the market.

Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Right off the bat, the 100,000 bonus points are worth $1,250 when redeeming points to book travel through Chase Travel℠. However, it's possible to squeeze even more value out of this bonus if you know the best ways to redeem your points. Our points and miles guide estimates that Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth an average of 2.3 cents per dollar when redeemed for travel. That means this bonus could potentially be worth more if you can find a way to redeem your points for their maximum value.

What Slickdealers Are Saying

“I’ve had this card for seven years now and it’s my go-to card for earning travel rewards. We rack up points pretty fast through 3x points on dining since it includes takeout. I also use it for all other purchases that I don’t have a better rewards rate for through other cards. I love how easy it is to redeem points through the Chase portal as well. You can pay for flights and hotels using a mix of points and cash, which is great when you’re just a few hundred points short. I also use this card anytime I rent a car while traveling since you get car insurance covered for free when you pay for your rental with the Sapphire Preferred.

A couple of years ago I used 100,000 points to pay for five nights at different hotels in Sweden and rountrip airfare for four people from Stockholm to Paris.”

Johan Mengesha Vice President, Content

Earning Rewards

Earning rewards with the Chase Sapphire Preferred is easy if you spend frequently in the areas of travel, dining, streaming and online groceries.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns Ultimate Rewards points at the following rates:

5x points per dollar spent on all travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards
3x points on dining, including eligible takeout and delivery services
3x points on select streaming services
3x points on online grocery purchases, excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs
2x points per dollar spent on other travel purchases
1x point per dollar on all other spending

Chase broadly defines travel to include not just airfare, hotels and rental cars, but expenses like parking, tolls and public transit too.

You’ll also get an annual bonus of Ultimate Rewards points equal to 10% of your total spend from the previous year. For example, if you spend $10,000 on purchases, you'll get 1,000 bonus points.

Ways to Redeem Rewards

There are many ways to use the points earned from holding the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. These are some of the best uses.

Transfer to travel partners: Points can be transferred to around one dozen global airline partners and three worldwide hotel partners. According to our points and miles valuation guide, Ultimate Rewards points are worth 2.3 cents each, making them some of the most valuable currencies in the rewards ecosystem.
Book a trip through Chase Travel℠: If you prefer simplicity, you can also book your travel directly through the Chase portal and earn a 25% value boost. Combine points from another Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card to make your Chase travel portal redemptions 25% more valuable.
Statement credit: You can apply your Ultimate Rewards points toward your monthly statement balance, which is converted at a rate of one cent per point.
Gift cards or purchases on merchant sites: You can also use your points in other ways, such as by purchasing gift cards, paying for Amazon.com purchases, or magazine subscriptions.

Quick Tip

Whenever possible, save your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for high-value travel redemptions instead of using them toward Amazon purchases or similar expenses. As a good rule of thumb, you should use cash when the value of your purchase exceeds the comparable value you could get from the points.

When in doubt, use our Points or Cash calculator to help you decide whether to pay for a purchase in cash or points.

Chase Transfer Airline and Hotel Partners

The Chase Ultimate Rewards program gives you access to all three major airline alliances in the United States and several major international carriers.

Airline Partners

Ultimate Rewards airline partners include:

Aer Lingus
Aeroplan/Air Canada
British Airways
Emirates
Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
Iberia
JetBlue
Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer)
Southwest
United Airlines
Virgin Atlantic

Hotel Partners

Ultimate Rewards hotel transfer partners include:

Hyatt
IHG
Marriott

Rewards Potential

According to 2022 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), American households (defined as families, single people and people sharing living expenses) spent almost $73,000 annually on living expenses on average.

If you put the majority of average annual household expenses on the Sapphire Preferred, excluding housing and a few other costs, here’s an example of how many Ultimate Rewards points you could earn each year:

	Rewards Rate	Annual Spend	Points Earned
Chase Travel	5x points	$2,800	14,000
Dining, takeout and delivery	3x points	$3,700	11,100
Select streaming	3x points	$700	2,100
Online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart + wholesale clubs)	3x points	$5,700	17,100
Everything else	1x points	$36,100	36,100
Total Points Earned			80,400

^{Sources: Consumer Expenditures – 2022,}^{Bureau of Labor Statistics}^{, and 15th Annual Vacation Confidence Index,}^{Allianz Partners USA}

Calculate Your Rewards Potential

Our estimate is based on about $49,000 of spending on the card—we excluded housing costs and a few other expenses calculated by BLS, and included average streaming expenses from Allianz Partners USA. The potential to earn more than 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points per year with this calculation could be further boosted by the 10% anniversary bonus on that $49,000 annual card spend, which would give you an additional 4,900 Ultimate Rewards points (about 85,000 total points).

What's more, 85,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth a minimum of $1,062.50 (25% more) when redeemed for award travel through Chase’s travel portal.

Card Benefits and Perks

In addition to great travel rewards per dollar spent, you can access several valuable benefits as a Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholder:

$50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit: Every year on your anniversary, you’ll earn a $50 annual credit automatically applied to your statement when you purchase a hotel stay through Chase Travel℠.
Complimentary DashPass: Activate by December 31, 2027 and get complimentary access to DashPass, which can be used on DoorDash and Caviar.
Travel protections: When you book your trip with the card, you can access various travel protections, including trip cancellation/interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement, rental car collision damage waiver, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, and more.
Purchase protection: The card also comes with extended warranty protection and purchase protection on products purchased with the card.
No foreign transaction fees: The Chase Sapphire Preferred does not charge foreign transaction fees, making this a great credit card to keep in your wallet on international trips.

Drawbacks

Besides having to pay an annual fee, there really aren’t many drawbacks to this credit card. If you don’t want to pay an annual fee, the Chase Freedom Flex℠ is a no-annual-fee card with similar earning categories in the Ultimate Rewards family but does not come with as many benefits.

Annual Fee

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has an annual fee of $95.

This card can easily help the average American household earn more than $1,300 in travel rewards per year, just by charging everyday expenses to this card—and that’s even before factoring in the initial sign-up bonus.

Furthermore, the annual fee covers several soft benefits such as complimentary travel insurance, a top-shelf perk that many premium credit cards don’t even offer. If you utilize the $50 Annual Chase Travel hotel credit, you can essentially cut the annual fee in half.

APR

Depending on your creditworthiness and several other factors, the card charges a 19.99% - 28.24% (Variable) APR. As always, we highly recommend paying off your account balance in full monthly to avoid high interest rates from credit card debt.

Recommended Credit Score

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a mid-tier travel rewards credit card, and Chase is most likely to approve applicants with good to excellent credit. If you want to add this credit card to your wallet, we recommend having a minimum credit score of 670 before applying.

It’s worth noting that Chase has a unique and unofficial rule for all credit card applicants, informally called the “5/24 rule” by people in the know. If you opened five or more new credit cards from any issuers within the last 24 months, Chase is likely to deny your application no matter what.

So if you have great credit but have been denied for recently opening too many credit cards, consider waiting a few months—and hold off on applying for other cards—before trying again.

Comparing the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card

The Sapphire Preferred is one of several mid-tier travel cards with an appealing $95 annual fee plus solid travel and dining-related benefits. Here is how the card stacks up:

Card	Intro Bonus	Annual Fee	Rewards Rate	Learn More
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Apply Now Rates and Fees	100,000Chase Ultimate Rewards Points More Info Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Dollar Equivalent: $2,300 (100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points * 0.023 base)	$95	1x- 5xPoints More Info Enjoy beneﬁts such as 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, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more.	Apply Now Rates and Fees
Chase Sapphire Reserve® Apply Now Rates and Fees	60,000Chase Ultimate Rewards Points More Info Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Dollar Equivalent: $1,380 (60,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points * 0.023 base)	$550	1x - 10xPoints More Info Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.	Apply Now Rates and Fees
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card Apply Now Rates & Fees	60,000Citi ThankYou® Points More Info Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com. Dollar Equivalent: $1,080 (60,000 Citi ThankYou® Points * 0.018 base)	$95	1X-10XPoints More Info 10x on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked through CitiTravel.com 3x -- Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases 3x -- Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Restaurants 3x -- Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Supermarkets 3x -- Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Gas and EV Charging Stations 1x -- Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases	Apply Now Rates & Fees
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card Apply Now Rates & Fees	75,000Capital One Rewards Miles More Info Enjoy $250 to use on Capital One Travel in your first cardholder year, plus earn 75,000 bonus miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening - that’s equal to $1,000 in travel Dollar Equivalent: $1,275 (75,000 Capital One Rewards Miles * 0.017 base)	$95	2 - 5 miles per dollarMiles More Info The card offers a flat 2 miles per dollar on every purchase you make, every day, giving cardholders predictability and simplicity. You'll also earn 5 miles per dollar on all hotel, vacation rental and rental car purchases that you make with the card through Capital One's proprietary travel booking platform.	Apply Now Rates & Fees

Sapphire Preferred vs. Sapphire Reserve

If you spend a lot on dining and travel every year, you might consider the Preferred’s big brother instead. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates and Fees) does have a steep $550 annual fee but comes with several premium perks, including free Global Entry and/or TSA PreCheck, Priority Pass lounge access, plus a $300 annual travel credit that helps offset some of the hefty annual fee.

If that still sounds too much to spend for a credit card, don’t worry—the Sapphire Preferred is a perfectly adequate travel card for most travelers, especially if you already have other cards in your wallet offering complementary benefits.

Sapphire Preferred vs. Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, from our partner Citi, is Citi’s competition for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, with the same $95 annual fee and similar perks for spending. The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card slightly outperforms the Preferred on everyday spending categories.

The ability to earn on gas and groceries, coupled with the $100 annual hotel credit, make the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card a great card to consider if you’re an infrequent traveler who would like to earn rewards on everyday expenses to offset costs for an annual trip or two. It all comes down to personal preference and whether you’d use ThankYou Points more consistently than Ultimate Rewards.

Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

Thanks to numerous TV commercials (“What’s in your wallet?”), Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card may be one of the best-known travel cards on the market. The reward scheme on this card is incredibly simple: You earn 2 miles per dollar on every purchase regardless of the category and 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through the Capital One travel portal.

This card is great for travelers who don’t want to consider earning categories and prefer to keep a single card in their wallets for any situation. You can transfer Capital One miles to several airline and hotel partners or use them to “erase” travel purchases on your credit card statements.

Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Right for You?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a fantastic card for just about any traveler who wants a solid everyday card in their wallet that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards. However, you might want to consider another Chase card if you want to avoid an annual fee or don't travel much. And you should skip this card in favor of the Sapphire Reserve if you want a premium travel credit card since you can’t hold both the Preferred and the Reserve simultaneously.

Setting the Standard

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Rates and Fees

Frequently Asked Questions

While there isn’t an official credit score requirement for the card, most online affiliates estimate that you’ll need “good” to “excellent” credit scores. As a rule of thumb, higher credit scores are more likely to be approved.
You can avoid the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card’s annual fee by being an active duty service member or by simply asking the issuer to waive the fee. For eligible service members, Chase will need to confirm your military status, which is typically done during the initial application process. Otherwise, if you choose to call Chase customer service, your agent may offer a one-time waiver for the annual fee. In some cases, they may offer you a statement credit equal to the amount of the annual fee. Keep in mind that Chase is under no obligation to grant you an annual fee waiver.
Chase will evaluate your credit report and, if approved, will assign you a limit based on your creditworthiness. The minimum credit limit for the Chase Sapphire Preferred is $5,000, according to Chase’s terms and conditions. The issuer does not publish the maximum credit limit an applicant will receive after approval. However, anecdotal accounts from cardholders online report access to limits between $10,000 to as much as $20,000.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great fit for travelers who want well-rounded benefits, perks and travel protection without spending a high annual fee. This credit card ushers you into the Chase Ultimate Rewards loyalty program, allowing you to earn points that can be shared and pooled with rewards from various other rewards cards in the Chase family.
Chase is most likely to approve applicants who have good to excellent credit. If you’re applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, we recommend having a minimum credit score of 670.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred provides travel insurance, generous rewards with bonus categories for earning, flexible rewards and easy redemption opportunities, all for a low annual fee.

Jason Steele

Jason Steele is a journalist who specializes in covering credit cards, award travel and other areas of personal finance. As one of the nation’s leading experts in the credit card industry, Jason’s work has been featured at mainstream outlets such as Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money and Business Insider.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Review: 100,000 Bonus Points with Valuable Rewards