If you are looking for the most popular Travel Rewards card, your search ends here. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® card is one of the most popular travel rewards cards and their benefits easily pay off their $95 Annual Fee. Their incredible 60,000 points welcome bonus makes this card extremely lucrative.

Pro Tips on Why Sapphire Preferred:

  • If you need a starter card, Sapphire Preferred is the best. After 12 months you can convert to Chase Sapphire Reserve.
  • Your points will be worth 50% more when you get the Reserve later. So, 60,000 points will be worth $900.
  • Sapphire Preferred offers benefits like travel insurance, protection, and others, details are given below. Quite similar to Reserve benefits. Chase Sapphire Reserve Annual Fee is increasing, not the preferred.
  • You can transfer to travel partners with Sapphire Preferred at 1:1 point transfer ratio.
  • Add Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited to earn points at a faster rate. Consolidate all the points to Sapphire.
  • NEW – Lyft transactions will earn 5X starting Jan 12th.
  • NEW – DashPass free one-year membership, providing free delivery using DoorDash.
  • You can get this card sent overnight, details given below.

Ask our Facebook Group with 20,000 members, to learn more and the benefits of the Chase Sapphire Card.

Chase Sapphire Reserve offers premium benefits, but lots of benefits are shared between these two cards. The benefits that Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers many just overlook at it. It is better you know about those benefits before getting this card. We will take a quick look at each of their benefits.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Vs Chase Sapphire Reserve

Chase Sapphire Reserve earns 3X on Travel and Dining. You can earn more rewards when you combine or pool your points with Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited. Check out the sample rewards calculation table below. Reserve also offers 50% more in Rewards, but it comes with a $550 Annual Fee which includes $300 Travel credits. Reserve offers Priority Lounge access, Global Entry Reimbursement, which makes it a premium Travel Card.

If you are looking for a Premium Travel Card, this is the time to get. Chase has increased the Annual Fee for Reserve to $550 from  $450. Chase is also adding some new Lyft and DoorDash benefits for the Chase card users. You can check out the details here.

Check out your potential of how much you can earn using the Chase UR Calculator.

Category/OffersChase Sapphire PreferredChase Sapphire Reserve
Bonus Offer60,000 Sign-up Bonus50,000 Sign-Up Bonus
Bonus Offer Worth$750$750
Travel2X3X
Dining2X3X
Annual Fee$95$550
Benefits - Partners1:1 to Transfer Travel Partner1:1 to Transfer Travel Partner
Rewards25% more for Travel Redemption50% more for Travel Redemption
Premium BenefitsNonePriority Pass Benefits
TSA/Global Entry CreditNoneYes, $100 Once every 5 years

Travel and Dining 2X Points

Chase Sapphire Preferred’s biggest benefit is that the card earns 2 points per dollar spent on all travel and dining purchases. Both of these categories are broad, too, so you’ll earn 2x points on purchases at coffee shops, fast food stores, Ubers, Airbnbs, and virtually anything else that fits into these 2 categories.

Your personal value may be more or less than this — for example, if you charge in reimbursable travel and dining purchases for work, you will likely assign this benefit a much higher value.

Airline and Hotel Transfer to Travel Partners

You can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points earned with your Sapphire Preferred to any of Chase’s airline and hotel transfer partners. This includes partners that span all of the 3 major airline alliances, most major hotel chains, and even some interesting non-alliance airlines like Southwest, Emirates, and Virgin Atlantic.

Chase Airline Transfer Partner Min Transfer Transfer Ratio
(Chase > Airline)
Transfer Time
Aer Lingus AerClub 1,000 1:1 Almost Instant
British Airways Executive Club 1,000 1:1 Almost Instant
Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM 1,000 1:1 1 hour
Emirates Skywards 1,000 1:1 New, pending reports
Iberia Plus 1,000 1:1 Almost Instant
JetBlue 1,000 1:1 Almost Instant
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 1,000 1:1 1-2 days
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards 1,000 1:1 Almost Instant
United Airlines MileagePlus 1,000 1:1 Almost Instant
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club 1,000 1:1 Almost Instant

These rewards are worth better when redeemed in the right way. For example, you can book a Hyatt Hotel per night that costs $180 by transferring 5000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to the World of Hyatt.

Chase Hotel Transfer Partner Min Transfer Transfer Ratio Transfer Time
World of Hyatt 1,000 1:1 Almost Instant
IHG Rewards Club 1,000 1:1 1 day
Marriott Rewards 1,000 1:1 2 days

Learn some of the top redemptions that you can make with Ultimate Rewards.

Best Chase Ultimate Rewards Guide for Redemption on Travel

Chase Travel Portal Redemption for 25% more Value

Sapphire Preferred cardholders can redeem their points through the Chase Travel Portal at a rate of 1.25 cents per point. This is 0.25 cents per point higher than the Chase Freedom® card and Chase Freedom Unlimited® card, so you’ll be able to redeem fewer points for more travel with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

You can combine the UR points collected from other Chase cards like Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Ink Cards during redemption.

Extended Warranty Protection

Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.

Purchase Protection

Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.

Trip Cancellation / Trip Interruption Insurance

If your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.

$0 Foreign Transaction Fees

Pay no foreign transaction fees when you use your card on purchases made outside the United States. For example, if you spend $5,000 internationally, you would avoid $150 in foreign transaction fees.

Card Rental Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver

Decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card.  Coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to the actual cash value of the vehicle for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad.

Baggage Delay Insurance

Reimburses you for essential purchases like toiletries and clothing for baggage delays over 6 hours by passenger carrier up to $100 a day for 5 days.

Trip Delay Reimbursement

If your common carrier travel is delayed more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket.

Roadside Dispatch Assistance

If you have a roadside emergency, call 1-800-847-2869 anytime to dispatch the help you need – anything from a tow or jumpstart to a tire change, lockout service, winching or gas delivery. Roadside service fees will be provided when you call and will be billed to your card.

Lost Luggage Reimbursement

If you or an immediate family member check or carry on luggage that is damaged or lost by the carrier, you’re covered up to $3,000 per passenger.
Travel and Emergency Assistance

If you run into a problem away from home, call the Benefit Administrator for legal and medical referrals or other travel and emergency assistance.

Travel Accident Insurance

Finally, if God Forbids, When you pay for your air, bus, train or cruise transportation with your card, you are eligible to receive accidental death or dismemberment coverage of up to $500,000.

Conclusion

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a solid card, even with its annual fee — especially for points and miles beginners and those new to travel. The new increased 60,000 welcome bonus makes this the best available Travel Rewards Card that has an annual fee of less than $100.

Get this card sent overnight shipping, by calling Chase Customer Service at 1-800-432-3117.

There are certain premium benefits that Sapphire doesn’t offer, but if you are looking for Priority Lounge access, Global Entry Reimbursement, then Chase Sapphire Reserve might be the right card. Otherwise, by hands down Chase Sapphire Preferred is a clear winner.