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Writer's pictureJoel Velazquez

Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card: Your Gateway to Travel Rewards

Updated: Jun 28, 2023

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is my favorite travel credit card. It has awesome intro bonuses gaining you upwards of 60,000 points, a $50 hotel credit, great multipliers, and unlocks the ability to use transfer partners to extract elevated value from your points. What's not to love? On top of that, you are able to transfer points to Southwest which is unique to Chase. I find this to be a very valuable tool for domestic US travel.


How it Earns
  • 5X on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 5X on Lyft rides

    • Valid through March 31, 2025

  • 3X on dining

    • Restaurants

    • DoorDash

    • GrubHub

    • Uber Eats

  • 3X on online grocery services

  • 3X on select streaming services

  • 2X on other travel purchases

  • 1X on everything else

The 3X back on dining provides a ton of value to my family since we like to dine out on the weekends. In addition, 2X on streaming is nice for those recurring subscriptions you might have, and 2X on travel purchases is a great bonus for hotels, parking, buses, rental cars, or other travel related purchases you do outside of Chase Ultimate Rewards.


What it Earns
  • Ultimate Reward Points

A valuable feature of Chase cards is that they earn Ultimate Rewards Points - which are my favorite credit card points currency. These points can easily be cashed out at the industry standard of 1 cent per point. In addition, the Chase Sapphire cards unlock the ability to use Transfer Partners including Southwest (unique to Chase), United, and British Airways to name a few. Utilizing Transfer Partners can get you a value of upwards of 2 cents per point and even up to 10+ cents per point on first class international travel. That being said, I personally value the points at 1.5 cents per point as a baseline, since that is the most reliable value I have found when redeeming them.


How to Redeem
  • Cash Back - 1 cent per point

  • Travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards - 1.25 cents per point

  • Gift Cards - 1+ cents per point

  • Transfer partners - 1.5+ cents per point

The industry standard for credit card points redemptions is 1 cent per point. You want to ensure that you are never redeeming your points for less than that. Thanks to the flexibility of Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, there are plenty of options for maximizing your points.


Benefits
  • $50 Hotel credit

    • Booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • DashPass membership ($120 value)

    • Minimum of one year

    • Activate by December 31, 2024

  • Instacart+ Membership ($150 value)

    • 6 months free

    • Enroll by July 31, 2024

    • Additional $15 credit each quarter

    • Valid through July 31, 2024

  • Gopuff $10 monthly credit

    • Through December 31, ,2023

  • Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver

    • Primary coverage

  • Transfer Partners

  • 1.25 cents per point in Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • Earn bonus points equal to 10% of yearly total purchases


Annual Fee
  • $95

    • $45 effective annual fee

As mentioned in the benefits section, the Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with a $50 hotel credit. It is super easy to use. All you do is go into the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, book a hotel using your Sapphire card, and you will receive a $50 statement credit. This is why I consider the Sapphire Preferred to have a $45 effective annual fee. When you look at how it earns, what it earns, the benefits, and the ability to use transfer partners, this card is an awesome travel card.


Pros/Cons

Pros

  • Several bonus categories

  • DashPass membership

  • Instacart+ Membership

  • Downgradable to $0 annual fee cards

Cons

  • Other cards have >1X minimum return


How I Use It
  • 3X on dining

  • 2X on other travel purchases


How I Use Ultimate Rewards Points
  • Southwest Flights

    • 1.5 cents per point

  • Cash back

    • 1 cent per point

I got this card in June of 2022 and received a limited time 80,000 point intro offer. Since then I have used my points to book at least 7 weekend trips via Southwest. I have flown a ton of domestic flights in the Western US and aim to find one-way flights on Southwest under 10,000 points. On some routes, I have been able to find Southwest flights for as low as 4,500 points one way. The value of Southwest points is tied to the cash price of the ticket and is usually right around 1.5 cents per point. This is a super consistent way to extract elevated value from my points and is unique to Chase since it is the only points currency that transfers to Southwest. The best part is that I do not have to deal with the work of searching for award space, which can be a hassle when trying to book other airlines utilizing transfer partners. Utilizing other transfer partners can get you upwards of 2 cents per point, but the reliability of transferring to Southwest and getting an easy 1.5 cents per point is a huge appeal for me.


Intro Bonus
  • 60,000 Ultimate Reward Points ($750 minimum value)

    • After spending $4000 in first 3 months

If you are looking to apply for this card, click here and it can help us both out. Make sure you check out Chase's website to ensure you are getting the best possible intro bonus. Thanks!


Stay Tuned:

If you found this article valuable I would appreciate it if you shared it with a friend. If you have any questions, tips, or general info you want to share, leave a comment or use the chat and I will get back to you! If you are curious to learn more about my credit card setup, tips, and tricks, checkout my What's In My Wallet blog post. I am going to be doing additional reviews like this one in the future so you can better understand what cards are right for you. Sign up for my mailing list at the bottom of the page so you don't miss anything!

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