We rave about the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card a lot — and for good reason.
It’s not only the most popular travel credit card among Daily Drop readers, but also a personal favorite for many of us on the team.
But what makes this card so special?
There are dozens of examples I could give as to why this card rocks, but today, I’ll pick nine of them to share with you.
And by the time you get to number nine, I think I’ll have you convinced 😉
1. The Welcome Offer
Let’s start with the headline: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
100,000 points are worth at least $1,250 in travel when you redeem through Chase Travel℠. But as you’ll see in a minute, they can also be worth way more than that if you transfer points to Chase’s travel partners.
For a card with just a $95 annual fee, this welcome offer is wildly generous.
2. High Earning Rates
The Sapphire Preferred is what we like to call a "set-it-and-forget-it" card. It earns well across a variety of categories:
5x points on travel booked through the Chase TravelSM portal
3x points on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases
2x points on all other travel
1x points on everything else
If you spend money on food, travel, or, you know… life, this card has you covered.
These points alone can outweigh the card’s annual fee. But there’s also a much easier way to offset part of the annual fee each year.
3. Annual $50 Hotel Credit
Every year that you hold the card, you’ll get up to $50 back on hotel stays booked through the Chase TravelSM portal.
As long as you spend $50 a year on hotels (which I’m assuming you all do…), this is almost as good as cash.
Last year, I used the credit to book a one-night stay in Osaka, Japan that came out to exactly $50 after taxes. Free night in Japan? Yes, please.
Free night in Japan, anyone?
4. Hyatt. Hyatt. Hyatt.
Chase points are one of the best transferable points currencies out there.
One big reason is that it’s one of the only ways to access World of Hyatt points, which you can transfer to at a 1:1 ratio. The reason we love Hyatt so much is that they use a fixed award chart to determine hotel pricing, with properties costing as few as 3,500 points per night.
I recently booked multiple Category 1 Hyatt hotels in Dubai and Asia for just 3,500 points per night. Game. Changer.
There are many Hyatt Category 1 hotels in Dubai
So, to me, 100,000 points means as many as 28 nights at Hyatt hotels around the world.
Would you pay $95 for 28 hotel nights? I certainly hope so.
5. Secret Points Rebate 🤫
While Hyatt is an obvious perk of having this card, there are also some less obvious perks that you need to know about.
For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred will give all cardholders an Anniversary Points Boost equal to 10% of purchases made in the previous year.
That means that if you spend $25,000 on the card, you’ll earn 2,500 bonus points on your card anniversary.
Since it makes sense to put most of your purchases on this card (because of the solid earning rates I mentioned earlier), this boost could be quite meaningful!
6. Points Worth More Than a Penny
There are few points currencies that allow you to redeem points for more than one cent each.
And, of course, Chase points is one of those currencies.
If you hold the Sapphire Preferred card, you can redeem your points for 1.25 cents each when booking through the Chase TravelSM portal.
$469 or 37,520 points yields a 1.25 cents-per-point valuation
That’s pretty sweet, considering the thousands of options for flights and hotels the portal offers.
And if that wasn’t already a great redemption value, there are endless ways to get even higher value from your points…
7. Access to the best transfer partners
In addition to Hyatt, you can transfer Chase points to a bunch of other highly valuable airline and hotel partners, including:
Program Name | Transfer Ratio |
|---|---|
Aer Lingus | 1:1 |
Air Canada | 1:1 |
British Airways | 1:1 |
Emirates | 1:1 |
Iberia | 1:1 |
JetBlue | 1:1 |
Air France/KLM | 1:1 |
Southwest Airlines | 1:1 |
United Airlines | 1:1 |
Singapore Airlines | 1:1 |
Virgin Atlantic | 1:1 |
IHG One Rewards | 1:1 |
Marriott Bonvoy | 1:1 |
World of Hyatt | 1:1 |
Transferring your points in this way can often result in getting higher than two cents per point in value, sometimes way more.
For example, if you transfer 29,000 points to Virgin Atlantic, you can fly in business class to Europe.
Screenshot from virginatlantic.com
Given these flights often cost around $3,000, you’re getting close to 10 cents per point in value, even after accounting for the taxes and fees… which is amazing!
So, to reiterate, by signing up for a $95 card, you’d have enough points to book a $6,000 round-trip flight to Europe in BUSINESS CLASS and still have 40,000 points left 🤯
29,000 points is already a good price for such a flight, but if only there was a way to spend even fewer points for the same flight…
8. Transfer bonuses
Transfer bonuses are one of the best parts about any points currency, but Chase points are known to offer them frequently — and to the best programs.
For example, here are a few recent ones that we’ve seen:
30% bonus to Virgin Atlantic
25% bonus to Air France/KLM Flying Blue
60% bonus to IHG One Rewards
25% bonus to JetBlue
One of the more recent transfer bonuses offered by Chase
When an offer like this pops up, it instantly makes your points more valuable. And having the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is the cheapest way to open yourself up to Chase points and, therefore, these offers.
Let’s say you want to travel to Europe, which, let’s be honest, you do.
With a 30% transfer bonus to Flying Blue, you could transfer just 15,000 Chase points to book a Flying Blue Promo Reward, which is a fantastic deal.
Screenshot from Daily Drop Pro
That means that from the welcome offer alone, you’d have enough points to book SIX flights between the U.S. and Europe…
…FROM A $95 CARD.
Enough said. 🫱🎤 (that was supposed to be a mic drop).
9. Chase Offers
Chase Offers are one of the most underrated ways to offset credit card annual fees every year.
When you activate these offers, you’ll get statement credits when you spend money at various retailers.
Since the Sapphire cards are geared toward travel, many offers are with popular travel programs.
Last year, I saved over $80 just by using Chase Offers on my Sapphire Preferred.
That savings alone nearly covered the annual fee — before any of the other amazing perks.
Bottom Line
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of the most rewarding, flexible, and affordable travel cards out there.
For just $95 a year, you're getting:
A huge welcome offer
Bonus points on everyday spending
Transfer partners
Hotel credits
Travel protections
And enough value to book multiple trips — possibly in business class
If you’re even slightly interested in travel rewards, this is the card to get. Like, right now.
