8 Reasons You Need the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

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 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 eight of them to share with you.

And by the time you get to number eight, I think I’ll have you convinced 😉

1. The Welcome Offer

Let’s start with the headline: Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

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 Travel^SM portal

• 3x points on dining, select streaming services, online grocery purchases, gas stations, EV charging, and vacation rentals (like Airbnb)

• 2x points on all other travel

• 1x points on everything else

If you spend money on food, gas, travel, or, you know… life, this card has you covered.

The recent addition of 3x on gas and vacation homes like Airbnb and Vrbo is a game-changer for many. We love to see it!

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.

3. Annual $100 Hotel Credit

Every year that you hold the card, you’ll get up to $100 back on hotel stays booked through the Chase Travel^SM portal.

As long as you spend $100 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. It came out to exactly $50 after taxes. Free night in Japan and credits to spare for another night? Yes, please.

4. 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 increased value when booking travel through the Chase Travel^SM portal through a feature called Points Boost.

That’s pretty sweet, considering the thousands of flight and hotel options 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…

5. Access to the best transfer partners

To get even more value, you can transfer Chase points to a bunch of highly valuable airline and hotel partners, including:

Transferring your points this way can often result in more than 2 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.

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 points left. 🤯

29,000 points is already a good price for such a flight, but if only there were a way to spend even fewer points for the same flight…

6. 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

When an offer like this pops up, it instantly makes your points more valuable. And having the Sapphire Preferred is the cheapest way to access 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.

That means that from the welcome offer alone, you’d have enough points to book FIVE flights between the U.S. and Europe…

…FROM A $95 CARD.

Enough said.🎤 

7. Chase Offers

Chase Offers are among the most underrated ways to offset annual credit card fees.

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.

8. Hyatt (yes, still)

Chase points are one of the best transferable currencies out there.

One big reason is that it’s one of the only ways to access World of Hyatt points. 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 3,000 points per night.

Yes, it’s true – the new transfer ratio from the Sapphire Preferred is 4:3… But considering Hyatt’s award chart rates, this is still often the best option for hotels.

For example, I just stayed at this hotel in Dubai a few nights ago, which costs 3,000 points per night.

Yes, you need to transfer 4,000 UR points to get 3,000 Hyatt points.

But… does any other bank program allow you to book hotels for 4,000 points per night…? Anyone? Bueller? 

Yeah, I thought so.

Hyatt isn’t the same slam dunk option it used to be, but it’s still frequently the best one.

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

• Great 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.