The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is widely considered to be the best starter credit card in the award travel hobby. It comes with a number of great travel benefits, easy-to-understand points-earning opportunities, plenty of redemption opportunities and a very valuable welcome bonus.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card currently has a 60,000 intro offer after spending $4,000 in the first three months of account opening. Those 60,000 Chase points are worth $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, its welcome bonus, and how you can maximize its miles for a ton of free travel.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
60,000 Bonus Points
after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is the ultimate all-around travel credit card—it fits perfectly into almost any points-earner’s wallet. Points novices can enjoy a significant intro bonus and easy to grasp spending categories with an approachable annual fee. The more experienced can utilize its high value earning potential as a secondary card and also gain access to Chase’s strong travel booking portal.
PROS
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals, and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. The 60,000 points, for example, are worth $750 toward travel.
- The $50 dollar hotel credit for stays purchased on the Chase Travel Portal already cuts the already approachable $95 annual fee significantly.
- A 10% annual points bonus is tacked on every year, adding a little more value.
- A free year-long Doordash DashPass membership is also thrown in, which gives you free delivery and some extra discounts. It’s a solid perk if you order food delivery at least semi-frequently (Activate by 12/31/2024).
- Along with all of the above, cardholders also have access to a string of travel protections like rental coverage, cancellation insurance, and purchase protection.
CONS
- Maximizing the value of Chase points can still be complicated for complete novices.
Competing cards like the Capital One Venture have a better earning rate for non-bonused spend.
It’s subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule. So, if you’ve opened five cards in the last two years, you’re most likely not going to be accepted.
Annual Fee: $95 | Terms Apply | Rates & Fees
How can you earn the 60,000-point bonus?
It’s important to first call out that earning 60,000 Chase points for a card with only a $95 annual fee is great. The more-premium Chase Sapphire Reserve Card offers the same welcome bonus but has an annual fee of $550.
While spending $4,000 may seem like a lot, it breaks down to putting just $1,333.33 a month on the card.
If you have a big purchase coming up, like a new laptop or piece of furniture, you could knock out a large chunk of the requirement by putting it on your new card. Other ways to ensure you hit the spend include swapping out your debit card and putting all of your expenses on the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. You can also consider prepaying any bills that you may have upcoming (like your car insurance or utilities).
Once you’ve met the minimum spending requirements, you’ll see the points post to your account relatively quickly, or whenever your statement closes, which happens every month.
How to use the 60,000-point bonus
If you’ve been reading Smart Points for any length of time, you know how highly we value Chase Ultimate Rewards points. That’s because they’re easy to redeem—and can be worth more than just about any other reward currency.
Here are a few examples of what you can do with them.
Transferring to partners
The best way to use Chase points is by converting them into airline miles and hotel points. You can transfer your points to 14 various travel partners at a ratio of 1:1.
Aer Lingus | JetBlue |
Air Canada Aeroplan | Marriott Bonvoy |
British Airways | Singapore Airlines |
Iberia | Southwest |
Emirates | United Airlines |
Flying Blue (Air France and KLM) | Virgin Atlantic |
IHG One Rewards | World of Hyatt |
Here are some fun things you can do:
- Transfer 40,000 points to Virgin Atlantic for a one-way premium economy flight between New York and Japan on ANA ($2,000+ in value).
- Transfer 50,000 points to Hyatt for two nights at the all-inclusive Secrets the Vine Cancun ($800+ in value).
- Transfer 45,000 points to Iberia for a round-trip economy class flight between Chicago and Madrid on Iberia ($1,500+ in value).
- Transfer 40,000 points to United Airlines for a round-trip flight from anywhere in the US to Paris ($900+ in value).
- Transfer 34,000 points to British Airways for two round-trip flights between the West Coast and Hawaii on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
- Transfer 50,000 points to Hyatt for 10 nights at a Category 1 budget Hyatt hotel, perfect for road trips ($650+ in value).
There are loads of other things you can do with Chase points. You can fly to just about anywhere in the world for nearly free thanks to its above transfer partners.
Booking through the Chase Travel Portal ($750 in value)
You don’t have to transfer Chase points to airline and hotel partners to get a good value for travel. In fact, the 60,000-point bonus is worth $750 towards any type of travel (flights, hotels, car rentals, etc.) when booking through the Chase Travel Portal.
The Chase Travel Portal is an online travel agency that lets you use points to book travel with either cash, Chase points, or a mix of both. If you’ve got the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, your points will be worth 1.25 cents each toward airfare, hotel stays, rental cars and cruises. That’s 25% more value than you’ll get with other lower-tier Chase cards.
For example, if you wanted to reserve a $750 hotel stay, you’d pay just 60,000 Chase points by having the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
Although it’s possible to get significantly more value from your Chase points by transferring them to airlines and hotels, the option to purchase travel at a rate of 1.25 cents per point is wildly popular because it’s so simple. It’s no more difficult than buying travel via a website like Expedia or Hotwire.
Cash back and gift cards ($600 in value)
You can cash out Chase points at a rate of 1 cent each — meaning 60,000 points would be with $600 in cold hard cash. Your Chase points will still have a respectable value if you’ve got no upcoming travel in the foreseeable future.
Alternatively, you can trade your Chase points for gift cards at popular retailers like Amazon, Airbnb, Starbucks, and more, often at a rate of 1 cent per point. However, Chase occasionally discounts its gift cards, which makes your points worth up to 1.1 cents each. In this example, you could get a $660 gift card at one of your favorite shops with 60,000 points.
Can the Chase Sapphire Preferred earn points easily after the bonus?
Among travel rewards credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card has one of the better return rates for everyday spending. You’ll earn:
- 5x points per dollar on all travel purchased through the Chase Travel Portal
- 5x points per dollar on Lyft rides through March 2025
- 3x points per dollar on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 3x points per dollar on dining (including with eligible delivery services)
- 3x points per dollar on select streaming services
- 2x points per dollar on travel booked outside the Chase Travel Portal
- 1x points per dollar on everything else
These categories are notably useful. Dining and streaming services are common expenses—and if you can transition your monthly brick-and-mortar grocery shopping to a qualifying online store, you’ll undoubtedly earn many tens of thousands of bonus points each year.
You’ll likely earn lots of rewards for travel purchases, too, since you probably travel at least a couple times each year if you’re considering this card.
10% points bonus
After your cardmember anniversary, you’ll receive 10% bonus points based on the amount of money you’ve spent on the card. For example, if you spent $15,000 during the previous year, you’ll get 1,500 bonus points (10% of 15,000 points).
To be clear, you will not receive a 10% bonus on all the points you’ve earned during the past year as this annual reward does not take into account any bonus categories in which you spend.
Other travel benefits and perks
The Chase Sapphire Preferred’s travel insurance over-performs for a card with a $95 annual fee. Here’s what you’ll get when you use your Chase Sapphire Preferred Card to pay for your travel:
- Primary rental car insurance – Up to the cash value of most rental cars—though abnormally expensive cars won’t be covered. With this perk, you can waive the rental agency’s CDW so you don’t have to pay the $12+ daily insurance charge.
- Trip delay insurance – Up to $500 per ticket for any reasonable expenses like food, hotel, transportation, etc. Your flight must be delayed at least 12 hours or require an overnight stay.
- Baggage delay insurance – Up to $100 per day for up to five days for reasonable expenses like toiletries, clothes, and more. Baggage must be delayed by at least six hours to trigger this benefit.
- Trip cancellation/interruption insurance – Up to $10,000 per person ($20,000 max per trip) for things like illness, weather, etc. when your nonrefundable prepaid travel cannot be completed.
- Travel accident insurance – Up to $500,000 to cover you against accidental death and dismemberment when an airline, cruise, or other common carrier is at fault.
While you may go a year or two without ever actually needing these benefits, the peace of mind that comes with knowing you’ll be covered if your bags are lost or your flight is canceled is valuable in itself.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card occasionally introduces temporary statement credits for various travel and lifestyle services. Currently, you’ll receive benefits with:
- Instacart
- Six free months of Instacart+ (which costs $99 per year), which comes with perks like free delivery on orders of $35 or more, lower service fees, and 5% credit back on eligible pickup orders
- $15 in Instacart credits per quarter
- DoorDash
- Free DashPass membership (worth $9.99 per month) through December 31, 2024, after you enroll, DashPass waives delivery fees and gives you reduced service fees on your DoorDash food and grocery deliveries
- Gopuff
- $10 monthly credits through December 31, 2023, your order must be at least $10
All told, you’ll receive hundreds of dollars in value from these credits if you manage to put them all to use.
Final thoughts
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is perfect for the casual traveler who is ready to begin serious travel hacking. Its points are powerful, its travel insurance is comprehensive. And with a 60,000-point welcome bonus that’s worth at least $750 towards travel, you’ll be on your way to your next adventure in no time.
by travelers, for travelers.
