When my wife Tonya and I booked a rental home in Bar Harbor, Maine, we ran into a problem. The cancellation policy was brutal. You only get your money back if the owner re-rents the week you booked. The cheapest trip insurance policy we found was over $250.
Then I remembered we had the Chase Sapphire Preferred which has trip cancellation insurance.
We charged the first payment on the card and that was it. The trip cancellation coverage kicked in automatically. No separate policy. No $250 out of pocket. Just a benefit we were already paying for with our $95 annual fee.
That is the Chase Sapphire Preferred in a nutshell. It is not the flashiest travel card on the market but for everyday travelers and road trippers who want real protection and flexible points without breaking the bank, it delivers. Here is a full breakdown of every benefit worth knowing about.
Benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred
1. 75,000 Point Sign Up Bonus
Right now the Chase Sapphire Card has a 75,000 point sign up bonus after you spend $5,000 in the first three months of having the card. The most common point offering is 60,000 and the highest it has ever been was 100,000 points.
This is over at least $750 value when booking through the Chase travel portal. The points can be worth more when you transfer points to Ultimate Rewards (UR) travel partners.
2. Excellent Transfer Partners
The Chase Preferred Credit Card has some excellent transfer partners. You are able to move points from the Chase card to one of the partners at a 1:1 ratio.
There are 10 airline partners and 4 hotel chains that you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to.
Airline Partners
- Aer Lingus, AerClub
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- British Airways Executive Club
- Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Iberia Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
- United MileagePlus
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Hotel Partners
- IHG Rewards Club
- Marriott Bonvoy
- World of Hyatt
- Wyndham Rewards
The value of your points can be worth more by transferring your points to one of the travel partners.
For example, a stay at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa would cost you $1,410 but if you transfer points to World of Hyatt it would cost you 25,000 points. That is over a .05 cent redemption per point which is a fantastic redemption.
You can read my post about transferring credit card points to transfer partners. If you have never done it before, it is easier than you think.
3. Points Boost
Chase introduced Points Boost in June 2025, which replaced the old flat 1.25 cents per point redemption rate when booking through the Chase Travel portal. With Points Boost, you can now get up to 1.75 cents per point on select premium cabin flights and up to 1.5 cents per point on select hotels. The deals rotate so it pays to check the Chase Travel portal often before booking. Look for the blue rocket icon next to results that qualify.
4. Earn Bonus Points in Various Categories
Getting a sign up bonus is great but having a card where you can earn points after the bonus is a great feature to have with a credit card.
You can earn Ultimate Rewards bonus points in the following categories:
- 5x points on travel booked through the Chase travel portal
- 3x points on dining, takeout, and eligible delivery services
- 3x points on select online grocery stores excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs
- 3x points on select streaming services
- 2x points on all travel
- 1x points on all other purchases
You will also earn a 10% bonus from all of the points that you earn in a year. For example, if you earn 25,000 points for the year you will receive 2,500 extra points.
5. Pair the Card with No Annual Fee Cards
The Chase Sapphire Preferred can open up the door to pair it with other Chase cards that have no annual fee. The benefit of having these cards is that you can earn more Ultimate Reward points. Two of the cards are personal cards and the other two are business cards.
The personal cards include:
- The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a great everyday spend credit card since you earn 1.5% on all purchases.
- The Chase Freedom Flex has quarterly rotating categories which you earn 5x the points on up to $1,500 of spending. You also earn 3x points at drug stores.
The business cards include:
- The Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card offers 1.5% on all business purchases.
- The Ink Business Cash Credit Card offers 5x the points at office supply stores, internet, cable, cell phones, landlines and 2x the points at restaurants and gas stations.
It is nice earning points on the various cards and then being able to transfer them to the Sapphire card to use them for travel.
6. Great Travel Insurance and Protection
The Chase Sapphire Preferred has a number of different travel insurances and protections that can help you save money and protect you when using them for travel.
The insurances include:
- Primary Rental Car Insurance: This will protect you from total loss, theft or damage of your rental car. It will save you from having to get coverage through the rental car company.
- Baggage Delay Insurance: This insurance kicks in when your luggage is delayed 6 or more hours. It will cover up to $100 a day for 5 days for essentials, such as, toiletries, clothing and a phone charger.
- Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance: If you have an interruption or cancellation because of illness, injury or severe weather, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person or $20,000 per trip for prepaid nonrefundable travel expenses.
- Trip Delay Reimbursement: A person whose flight, train, bus or etc. is delayed over 12 hours can be reimbursed up to $500 for lodging, travel, meals, transportation and other reasonable expenses. This is applied to all family members booked on the reservation.
- Travel and Emergency Assistance Services: If you run into a problem on the road, whether that is a medical issue, a legal situation, or a travel emergency, this benefit connects you with referrals for doctors, lawyers, emergency transportation, translation services, and more. Keep in mind this benefit arranges the help but you are responsible for the actual cost of any services used.
Tonya and I used this benefit firsthand when we booked a rental home in Bar Harbor, Maine. The cancellation policy was risky and separate trip insurance would have cost us over $250. Because we charged part of the rental to the Sapphire Preferred, the trip cancellation coverage kicked in automatically. Not a bad return on a $95 annual fee.
7. Low Annual Fee
The $95 annual fee for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is very reasonable considering all of the different perks that you get with the card.
8. $50 Annual Hotel Credit
Every year you get a $50 hotel credit on the anniversary of your card. The hotel room must be booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal. This perk alone brings the annual fee down to $45.
9. Miscellaneous Perks
Let me do my best commercial voice by saying “Plus there is more.” Besides all of the things that I have already mentioned there are still some other perks with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.
These perks include:
- No Foreign Transaction Fees: This is huge if you do a lot of foreign travel.
- Lyft credits: 5x Ultimate Rewards points on Lyft rides through December 31, 2027.
- Purchase Protection: Purchase protection and extended warranty coverage comes with the card.
- DoorDash and DashPass: You’ll receive a free 1 year DashPass. $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees on eligible DoorDash orders when you activate by December 31, 2027. You also get $10 monthly DoorDash credits.
- Peleton: You will receive 5x Ultimate Rewards points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
- Chase Pay Over Time: This feature lets you break up eligible purchases of $100 or more into equal monthly installments with no interest, just a fixed monthly fee.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Chase Sapphire Preferred
For most travelers, yes. The $95 annual fee is offset quickly by the $50 annual hotel credit, making your effective cost $45. Add in the trip cancellation coverage, rental car insurance, and bonus point categories and the card pays for itself many times over for anyone who travels even a few times a year.
The current sign up bonus is 75,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first three months. That is worth at least $750 when redeemed through the Chase travel portal and potentially much more when transferred to airline and hotel partners.
The card includes trip cancellation and interruption insurance up to $10,000 per person, trip delay reimbursement up to $500, baggage delay insurance, and primary rental car coverage. These protections alone can save you hundreds of dollars compared to buying separate travel insurance policies.
You can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to 10 airline partners and 4 hotel partners at a 1 to 1 ratio. This means 10,000 Chase points becomes 10,000 miles or hotel points with a partner program, often unlocking significantly more value than booking through the Chase portal directly.
The Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee and is ideal for occasional to moderate travelers. The Sapphire Reserve has a $795 annual fee but includes a $300 travel credit, Priority Pass lounge access, and stronger point values. If you travel frequently and spend heavily on travel and dining, the Reserve can justify its higher fee.
Yes. One of the biggest advantages of the Sapphire Preferred is that it unlocks the ability to pool points from no annual fee Chase cards like the Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex into your Sapphire account. This lets you earn bonus points across multiple cards and redeem them all in one place for maximum value.
Final Thoughts
You can’t go wrong with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card because of its large sign up bonus, great insurance coverages, bonus points in various categories, $50 hotel credit and a low annual fee.
Those are just a few of the benefits that you need to consider in adding this card to your travel credit card collection.
If you are still not convinced that the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the card for you, I have written a post titled “Picking the Best Travel Card” that can help you decide what type of travel card to get. If you are a beginner to points and miles, I also have a post that will help you to get started.
