Chase Sapphire Preferred Review: Nearly a Must-Have for Travelers - NerdWallet (2025)

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers versatility for travelers that's hard to find at a similar price point.

Solid sign-up bonus

The card features a generous sign-up bonus: Get up to $1,050 in Chase Travel℠ value. Earn 60,000 bonus points after $4,000 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel purchases within your first year.

Bonus rewards in multiple categories

You earn extra points in a bunch of spending categories, which is good, but also makes it complicated:

  • 5 points per $1 spent on all travel purchased through Chase.

  • 3 points per $1 spent on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout).

  • 3 points per $1 spent on select streaming services.

  • 3 points per $1 spent on online grocery purchases (not including Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs).

  • 2 points per $1 spent on travel not purchased through Chase.

  • 1 point per $1 spent on other purchases.

  • Through March 2025: 5 points per $1 spent on Lyft.

  • Each account anniversary, cardmembers will earn bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made the previous year.

Triple points on dining and streaming services is useful, while online grocery purchases may or may not be, depending on your lifestyle. Travel-related purchases are far more lucrative if you’re willing to book through Chase's travel portal. Even if you’re not, Chase’s definition of "travel" is fortunately broad; in addition to airfare and hotel stays, you can also earn bonus rewards on expenses like parking garage fees, bus fares and campgrounds. And these bonus rewards aren’t just available for travel and dining in the U.S., they can be earned worldwide.

Those earnings rates are, in effect, slightly higher because of the 10% anniversary bonus boost. For example, streaming services rewards effectively have a rewards rate of 3.1%. (The anniversary bonus applies to dollars spent, not points earned.)

And if you’re willing to use points to book travel through the Chase portal, your points will get a 25% boost (points are worth 1.25 cents). All told, a dollar spent at a restaurant or for a streaming service, for example, would earn a total value of 3.75 cents when used for travel through Chase.

Transfer partners

This card’s valuable 1:1 transfer partners make it a keeper, especially if you're willing to look for good redemption opportunities. Say you spot a nice deal with one of Chase’s airline transfer partners — maybe a flight that normally costs thousands of dollars going for a mere 50,000 miles plus taxes and fees. With this card, you have the ability to transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards® points into that airline’s loyalty program and pounce on that deal.

Here are the transfer partners:

Airlines

  • Aer Lingus (1:1 ratio).

  • Air Canada (1:1 ratio).

  • Air France-KLM (1:1 ratio).

  • British Airways (1:1 ratio).

  • Emirates (1:1 ratio).

  • Iberia (1:1 ratio).

  • JetBlue (1:1 ratio).

  • Singapore (1:1 ratio).

  • Southwest (1:1 ratio).

  • United (1:1 ratio).

  • Virgin Atlantic (1:1 ratio).

Hotels

  • Hyatt (1:1 ratio).

  • InterContinental Hotels Group (1:1 ratio).

  • Marriott (1:1 ratio).

» MORE: Chase Ultimate Rewards: How the Program Works

Complementary cards

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is an excellent companion to other cards in the Chase Ultimate Rewards® family. That’s because you can move points to this card from your other cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards®, potentially opening up more redemption options.

Consider the Chase Freedom Flex®. It earns 5% cash back on rotating quarterly categories (on up to the first $1,500 in purchases, upon activation) in addition to rewards for other spending. You could potentially move the rewards you earn on that card to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. From there, you could get more value out of your points by transferring points at a 1:1 ratio to other loyalty programs or redeeming them for 1.25 cents apiece when booking travel through Chase. (See our comparison article on Flex versus Sapphire Preferred.)

» MORE: What is the ‘Chase Trifecta’?

🤓Nerdy Tip

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and its more upscale sibling, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, have had their rewards, perks and bonuses tweaked over the years as the issuer has worked to keep them at the top of travelers' wallets. See our Chase Sapphire cards news page for a rundown.

Sapphire Preferred vs. Sapphire Reserve

If you have your eye on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you might also be checking out the pricier Chase Sapphire Reserve®. A premium travel card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with an annual fee of $550 and several rich perks and benefits, including airline lounge access and an annual $300 travel credit. If you travel enough, going for the more expensive option could be well worth the cost.

Read NerdWallet’s full comparison of these two cards to learn more about the differences.

Here’s a look at how the cards stack up on major features:

Empty Table Header

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Annual fee

$95.

$550.

Sign-up bonus

Get up to $1,050 in Chase Travel℠ value. Earn 60,000 bonus points after $4,000 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel purchases within your first year.

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Rewards

  • 5 points per $1 spent on all travel purchased through Chase.

  • 3 points per $1 spent on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout).

  • 3 points per $1 spent on select streaming services.

  • 3 points per $1 spent on online grocery purchases (not including Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs).

  • 2 points per $1 spent on travel not purchased through Chase.

  • 1 point per $1 spent on other purchases.

  • Through March 2025: 5 points per $1 spent on Lyft.

Points are worth 1.25 cents apiece when redeemed for travel through Chase.

  • 10 points per $1 spent on Chase Dining purchases.

  • 10 points per $1 spent on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Chase.

  • 5 points per $1 spent on air travel purchased through Chase.

  • 3 points per $1 spent on travel and dining not booked with Chase.

  • 1 point per $1 spent on other purchases.

  • Through March 2025: 10 points per $1 spent on Lyft.

Points are worth 1.5 cents apiece when redeemed for travel through Chase.

Other benefits

  • A $50 annual credit on hotel stays purchased through Chase.

  • Each account anniversary, cardmembers will earn bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made the previous year.

  • 1:1 transfer partners, including United, Southwest, JetBlue, Marriott and Hyatt.

  • $300 annual credit, automatically applied to travel spending.

  • 1:1 transfer partners (same as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card).

  • Access to more than 1,000 airport lounges worldwide through Priority Pass Select.

  • Up to $100 reimbursement every four years for NEXUS, Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fees charged to your card.

  • Access to “Reserved by Sapphire” restaurant-booking feature.

Learn more

  • Read our review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

  • Full list of benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

  • Making the most of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

  • Read our review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®

  • Full list of benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®

  • Making the most of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Chase Sapphire Preferred Review: Nearly a Must-Have for Travelers - NerdWallet (2025)
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