Chase Sapphire Preferred: Is It the Best for Beginner Travel?
If you’re ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles, I usually recommend you start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. It’s beginner-friendly, packed with travel perks, and helps you earn flights, hotel stays, and more. This is the card I started with and will almost always recommend to beginners.
And even after years of traveling on points and miles, it is still in my wallet.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred has a Great Sign-up Bonus (SUB)
Credit cards, especially travel credit cards, come with sign up bonuses (known as SUBs). Right now, you can earn 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months. That bonus alone is worth a minimum of $725 (honestly, if you transfer this to a partner like Hyatt, it could easily be worth a $1,000 hotel stay – think three nights in Maui or five nights in Orlando).
It has a $95 annual fee, but it comes with 75,000 point welcome offer, $50 hotel credit, and so many other perks (more listed below).
Chase Sapphire Perks and Benefits
Beyond the sign-up bonus, the Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with valuable perks that make it ideal for travelers:
- Transfer Partners (including Hyatt, Southwest, Jet Blue, United, Virgin Atlantic)
- $50 annual hotel credit (when booked through the Chase travel portal)
- Primary Rental Car Insurance
- Lost Luggage Insurance
- Dash Pass Membership
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
The Best Feature of the Chase Sapphire Preferred: Transferring Points to Travel Partners
You can always book in the Chase travel portal, where you are guaranteed a redemption value between 1-1.5 cents per point. However, I almost always suggest transferring points to partners for maximum value.
- Hyatt (this is my favorite and usually the best value for your points)
- United Airlines
- Southwest
- Jet Blue
- Air France/KLM
- Virgin Atlantic
- Iberia
- British Airways
- Air Canada
- Aer Lingus
- Singapore Airlines
- Marriott and IHG (although I don’t typically recommend these as you points usually become worth less than 1 cent)
I used to fear travel credit cards because I heard stories about blackout dates and how they were impossible to use. Those are myths. We’ve transferred and used these points for luxury hotel stays like in Maui, Kauai, the Bahamas and even Aruba. We’ve also use these points for weekend travel for sports and my youngest’s favorite redemption: a hotel within walking distance of Disneyland.
Earn More Points on Your Everyday Spending
The Chase Sapphire Preferred’s earning categories make it easier to earn points.
- 3x on Dining
- 3x on Select Streaming
- 3x on Online Grocery (excluding Wal-Mart, Target, and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on Travel
- 5x on Travel booked through the Chase Portal
- 1x on everything else
These bonus categories help you earn more points on everyday spending. Many people put their purchases on a Disney credit card or a cash back card, but most of those only earn 1x points. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you earn more on things like dining and travel—and you can transfer those points to travel partners for even greater value.
Pro Tip: Don’t Add Your Spouse as an Authorized User
Here’s a strategy to maximize your household points: When you apply, don’t immediately add your significant other as an authorized user. Once you earn your bonus, you can refer your spouse, also known as “Player 2” and get an additional 15,000 points for the referral. They’ll also earn their own sign-up bonus—and then you can combine points, ending up with 175,000+ points.
(If you already did, you can still refer a player two, but it will count towards their 5/24 status, which means you can only get 5 personal cards in 24 months)
175,000 points can two round trip business class tickets to Europe, seven nights in Maui, six nights in the Bahamas, six nights at a fancy hotel in NYC — there are so many possibilities!
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
Always pay your balance in full every month: This is a non-negotiable in the points and miles world. If you are not paying your balance in full every month, you’re paying interest and spending more than you earn.
Keep the card open for at least a year: If you close your card before a year, you will jeopardize your relationship with the bank.
Space out your credit card applications: Only sign up for a credit card every 90 days. There are some exceptions to this, but that is a pretty solid rule to credit card points and miles.
Important application tips: When you apply, it will ask for gross household income. Even if you keep your money separate, this income includes you and your spouse. This means if you are a stay-at-home-parent, you are eligible to get a credit card.
Don’t close your oldest credit card: It may be tempting to close an older card if you are concentrating your spend on one credit card, but don’t. Closing your oldest line of credit can seriously hurt your credit score. Just leave it open, even if you are not spending a lot on it (this is exactly what I do with our Amazon credit card).
Ready to Begin Your Credit Card Points Journey?
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