Review: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (even better than ever, for some)

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of the few cards that we consider a “must-have” for anyone playing the miles and points game. While it doesn’t come with the flashy benefits that its more expensive competitors offer, or the metal weight that some “status” cards boast, it has long been a solid TFM favorite thanks to its versatility, its reasonable annual fee, and the fact that it earns one of the more valuable currencies in the game.

A refresh to the card on 15 June 2026 added several new benefits without touching the annual fee, and although a couple of the changes were unwelcome, the fact is that, for most people, this is now a more useful card than it has ever been before.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® card

In brief

The Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) is the cornerstone of a solid miles and points strategy because it allows you to unlock the full power of the Ultimate Rewards ecosystem without breaking the bank.

Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned traveler, the ability to transfer points to partners like United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Air France/KLM and, to a lesser degree, the World of Hyatt, is an invaluable tool that you should have access to.

• Annual fee: $95
• Current welcome offer (at the time of writing): Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening (limited time offer).
• Earning rates:
  • 5 points/dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠.
  • 5 points/dollar on Lyft rides (through 30 September 2027)
  • 5 points/dollar on eligible Peloton equipment and accessories over $150 (through 31 December 2027)
  • 3 points/dollar on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases.
  • 3 points/dollar on gas and EV charging (new from June 2026)
  • 3 points/dollar on vacation home rentals, including Airbnb and Vrbo (new from June 2026)
  • 2 points/dollar on all other travel.
  • 1 points/dollar on all other eligible spending.
• Key benefits:
  • Points are worth up to 1.75 cents each when redeemed for select hotels and flights through Chase Travel via Points Boost
  • No foreign transaction fees.
  • Primary rental car cover.
  • $100 annual Chase Travel hotel credit (new from June 2026)
  • Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS fee credit up to $120 every four years (new from June 2026)
    Complimentary Apple TV+ subscription for one year (must activate by 31 December 2026) – this is a one time benefit.
• Transfer partners: 1:1 transfers to select airline and hotel programs (including Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, and Air France/KLM).

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More Details

Positives of the June 2026 refresh

A few genuinely useful benefits were added on 15 June 2026.

The $50 hotel credit doubled to $100 with no minimum stay and no registration required (you still have to prepay a hotel booking through Chase Travel to trigger the credit).

Two new 3 points/dollar categories were added – gas + EV charging and vacation rentals (like Airbnb and Vrbo).

A Global Entry/TSA PreCheck/NEXUS credit was introduced.

For this year only, the card now offers holders a complimentary one-year Apple TV+ subscription (must be triggered by 31 December 2026).

The travel protections also got stronger, with emergency evacuation and transportation coverage added to the existing suite of trip cancellation, trip delay, and baggage protections.

Negatives of the June 2026 refresh

Unfortunately, June 2026 wasn’t all good news. Two things changed for the worse.

The annual 10% points bonus, which gave cardholders a bonus equal to 10% of their purchases from the prior year, has been discontinued.

For new applicants, it’s gone immediately. For existing cardholders, purchases through 1 October 2026 will still count toward the bonus, which will be paid out by 31 January 2027.

More significantly, the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt has dropped from 1:1 to 4:3 for new cardholders, meaning 1,000 Ultimate Rewards points now becomes 750 Hyatt points rather than 1,000.

Existing cardholders retain the 1:1 ratio until 1 October 2026. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® card retains the 1:1 ratio for the foreseeable future, so this is now one of the clearer differences between the two Sapphire consumer cards if Hyatt transfers matter to you.

The Welcome bonus

At the time of writing, the welcome bonus is sitting at an excellent 100,000 points. We value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 1.5 cents each (at a minimum) based on the value we know we can get out of them with relative ease. That makes the welcome offer worth, to us, at least $1,500 in travel.

However, if you’re smart about how you use your points and transfer them to the right partners, it’s not hard to see that value climb even higher. For those who can meet the $5,000 spending requirement in three months, this is a fantastic way to jumpstart a points balance for a business-class flight or a luxury hotel stay.

Earnings

You may be looking at the 1x “everything else” category and wondering why we’re such big fans of this card, but the answer to that is simple: the bonus categories cover a very large portion of what most people actually spend money on and that’s become even more the case since the June refresh.

• 2 x on most travel: From taxis, tolls, and subway fares to cruises, flights and hotel bookings, the CSP earns 2 points/dollar on most travel purchases not made through the Chase Travel portal.
• 3x on dining: This includes everything from a high-end Michelin-starred dinner to a quick Starbucks run.
• 3x on online groceries: This is a very useful category in 2026, though it’s important to remember that it excludes Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs.
• 3x on gas and EV charging: New as of the June 2026 refresh, and a genuinely useful addition for anyone who didn’t already have a dedicated card for this category.
• 3x on vacation rentals: Also new, and worth more than it might look at first glance given how large an Airbnb or Vrbo booking can be relative to a typical hotel stay.
• 5x on travel (via Chase): While we usually prefer booking direct with airlines (to avoid having to deal with intermediaries) and booking direct with hotels (to ensure we earn loyalty points and make the most of our elite statuses), earning 5x points on travel through the portal is a very big return on spend and shouldn’t be ignored.
• 5x on Lyft rides (through September 2027): This is one of the more niche of the card’s earning rates as it won’t mean much to you if you don’t or can’t use Lyft. For anyone who does, however, this can be an easy way to keep your points balance ticking over.

Possibly more important than everything above, however, is the fact that the CSP acts as a “booster” for other Chase cards.

If you hold a Chase Freedom Flex® Card or Chase Freedom Unlimited® Card, the “cash back” those cards earn can be moved to the Sapphire Preferred and then transferred to all of the airlines and hotels with which Chase partners. Without a Sapphire card (or an Ink Business Preferred® card), your Freedom Card points are “stuck” at a 1 cent/point value.

Why transfer partners are key

A big reason why the CSP is a “must-have” is because even though its annual fee comes in at under $100, it earns a flexible currency which can be transferred (converted) to a good variety of loyalty programs in a 1:1 ratio.

In the miles and points world, versatile transferable currencies rule. While you could use your points to pay for a flight at up to 1.75 cents each through the Chase portal (that rate is actually hard to achieve,expect closer to 1.25 cents), the real wins happen when you move those points to partners like:

• British Airways Club: Fantastic for short-haul “Avios” redemptions (especially within Europe).
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue: Very useful for transatlantic premium cabin awards and awards for intra-Asia travel (but be careful of the surcharges).
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer: One of the few ways to book their legendary Suites.
• United MileagePlus: Great for domestic travel and Star Alliance awards.

By transferring points to these programs, it’s likely that with a little bit of effort, the overall effective return from your spending will be much higher than any “fixed-value” cash-back card can offer.

The World of Hyatt once occupied a prominent position on the list above and while the program itself is still relatively strong despite the recent significant devaluation, there’s no getting away from the fact that a 4:3 transfer ratio is a real value killer, so it’s hard to argue that the ability to transfer points to the World of Hyatt is a good benefirt that the CSP offers.

Protections and Credits

Even for a $95 card, Chase hasn’t skimped on the “peace of mind” benefits. The CSP offers Primary Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver—a benefit often reserved for premium (expensive!) cards. This means if you have an accident and need to make a claim, you don’t have to involve your personal insurance first.

The travel protection suite was strengthened in the June 2026 refresh with the addition of emergency evacuation and transportation coverage, joining the existing Trip Cancellation/Interruption, trip delay, and baggage protections already on the card.

As mentioned a little earlier the annual Chase Travel hotel credit also got an upgrade in June 2026, so you now get a $100 credit instead of a $50 credit with no minimum stay requirement and no registration needed.

If you stay in a hotel even once a year and book through the portal, this credit alone more than covers the card’s entire annual fee and everything else that the card offers is just an added bonus because, effectively, none of it is costing you anything.

Bottom line

The cards that usually get the most publicity are the ones that offer lounge access and big welcome bonuses, but in the real world, most people just want a card that earns valuable points on their daily spending and offers protection when things go wrong.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a workhorse and the June 2026 refresh has made it an even better one in most respects. It’s the card we recommend to friends and family more than any other because it’s simple, relatively cheap to hold (especially if you’re going to use the hotel credit), and incredibly rewarding if you know how to use the transfer partners.

We’ve been playing the miles and points game for longer than most and we hold this card because it offers such good value and that proves that this isn’t just a good “starter card”.

It earns us valuable Ultimate Rewards points on things we frequently spend money on, it covers us when we rent cars, we can use it outside the US without incurring foreign transaction fees, and it’s inexpensive to hold.

What’s not to like?

Yes, we have to flag the June 2026 Hyatt transfer devaluation, and if 1:1 Hyatt transfers were a key part of why you were interested in this card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® card may not be for you anymore.

For everyone else, however, this can be a great card to hold and it’s stronger than it has ever been before.

If you don’t have this card in your wallet yet, now is probably good a time as any to consider how well it would work for you, especially with the current welcome offer being what it is.