Chase Sapphire Preferred Review

Chase Sapphire Preferred Review: The Gold Standard Travel Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has been considered the best starter travel credit card for years — earning valuable Ultimate Rewards points, offering exceptional transfer partners, and providing meaningful travel benefits at a reasonable $95 annual fee.

Key Details

• Rewards: 3x on dining, 3x on streaming, 3x on select groceries; 2x on all other travel; 1x on all other purchases; 5x on Chase Travel purchases
• Annual Fee: $95
• Welcome Bonus: 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in first 3 months (worth $750+ via Chase Travel)
• Foreign Transaction Fee: None
• Travel Credits: $50 annual hotel credit (through Chase Travel)
• DoorDash: 12 months DashPass subscription (free delivery)

Ultimate Rewards Points Value

Chase Ultimate Rewards is widely considered the most valuable transferable points currency:

• 1.25 cents each when redeemed via Chase Travel portal
• 1–2+ cents each when transferred to airline/hotel partners

Transfer Partners include: United Airlines, Southwest, British Airways, Air France/KLM, Singapore Airlines, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG — 14 partners total.

United Airlines transfers are often used for domestic and international business class redemptions at exceptional value (e.g., 60,000 points for a $2,000+ international business class ticket).

Travel Protections

The Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with:

• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance (up to $10,000/person)
• Primary car rental CDW coverage
• Baggage delay insurance
• Trip delay insurance (after 12 hours)

These protections are meaningfully better than most credit cards.

Verdict

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the benchmark travel card for new and intermediate travel hackers. The combination of Ultimate Rewards (excellent transfer partners), travel protections, and $95 annual fee makes it exceptional value. It is our top recommendation for first premium travel card.

• Best-in-class transfer partners (Hyatt, United)
• Comprehensive travel protections
• $95 annual fee (relatively low)
• Excellent welcome bonus

• Category bonuses require attention
• Points worth 1.25c without transfer optimisation
• US-centric (best value for domestic US redemptions)