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šŸ’³ 9 reasons you need the Chase Sapphire PreferredĀ® Card

We've told you to get this card. Today, I'll give you a BUNCH of reasons why.

Estimated read time: 6 minutes and 6 seconds (but itā€™s worth it)

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šŸ’³ 9 reasons you NEED the Chase Sapphire PreferredĀ® Card

We rave about the Chase Sapphire PreferredĀ® Card all the timeā€¦ It is by FAR the single most popular card among Daily Drop readers (and even the Daily Drop team!).

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

But what makes this card so special?

There are dozens of examples I could give as to why this card rocksā€¦ but today, Iā€™ll pick nine of them to share with you.

And by the time you get to number nine, I think Iā€™ll have you convincedā€¦ šŸ˜‰

1. The welcome offer

As Iā€™m sure you know by now, Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering 75,000 Bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months.

That alone would be a reason to sign up for the card, given the sheer value of Ultimate Rewards points and the low annual fee of just $95.

These points are worth over $900 when redeemed through Chase TravelSM. But as youā€™ll see in a minute, they can also be worth way more than thatā€¦

2. High earning rates

Many people (myself included) consider Chase Sapphire Preferred to be a ā€œone-stop shopā€ when it comes to credit cards.

Because of the low annual fee and high earning rates on everyday spending categories, itā€™s easy to justify holding it year after year.

Specifically, here is what youā€™ll earn for various categories:

  • 5x points on travel booked in the Chase TravelSM portal

  • 3x points on dining, takeout, grocery delivery services, and streaming services

  • 2x points on other travel

  • 1x points on everything else

Many of us travel enthusiasts spend quite a bit on categories like dining and travel every year, so these points alone can outweigh that annual fee.

But thereā€™s also a much easier way to offset part of the annual fee each yearā€¦

3. Annual $50 hotel credit

Every year that you hold the card, youā€™ll earn a $50 hotel credit for purchases made in the Chase TravelSM portal.

As long as you spend $50 a year on hotels (which Iā€™m assuming you all doā€¦), this is almost as good as cash.

Last year, I used the credit to book a hotel night in Osaka, Japan. As you can see, it came out to EXACTLY $50 after taxesā€¦ so it was a proper free night.

Sample booking in the Chase Travel Portal

Free night in Japan, anyone?

I donā€™t know about you, but Iā€™d say an annual free hotel night in Japan is pretty darn good for a $95 card.

But you can get a TON more free nights out of this card, too šŸ‘€

4. Hyatt, Hyatt, Hyatt, Hyatt

Chase points are one of the best transferrable points currencies out there.

One big reason is that itā€™s one of the only ways to access World of Hyatt points, which you can transfer to at a 1:1 ratio.

Chase and Hyatt are a match made in heaven

The reason we love Hyatt so much is that they use a fixed award chart to determine hotel pricing, with properties costing as few as 3,500 points per night.

Last month, I stayed at THREE different Hyatt hotels that only cost 3,500 points, and I have a number of other ones booked in the coming months.

Hyatt Category 1 hotel (for 3,500 points) in Dubai

There are many Hyatt Category 1 hotels in Dubai

So, to me, 75,000 points means as many as 21 nights at Hyatt hotels around the world.

Would you pay $95 for 21 hotel nights? I certainly hope soā€¦

5. Secret points rebate šŸ¤«

While Hyatt is an obvious perk of having this card, there are also some less obvious perks that you need to know aboutā€¦

For example, Chase Sapphire Preferred will give all cardmembers an Anniversary Points Boost equal to 10% of total purchases made in the previous year.

That means that if you spend $25,000 on the card, youā€™ll earn 2,500 bonus points on your card anniversary.

Since it makes sense to put most of your purchases on this card (because of the solid earning rates I mentioned earlier), this boost could be quite meaningful!

6. Redeem points for more than one cent each

There are few points currencies that allow you to redeem points for more than one cent eachā€¦

And, of course, Chase Ultimate Rewards are one of those currencies.

If you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you can redeem your points for 1.25 cents each when booking through the Chase TravelSM portal.

$469 or 37,520 points yields a 1.25 cents-per-point valuation

Thatā€™s pretty sweet, considering the thousands of options for flights and hotels the portal offers.

And if that wasnā€™t already a great redemption value, there are endless ways to get even higher value from your points... šŸ‘‡

7. Access to the best transfer partners

In addition to Hyatt, you can transfer Chase points to a bunch of other highly valuable airline and hotel partners, including:

Program Name

Transfer Ratio

Aer Lingus

1:1

Air Canada

1:1

British Airways

1:1

Emirates

1:1

Iberia

1:1

JetBlue

1:1

Air France/KLM

1:1

Southwest Airlines

1:1

United Airlines

1:1

Singapore Airlines

1:1

Virgin Atlantic

1:1

IHG One Rewards

1:1

Marriott Bonvoy

1:1

World of Hyatt

1:1

Transferring your points in this way can often result in getting higher than two cents per point in value, sometimes WAY more.

For example, if you transfer 47,500 points to Virgin Atlantic, you can fly in business class to Europe!

Sample Business-class booking on Virgin Atlantic

Given these flights often cost around $3,000, youā€™re getting 4.2 cents per point in value, even after accounting for the taxes and feesā€¦ which is amazing!!

So, to reiterate, by signing up for a $95 card, youā€™d have enough points to book a $3,000 flight to Europe and still have almost 30,000 points left šŸ¤Æ

47,500 points is already a good price for such a flight, but if only there was a way to spend even fewer points for the same flightā€¦ šŸ¤”

8. Transfer bonuses

Transfer bonuses are one of the best parts about ANY points currency, but Chase is known to offer them frequentlyā€¦ and to the best programs.

For example, here are a few recent ones that weā€™ve seen:

  • 30% bonus to Virgin Atlantic

  • 25% bonus to Air France/KLM Flying Blue

  • 60% bonus to IHG One Rewards

  • 25% bonus to JetBlue

Example of a recent transfer bonus from Chase UR Points to Flying Blue

One of the more recent transfer bonuses offered by Chase

When an offer like this pops up, it immediately makes your points more valuable. And having the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is the cheapest way to open yourself up to Chase Ultimate Rewards points and, therefore, these offers.

Letā€™s say you want to travel to Europe, which, letā€™s be honest, you do.

With a 30% transfer bonus to Flying Blue, you could transfer just 11,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book a Flying Blue Promo Reward, which is a fantastic deal.

An example of a Flying Blue Promo Reward o Europe for just 15,000 miles

That means that from the welcome offer alone (which is currently 75,000 points), youā€™d have enough points to book SIX flights between the U.S. and Europeā€¦

ā€¦FROM A $95 CARD.

Enough said. šŸ«±šŸŽ¤ (that was supposed to be a mic drop).

9. Chase Offers

Chase Offers are one of the most underrated ways to offset credit card annual fees every year.

When you activate these offers, youā€™ll get statement credits when you spend money at various retailers.

Since the Sapphire cards are geared toward travel, many offers are with popular travel programs.

Examples of travel-related Chase Offers

For example, last year, I used Chase Offers to save more than $80 on my Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

How much money I saved fom Chase offers last year

Since the annual fee is only $95 to begin with, you can think of ALL of the other benefits as being pretty darn close to free since these offers alone can largely offset the annual feeā€¦ if you pay attention to them.

The bottom line

Do you trust me? At this point in our relationship, I hope you do šŸ™ƒ

And if you do, just take my advice and sign up for the card.

I can promise that itā€™s one youā€™ll want to keep in your wallet year after year, and the 75,000 points youā€™ll get now will offer you hundreds or thousands of dollars in value if you use the tips Iā€™ve shared with you today.

JUST DO IT.

Click here to learn more or sign up for the card!

ā€¦Iā€™m serious. Just do it now, please. šŸ‘†

Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included on this website.

Thatā€™s all for today, my friends!

I hope today helped break down why we are always so excited about the Sapphire Preferred card and why now is as good a time as any to hop on a higher-than-usual welcome offer.

But for now, Iā€™ll leave you alone. And Iā€™ll see you first thing tomorrow. šŸ˜Š

Mike Dodge
Head Writer, Daily Drop

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