For years, the Chase Sapphire Preferred was one of the easiest travel credit cards to explain.
It was the entry point for people just getting into transferable points at a relatively low cost. If you were earning points with a Chase Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited, adding a Sapphire Preferred meant those points were no longer just “cash back.” They could become a way to book aspirational travel.
But the Sapphire Preferred also had a few sleeper benefits that made it more useful than people sometimes gave it credit for. Primary rental car coverage is a big one. So was the $50 hotel credit through Chase Travel. Neither one made the card exciting, but they helped justify keeping it.
Now Chase has refreshed the Sapphire Preferred, and I’m looking at the card a little differently.
It’s Not Just The Beginner Card Anymore
With the latest changes, Chase seems to be trying to make the card stand on its own against the competition.
The annual fee is still $95, but the benefits package is stronger. The $50 Chase Travel hotel credit has been increased to $100. The card now earns 3x points on gas and EV charging, along with 3x points on eligible vacation rentals, including Airbnb and Vrbo, which were previously excluded. Chase also added up to a $120 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS every four years.
And honestly, that’s probably the right lane for this card.
The Sapphire Preferred was never going to compete with premium cards on lounge access or luxury perks at a $95 price point. But for someone who wants a solid travel card without paying several hundred dollars a year, these changes make it more interesting.
What Changed
Here are the big additions:
- The Chase Travel hotel credit increased from $50 to $100 each account anniversary year.
- Gas and EV charging now earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points.
- Eligible vacation rentals now earn 3x points, including bookings with Airbnb, Vrbo, Vacasa and several other platforms.
- The card now offers up to a $120 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS every four years.
- Emergency evacuation and transportation coverage was added to the card’s travel protections.
- Cardholders can receive one year of Apple TV when activated by December 31, 2026.
That’s a decent refresh for a card that still costs $95 per year.
But it’s not all good news.
The two major downgrades are:
- World of Hyatt transfers are being reduced from 1:1 to 4:3 for Sapphire Preferred cardholders.
- The 10% anniversary points bonus is being discontinued.
The 10% anniversary bonus going away doesn’t bother me that much. It sounded nice, but unless you were putting a lot of spending on the card, it didn’t add up to many points.
The Hyatt change is different.
The Hyatt Change Still Matters
There’s no way to talk about the Sapphire Preferred refresh without talking about what Chase did to Hyatt transfers.
I already wrote about why the Chase Hyatt transfer devaluation is such a big deal. For years, one of the best uses of Ultimate Rewards points was transferring them to World of Hyatt at a 1:1 rate. For some cardholders, that wasn’t just one good redemption option. It was the main reason they collected Ultimate Rewards in the first place.
For those people, I don’t think any incremental change to the Sapphire Preferred’s benefits will make up for the change in the transfer ratio.
A bigger hotel credit is nice. New 3x categories are useful. A trusted traveler credit is a good addition. But none of that replaces the value of being able to transfer Chase points to Hyatt at 1:1.
For Hyatt-focused cardholders, the Sapphire Preferred is less valuable than it was. There’s no way around that.
But For Everyone Else, The Card Gets More Interesting
It’s easy for those of us deep in points and miles to forget that most Sapphire Preferred cardholders don’t use Ultimate Rewards solely as a World of Hyatt transfer currency.
Many transfer points to airline partners. Some book through Chase Travel. Some use the card because they want primary rental car coverage or useful travel protections. Others just want a travel card with a reasonable annual fee and benefits they can understand.
For those people, the refreshed Sapphire Preferred is more compelling than it used to be.
Gas and EV charging are useful categories that were glaringly missing until now. Vacation rentals are a real part of how people travel. The $100 hotel credit and the trusted traveler credit are easy to understand for people who don’t have a wallet full of travel cards.
This doesn’t turn the Sapphire Preferred into a premium card. That’s not what it’s supposed to be.
But it does make the card feel less like something you keep only because it unlocks transfer partners.
How I’m Looking At It Now
Before this refresh, I mostly thought of the Sapphire Preferred as an entry point into Ultimate Rewards, and that’s still true. But now it competes more directly with other mid-tier travel cards, like the Amex Green, Citi Strata Premier and Wells Fargo Autograph Journey.
The $100-$150 annual fee card space is crowded, and the Sapphire Preferred wasn’t always near the top of the list for overall usefulness for the average customer. After these changes, it feels much more competitive.
It still has a reasonable annual fee, useful travel protections, better earnings than before and access to Chase’s transfer partners. That’s a stronger overall package than it used to be.
Again, the Hyatt change is the catch. For some people, it’s more than a catch. It’s the whole story.
Final Thought
The Chase Sapphire Preferred used to be easy to define. It was the low-cost way into Ultimate Rewards transfers, with average earning multipliers and a few useful travel protections attached.
After this refresh, I don’t think that description is accurate anymore.
For someone who only viewed Ultimate Rewards as a path to Hyatt points, no incremental benefit will make up for the loss of the old transfer ratio. That change is too important.
But for everyone else, Chase made an already interesting card more compelling.
The Sapphire Preferred still isn’t flashy, but it is trying harder to stand out in a crowded field. Between the larger Chase Travel hotel credit, new 3x categories, trusted traveler credit and existing travel protections, there are more ways to justify the annual fee than there used to be.
And that’s why I’m looking at it differently.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
