A June 2026 refresh made this card even stronger in a few specific ways.
If you're getting into points and miles and trying to figure out which card to apply for first, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is still the one I point people toward. It's been the best starter card in this hobby for over a decade, and a June 2026 refresh made it even stronger in a few specific ways worth knowing before you apply.
This review covers what the card offers, what changed this year, the math on whether the $95 annual fee is worth paying, and two upcoming changes you'll want to plan around if you're already a cardholder.
The Sapphire Preferred works well if:
It's probably not worth it if:
If you're brand new to this hobby, you don't need any prior knowledge to use the breakdown below, everything is explained in plain terms. If you've already got a card or two under your belt and travel or spend more heavily, the Capital One Venture X review covers the next tier up.
The current welcome offer is 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months. That's the largest public offer this card has ever had!
$5,000 over three months works out to roughly $1,667 a month. For a lot of households, that's not a stretch once you factor in groceries, gas, utilities, insurance, and a few dining nights out. If you have a planned expense coming up (a vacation, a car repair, a home project), timing the card application around it can help you clear the spend without changing your normal habits.
Not bad, eh? If you'd rather not leave that extra value on the table, optimizing redemptions like this is exactly what I help people work through on a free strategy call to explore how points can cover your next trip – book here!
Here's what that can look like in practice. Let's say you put $500 a month in groceries and $300 a month in dining on the card during your first three months. That's $2,400 toward the spend requirement before you've changed a single habit. Add a flight or hotel stay you were already planning, and most households clear $5,000 without much effort. The key is using the card for spending you'd be doing anyway, not spending extra just to chase the bonus.
Chase recently updated the card's benefits, and a few of these changes matter enough to call out specifically.
The annual hotel credit doubled, from $50 to $100. Each cardmember year, you can get a statement credit of up to $100 for hotel stays booked through Chase Travel. There's no minimum stay required, so a single $100+ booking through the portal captures the full credit. This alone offsets more than the entire annual fee.
A new $120 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS. This applies once every four years and reimburses the application fee automatically when you pay with the card.
A complimentary year of Apple TV, worth roughly $99–156 depending on when you activate it (enrollment required by December 31, 2026).
A DashPass membership from DoorDash for at least one year (activation required by December 31, 2027), plus up to $10 a month in credits on non-restaurant DoorDash orders.
Two new 3x categories: gas and EV charging, and vacation rentals booked through services like Airbnb and Vrbo. These join the existing 3x categories for dining and online groceries (excluding Walmart, Target, and wholesale clubs).
Stronger travel protections, including primary rental car collision damage coverage and new emergency evacuation and transportation coverage.
There were two negative changes announced as well: Starting October 1, 2026, the card's 10% anniversary points bonus goes away, and the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt drops from 1:1 to 4:3. If you're holding a balance of points specifically for a Hyatt redemption, it may be worth transferring before that date, as that has been by far the best way to get consistently valuable redemptions. Every other transfer partner is unaffected.
Here's the full earning structure as of the June 2026 refresh:
| Category | Rate |
|---|---|
| Travel purchased through Chase Travel | 5x |
| Dining, including takeout & eligible delivery | 3x |
| Online groceries (excl. Walmart, Target, wholesale clubs) | 3x |
| Gas & EV charging | 3x |
| Vacation rentals | 3x |
| Select streaming services | 3x |
| All other travel (flights, hotels, rental cars, tolls, rideshare) | 2x |
| Everything else | 1x |
That 2x category on general travel is broader than most cards offer. It covers airlines, hotels, cruises, trains, buses, parking, tolls, and rideshare apps, so even travel you don't book through Chase still earns a solid return.
You have two main ways to use Ultimate Rewards points earned on this card.
Through the Chase Travel portal, your points are worth 1.25 cents each toward flights, hotels, rental cars, and more. It works like any other booking site (search, compare, pay with points or a mix of points and cash) and is the simplest option if you don't want to learn the transfer-partner side of things yet.
Transferring to airline and hotel partners is where the real value usually lives. Most Chase transfer partners move at a 1:1 ratio, and partners like Hyatt, United, Southwest, and British Airways can return 1.5 to 2 cents or more per point when redeemed for the right flight or hotel stay.
If you're transferring points for the first time, don't overthink it. Pick a partner you recognize, transfer a modest amount, and book something straightforward, like a domestic flight or a hotel stay you'd be taking anyway. Getting one real redemption under your belt teaches you more than any amount of reading. If you want help picking the right partner for your balance, that's exactly what I walk through on a free call.
The natural next question is whether to skip straight to the Sapphire Reserve instead. The Reserve carries a much higher annual fee ($795) and adds airport lounge access, a bigger travel credit, and richer dining categories. It makes sense once you're spending $10,000 or more a year on travel and dining and would use the lounges. This card is definitely like a glorified "coupon book," and it's important to check that you will get value from it with this handy tool I made for you here: cardwisetravel.com/csr-calculator
For a first card, though, the Preferred is the better starting point. The fee is a fraction of the cost, the spending requirement to earn the bonus is far more achievable, and you keep the option to upgrade to the Reserve later without losing your account history. You can only hold one Sapphire product at a time, but Chase makes that upgrade path simple when you're ready for it.
Here's the simple math.
The Apple TV and DashPass perks are smaller in dollar terms but stack on top if you'd already be paying for either. To be clear, you don't need every perk to make the card worth it. The points themselves, especially if you book even one international flight or hotel stay with a transfer partner, will usually be worth more than the annual fee on their own.
For $95 a year, the Chase Sapphire Preferred remains one of the most practical first cards in the points and miles hobby. The June 2026 refresh made the everyday math better (a bigger hotel credit, new bonus categories, stronger protections), even with two changes landing October 1 that are worth keeping on your radar if Hyatt or the anniversary bonus factor into your plans.
Once you've got a redemption or two under your belt, the next moves are usually a premium card like the Venture X for bigger trips, or learning what a well-timed welcome bonus can turn into. Here's a real example: one card application that funded an Emirates First Class seat.
Affiliate disclosure: Ross may be compensated for referral links at no cost to you. He will never recommend a card that isn't in your genuine best interest. Credit card offers are provided by issuing banks and may change, so always review terms on the issuer's page before applying. Full Affiliate Disclosure here.