If there’s one card I’m carrying around with me this summer, it’s the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
While it’s a great travel credit card any time of the year, it’ll easily be the most-used in my wallet during my upcoming travels. The Ultimate Rewards points I’ve earned are helping offset a major portion of my trip costs, but there are several practical, real-world benefits that I’ll be glad to have.
Here are the 5 major reasons why the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is my go-to.
1. I Can Book All of My Travel Using Points
Typically, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card features a 75,000-bonus-point welcome offer, but at the time I applied, there was a limited-time welcome bonus offer of 100,000 points.
Once I met the $5,000 spending requirement within the 3-month window, the bonus points were credited to my account just a few weeks later.
We currently value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents apiece when transferred to the program’s airline and hotel partners, so this bonus offer is like getting $2,000 for travel.
2. I Earn Bonus Points With No Foreign Transaction Fees
I’ve continued building my Ultimate Rewards balance by spending on the card, which offers a great variety of bonus categories:
- 5x points on Chase Travel bookings, including flights, hotels, rental cars, activities, vacation homes, cruises, and more
- 3x points on dining, gas and EV charging, select streaming services, and online groceries
- 2x points on all other travel purchases (outside of Chase Travel)
I still earn 1x points on all other eligible purchases, though I typically use other cards that offer elevated rewards rates whenever possible. For example, Costco runs, vet bills, car insurance, and everything in between go on my trusty $0-annual-fee Chase Freedom Unlimited®, since it earns 1.5% cash-back on those same purchases.
While the Freedom Unlimited card is technically a cash-back card, pairing it with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card lets me combine those rewards into my Ultimate Rewards balance to use for travel.
There is one important exception. When I head to France this summer, my Freedom Unlimited card will be staying at home. That’s because the Chase Sapphire Preferred card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, while the Freedom Unlimited card does: 3% of purchases made in another currency.
Bottom Line:
When traveling abroad, it makes sense to use the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Earning 1.5% cash-back with the Freedom Unlimited card simply isn’t worth paying an extra 3% in fees on every purchase. Plus, since the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a Visa Signature card, I know it’ll be widely accepted nearly everywhere I travel.
3. I Get a Complimentary International Data Plan
Visa Signature cardholders can access complimentary international data plans in more than 170 countries through Visa’s partnership with GigSky, an eSIM provider.
For travelers heading abroad, that benefit can help offset roaming charges or the cost of buying additional international data plans. Every 365 days, eligible Visa Signature cardholders can redeem a complimentary 15-day plan with 1GB of data, while Visa Infinite cardholders receive a complimentary 15-day plan with 3GB of data.
For my weeklong trip to France, being able to download the GigSky app (iOS, Android) and activate a complimentary 15-day data plan within minutes is a useful travel perk.
4. It Has Travel Protections, Including Primary Rental Car Insurance
For a travel credit card with just a $95 annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers surprisingly strong travel insurance protections that can compete with some more premium travel cards.
The benefit I use most is the card’s primary rental car insurance, which provides coverage for theft or collision damage up to $60,000 on eligible rentals lasting 31 consecutive days or less. To activate the coverage, decline the rental agency’s collision insurance and pay for the rental using your Chase Sapphire Preferred card.
Primary rental car coverage is typically reserved for far more expensive cards (with annual fees climbing into the hundreds of dollars). Many other cards that offer rental coverage only provide secondary insurance, meaning you’d first need to file a claim through your personal auto insurance policy before the card’s coverage would apply.
I’m also no stranger to flight cancellations and delays, and I have additional coverage that gives me peace of mind when I travel, both domestically and internationally. Policies like emergency evacuation and transportation coverage, trip delay reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, and trip cancellation and interruption insurance are included with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, as long as I use it to book all of my travels.
5. I’ll Save Money on an Airport Hotel
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers a very simple way to offset more than half of the $95 every year with its $100 annual hotel credit.
Here’s how it works. Once per cardmember anniversary, you can save $100 off any Chase Travel hotel booking with no minimums.
On our last full day in Paris, we’ll check into an airport hotel to make catching our morning flight back to the U.S. much easier.
Saving $100 on an already fairly inexpensive hotel stay delivers excellent value. This is a great example of when it makes more sense for me to save my points for a future redemption and simply pay cash for the stay, especially since my out-of-pocket cost drops to around $50 per night. As an added bonus, I’ll earn 5x points when I book through Chase Travel.
Final Thoughts
At a time when premium travel cards with $500-plus annual fees are becoming increasingly common, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card continues to offer straightforward, easy-to-use perks that deliver value and savings for travelers. That simplicity may be exactly what many travelers are looking for as they head into another busy summer travel season.