Chase Sapphire Preferred Card – Full Review [2021]

Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Worth It?

Chances are you’ve seen your fair share of advertisements for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Perhaps you’ve seen your friends using it to pay for their meal at dinner, or overheard your coworkers mention how they use their Chase Ultimate Rewards points for free flights.

So what makes the Chase Sapphire Preferred card so special? Is it actually worth all of this hype?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card gives you an excellent earning rate of 2x points per $1 on travel and dining worldwide (and up to $1,000 in monthly grocery store purchases from November 1, 2020, to April 30, 2021), flexible point redemption options, no foreign transaction fees, and great travel insurance coverage.

With benefits like these, it’s easy to see why this card is one of the best travel credit cards on the market and an excellent choice for any traveler.

• Earns 2x points per $1 on all travel and dining purchases worldwide and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases
• Earns 5x points per $1 on Lyft purchases
• $60 Peloton Digital and All Access Membership statement credit (through December 31, 2021)
• No foreign transaction fees
• 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs like United MileagePlus and World of Hyatt
• Travel and car rental insurance
• Complimentary Spot Club Platinum status with The Parking Spot for 2 years, 20% off of your first reservation, and points for 1 free day of parking (enroll by October 26, 2023)
• 10% back on Groupon deals every month for 12 months (up to $50), rewarded as Groupon Bucks (enroll by February 28, 2021)

• $95 annual fee
• No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status

Do you love exploring the world? Do you love trying your city’s newest restaurants with friends? Are you new to the world of points and miles and want a card with flexible redemption options?

Then the Chase Sapphire Preferred card could be a great card for you! With 2x points on travel and dining at restaurants worldwide (including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining in), you can earn more value for the money you’re already spending — each purchase getting you closer to your next vacation.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Travel Protections

Your Chase Sapphire Preferred card comes with quite a few benefits to keep you insured while traveling. You’ll receive:

• Trip Delay Insurance — Receive reimbursements of up to $500 per ticket if your flight is delayed 12 hours or requires an overnight stay. This includes items like lodging, food, etc.
• Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance — If you need to cancel a trip due to illness, severe weather, or any other covered circumstance, you’ll receive a reimbursement of up to $10,000 in non-refundable travel expenses if you need to cancel your trip or end it early.
• Baggage Delay Insurance — If your checked baggage is delayed more than 6 hours, you’ll receive $100 in reimbursements for essential items per day for up to 5 days.
• Lost Luggage Insurance — The costs you incur to repair or replace checked and/or carry-on baggage due to physical loss, theft, or damage are covered up to a maximum of $3,000 per person.
• Travel Accident Insurance — In the case of accidental death or loss of speech, sight, or hearing during your travels, you can receive up to $500,000 when the incident happens on a common carrier (airline, cruise ship, etc.) or $100,000 at any other part of your trip.

DoorDash DashPass Subscription

A brand new benefit to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a DashPass membership valued at $9.99 a month, good through December 31, 2021.

If you’re not already familiar, a DashPass membership, from the food delivery service DoorDash, gives customers $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees on orders over $12 from eligible restaurants.

To set up your DashPass membership, all you have to do is add your Chase Sapphire Preferred card as a payment method on your DoorDash account — once you do so the app will automatically offer you a DashPass membership.

Rental Car Insurance

An Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) is a form of insurance that offers protection against damage or theft of your rental car. The coverage provided by the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is primary, meaning you don’t have to file a claim with any other insurance first.

This coverage applies to rentals in the U.S. and in most other countries worldwide. Your coverage extends to any additional drivers listed on your rental agreement, plus any authorized users on your card and additional drivers listed on their car rental agreements.

To activate your coverage, be sure to decline the policy offered by the car rental agency and pay for your entire rental with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card. You’ll also be earning 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar when renting a car!

Purchase Protection

Chase purchase protection provides reimbursement or repair for qualifying items purchased with your card in the event of theft or accidental damage. To qualify, at least part of your purchase needs to be made with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card or points from your Chase Sapphire Preferred card account.

If the item you purchased is stolen or accidentally damaged within 120 days from the date of purchase, you can receive a replacement, repair, or reimbursement for your item at the discretion of the benefits administrator.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card’s purchase protection policy is capped at $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.

Extended Warranty Protection

Extended warranty coverage increases the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty of an item by 1 year if the original warranty is less than 3 years. At least part of the item needs to have been purchased with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card or points in your Chase Sapphire Preferred card account.

Each claim has a $10,000 maximum, and each account has a maximum of $50,000.

• You want a card with flexible redemption options
• You spend a lot on travel, dining out, and food delivery
• You travel frequently for work
• You’re new to the world of points and miles
• You frequently use rideshare services like Lyft

• You seldom eat out and prefer cooking at home
• You don’t enjoy traveling
• You prefer a card with increased offerings like airport lounge access or hotel elite status

Travel and Dining Expenses

Seeing as the bonus categories on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card are travel and dining, you’ll want to make this card your primary option for all purchases that fall within those categories.

So what exactly counts as a “travel” purchase with Chase? You’ll be happy to know that Chase’s definition of travel is quite broad — so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to earn 2x points.

Purchases that fall within the category include:

• Airlines
• Buses
• Campgrounds
• Car rental agencies
• Cruise lines
• Discount travel sites
• Ferries
• Hotels/motels (including Airbnb)
• Limousines
• Parking lots and garages
• Taxis (including Uber and Lyft)
• Timeshares
• Toll bridges and highways
• Travel agencies
• Trains

Hot Tip: You can monitor each of your transactions via your online Chase account. This will allow you to be certain you’re receiving the 2x multiplier on qualified purchases — and has the additional benefit of helping you keep track of your spending.

Lyft Rides

Chase and Lyft have created a partnership that allows select Chase credit cards to earn additional bonus points on Lyft purchases. So, when you use your card to pay for your Lyft rides, you’ll earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent.

Chase Shopping Portal

If you prefer to skip the crowds and do all of your shopping online, then you’re in luck. With the Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal you can earn 2x, 5x, or even 20x points per $1 spent with companies like Apple, Bose, and Nike.

Just make sure to click through the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal first before heading to your chosen website to ensure that you get the bonus.

Refer-a-Friend Bonus

Select Chase credit cardholders are given the opportunity to refer their friends, family, or other business owners to apply for a Chase credit card and are rewarded when they do so.

So if you think the Chase Sapphire Preferred card might be a great fit for someone you know, you can receive up to 75,000 additional Ultimate Rewards points each year for referrals — 15,000 points per referral.

Referrals can be sent via email, social media, or by sending a direct link to the person you’re planning to refer.

Adding More Ultimate Rewards-Earning Cards

Adding more Ultimate Rewards-earning cards allows you to optimize your spending with further bonus categories. Take the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card, which earns 5x Ultimate Rewards points on travel through the Chase Travel Portal, 3x Ultimate Rewards on dining and drugstore purchases, and 1.5x Ultimate Rewards points on all other purchases.

This gives cardholders a 50% increase in points earned compared to the 1x earned with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card on purchases outside of the travel and dining categories.

Overall, there are many methods you can pursue to rack up the Chase Ultimate Rewards points. For even more ways to earn, check out our guide on the best ways to earn lots of Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

When it comes to Chase Ultimate Rewards points, there are 6 main redemption options that vary in flexibility and value.

Transferring to Airline or Hotel Partners

Chase makes it easy for you to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to a number of airlines and hotels that it has partnered with. For the most part, these transfers happen almost instantaneously and can make for some very high-value redemptions.

If you’ve never transferred points before, or you’re new to the world of points and miles, it can seem like a daunting task. However, it’s not nearly as difficult as it may seem. With just a little extra work, utilizing transfer partners can help you get huge value from your points.

Using Points Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal

This method is great for travelers looking for simplicity and flexibility. With the Ultimate Rewards travel portal, there’s no need to worry about transfers, comparing point values, finding award space, or blackout dates.

When booking through the travel portal with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card, your points are worth a fixed 1.25 cents each — meaning 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth $750 in travel purchases.

Through the portal, you can use your points to book flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, and other experiences.

For those who aren’t interested in dealing with point transfers, the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal offers a simple way to book travel while still providing good value for your points.

Redeeming for Gift Cards

You also have the option of redeeming your points for gift cards from over 150 different brands. Unless a deal or promotion is being run with a certain brand, your points are worth 1 cent each for the gift card of your choice — meaning a $50 Starbucks gift card would cost 5,000 Ultimate Rewards points.

Redeeming for Cash-Back

If you’re not interested in using your points toward travel, you can easily redeem them for cash-back at a fixed rate of 1 cent per point. You can use the cash-back as a statement credit toward your purchases, or have the money deposited straight into your bank account.

Update: You can redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 1.25 cents per piece as a Pay Yourself Back statement credit towards purchases at grocery stores, home improvement stores, and dining establishments until April 30, 2021.

Use Points With Amazon or Apple

If you have an Ultimate Rewards-earning card linked as a payment option on your Amazon or Apple account, you’ll have the option to pay for your item using points. As with previous options, your points will be worth 1 cent each.

Chase Experiences Portal

With the Chase Experiences portal, you can use your points to book VIP access to select sports, entertainment, and dining experiences. You can purchase experiences with points or cash, and point redemption options are most often valued at 1 cent each.

Hot Tip: We don’t usually recommend redeeming your points for cash-back, Amazon purchases, or any option that only earns you 1 cent per point in value. Instead, consider transferring your points to airline and hotel travel partners, so you can use your Chase points for maximum value.

Chase Airline Transfer Partners

Chase Hotel Transfer Partners

Interested in the Chase Sapphire Preferred card but curious to learn about your other options? Check out these other offerings:

Capital One® Venture® Rewards Card

Credit Card	Benefits & Info
Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card Learn More (at our partner's secure site)	Earn 100,000 bonus miles when you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months from account opening, or still earn 50,000 miles if you spend $3000 on purchases in the first 3 months Annual Fee: $95 Must Reads: For more info on the Venture Card, see our thoughts on its benefits and our full review.

There’s a lot to love about the CapOne Venture card. With the introduction of airline and hotel transfer partners, and 2x on all other purchases, it’s easy to see why this is a direct competitor of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

If the majority of your daily spending comes from purchases outside of dining and travel categories, then the Venture card might be a great option for you.

Citi Premier℠ Card

The Citi Premier card is one of the few travel credit cards on the market to offer a high return on gas purchases. This makes the card an excellent choice for those who drive often for work or love taking road trips.

We’ve also compared the Chase Sapphire Preferred card with a number of other popular cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. American Express® Gold Card
• Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Capital One Venture Rewards

The information regarding the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Card and Citi Premier℠ Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.