The Chase Sapphire Preferred — Your Ticket to Travel Fun! ✈️✨

Luggage with passport & Cell phone at airport

This card is a fan favorite for a reason: awesome points, super flexible ways to use them, and travel protections that keep you covered — all for a chill $95 annual fee.

Why it rocks:

  • Welcome Bonus: Snag 75,000 points after spending $5,000 in the first three months — that’s at least $750 cash back or $937.50 through Chase Travel. 💰
  • Rewards Galore:
    • 5x points on travel booked via Chase Travel℠
    • 3x points on dining, select streaming, and online groceries
    • 2x points on other travel
    • 1x points on everything else
  • Point Power: Points are worth 1.25¢ each for travel booked through Chase Travel.
  • Transfer Partners: Move points 1:1 to airlines and hotels like Southwest, United, and World of Hyatt.

Bonus Perks:

  • $50 Annual Hotel Credit — your card covers part of a hotel stay booked through Chase Travel every year. 🏨
  • 10% Anniversary Point Boost — a little extra love back on your points each year! 💖
  • Travel Protection: Trip cancellation/interruption coverage, trip delay reimbursement, baggage delay protection, and primary rental car insurance — because adulting on the road is easier when you’re covered.
  • No Foreign Transaction Fees — spend abroad without the extra charges. 🌍

Extra Fun Stuff:

  • DashPass by DoorDash — free DashPass (activate by Dec 31, 2027) plus a $10 monthly non-restaurant order credit. 🍔🍕

Maximizing Your Chase Sapphire Preferred Points 💎✈️

Want to get the most bang for your points? The secret sauce is: transfer to high-value travel partners first, then make smart use of the Chase Travel portal and its Points Boost perks. Here’s how I break it down:

1. High-Value Transfer Partners = Jackpot 🎰
Transferring points to airline and hotel partners usually gives you the best value — often over 2 cents per point.

  • World of Hyatt: Hands down my favorite hotel transfer partner. Unlike Marriott or IHG points (usually under 1 cent), Hyatt points can hit 2–3 cents each.
    • Example: Snag a stay at Park Hyatt Beaver Creek during peak ski season — you could get over 3 cents per point. Ski trip, anyone? 🎿❄️
  • International Business & First Class Flights: Want that luxe cabin without the insane price tag? Transfer to partners like Singapore Airlines, Air France-KLM (Flying Blue), or Virgin Atlantic.
    • Example: Business class to Europe via Iberia for just 34,000 points — way more value than cash back.
    • Example: Qatar Airways Qsuites through British Airways for 70,000 points + fees — hello, one of the world’s best business class experiences! 🛫💺
  • Domestic Sweet Spots: Big value doesn’t have to be international.
    • Example: Use British Airways Avios to book Alaska Airlines or American Airlines flights to Hawaii from the West Coast — efficient and dreamy. 🌴
    • Example: Book United flights via Virgin Atlantic (or even Singapore Airlines for Delta-operated flights) — sometimes costs fewer points than booking directly.

Basically: transfer smart, book strategically, and watch your points stretch further than you imagined! 🌟


2. Play Smart with Chase Travel 🚀

The Chase Travel portal is super convenient and can even beat transfer partners sometimes — especially when cash prices are low. Here’s how to squeeze the most out of it:

  • Points Boost: Look for the little blue rocket 🚀! Certain bookings earn up to 1.75 cents per point, giving your points extra power.
  • Annual $50 Hotel Credit: Use your card to book a hotel through the portal, and you’ll get a $50 statement credit. That’s more than half your annual fee back — easy win! 🏨💸
  • Flexibility & Extra Miles: Flights booked through the portal count as cash purchases for airlines, so you still earn frequent flyer miles and elite status credit. Double bonus! ✈️✨

Redemptions to Skip 🚫

To get the most bang for your points, some options are better left on the shelf:

  • Amazon or PayPal: Points here are only worth 0.8¢ each — not the best deal.
  • Cash Back or Gift Cards: These usually give 1¢ per point — fine, but you’re missing out on the card’s travel magic! ✨

Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners ✨

Chase gives you 14 awesome transfer partners — 11 airlines and 3 hotel programs — and you can move points at a 1:1 ratio. Here’s the lowdown:

✈️ Airline Transfer Partners
Chase points cover all three major global alliances (Star Alliance, Oneworld, SkyTeam), so your travel options are huge:

  • Aer Lingus AerClub (Avios)
  • Air Canada Aeroplan (Star Alliance)
  • Air France-KLM Flying Blue (SkyTeam)
  • British Airways Executive Club (Oneworld; Avios)
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Iberia Plus (Oneworld; Avios)
  • JetBlue TrueBlue
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (Star Alliance)
  • Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
  • United MileagePlus (Star Alliance)
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (SkyTeam)

🏨 Hotel Transfer Partners
Three hotel programs also take points 1:1:

  • IHG One Rewards
  • Marriott Bonvoy
  • World of Hyatt

Pro Tips & Sweet Spots 🌟

  • Best Hotel Value: World of Hyatt still uses an award chart, with rooms as low as 3,500 points/night. Total steal!
  • Indirect Bookings: Chase doesn’t transfer directly to American Airlines or Delta — but you can book their flights through partners. For example:
    • Transfer to British Airways or Iberia for American Airlines flights.
    • Transfer to Virgin Atlantic or Flying Blue for Delta flights.
  • Avios Flexibility: Points transferred to Aer Lingus, British Airways, or Iberia all use Avios, which you can move between programs to snag the best “sweet spots.”
  • Sweet Spots:
    • Iberia Plus: super cheap business-class awards to Spain (starting at 34,000 miles).
    • Singapore Airlines: often the only way to book its award-winning first-class suites with points.

Points paid 50th Birthday to London

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