The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is often touted as one of the best travel credit cards, and it's pretty easy to see why. It's affordable for people who travel a handful of times per year and offers many ways to get value from it.
One of its biggest perks is its 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. Plus, new cardholders get up to $300 in statement credits for Chase Travel℠ purchases during their first year. And while that's a great reason to get your foot in the door, the card has plenty of reasons to stick around once you have it.
While I applied before the latest welcome bonus offer, the Sapphire Preferred still helped me save on my trip to Spain and became my go-to card thanks to its digital wallet capabilities and good rewards. Here's why you should consider it for your next travel card too.
The card's current welcome bonus
The card's welcome offer is a great deal. It's on par with some of its top competitors, like the new Citi Strata Premier℠ Card* and Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card*.
What also helps push the value of the Sapphire Preferred welcome bonus are the card's redemption features. While you can redeem for travel through Chase Travel for a 25% bonus (meaning rather than the standard 1 cent per point, each point would be worth 1.25 cents) you could instead utilize a point transfer to Chase's travel partners where your points could be worth more.
Regardless of how you choose to redeem, potentially $750 worth of travel rewards should be enough to cover a good chunk of your next trip.
Another option is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card*. It has the same price point and has a higher welcome bonus, although it doesn't quite match the Sapphire Preferred's great redemption options. However, the Venture also includes an application fee credit for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, something the Sapphire Preferred lacks.
What else does it have to offer?
Besides its welcome bonus, the Sapphire Preferred has a great rewards program. Its rewards cover dining -- a big part of travel, and one of the main reasons why I chose to bring it to Spain -- as well as general travel purchases and a heightened rewards rate for booking travel through Chase Travel.
While I wasn't able to book everything for my trip through Chase's travel portal (our flights had to be booked elsewhere), I was able to use the portal to book one of our hotels and earn 5x points per dollar.
You can then redeem your rewards for travel with Chase for a 25% redemption bonus or transfer them to Chase's travel partners at a 1:1 rate. However, 1:1 is just the floor. You can often find better deals that give you even better value for your points.
Annual hotel credit
One of the more helpful perks the card includes is an annual $50 hotel credit. Traveling is expensive, so anything that helps knock off a few dollars is helpful. I had already earned 5x points by booking a hotel through Chase's travel portal, and then the next day a $50 statement credit automatically hit my account.
Easy expense tracking
Being able to use one card for every transaction helped keep my spending on budget.
Like most travel credit cards, it doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee, so I could use it for every purchase without having to worry about paying extra. It went a long way toward earning the card's welcome bonus.
Peace of mind while traveling
The Sapphire Preferred also lets you add the card to your digital wallet. That meant I could leave the credit card in the safe back at the hotel and tap-to-pay for all of my expenses. It gave me peace of mind while exploring and was a convenient way to make a purchase. Every place we went in Spain accepted Apple Pay, which made it incredibly easy (for better or worse) to spend money.
The bottom line
The Sapphire Preferred’s welcome bonus is a good reason to apply for the card, but it’s not the only enticing feature it has. Even after you earn the bonus, the card offers plenty of reasons to continue being your go-to travel card.
And if you’re getting a lot of value and use out of it, you could always upgrade to the higher-tier Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which costs substantially more, but also adds an annual travel credit, TSA PreCheck or Global Entry, and a higher redemption bonus.
*All information about the Citi Strata Premier Card, Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card and the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
