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Update: for a limited time the Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering 100,000 Points as a welcome bonus. The rewards points are worth at least $1250 if used towards travel, and potentially much more when transferred to airline or hotel partners!

What makes a good credit card offer, a great offer? Typically when you can justify the benefits of getting the card immediately at the time of signing up, rather than pushing them off into future hopes and dreams. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, you get both: an amazing welcome, and fantastic ongoing travel benefits.

Chase launched an excellent new welcome bonus with a lot to love recently, including 100,000 Ultimate Rewards Points welcome worth $1250 on travel (or more), on a card with massive travel benefits and only a $95 annual fee.

It’s definitely worth a peek, if the card has somehow eluded you.

But rather than just tell you how to spend the big juicy bonus, wouldn’t it be nice to actually highlight some of the key perks and travel benefits which make the card so worthwhile, long term? If you want, you can just scroll down to that section!

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Chase Sapphire Preferred Increased Bonus

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is often overlooked, because many of the best benefits aren’t ones you cherish every day, but absolutely do when you travel. And even more so, when travel doesn’t go as planned. It happens.

So what does the card bring to travel booked? Quite a lot.

Like, primary rental car collision coverage, up to $20,000 per trip in travel interruption insurance – including sickness or extreme weather, baggage delay insurance, or price protection on items you buy up to $500. There are more (below).

Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering a bonus of 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards after $4,000 in spending within the first 3 months of card membership.

These points can be transferred 1:1 to many hotels and airlines, or used like “cash” toward travel, via Chase Travel for a value of $1250. You can pay for part, or all of a ticket, trip or hotel with it.

Points And Long Term Benefits

Historically, there wasn’t much to write home about when it came to Chase Sapphire Preferred points earning rates, but in a recent overhaul, the previous 2x caps on travel and dining were shattered, with exciting new earning rates and fee credits, like…

  • 5x total points on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • 3x points on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out (previously 2x)
  • 3x points on select streaming services
  • 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased through Ultimate Rewards. New cardmembers will start earning towards the credit immediately and existing cardmembers will start earning after their next account anniversary.  
  • 10% Anniversary Point Bonus. Each account anniversary, cardmembers will earn bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made the previous year. That means, $25,000 in spend will earn an additional 2,500 bonus points. 

Not bad for a $95 fee card. But as noted, the travel benefits we’ll discuss below really are fantastic on top of these compelling new rates, and for $95 a year, they alone can be worth the peace of mind. There’s also 5X on all Lyft purchases until March of 2022, unless that’s extended.

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Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 Point Bonus

The 100,000 Ultimate Rewards Points welcome bonus is very enticing since it represents up to $1250 in travel when used as cash via Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) – aka you can book a $1250 flight or hotel and use points to pay for $1250 of it. You can also book travel for fewer points, covering just some of the cost, with points left over.

At the very least, it’s effectively $1250 in travel back on just $4,000 of introductory spending. Pay rent, pay bills, pay car insurance and it shouldn’t be hard to get there.

Crucially, you can also transfer these useful points (here’s a guide to maximizing them) for even greater value to airline and hotel partners, at a 1:1 ratio, so you could have 80,000 Points with Hyatt, Emirates, BA, Virgin, United and so forth.

It’s worth breaking down a few of the long term travel benefits which can really represent significant value each year you hold the card, beyond the initial stuff, and are actually why many people keep it. Take a peek.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Travel Benefits

Trip Interruption Coverage – You can receive up to $10,000 per person or $20,000 per trip when non-refundable travel is cancelled due to severe weather, situations set out by the insurer and notably, sickness. This applies to travel for you and your immediate family, booked with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.

Primary Rental Car Collision Coverage – When you rent a car, this is a great savings benefit, where you can waive optional collision damage charges when you pay with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Card

Baggage Delay Insurance – When a bag is delayed, it’s rarely returned quickly. For delays starting from 6 hours, you can receive reimbursement for up to $100 in travel necessities per day, for up to 5 days. This includes things like toiletries, clothes, and anything else deemed ‘necessity’. If you’ve been there, you know.

Trip Delay Insurance – This one is big, particularly in a world of increasingly crazy weather. If your flight is delayed overnight, or any length more than 12 hours, you can receive up to $500 per day in Trip Delay Insurance, which will reimburse you up to $500 for things like hotel, car rental and any basic meals.

All this from a card with a $95 annual fee shows that while Chase Sapphire Preferred might not win hearts and minds with 5X on mega categories, it’s quite a nice comfort to have. With the increased bonus offer available right now, it’s a great time to add the unique features of this card to any travelers wallet.

Check out the Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 Points Welcome Bonus

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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5 Comments

  1. If I were to cancel my existing card that I’ve had for a number of years, any idea how long would be prudent to wait before applying for this great offer?

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