The Chase Sapphire Preferred® card has long been a de-facto best credit card choice for someone looking to either start with a rewards credit card for the first time or that wants to earn points in a valuable eco-system with a low annual fee. 

In August of 2021 we saw the last major refresh to the card, adding things like 5X points in Chase Travel℠, 3X points on dining (including delivery), select streaming and on online grocery purchases. They introduced the $50 annual hotel credit when booked in Chase Travel℠ once per cardmember year and added the 10% anniversary points bonus, where you earned bonus points that equal 10% of your total spend in points from purchases made with your card during the previous account anniversary year at a rate of 1 point for each $1 spent).

As of June 15th, 2026, we are getting another, perhaps bigger card refresh. It’s pretty exciting, with no increase to the $95 annual fee (I’m personally stunned they didn’t increase given how long it has been $95 and how much inflation has occurred in that time!), 6 new benefits or benefit enhancements – but with one major curve ball absolutely nobody could have seen coming. More on that in a minute…

Chase Sapphire Preferred – New Look moves cardmember name to the back

The new card has the same design, but everything except the Chase logo and card name move to the back. I think it’s pretty elegant!

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Benefit Additions and Improvements

• Increased bonus multiplier of 3X for Gas and EV charging stations
• Increased bonus multiplier of 3X for Airbnb, Vrbo, Plum Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa vacation rentals (still 5X if you book a vacation home (or flight, hotel, rental car, cruise, activity and tours) inside Chase Travel℠
• Existing $50 Chase Travel℠ hotel credit becomes $100; no opt in, no nightly minimums, just use Chase Travel℠ to book a hotel that is $100 or more. As with the current credit, the hotel reservation must be a prepaid booking
  through the Chase Travel portal to receive the statement credit.
• New benefit for up to $120 every four years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS
• One year of Complimentary Apple TV (does not include Apple Music): Cardmembers will receive a complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year when activated by December 31, 2026. Terms apply. (Activation must be completed through the Benefits & Rewards section on Chase.com or the mobile app to link an Apple ID.)
• Expanded Trip Protections: With the addition of Emergency Evacuation and Transportation coverage, if a covered traveler is injured or becomes sick during a trip 100 miles or more from home that results in emergency evacuation, they can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Benefit Reduction – Transfers to World of Hyatt devalued

We already knew that the 10% anniversary bonus is ending October 1st, so I’m not counting that as a subtraction in this refresh, though I suppose you could argue it is (netting us two negatives vs. one). We now have the extra detail that you’ll accrue your 10% bonus until October 1st, 2026 and get paid out for that in January 2027.

Here’s the big one – Hyatt transfers:

If you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (or a Chase Ink Business Preferred, legacy Ink Plus, or Corporate Flex card) and don’t have a Reserve level card in your mix, your transfer to Hyatt will be at 4:3.

Sapphire Preferred: For cardmembers who applied prior to June 15, 2026, this is
effective on October 1, 2026. Cardmembers who apply on or after June 15, 2026, will
see the updated transfer rate in Ultimate Rewards immediately.

Ink Business Preferred: This update is effective October 1, 2026, for existing cardmembers and for new cardmembers who apply on or after October 1, 2026.

Ink Plus (no longer available) and Corporate Flex: This update is effective October 1, 2026.

Just how big of a deal is the new 4:3 transfer rate to Hyatt? Obviously, it’s devastating for many. Let’s not sugar coat this. We just saw not one but two massive Hyatt devaluations in the first half of this year. We saw the expansion from 3 to 5 World of Hyatt award chart levels (from the most off-peak to the most peak) and then the annual category shifts.

Combined that amounted to some pretty massive award increases. A category 8 at to level peak went from 45,000 points to 75,000 points overnight, a whopping 60% increase.

I don’t know about you, but for myself and many, many MilesTalkers, Hyatt is the only transfer partner we regularly use from Chase Ultimate Rewards. This will rewrite the book, so to speak, since for years I’ve preached that the Sapphire Preferred® card was the perfect entry level card to learn miles and points (and it still is, but this throws a monkey wrench in the overall value prop). If Hyatt has long been, by far, the most valuable transfer partner and the Hyatt award prices went up and now the ratio to transfer from all Sapphire cards with an annual fee lower than $795 drops by 1/4. It’s a tough pill to swallow.

Generally, I (currently!) use Chase for Hyatt transfers (this would leave only Bilt as an option to transfer to Hyatt 1:1 without a high annual fee card) and my Amex, Capital One, and Citi points for flights. I have both a Chase Sapphire Preferred and a Chase Ink Business Preferred but don’t currently hold a Reserve. I’ve considered it, but since moving to the suburbs, the perks are a bit harder to use. I did have a Reserve since its inception and for many, many years before the fee increased to $550 a few years ago.

Why are they doing this? Well, your guess is as good as mine! Is it to steer people towards the higher annual fee Reserve cards? Almost certainly yes. Although, that really screams for a mid-tier annual fee card (in the ballpark of the American Express Gold Card with a $325 annual fee) as spending an extra $700 in annual fees (despite the rich benefits on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ outweighing the annual fee if the benefits and credits are well utilized!) is a big ask in order to maintain 1:1 Hyatt transfers.

You might think that maybe they are pushing you towards a World of Hyatt co-branded card. But I don’t think that’s it since they make more money when you use their proprietary points cards. Did Hyatt actually negotiate a higher price per point than before? I don’t recall seeing a contract renewal, though I could have missed it. 

I’m going to get back to what I’m now calling the “Chase / Hyatt math” in a second.

Overall – the Sapphire Preferred Changes

I wish the Hyatt news hadn’t come out at the same time, because honestly everything else is just brilliant. And if you don’t transfer to Hyatt, guess what? The news is 100% fantastic! All additions, no subtractions (beyond the already known end of the 10% anniversary bonus, which was nice but I don’t think meaningful for all but the highest spenders – which. would likely have done better with a more premium card anyway), and no annual fee increase.

With the Chase Travel℠ hotel credit at $100, it’s far more useful than when it was just $50 as you can cover all or most of a night with it and, unlike Bilt’s Palladium card hotel credit, there’s no 2 night stay requirement.

For $95, you wind up net positive $5 once you use that credit, plus you get a strong 3X on dining, gas, vacation rentals, streaming, and online groceries (stack with Paze!), plus the 5X on Lyft through Sept 30, 2027.

If you don’t care about Hyatt transfers, this card just got a LOT better.

A quick check of the Card Explorer at Your Best Credit Cards shows only 11 personal cards with a bonus multiplier for gas and many of those are co-branded cards where it’s a lot of points but not so much value. Citi gives 3X on gas on the Strata Premier and beyond that, this is the new standout. If we include EV charging, only the Strata Premier, Strata, and Atmos Ascent offer a multiplier. So yes, this is a nice one.

A free year of Apple TV? Yes, please. We already spend a fortune on this and free year on a $95 annual fee card is awesome. And $100,000 in emergency evacuation coverage? That’s also huge for a card with a low annual fee.

The new Chase / Hyatt Math

There is clearly going to be a stratification of reactions from the Hyatt change.

• Many won’t care. Unlike us diehards, Hyatt transfers are probably not nearly the percentage of redemptions our obsessed brains think they are. This effects us Hyatt crazy points geeks hard, but maybe not so much the general population.
• Some will “step up” to the Reserve: This is a perfectly reasonable move if you can get $795+ in value from either Reserve card. If you can, nothing changes for you and Hyatt!
• Some will move spend to the Hyatt co-brand cards. If you can’t transfer 1:1, you can earn a full point per dollar (plus bonus categories) and also earn Elite Qualifying Nights at the same time! You get 5 each year on the personal World of Hyatt card at renewal and 2 per $5,000 spent; 5 per $10,000 spent on the World of Hyatt Business Credit card.But this is where math gets tricky. Neither Hyatt card earns more than 2X on any category (other than at Hyatt which is 4X). So if you can earn 3X on dining on the Sapphire Preferred or 2X on the World of Hyatt Card, the math works like this: $10,000 spend on dining on the Preferred earns 30,000 Ultimate Rewards which becomes 22,500 Hyatt points. $10,000 of dining spend on the World of Hyatt card earns 20,000 Hyatt points. That’s less, but you are also earn 3 Elite Qualifying Nights towards the 60 you need for Globalist status. Hmm – it gets complicated, doesn’t it?!
• Is there a premium World of Hyatt card on the horizon? It’s been rumored for ages. So, maybe? Or….maybe there is no relation to that at all here. And then the tricky wicket for Chase’s product teams? You want a successful premium co-brand card and the revenue from spend that brings, but you also don’t want to cannibalize your own currency that transfers to it. This is a problem each issuer faces where they have both co-branded cards and proprietary points that transfer to that co-brand partner. 

Bottom Line

If you are eligible for the bonus, you’d be crazy not to grab $1,000 or more in value from the bonus offer and take the card for a test drive.

If you don’t care about Hyatt transfers, the card is more of a no brainer than ever before. 

And if you earn Ultimate Rewards points as if they are basically just Hyatt points waiting for a transfer? You have some thinking to do…

I’m curious what you think!

Thoughts?

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You can find credit cards that best match your spending habits and bonus categories at Your Best Credit Cards. 

New to all of this? My “introduction to miles and points” book, MilesTalk: Live Your Wildest Travel Dreams Using Miles and Points is available on Amazon and at major booksellers.