The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has long been touted as the ultimate starter credit card for travelers. You earn bonus points on big categories like travel and dining, you can transfer those points to a host of airline and hotel partners, and you even get extra value when you redeem through Chase’s travel portal (each point is worth 1.25 cents there). All of these perks come for a very reasonable $95 annual fee.
On top of that, the Sapphire Preferred often comes with a generous welcome bonus (commonly around 60,000–80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points) after you meet a relatively modest spending requirement (usually about $4,000 in the first few months).
So you’ve just met the spend requirement and that pile of bonus points is now sitting in your account. Great job! Once the initial thrill of seeing your points balance shoot up settles, you might start wondering: What’s next? Choosing your next move isn’t as simple as blindly picking another card to apply for.
We need to think strategically based on your travel dreams and your financial situation. To figure out the best path forward, let’s walk through a few key questions together.
Make the Most of Your Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus Points
Before you rush into another credit card application (and the next round of chasing a bonus offer), take a step back and ask yourself three important questions:
- What are my travel goals?
- What big expenses or overall spending do I have coming up?
- Am I under Chase’s 5/24 rule?
Collecting points without a plan can leave you with a scattered stash spread across various programs—and not enough in any single one to achieve what you actually want. We don’t want that to happen. Instead, we’ll use the answers to these questions to give your points strategy some clear direction.
Let’s break down each of these questions and see how they shape your next steps.
Align the Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus With Your Travel Plans
Think about where you really want to go and the type of travel experiences you value most. The points you pursue should line up with those goals. Racking up Southwest Rapid Rewards points won’t help you jet off to Bora Bora (Southwest doesn’t fly there). But if you’re planning to take your family on budget-friendly trips within the U.S., Southwest points could be a fantastic tool.
Once you have a destination in mind, do a little research on which airlines fly there and what hotel brands have a presence. Say you’re dreaming of a trip to Australia. Airlines like Qantas, American Airlines, United, Delta, Cathay Pacific, and ANA (All Nippon Airways) can all get you to the land down under. With that knowledge, we know you should aim to earn points that can book flights on one or more of those carriers.
Now, this doesn’t always mean you need that airline’s own frequent flyer miles. Thanks to airline alliances and partnerships, sometimes you can book a flight on one airline using the miles of another.
What Does Your Upcoming Spending Look Like?
Take stock of your upcoming spending. Knowing how and where you’ll spend money in the near future helps in two major ways:
- It shows you what types of purchases eat up most of your budget.
- It tells you roughly how much you can put on a new card per month, and whether any big expenses are on the horizon.
Why do these matter?
First, understanding your top spending categories lets you choose a card that rewards those categories generously. If a large chunk of your money goes toward groceries and dining out, a card that piles on points for supermarket and restaurant purchases (like the American Express® Gold Card, which is a superstar in those areas) will serve you well.
On the flip side, if you barely spend on dining but spend a lot on gas and commuting, you’d want a different card that makes the most of fuel and travel expenses.
Second, knowing your average monthly spend (and any one-off big bills coming up) helps you gauge which card bonuses you can realistically achieve. Some of the best credit card offers—especially on business credit cards—come with higher spending requirements to earn the bonus. A small-business card might ask for $5,000 or more in three months, but in return it might dangle a huge points bonus.
If you foresee a big purchase (like home improvements, a tax bill, or equipment for a side hustle), you could time a new card application to coincide with it. That way, you turn that necessary spending into a windfall of points, easily hitting a higher spend target that might otherwise be out of reach.
Are You Under the 5/24 Rule?
One more factor to consider is Chase’s infamous 5/24 rule. This unwritten rule is crucial in planning your next moves. In simple terms, 5/24 means if you have opened 5 or more credit cards (from any bank, not just Chase) in the last 24 months, Chase is very likely to deny you for a new Chase card. It’s a hard rule that applies regardless of how great your credit score is.
So, check your recent card-opening history. If you are under 5/24 (meaning you have opened 4 or fewer cards in the past two years), then you still have the green light to apply for new Chase cards. In that case, we suggest prioritizing any Chase cards you want next, because once you hit that 5/24 threshold, you won’t be able to get approved for them for a while. If you’re already at 5/24 (or beyond it), Chase is off the table for now and it’s time to look at other banks for your next card.
Being under 5/24 means you have a prime opportunity to grab more Chase cards, whereas being over 5/24 means you’ll pivot to other issuers like American Express, Capital One, or Citibank for the time being. Next up, we’ll delve into specific strategies for each scenario.
What to Do If You’re Under 5/24
If you find that you’re under the 5/24 limit, good news – you’re in an excellent position. You still have access to Chase’s stable of fantastic travel rewards cards. Given Chase’s restrictive 5/24 policy, it makes sense to capitalize on this window of opportunity before you inadvertently close it by opening non-Chase cards. Here are some smart moves to consider while you remain under 5/24:
Keep Building With More Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus Points
Whether you’re under 5/24 or not, one thing remains true: Chase Ultimate Rewards points are extremely valuable, and we’ll want to keep accumulating them. Now that you have a Sapphire Preferred, you can earn Ultimate Rewards through it, and potentially through other Chase cards that you might add.
Why Are These Points so Great?
For starters, Ultimate Rewards points are incredibly flexible. You can transfer them to a wide range of airline and hotel partners. Chase has 11 airline partners (spanning all three major airline alliances) and 3 hotel partners. That list includes programs like:
- United MileagePlus
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- British Airways Executive Club
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- World of Hyatt
- Marriott Bonvoy
All transfers are at a 1:1 rate, meaning one Chase point becomes one point or mile in the partner program.
And since you have the Sapphire Preferred, you have the option to use your points directly through the Chase Travel℠ portal for a solid value. When you book travel (flights, hotels, car rentals, etc.) via the Chase portal, your points are worth 1.25 cents each. To put that in perspective, the 80,000-point bonus you may have earned from the Sapphire Preferred can be cashed in for $1,000 in travel via Chase Travel℠.
If you eventually upgrade to a Chase Sapphire Reserve®, that rate jumps to 1.5 cents per point (making those same 80,000 points worth $1,200 toward travel).
Thanks to their flexibility and value, keeping a healthy pile of Ultimate Rewards points is almost always a smart plan. They can help fund just about any trip you dream up. These points can become your workhorse for almost any trip you want to take, whether it’s an international first-class flight or a free hotel stay on a weekend getaway.
We recommend continuing to earn Chase points whenever possible while you have access to them.
Get Familiar with the Chase Travel Portal and Transfer Partners
As you continue to rack up Ultimate Rewards, it’s worth taking some time to understand how to redeem them for maximum value. You have two primary ways to spend Chase points: through the Chase Travel portal or by transferring to travel partners.
The Chase Travel℠ portal
is basically an online travel agency (it’s powered by Expedia) where you can pay for travel with your points. The experience is much like booking on any travel site, with the bonus that you can use points instead of cash.
As mentioned, with Sapphire Preferred, each point covers $0.0125 (1.25 cents) of travel cost. Let’s say you find a flight or hotel for $500 – you could choose to pay entirely with points (40,000 points would cover it), or use a mix of points and cash. If you don’t have enough points for the whole booking, you can part-pay with points and put the rest on your Sapphire Preferred card. And here’s a nice perk: if you do pay part of it with your card, you’ll earn 5x points on that portion of the expense because Chase gives bonus points for using their portal.
The second way to redeem – and often the most lucrative way – is to…
Transfer Chase points to one of their partner airlines or hotels
As we touched on earlier, Chase’s transfer partners include many big names. To illustrate why this can be so valuable, imagine you want to book a business class flight that costs $2,000 if paying cash. Through the Chase portal, that would run you 160,000 points (because of the fixed 1.25 cents value). But perhaps that same flight can be booked through an airline’s loyalty program for just 100,000 of that airline’s miles.
In that case, you could transfer 100,000 Chase points to that airline, book the ticket there, and save a huge chunk of your points. This is how savvy travelers squeeze outsized value from transferable points.
Learning the ropes of different airline and hotel programs does take some effort, but it pays off when you see your points covering trips that would have cost a fortune otherwise. To get started, familiarize yourself with Chase’s list of partners and browse some award charts or award search tools for trips you might want.
If you aren’t planning a specific trip yet, it’s still helpful to know that your Chase points could become Hyatt points for a luxury hotel stay, or turn into United miles for that flight to Europe. The more comfortable you get with using the portal and transfers, the more options you’ll have when you decide it’s time to redeem.
Add a Chase Freedom Card for Everyday Spending
A great next move for many Sapphire Preferred cardholders is to pair it with one of the no-annual-fee Chase Freedom cards. Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® are two excellent companions that can supercharge your points earning on everyday purchases.
Freedom Unlimited
Chase Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5% cash back on most purchases, which in the Chase universe equates to 1.5x points per dollar. It also gives you 5% back (5x points) on travel booked through the Chase Travel portal and 3% back (3x points) on dining at restaurants (including takeout/delivery) and drugstore purchases. This makes it a fantastic catch-all card for any spending that doesn’t fall under a special bonus category elsewhere.
Freedom Flex
This card has a rotating category feature. Each quarter of the year, it offers 5% cash back on combined purchases up to $1,500 in whatever categories are activated for that quarter (common categories include things like gas stations, grocery stores, or Amazon, and they change every three months). Aside from that, the Freedom Flex also earns the same 5% on Chase Travel bookings, 3% on dining, and 3% on drugstores, just like the Unlimited. Purchases outside those areas earn 1% (1x point).
Don’t Overlook Chase’s Small-Business Cards
Another avenue to supercharge your points earning — especially if you have significant expenses coming up — is Chase’s lineup of Ink business credit cards. Many people think “I don’t have a business, so I can’t get a business card,” but that’s not necessarily true. The definition of a small business in the credit card world is broader than you might expect. Do you sell on eBay, drive for Uber, do freelance work, tutor, or even mow lawns for extra cash? Any side hustle or gig where you earn money could qualify you as a small-business owner in the eyes of card issuers.
Chase currently offers a few business cards under the Ink branding:
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
- Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
- Ink Business Premier
For our purposes, the Ink Business Preferred is the star of the show. It’s the only one of the bunch that directly earns transferable Ultimate Rewards points (just like your Sapphire Preferred). The others technically earn cash-back rewards, but they can be converted to Ultimate Rewards points if you have a Sapphire or Ink Preferred to transfer into.
Why consider the Ink Business Preferred?
For one, it often comes with a massive welcome bonus – on the order of 100,000 points (the exact offer varies, but it’s usually in that ballpark). That’s worth at least $1,250 in travel through the Chase portal, possibly much more with transfers. The trade-off is a higher spending requirement (for example, needing to spend $8,000 in the first 3 months to earn the bonus).
This is where those big upcoming expenses we talked about come into play. If you have a budget for a large spend (like advertising for your side business, buying equipment, paying annual insurance or taxes), putting it on the Ink Preferred could singlehandedly land you one of the biggest points paydays available.
The Ink Business Preferred
Also carries a $95 annual fee (similar to the Sapphire Preferred) and has useful bonus categories too – currently 3X points on travel, shipping purchases, advertising on search engines/social media, and phone/internet/cable services (up to a cap each year). But even aside from its ongoing perks, the welcome bonus alone can make it worth getting.
One more important aspect: Chase business cards do not add to your 5/24 count. When you open a Chase business card, Chase will consider your 5/24 status during the application (so you need to be under 5/24 to get it approved), but once you have it, that new account typically doesn’t appear on your personal credit report.
This means you could get an Ink card as your second or third Chase card and still remain at the same 4/24 or 3/24 count as before (from the perspective of future personal card applications). In practical terms, this gives you a chance to obtain more than five Chase cards within two years if some of them are business cards, thereby maximizing the number of welcome bonuses you can snag. It’s a strategy many points enthusiasts use to squeeze extra value out of being under 5/24.
If you have even a minor side income and your credit score and report are in good shape, don’t overlook the Ink business cards. They can be game-changers for your points balance without hindering your ability to get other cards later.
Use the Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus to Access Airline or Hotel Perks
Up until now, we’ve focused on Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points, because flexible points are usually the best way to kickstart your travel hacking journey. But Chase also issues a number of co-branded credit cards in partnership with airlines and hotels (think United, Southwest, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG, etc.). We generally suggest prioritizing transferable points first (since they give you far more flexibility), but there are situations where getting a co-branded card can be very worthwhile.
Two big reasons to consider a co-branded Chase card are: to unlock a unique travel perk or to intensify earnings in one specific loyalty program for a specific goal.
Let’s explore a couple of scenarios.
Southwest Companion Pass Strategy
If a lot of your travel is domestic and you frequently fly with family or a partner, the Southwest Companion Pass is one of the most valuable perks in U.S. air travel. With a Companion Pass, you can designate one person to fly with you on any Southwest flight for only the taxes and fees (which start at $5.60 one-way) — effectively, buy one get one free flights, unlimited, for the life of the pass.
The Companion Pass is valid through the end of the following year after you earn it. This means if you earn it early in a calendar year, you can use it for nearly two full years of “free” companion flying.
To get the Companion Pass, you need to earn 135,000 qualifying Southwest Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year (or fly 100 qualifying one-way flights, but most people achieve it via points). The quickest way to hit 135k points is by leveraging Southwest’s credit card bonuses. Chase offers several Southwest co-branded cards — both personal (consumer) and business versions.
Typically, by opening one personal Southwest card and one Southwest business card (since Chase only lets you hold one personal Southwest card at a time) and earning their welcome bonuses, you can accumulate anywhere from 80,000 to 120,000+ Rapid Rewards points.
That puts you within striking distance of the 135,000 points needed. You can then make up the rest through normal spending on the cards or actual flying. The key is timing: all points toward the Companion Pass must be earned in the same calendar year, so many people will open the cards early in the year and make sure the points post after January 1, maximizing the pass’s validity period.
Elite Status and Unique Benefits
Another reason you might get a co-branded card is for the special perks that come with it. Many airline cards offer things like a free checked bag for you and your travel companions, priority boarding, or lounge passes. Hotel cards often come with automatic elite status in the loyalty program, free night certificates, or the ability to earn extra points on hotel stays. If you are loyal to a particular airline or hotel chain (or plan to be for an upcoming trip), holding their credit card can enhance your experience and savings.
The World of Hyatt Credit Card from Chase grants you Hyatt Discoverist status (which gets you perks like late checkout and bonus points on stays) and gives a free night certificate each anniversary (good for a category 1–4 hotel). If you stay with Hyatt a few times a year, that free night can easily offset the card’s annual fee, and the status makes your stays a bit more comfortable.
A United Airlines credit card from Chase can provide a free checked bag for you and a companion on United flights. If you fly United often, the savings on baggage fees alone could justify having the card, not to mention the easier boarding process and other benefits.
What to Do If You’re Over 5/24
Now, what if you count your recent cards and realize you’re at 5/24 or beyond? Don’t worry – the journey is far from over. Being “locked out” of Chase for the time being just means you get to explore the other powerhouse banks in the points world. The three main alternative providers of transferable points are American Express, Capital One, and Citibank.
Each of these issuers has its own ecosystem of cards and rewards that can keep you busy (and your points balance growing) until you drop back under 5/24.
Let’s take a look at each of these players and what they offer:
Explore the World of American Express Membership Rewards
After Chase, American Express is the next logical step for boosting your points-and-miles strategy. Amex has been in the rewards game for a long time and offers a plethora of cards that earn Membership Rewards points – their equivalent of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards. These points are extremely valuable and flexible, much like Chase’s.
Amex has a whopping list of transfer partners (around 20 or so) that include airlines in all three alliances (SkyTeam, Star Alliance, Oneworld) and additional partners like Emirates, Etihad, and hotel programs like Marriott and Hilton. The ability to transfer broadly means you can use Amex points for a huge variety of travel options.
American Express has a wide range of cards, from no-annual-fee options to ultra-premium cards. Here are a few popular ones that might catch your interest:
American Express® Gold Card
The American Express Gold card is a favorite for many because it hits those everyday categories hard. It earns 4X Membership Rewards points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X) and 4X points on restaurants worldwide (including U.S. takeout and delivery). If groceries and dining are significant parts of your budget, the Gold card will reward you generously. It does have an annual fee (currently $250), but it also comes with some monthly dining credits and Uber Cash credits that can offset that if you use them.
The Platinum Card® from American Express
The Platinum Card® from American Express‘ high-end offering, and it’s packed with perks for the frequent traveler. It carries a hefty annual fee (around $695), but in return you get things like airport lounge access (Delta Sky Clubs when flying Delta, Priority Pass lounges, and Amex’s own Centurion Lounges), credits for Uber, airline fees, hotel bookings, and even application fee credits for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.
It also grants you Gold status in Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors just for having the card. The Platinum isn’t known for high point earning on everyday spend (mostly 5X on flights and prepaid hotels through Amex Travel, then 1X on other purchases), but people get it for the luxuries and VIP treatment it offers during travel. If you travel often and can make use of the perks, it can easily pay for itself.
Blue Business® Plus Credit Card
Don’t let the business label scare you – if you have any kind of side gig, you can potentially qualify for this one. The Blue Business Plus is a simple, no-annual-fee card that earns 2X Membership Rewards points on all purchases up to $50,000 in spend per year (then 1X). It’s like having a “flat 2%” card but instead of cash back, you get 2 points per dollar. Many points enthusiasts love this card because it’s an easy way to collect Membership Rewards without worrying about categories, and with no fee.
With Amex in your wallet, you’ll diversify the types of points you have. Membership Rewards points can be transferred to great programs like Air Canada Aeroplan (a favorite for Star Alliance flights), ANA Mileage Club (which has sweet spots for round-the-world trips), Delta SkyMiles, British Airways Avios, and many more. Amex frequently runs transfer bonuses too, where you might get extra points for transferring to certain partners, stretching your points even further.
Try Out a Capital One Venture Card
Capital One has really become a strong contender in recent years when it comes to travel rewards. If you flash back a decade, Capital One was mostly known for straightforward cash-back or fixed-value travel rewards. But now, they’ve introduced transfer partners for their Capital One Miles, making them a hybrid of fixed-value and transferable points.
Capital One currently has 15+ transfer partners, including airlines like Air Canada, Air France/KLM, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, and more, plus hotel partners like Wyndham. Most transfers are at a 1:1 rate (though a few are 2:1.5 or similar, meaning 1,000 Capital One miles might give you 750 airline miles). Still, the addition of these partners means Capital One miles can be used in many of the same ways Chase or Amex points can.
The flagship cards to consider here are the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card and the standard Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card:
Venture X is Capital One’s premium card, with a $395 annual fee
The Capital One Venture X earns 2X miles on every purchase, just like the regular Venture, but also 10X on hotels and rental cars and 5X on flights booked through Capital One’s travel portal. What sets it apart are the perks: it provides an annual $300 credit for bookings made through the Capital One travel portal (effectively bringing the net cost down if you use that credit), lounge access including Capital One’s own lounge network (which is small but growing) and Priority Pass, and 10,000 bonus miles every account anniversary (worth $100 towards travel). The lounge access at $395/year price point is actually quite compelling, undercutting competitors like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum on price.
Venture (the regular version) has a $95 annual fee and also earns 2X miles on everything
The Capital One Venture Credit Card often comes with a nice welcome bonus (e.g., 60,000–75,000 miles after spending a few thousand dollars). The standard Capital One Venture doesn’t have all the fancy perks of the Venture X, but it does have one useful benefit: up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application (Venture X has this too).
Venture X and Venture each allow you to redeem miles at a fixed value of $0.01 each towards travel (similar to using the Chase portal, 10,000 miles = $100 in travel) or transfer to partners for potentially higher value.
Consider a Citibank ThankYou Points Card
Last but not least, Citi has its ThankYou Points program, which is another pool of transferable points that can plug gaps in your strategy. Citi’s lineup isn’t as deep as Chase’s or Amex’s, but there is one card in particular that’s often worthwhile: the Citi Premier℠ Card (recently rebranded in some materials as the Citi Strata Premier).
The Citi Premier Card carries a $95 annual fee, and in return it offers a strong spread of bonus categories:
- 10X ThankYou points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through Citi Travel℠
- 3X ThankYou points on air travel and hotels (outside the portal)
- 3X on gas stations
- 3X on dining at restaurants and supermarkets
- 1X on all other purchases
This card covers a lot of common expenses: if you drive, you get rewards on gas; if you eat (who doesn’t?), dining and groceries are covered; travel purchases are incentivized too. It’s a well-rounded card for everyday use.
Citi ThankYou points can be transferred to a number of airline partners, including JetBlue, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Qatar Airways, and more. Citi even has some quirky partners like Turkish Miles & Smiles, which is known for amazing sweet spot awards (like surprisingly cheap business class to Hawaii or to Europe on Star Alliance airlines). Having Citi points could give you access to those special opportunities.
Book Travel With the Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus Points
For all the focus on earning and strategy, remember that the whole point of this game is to travel. Now that you have a healthy stash of points, it’s time to spend some and enjoy the rewards. There’s nothing like taking your first trip that’s paid for (almost entirely) with points and miles.
Booking travel with points can feel a bit different than using cash, so it’s wise to start with a simple redemption to get the hang of it. You could use the Chase portal to book a domestic flight or transfer a modest chunk of points to a hotel program for a free night’s stay. Going through the process of searching for award availability, transferring points, and finalizing a booking will make you more comfortable with how it all works.
If you get stuck or find it confusing, plenty of resources are available to help. Online forums and social media groups dedicated to points and miles are filled with experienced travelers happy to answer questions. Some companies even offer award booking services (for a fee) where experts can assist in planning and booking a complex trip using your points. One way or another, you’ll get that booking done.
And when you do successfully lock in an award trip, enjoy the moment. Maybe you saved a few hundred dollars on airfare, or you’re flying in a cabin you never thought you’d afford — either way, your points made it possible. That feeling right there is why we collect points. Savor it, and let it motivate you to keep going for more amazing journeys.
