Chase Sapphire Preferred Changes

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the best ‘starter’ cards when people first get into points and miles. It was my first card and I’ve recommended it countless times to people over the years. In recent years it has been overtaken by other more lucrative cards but it still holds a place in my heart. Well starting on June 15th, 2026 Chase is making some big changes to the card. There are both good and bad changes.

Chase is clearly trying to compete with other cards while trying to differentiate the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

These changes will take place for new cardmembers applying on June 15th, 2026 or after.

For existing cardholders, the positive changes also go into effect on June 15th, while the negative changes start on October 1st which is nice.

New 3x Bonus Categories

Let’s start with the positives. The Sapphire Preferred will now offer 3x points on gas stations and EV charging, as well as on vacation home rentals with Airbnb, HomeAway, HomeStay.com, Plum Guide, Vrbo, and Vacasa.

The existing 3x bonus categories on dining, online grocery store purchases, and select streaming services, as well as 2x on travel will not be changing.

I know gas prices are through the roof right now, but of all the clients spending I see, nobody has spent over $2,000 a year. Earning an extra 2,000 or 4,000 points a year (depending on what you are currently using for gas) is certainly nice, but nothing to move the needle. Now the vacation home rental is something that I know a lot of people will find valuable. This can be a big ticket item for a lot of families every year.

Earn 3x Points on Vacation Rentals

Annual Hotel Credit Increasing from $50 to $100

Currently the Sapphire Preferred comes with a $50 credit each year when booking a hotel through Chase Travel. This will be changing to $100 which will more than pay for the annual fee. The nice thing is that there is no minimum stay requirement like some other cards. This will be perfect for cheap 1 night hotels.

New AppleTV+ Subscription

Similar to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Sapphire Preferred will be getting an AppleTV+ subscription but just for one year. You do need to activate this by the end of 2026. We’ll see if this continues past then or not.

New Global Entry/TSA PreCheck Credit

Following in the footsteps of most other premium credit cards is the addition of a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit worth up to $120. It is valid every four years.

Chase Dropping 10% Anniversary Bonus

This benefit flew under the radar but earning an additional 10% bonus on all your spending every year was a great perk. If you spent $50,000 on the card you’d earn an extra 5,000 points which wasn’t bad.

Chase Devaluing Transfers to Hyatt

This is where things really start to get bad. Currently you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. That means if you want to book a night for 45,000 points you would transfer 45,000 points.

With the new devaluation, the new ratio is 4:3. Hyatt also just recently devalued their award chart and now their top properties can cost up to 75,000 points per night. So that means if you want to book the Park Hyatt Paris Vendome it will likely cost 75,000 points and you’ll need to transfer 100,000 points! That is a huge devaluation when previously the most it would cost is just 45,000 Chase or Hyatt points.

The only silver lining to this is if you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve (personal or business), you can still transfer Chase points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio. That means not only did the Sapphire Preferred or any of the Ink Business cards, you now will only get a 4:3 transfer ratio to Hyatt.

The Park Hyatt Paris Vendome Will Now Be More Expensive

My Thoughts

This is a mixed bag. I hate to see the devaluation of Hyatt transfers especially on the heels of Hyatt devaluing their award chart. That takes the price of a Park Hyatt from a maximum of 45,000 Chase points to now a maximum of 100,000 points! For those that can’t do math, that’s an over 100% increase. I also hate the removal of the 10% anniversary bonus but that wasn’t a huge source of points for me each year.

On the flip side, I love the new 3x points on vacation rentals and gas stations. I know that can be a big spending category for a lot of people. The hotel credit is nice, especially for cheap 1 night stays. Adding in a year of AppleTV+ certainly helps too. Personally, I don’t need the Global Entry credit since I have more than I can possibly use on other cards.