A Record Sapphire Preferred Bonus—But is it Worth It?
This is the June 21, 2026 edition of the LazyPoints Weekly newsletter. It goes out by email every Sunday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific–unless I oversleep–and is archived here on the blog. Want it straight to your inbox each week? Sign up here.
I’m going to take a small victory lap this week. In the last edition, I noted that the newly refreshed Chase Sapphire Preferred was famously heavily promoted, and argued there was no rush to apply because the 75k offer would probably be topped eventually
Well, wouldn’t you know, starting the very next day my inbox started getting flooded with promotional emails touting the card’s new 100,000-point welcome bonus (after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months). This matches the card’s best-ever offer—one so good that I signed up for the same bonus last year.
So, a year later, how useful have those points been?
The lazy, value redemptions are underwhelming
This week, I wrote about redemption options for international travel under 50,000 points. I find it fairly straightforward to book those with Bilt, Amex, or Citi points, but I don’t really see similarly reliable ways to turn my Chase Ultimate Rewards points into travel quite so easily or cheaply.
My big Chase redemption was a trip to Portugal with 53,000 Chase points, but that was only after using my Roame subscription to find Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada award availability, lucking into a 20% transfer bonus to the latter, paying over $200 in fees, and accepting bookings with costly change fees and seating restrictions. Meh. Beyond that trip, I used some Chase points to book travel through Chase’s transfer portal and to transfer to Hyatt—but that was an underwhelming redemption before Chase eliminated the 25% bonus on all portal redemptions and slashed the transfer ratio to Hyatt. Without any really good uses of Chase points, at one point I just used some to cover dinner.
Don’t get me wrong, 100,000 points go a long way—it’s at least $1,000 in travel when redeeming points for a statement credit. And you can take them further with transfer partners. But if you’re looking to turn points into as many trips as possible, with minimal fees, Ultimate Rewards are definitely not where I would start.
Premium redemptions are better… if you can afford them
While the economy redemptions may be underwhelming, Chase excels in business class. I’ve seen tons of one-way business class flights to Asia and Europe for 70-90k points when transferring to United or Air Canada, while one-way business class flights to Spain can be had for under 50k Chase points one-way with transfers to Avios (I couldn’t find any from where I live despite an exhausting search, but I quickly found availability from DC, so your results may vary depending on your airport). Either option could deliver well over $2,000 in airfare for those 100,000 Chase points.
On paper, using points this way offers more “value.” And if you want to experience that, this is a great opportunity to do so. But I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this route for beginners, or at least middle-income beginners. Even if you can find a way home after that fancy one-way trip, that sort of travel is hard to sustain without frequent bonus churning or heavy spending—maybe both. That might be doable and worthwhile, and even easy if you’re a big spender, but it could just be a quick, one-off high rather than a sustainable points strategy.
Lazy Take 🦥
Personally, I prefer using points for more travel rather than fancier travel, so elevated bonuses on cards like the Delta Gold, Atmos Summit, or Bilt Palladium seem more exciting to me as a place to start building a card strategy or dabbling in transfer partner redemptions.
But if you’re looking for a big injection of points to book some value travel or maybe experience the high life, it’s hard to go wrong with a record-matching offer on a flexible travel card that now easily justifies its annual fee. 🔥🔥🔥
If you’re interested in signing up, consider using my referral link. Same 100k offer for you, plus I’ll earn some extra points. No idea what I would use them for, but I will find a way, and appreciate your support! Or you can support a friend or travel companion!
This week on the blog 📝
As I said above, this week I wrote about my go-to methods to book international travel with 50,000 points or less. It’s not fancy travel, but I love the deep discounts, especially in this economy.
Quick Points of the Week ⚡
Deals 🏷️
Earn cash back using Paze. The digital wallet is offering $10 back on a $10 minimum purchase, up to 10 times at select merchants like Dunkin Donuts. Per eligible card. You’ll probably want to check this out. (Doctor of Credit)
More value 📈
Certain Amex cards getting more credit-eligible restaurants. Despite news last week that Resy restaurants would require a “credit eligible” tag to earn a statement credit on certain Amex cards, current eligible restaurants haven’t been removed—and more will be added as Tock is integrated into Resy. (TPG)
Giveaways 🎟️
Hilton is giving away points this summer. With their weekly giveaways you could win 500k Hilton points, which could get you two whole nights at some properties… or a few more with more economical redemptions. (Hilton)
Win a WNBA All-Star experience with Delta. SkyMiles members can team up for a chance to win a package including courtside tickets and Delta gift cards. (Delta)
Notable Transfer Bonuses ⬆️
Citi → Accor, 50% bonus. Because Accor points have a fixed value (albeit tied to the Euro), Citi points are worth about 1.7¢ each with this bonus. That’s solid value, but the points expire fast and can be tricky to redeem (see this old post), plus standard AA transfers are generally a better option for Citi points, so this one doesn’t seem too appealing to me.
Nerdy Points 🤓
Fly business class for less than economy? Points Path spotted it in the wild (at least if you look at the points in isolation—the total cost and out of pocket cost is still higher flying premium).
Keep an Eye On 👀
Busier TSA PreCheck lines coming? Thrifty Traveler thinks the Sapphire Preferred’s new credit for trusted traveler programs will lead to a flood of newly PreChecked travelers. (My lazy prediction? 🔮 I think most people won’t even notice, most frequent fliers already have it, and most security lines are usually pretty short, so the impact will be negligible. Time will tell.)
Sign up bonus of the week 🎯
Links marked with an * are affiliate or referral links, meaning we may earn if you apply via our link.
Barclays has revamped its co-branded Wyndham Rewards cards and is offering 75-125k points after qualifying purchases. These are somewhat unusual bonuses in that a portion of the points are unlocked by general spending while the rest are unlocked specifically by spending at Wyndham properties. For example, the Earner+ offers 45,000 points for spending $1,000 in the first 90 days, and another 55,000 points for spending $500 on Wyndham hotel stays in the first 180 days. 100,000 Wyndham points could mean as much as 13 nights free, so that’s a solid offer for not that much spending, but personally I don’t like the idea of needing to spend that much at a specific hotel chain to make a bonus worthwhile.
But if you like Wyndham and think you might be able to hit that target, you might want to consider the card because I really like the revamped Earner+ (the higher- and lower-tier cards don’t look that appealing). This $95-fee card offers 15,000 points each year on renewal, good for up to two nights at Wyndham properties (with points leftover thanks to the card’s 10% redemption discount), a $25 meal delivery credit every six months, plus the ability to earn another free night after staying just five paid nights in a calendar year. Plus Platinum status perks. That’s a pretty solid package for that modest annual fee.
Other great sign-up bonuses this week
50,000 points+ $300 Bilt Cash + Bilt Gold status on the Bilt Palladium (our take: 🔥🔥🔥🔥)
100k points + 25k companion discount on the Atmos Summit (our take: 🔥🔥🔥🔥) ends June 30
185k points on the IHG Premier (our take: 🔥🔥🔥)
90k miles on the Delta Gold (our take: 🔥🔥)
80k miles on the Citi AA Platinum Select (our take: 🔥🔥)
175k points on the Hilton Aspire (our take: 🔥🔥)
125k points on the IHG Traveler (our take: 🔥)
100k points on the JetBlue Premier (our take: 🔥)
125k pts + 1 night on the Marriott Boundless (our take: 🔥)
100-125k miles on premium Delta Cards (our take: 🔥)
100k points and $100 on the Hilton Honors (our take: 🔥)
60k points on the Choice Privileges Mastercard (our take: 🔥)
90k miles on the Citi AA Globe (our take: 🔥)
150k points on the Morgan Stanley and Schwab Platinums (our take)
100k miles on the Citi AA Executive (our take)
Up to 100/175k on the Amex Gold/Platinum (our take)
Lazy Pick ✅ (Affiliate)
Prime Day deals! Amazon Prime Day is June 23-26 (Prime Day is long this year), so it could be a great time to stock up on travel essentials. I’m too lazy to scour Amazon for the biggest sales, but you can check out my favorite travel gear, much of which could be on sale this week. (As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases if you use the links above.)
Enjoy the weekend! 🦥
Don’t forget about any credit card benefits expiring at the end of the month!