One of the best travel starter cards (my personal #1 pick), the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is getting a refresh.
While most changes are positive, there’s a few changes that are definitely not the best, especially if you’re a big fan of transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to the World of Hyatt Program.
New Changes
There’s some pretty big changes coming to the card beginning on June 15th, 2026. For anyone that applies for the card on this date or after, the new changes will be in effect across the board, but for current cardholders, you’ll have the positive changes take affect on June 15th, and the negative changes take affect on October 1st. So, what are those changes?
The Negative
Let’s get the negative out of the way first. The main change to this card that is by far the most negative is the devaluation to the World of Hyatt program. Currently if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer points to the World of Hyatt program at a 1:1 transfer ratio.
The World of Hyatt program is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) hotel program in award travel. Transferring my Chase points to the Hyatt program has nearly always been the way that I redeem them.
The new transfer ratio for transferring Chase Points to the World of Hyatt Program will be 4:3 if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred. That means if you were to transfer 100,000 Chase Points to Hyatt, with the new transfer ratio you would only be receiving 75,000 Hyatt points, where previously it would be the full 100,000.
This change will go into effect on June 15th, 2026 for new cardmembers, and on October 1st, 2026 for existing cardmembers.
The silver lining? The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is keeping the 1:1 transfer ratio to Hyatt.
Plus, with the all-time high public points offer ending in just a few days, there’s now more of a reason that ever to look into this card before the offer ends.
The other negative change is the removal of the annual 10% points anniversary bonus. To be honest, I personally don’t think this is as large of a change as the devaluation to Hyatt. Unless you’re putting nearly all of your spend on the card, this is pretty minimal.
For example, if you spend $50,000 on the card in a calendar year, you would normally receive 5,000 points as part of the bonus. It’s a negative change for sure, but no where near as drastic as the Hyatt change. This will immediately be put into effect for anyone who applies on or after June 15th, 2026.
For current cardholders and if you applied before then, purchases through October 1st, 2026 will continue to count towards your final anniversary bonus which will be credited in early 2027.
The Positive
With the large negative changes out of the way, let’s focus on the positive. Luckily Chase has added some new multipliers, credits, and more for both current and new cardmembers to be excited about. Again, all of these changes will apply to both new and existing cardmembers effective June 15th.
Chase is adding a new 3x points on gas stations and EV charging as well as 3x points on vacation rentals like Airbnb, Verb, and more.
The $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit has increased to a $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, this is an extremely easy credit to use, and now that it’s been increased to an amount that is higher than the annual fee itself, I’d argue its’ now a larger discussion point of the card.
The card will now also offer up to a $120 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or Nexus that is valid once every four years.
You will also receive a one-year complimentary Apple TV subscription if you activate this by December 31st, 2026.
Chase is also adding additional travel protections including emergency evacuation coverage.
Lastly, and while this isn’t a change in itself, there is no change to the $95 annual fee.
Pat’s Take
Nobody likes negative changes, but luckily Chase has tried to balance this as much as they can be adding on additional benefits to the card.
These changes alone make the Chase Sapphire Reserve more compelling, as you’re keeping the 1:1 transfer with Hyatt (arguably Chase’s most valuable transfer partner), while also getting the additional benefits.
If I only had a Chase Sapphire Preferred, and had a ton of Ultimate Rewards Points, I would 100% be looking into the Chase Sapphire Reserve offer more than ever right now to keep your 1:1 transfer with Hyatt since you’re now able to hold both cards at the same time.
You’ll be able to move your points from your Preferred to the Reserve and be able to transfer to Hyatt at a 1:1 rate.
Remember that the all-time high points offer on the Reserve is ending in just days, so if you do want to explore this option, I suggest looking into things before June 15th.
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