🚨 The Highest Value Bonus We’ve Ever Seen. Period.

***Note: As of 10/8/21, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Card changed to 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points. You can disregard any reference to 100,000 points.***

Highest Value Bonus. Period.

We’re big fans of the free stuff around here. Free air? Free hotel? Free money? All of the above? Absolutely. But because of a new promotion, we’re going back to one of our old favorites; the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. This is the highest value bonus. Period. (For business owners, the Chase Ink Business Preferred is still a top choice.)

We’ve talked about the card in the past and tend to recommend it when they offer more than 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to sign up. We got really excited when it went to 80,000. Truthfully, we were pretty certain that 80 was as high as it was going to go. We were wrong.

Today, Chase announced that they are upping the game on the Sapphire Preferred Card. The bonus is an all-time high of 100,000 points which represents the best credit card sign up promotion that we’ve ever seen, with the cash value of those points at a minimum of $1,000.

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Our “must read” on credit cards: The Pros and Cons of Credit Cards

Do you like Las Vegas luxury? Good, because those points can also get you four free nights at Aria, Bellagio and Delano (as well as a heck of a lot more at other MGM properties). That includes weekend nights.

Oh, and be sure to read the rental card details, because they’ll also save you a fortune at McCarran, or anywhere else you rent a car.

$1,000-$1,250 Credit Card Bonus to Sign up

One of the things that I love about Chase is the huge rewards that they give you when you sign up for a credit card. Such is the case with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. They’re currently running an all-time high credit card bonus, offering 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR)* points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

What can all of those points get you? How about:

• $1,000 in cash. One UR points is worth a penny. Treat yourself and your favorite traveling companion to the Sterling Champagne Brunch at Bally’s (when it reopens, of course) and have plenty left over for the tables.
• $1,250 in travel. Hopefully, you’ll be doing some traveling soon, so if you use those points to pay for travel through the Chase travel portal, they’ll give you a 25% bonus in value.
• Exchange to an airline or hotel. You have ten airline partners and three hotel partners to choose from. In the US, the airlines include Southwest, JetBlue and United. Outside the country? British Airways, Singapore and Air France/KLM are on the list. Most points exchange 1:1.
• Use the “Southwest loophole” to your benefit. Southwest points have a cash value of about 1.6 cents each (It rarely varies more than 0.1 cents either way.). In other words, 10,000 points will buy you a ticket on a flight that costs $160. That means that 100,000 UR points will translate to over $1,600 in Southwest travel. It works the same way with JetBlue, where points are generally worth about 1.5 cents.

Free Hotel Stays in Las Vegas: 4 Nights at Bellagio, anyone?

The best play with the sign-up bonus may be one that you wouldn’t think of right away: Transfer them to hotel points, specifically Hyatt. Why? Because Hyatt has a partnership with MGM, so you can use those World of Hyatt points at almost any MGM property. Even better, you can book them right on Hyatt’s website.

This feature is particularly useful on the weekends, when hotel prices soar. Just for the fun of it, I priced Thursday, October 7 – Tuesday, October 12. I picked that weekend because it’s normally when I go to Las Vegas, given how nice the weather is.

Here’s what I got, both in cash and points:

• Bellagio ($440/night), Delano ($469/night) and Aria ($469 per night): Available for 25,000 Hyatt points per night.
• The Signature, Vdara, Mandalay Bay, Mirage and NoMad (rooms $356-478/night): Available for 20,000 points per night.
• New York – New York, MGM Grand, Park MGM ($363-381/night): Available for 15,000 points per night.
• Luxor, Excalibur ($236-256): 12,000 points per night. Hyatt Place is 8,000/night.

What to Know When Using Hyatt Points in Las Vegas:

• Sorry, you still have to pay resort fees unless you are staying at an actual Hyatt property. Just another reason we hate resort fees.
• The rates are currently “standard” rates. Later this summer, Hyatt is going to add “off-peak” and “peak,” in addition to the current rates. We have no idea how the hotels will define “peak” and “off-peak,” but we’re probably looking at no more than a 3,000-4,000 point “penalty” for the peak rates (less for the cheaper properties). You should still be able to get your four nights in.
• Hyatt also offers “cash and points” rates, which cost you half the amount of points plus a co-pay. These rates could offer anywhere from poor to extremely good value, based on what how the hotel is pricing the room.

Don’t Underestimate the Huge Rental Car Insurance Benefit

If you ever rent cars, this alone is worth having the card: Primary rental car CDW/LDW (collision damage waiver) insurance when you book with the card. With primary coverage, if there’s an accident, Chase will handle it. You do NOT need to go through your own insurance company first or, for that matter, buy the expensive stuff through the rental car company. You can see all the details here. This benefit is virtually non-existent outside the Chase family. Normally, a credit card gives secondary coverage.

Just about every type of car is covered, although there a few exceptions, such as for luxury cars. Also, the CDW only covers the vehicle itself. You’ll want to make sure to have liability coverage for injury to others.

People are back on the roads and frankly, they’re driving like lunatics. We hope you never need to use this benefit but, if you do, it will save you a lot of time and money.

Bonus Points on Purchases

Most purchases on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card will earn you a point per dollar spent. Some are even better, though.

• Travel and dining, though, two big-spend categories, will get you two points per dollar. That’s key for the multipliers that I mentioned above.
• Riding Lyft? That’s worth five points per dollar spent
• Do you like DoorDash? Good, you’ll get a year of their premium DashPass services.

Any Negatives?

A couple, but none of them is a big one.

• There’s a $95 annual fee. Some companies waive the fee the first year, but the benefits are simply too strong on this card for Chase to do so.
• Double points on dining are good, not great. If you want to maximize dining points, check out the Capital One Savor card, which pays 4% cash back on all dining and entertainment.
• You must not have either a Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve at the time of application, and you must not have received a bonus on either card within the last 48 months.