What purchases count as travel with Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve?

Apply here: Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers 80,000 bonus points and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card 60,000 bonus points, even after you spend $4,000 within the first three months of account opening.

Thanks to its many premium travel perks, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is well known in the travel credit card business. The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a $95 lower annual fee version and is still a top pick, winning the Best Travel Rewards Credit Card and the Best Refreshed Credit Card of the Year. TPG Award 2021.

No problem Sapphire card you have, Chase has a very broad definition of what is considered tourism. Both cards offer generous travel rewards booked through the Ultimate Rewards portal and all other travel purchases. We’ll look at purchases that count (and don’t) count toward earning rewards in this guide.

How many points do the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Preferred cards earn on travel?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve rewards 10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals booked through the Ultimate Rewards portal and 5 points per dollar on flights booked through the Ultimate Rewards portal.

But let’s say you’re looking to book directly with an airline, hotel or other company, or get rewarded for other travel deals like taxi rides and parking fees. In that case, you’ll still earn 3 points for every dollar on these purchases.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 5 points per dollar on all travel purchases booked through the Ultimate Rewards portal and 2 points per dollar on other travel purchases.

You’ll also earn a 10 and 5 point increment for every dollar spent on Lyft rides on Reserve and Priority, respectively (through March 2025).

Ultimate Rewards Gate powered by cxLoyalty, which allows you to book different types of travel. For “all other travel purchases,” here’s how Chase defines it:

Sellers in the travel category include airlines, hotels, motels, time-sharing services, car rental agencies, travel agencies, travel agencies, discount travel sites, resorts, and travel agencies. campers and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways and lot parking and garages.

Compared to the rewards categories from other credit cards, Chase’s travel category is extremely generous.

While tags like American Express® Gold Card and Platinum Card® from American Express rewards points for airfare purchases made directly with the airline (with a $500,000 spending limit on Amex Platinum per calendar year), the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards let you earn Bonuses for almost any trip-related fee.

The travel category includes a wide variety of purchases, from hotels and airline tickets (without having to book directly with the airline) to cruises, tolls, and even parking fees. Uber and Airbnb Purchases are also counted as travel.

The following purchases don’t apply to the 2 or 3 point per dollar bonus categories on these cards, but most of them won’t come as a big surprise or disappointment:

Some merchants provide transportation and travel related services that are not included in this category; e.g. real estate agents, education merchants travel arrangements, in-flight goods and services, on-board goods and services, sightseeing activities, excursions, attractions, services for RV and boat hire, hotel and airport merchants, public campgrounds and vehicle rental merchants for transportation purposes. Purchases from gift card sellers or merchants who sell points or miles will not be eligible in the travel category.

Some notable travel-related fees that have not been disclosed such as travel for reward points purposes with Chase for past TPG employees include RV rental as well as several vacation rentals via Vrbo and similar services. Whether a vacation rental is automatically coded as tourism depends on whether an individual or a corporation operates it. In the latter case, the fee may code as “professional service” instead of a travel fee.

If you’re not sure if a certain transaction counts as travel, it’s a good idea to make a small fee and check to see if it earns any bonus points on your Chase online account. you or not.

Also, let’s say you feel like a travel purchase that should have earned you rewards points but didn’t. In that case, you can always try to securely call or text Chase and ask to review the fee for points as a travel fee. Even if you don’t get the results you expect, you’ll at least have a clear understanding of how certain fees are encoded and can plan future spending accordingly.

• Airlines.
• Bus.
• Campground.
• Car rental agency (excluding RV and boat rental).
• Ship.
• Discount travel sites.
• Ferry.
• Many hotels.
• Limousine car.
• Hotel.
• Parking and garage.
• Passenger train.
• Taxi.
• Time sharing.
• Toll bridge and highway.
• Travel agency.
• Vacation home rental (incl several rental VRBOs operated by an individual).

• Education merchant arranges travel.
• Excursion.
• Gift card seller.
• In-flight goods and services.
• The seller leases the vehicle for the purpose of transportation.
• Sellers in hotels and airports.
• Goods and services on board the yacht.
• Buy points or miles.
• Public campsite.
• Real estate agents.
• RV and boat rental.
• Sightseeing activities.
• Tourist attraction.
• Vacation rental (some VRBO rentals run by a corporation, not an individual).

Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders have multiple opportunities to earn 3 or 2 points for every dollar spent, respectively, on “buying other travel.” Based Valuation of TPGthat means you can get upto 6% profit on these purchases and you can use your points with Chase’s hotel and airline partners.

On top of that, these Chase cards feature some of the most generous traveling and buy protection on the market, making either card a valuable addition to your wallet.

Official app link: Chase Sapphire Reserve with a bonus of 80,000 points when you sign up after you spend $4,000 in the first three months of account opening.
Official app link: Chase Sapphire is preferred with a bonus of 60,000 points on signup after you spend $4,000 in the first three months of account opening.

Additional reporting by Emily Thompson, Stella Shon and Chris Dong.