Chase Sapphire Preferred Card vs. Citi Strata Premier: Which is the better low-fee rewards credit card?

The Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card is great in many respects, but in a head-to-head battle, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the winner. With the Sapphire Preferred Card, you'll have an easier time redeeming points for good value and will enjoy more travel protections and perks. However, the Strata Premier edges out the Sapphire Preferred Card when it comes to earning points on purchases.

CNBC Select walks you through the benefits of both travel credit cards so you can choose the one that best aligns with your spending habits.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

• The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is offering new cardholders the chance to earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first three months from account opening.
• Chase Ultimate® Rewards can be redeemed for one cent each as cash back, so this bonus is worth at least $600. With the Sapphire Preferred, you can boost that value to 1.25 cents per point when you use the points to book through Chase Travel^SM, making the intro bonus worth at least over $750 in travel.

Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card

• New Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card members can earn 70,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, the same spending requirement and timeframe as the Sapphire Preferred.
• You can redeem ThankYou® points for one cent per point through Citi's travel portal or in other ways such as for gift cards or cash back.

With both cards, you can also transfer points to hotel and airline loyalty programs. This option allows you to book expensive hotels or flights with your points, which can greatly increase the value you receive for your rewards.

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred

Both of these travel credit cards have a $95 annual fee.

Winner: Tie.

If you want to earn loads of points, both of these cards can help you meet that goal.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

• 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel^SM
• 5X points on Lyft rides through March 31, 2025
• 5X total points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases of $150+ (earn a maximum of 25,000 total points through March 31, 2025)
• 3X points on dining
• 3X points on select streaming services
• 3X points on online grocery purchases (not including Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• 2X points on all other travel purchases
• 1X points on all other purchases

Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card

• 10X points on hotels, car rentals and attractions when booked through CitiTravel.com
• 3X points on air travel
• 3X points on hotels (not booked through CitiTravel.com)
• 3X points at restaurants
• 3X points at supermarkets
• 3X points at gas stations and EV charging stations
• 1X points on all other purchases

The Strata Premier offers a higher rate of return on hotels than the Sapphire Preferred, and that advantage extends to airfare when you aren't booking through the card issuer's travel portal. The Strata Premier also earns more on common expenses such as supermarkets (not just online groceries) and at gas stations and EV charging stations. The only spending categories where it loses out to the Sapphire Preferred are streaming services, Lyft rides and certain Peloton purchases (relatively small or rare expenses for most people) and travel purchases that aren't airfare or hotels.

Winner: Citi Strata Premier

Earning rewards is only half of the equation with a travel card, your redemption options matter just as much. Both of these cards offer a range of redemptions that provide one cent per point in value, including cash back and gift cards. The Sapphire Preferred also gives cardholders a 25% boost in value (1.25 cents per point) when they use points to pay for travel booked through Chase Travel^SM.

But if you want to get the most value out of either card, then you'll want to look at the transfer partners.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

With the Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer Chase points to these airline and hotel programs at a 1:1 ratio:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Iberia Plus
• IHG One Rewards
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Marriott Bonvoy
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• United Airlines MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• World of Hyatt

Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card

The Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card allows you to transfer your Citi ThankYou points to the following travel programs at a 1:1 ratio unless otherwise noted:

• Aeromexico Rewards
• Accor Live Limitless (2:1)
• Avianca Lifemiles
• Cathay Pacific Cathay
• Choice Privileges (1:2)
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club (5:1)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Wyndham Rewards

How they compare

Sapphire Preferred cardholders have access to several exceptionally valuable and useful loyalty programs. World of Hyatt is a lucrative program that allows you to book less expensive hotels starting at 3,500 points and luxury locations for 25,000 to 45,000 points. You can also transfer points to book flights with all three major airline alliances (Oneworld, Star Alliance, SkyTeam) and several non-alliance airlines such as JetBlue, Southwest and Emirates.

Citi's transfer partners also unlock the ability to book rewards with all three of the biggest airline alliances and you get access to non-alliance airlines such as Etihad, Emirates and JetBlue. However, Citi ThankYou points aren't as versatile when it comes to booking hotels. On top of that, ThankYou points are only worth one cent each if you prefer to keep things simple by using points to pay for CitiTravel.com bookings.

At the end of the day, the best card for redeeming points will depend on where you want to go and how to prefer to use travel rewards. That said, the Chase Sapphire Preferred provides cardholders more avenues for earning a value higher than one cent per point on their redemptions.

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred

Consumers with either card you'll benefit from no foreign transaction fees and both cards are widely accepted.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders enjoy strong travel and shopping protections, including:

• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
• Primary rental car collision coverage
• Baggage delay insurance
• Trip delay reimbursement
• Travel and emergency assistance services
• Purchase protection
• Extended warranty protection

The Sapphire Preferred also comes with a 10% points bonus every card anniversary, this bonus is based on the previous year's purchases. If you spent $10,000, you would earn 1,000 bonus points. It also has an annual $50 statement credit for hotels you book through Chase Chase Travel^SM.

Chase also has a handful of partnerships that provide additional value for cardholders who use these services. This includes:

• Free DoorDash DashPass for a minimum of one year when you activate by Dec. 31, 2024
• Six free months of Instacart+ when you activate by July 31, 2024
• Up to $15 in Instacart statement credits each quarter through July 2024

Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card

The Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card has fewer benefits, but cardholders do receive $100 off a single hotel stay that costs $500 or more when booked through CitiTravel.com. You can use this perk once per calendar year.

The card also has several insurance benefits, including coverage for the following:

• Trip delay
• Trip cancellation and interruption
• Lost or damaged luggage
• Rental cars (MasterRental®)

Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred.

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