Getting Started with Points

If you’ve been wanting to get into points and miles but have no idea where to start, this is the card I would recommend opening first.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is offering a welcome bonus of 75k Chase points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months after opening the card.

When someone asks me, “What credit card should I get first?” I always look for three things:

✅ A valuable welcome bonus

✅ Flexible points that are easy to use

✅ A card you’ll actually want to keep long-term

The Chase Sapphire Preferred checks all three boxes. The best part? You don’t need to be an expert in points and miles to start. You don’t need to know every airline partner. You don’t need a complicated spreadsheet. You just need to learn how to make your everyday spending work harder for you.

Why Chase points are so valuable

After meeting the minimum spending requirement, you’ll earn 75,000 Chase points (plus the points you earn from your regular spending to reach that $5,000 minimum). Those points are flexible, which is what makes them so valuable. You can use Chase points to book flights, transfer points to airline and hotel partners (like Marriott and Hyatt), and book hotels through the Chase Travel Portal. Instead of being locked into one airline or one hotel chain, you have options. That flexibility is what helped our family completely change the way we travel.

The easiest ways to use Chase points as a beginner

For beginners, I think the easiest ways to use Chase points are either booking through the Chase Travel Portal or transferring them to Hyatt or Marriott. These options are simple, flexible, and a great way to see the value of your points without feeling overwhelmed. If you don’t already have one, be sure to create free World of Hyatt and Marriott accounts so you’re ready to transfer your Chase points when you find a great redemption. Chase often has bonuses when transferring to Marriott, making this a much better redemption.

Hotels we’ve booked with Chase points

Before learning about points and miles, we would have looked at many of our trips and thought, “There’s no way we can afford that.” Now, we use points strategically to make these types of trips possible while spending much less out of pocket.

Some of our favorite redemptions to date include:

🏨 Disney Swan Resort - I booked 3 nights for 99k points through the Chase Travel Portal (far fewer points than booking directly with Marriott). Bonus: I still received my Marriott perks because of my Gold Elite status!

🏨 Thompson Central Park in NYC - I transferred 58k Chase points to Hyatt to cover 2 nights in Manhattan - something I probably wouldn’t have been able to pay cash for.

🏨 Grand Hyatt Baha Mar - I transferred 203k points to Hyatt to book 7 nights. My favorite use of Chase points so far. I was constantly pinching myself that I was able to make this trip happen for so little money out of pocket.

🏨 Hyatt Regency Coconut Point - I transferred 60k points to Hyatt to book 3 nights. This is an amazing hotel in Bonita Springs, Florida. My kids absolutely loved the water slides and my favorite part was the boat ride to the private island.

*Many of these point prices have since gone up with Hyatt's latest devaluation, but there are still many incredible redemptions to be had.

Ready to start earning travel rewards?

If you’ve been waiting to get started with points and miles, this is the card I would start with. You don’t need to become a travel rewards expert overnight. You don’t need to have a perfect strategy mapped out. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the card that helped us get started, and it’s still the card I recommend most often to friends and family who want to start traveling with points.

Once you've earned your welcome bonus and learned the basics, you can always build from there. One of my favorite strategies is referring my husband (otherwise known as my P2 aka Player 2) when there's a great welcome offer available. If he applies through my referral link, we're able to earn even more Chase points for our family - provided we can comfortably meet the spending requirement using our normal, everyday expenses.

That's one of the reasons we've been able to build our points balance over time. We don't spend more money just to earn points. We simply earn rewards on purchases we were already planning to make and pay our credit card balances in full every month.

Pro tip: Chase Ultimate Rewards points can also be combined between spouses or members of the same household, making it even easier to book flights and hotels from one account.

If you decide this card is a good fit for you, you can apply using my referral link here: Chase Sapphire Preferred

By using my link, you’ll support our family travel adventures at no additional cost to you and I truly appreciate it.