Source: The Points Guy
Summary
The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve offer a broad definition of “travel” for earning bonus points, including airlines, Airbnb, buses, campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, discount travel sites, ferries, hotels, limousines, motels, parking lots and garages, passenger trains, ride-hailing services, taxis, timeshares, toll bridges and highways, and travel agencies. However, some purchases like public campgrounds, educational merchants arranging travel, excursions, gift card merchants, inflight goods and services, and real estate agents are excluded. The cards earn 2-5 points per dollar spent on travel booked through Chase Travel, and the Sapphire Reserve also rewards flights and hotels booked directly at a higher rate.
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The escape is carefully planned.
Chase’s travel category includes everything from parking garages and tolls to ferries, taxis, and cruises. Airbnb bookings consistently qualify as travel purchases, but some vacation rental platforms like VRBO may not. The Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve offer elevated rewards on travel booked through Chase Travel, with the Sapphire Reserve also rewarding flights and hotels booked directly at a higher rate. If a purchase doesn’t earn bonus points, check the transaction category in your Chase account or make a small test purchase first. The Sapphire cards’ broad travel category makes it easier to earn bonus points on everyday trip expenses, but some exceptions can catch cardholders off guard.
The destination is rediscovered, one merchant category code at a time.
Author: Evan Null
