The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card can help you save on travel in more ways than one. The Chase Ultimate Rewards® points you earn on this card can be redeemed to cover the cost of flights or hotels or can be transferred to other loyalty programs.

One travel benefit not tied to how many points are in your account? The $50 annual Ultimate Rewards® hotel credit.

This benefit essentially brings the card’s $95 annual fee to just $45. Let’s take a look at what the $50 annual Ultimate Rewards® hotel credit is, how to apply it and when it’s a good idea to do so.

What is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card $50 hotel credit?

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In 2021, Chase revealed new benefits for both of its Sapphire cards, which included the addition of the $50 hotel credit for those with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. This credit only applies to hotel bookings made within the Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel portal.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which has a more expensive $550 annual fee, already comes with $300 in annual statement credits that are automatically applied to travel purchases on the card. This card's credit, unlike that of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, is not limited to hotels booked in the travel portal — it can apply to a variety of travel-related expenses, such as a hotel room you booked for someone’s wedding directly through the hotel’s website, flights, train tickets or rideshares.

New cardholders receive the credit immediately upon approval for the card.

How to use the $50 annual Ultimate Rewards® hotel credit

In order to use the credit, you'll first want to log in to your Chase Ultimate Rewards® account.

Once logged in, you’ll need to select your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which will bring up the card’s detailed information. Select Earn More.

This will take you to the Chase Ultimate Rewards® homepage. Select Earn/Use from the toolbar at the top.

Then, select Travel from the dropdown.

This will take you to the Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel portal, where you can book flights, hotels, cruises and even tour activities. From this page, you’ll want to select Hotels.

Here you can input your information, including dates of travel and number of guests.

Once you’ve filled in your search, you’ll be presented with a list of options.

The hotel credit can be used for any hotel available within the Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel portal, which gives you a lot of flexibility for booking. The portal also includes the ability to filter by star rating, amenities, hotel chain and more.

After choosing a hotel, you’ll be able to select your room.

Once you’ve selected your room, you’ll be taken to the checkout page. Here, you can choose to use points for your redemption or pay with cash. In order to use the credit, you’ll want to use your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to pay. You can choose to pay with a combination of points and cash if you prefer, but you should pay at least $50 in cash to qualify for the statement credit.