Citi Premier and Chase Sapphire Preferred are fighting head to head. But do these cards really have anything in common? Not quite. Let’s explore the two cards and check out the differences.
Earn 75,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months. Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months. – 10 points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com -3 points on airfare and other hotel purchases, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging stations -1 point on all other purchases – 5 points on travel booked through Chase Travel (SM)
– 5 points on Lyft rides through March 31, 2025
– 3 points on dining, streaming services, and online grocery excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs
– 2 points on all other travel
– 1 point on all other purchases
The things that are the same
Both the Citi Premier and the Chase Sapphire Preferred have a $95 annual fee. And both do not charge a foreign transaction fee. Both do not charge a fee to add authorized users.
As far as benefits, the only two benefits they have in common are:
- Purchase protection
- Extended warranty protection.
The Citi Premier provides a bit of a better extended warranty protection covering two extra years, instead of the one extra year on the Sapphire Preferred.
In regards to purchase protection, the Sapphire Preferred wins, covering 120 days from the purchase instead of the 90 days from the purchase covered by the Citi Premier.
Both the Citi Premier (Citi bank) and Sapphire Preferred (Chase bank) let you move around your points from one card to another card within Citi or Chase. They both even allow you to combine points with other people, such as family members. However, Citi Premier caps the amount of points you can transfer to someone else at 100,000 points per year.
What does the Sapphire Preferred offer over the Citi Premier?
The Sapphire Preferred is definitely the winner in regards to travel protections. The Sapphire Preferred offers the following travel protections while the Citi Premier offers none of them.
Auto Rental Collision Insurance – Worldwide primary coverage on rentals. Coverage is for rentals up to 31 days.
Trip Cancellation Insurance – Coverage for canceled or interrupted travel due to an unforeseen medical emergency etc. Max $10,000 per person for non-refundable travel expenses including flight tickets, hotels, and more.
Travel Accident Insurance – Get coverage if you, G-d forbid, die in an accident while traveling or lose a limb, sight, speech, or hearing (on common carriers). Receive up to $500,000 in compensation.
Lost Luggage Reimbursement – Get up to $3,000 per person for lost or damaged luggage.
Trip Delay Reimbursement – If your flight is delayed for 12+ hours, you can claim up to $500 per trip to cover expenses like meals, lodging, toiletries, medication, and other personal use items.
Baggage delay insurance – If your baggage is delayed for 6+ hours, you can claim up to $100 per day to cover expenses like toiletries & clothing, for up to 5 days.
Extra 25% redemption value – Another benefit that the Sapphire Preferred card has over the Citi Premier card is the extra 25% redemption value. The Sapphire Preferred gives you an extra 25% redemption value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Anniversary points – Get a 10% anniversary bonus point when you renew your card. Chase will give you an extra 10% in points of what you spend; for spending $25,000 you’d get 2,500 in bonus points.
$50 hotel credit – Get a $50 annual hotel credit each cardmember year. The hotel booking must be made through the Chase Travel Portal.
What does the Citi Premier offer over the Sapphire Preferred?
In regards to card rewards, the Citi Premier is king.
The Citi Premier currently has a higher welcome bonus than the Sapphire Preferred. The offer on the Citi Premier is 80,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months, while the offer on the Sapphire Preferred is 60,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months.
The Citi Premier offers a lucrative 3 points on airfare, hotels, gas, grocery, and dining, while the Sapphire Preferred offers 5 points on travel booked through Chase travel, 5 points on Lyft rides, 3 points on dining, streaming services, and online grocery excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs, 2 points on all other travel, 1 point on all other purchases. Overall, the Citi Premier has a better rate on rewards on a nice list of exciting categories. With todays prices on gas and groceries, 3 points will accumulate thousands upon thousands of additional points for you.
The Citi Premier also comes along with a $100 annual (calendar year) hotel credit for bookings of $500 or more booked through thankyou.com. But to be honest, I’m not sure if that’s in any way better than the $50 hotel credit on the Sapphire Preferred card.
Comparing the rewards programs
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is part of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program while the Citi Premier is part of the Citi ThankYou Program.
The Chase Ultimate Rewards program has different travel partners than the Citi Thankyou Rewards program. Which program is better? The answer highly depends on which airlines or hotels you prefer to travel with stay with (or able to find better deals depending on your travel plans, etc).
Airline partners
| Chase Sapphire Preferred | Citi Premier | |
| Aer Lingus – AerClub | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| Aeromexico – Club Premier | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| Air Canada -Aeroplan | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| Air France, KLM – Flying Blue | ( 1:1 ) | ( 1:1 ) |
| Avianca – LifeMiles | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| British Airways – Avios | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| Cathay Pacific – Asia Miles | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| Emirates – Skywards | ( 1:1 ) | ( 1:1 ) |
| Etihad Guest | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| EVA Air Infinity MileageLands | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| Iberia – Iberia Plus | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| JetBlue – TrueBlue | ( 1:1 ) | ( 1:1 ) |
| Qantas Frequent Flyer | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| Qatar Airways Privilege Club | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| Singapore Airlines -KrisFlyer | ( 1:1 ) | ( 1:1 ) |
| Southwest – Rapid Rewards | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| Thai Airways – Royal Orchid Plus | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| Turkish Airlines – Miles & Smiles | No | ( 1:1 ) |
| United Airlines – MilagePlus | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| Virgin Atlantic – FlyingClub | ( 1:1 ) | ( 1:1 ) |
Hotel partners
| Chase Sapphire Preferred | Citi Premier | |
| Choice Privileges | No | ( 2:1 ) |
| Hyatt – World Of Hyatt | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| IHG – IHG Rewards | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| Marriott – Bonvoy | ( 1:1 ) | No |
| Wyndham Rewards | No | ( 1:1 ) |
Conclusion
The Citi Premier wins on the welcome bonus and bonus rewards rate on airfare, hotels, gas, grocery, and dining. The Sapphire Preferred wins on benefits.
So to sum it up: The Chase Sapphire makes a great, low cost travel card while the Citi Premier can possibly work as a great rewards card (depending on how much you swipe on airfare, hotels, gas, grocery, and dining).
It’s also worth it for you to look into the different travel partners to see which card you would rather accumulate points with.
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