It almost feels coordinated that Chase and Hyatt team up to both devalue both sets of points one month after the other. Pretty painful!

The Chase Sapphire Preferred refresh adds new benefits

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is going through a bit of a refresh after the Chase Sapphire Reserve did the same last summer. But, unlike its more-expensive sibling, the Preferred isn’t getting a boost to its annual fee (still $95).

There are some incremental benefits to the card:

• 3x on dining, streaming, online groceries, and now also gas stations, EV charging, vacation rentals at AirBnB/Vrbo/etc.
• $100 Chase Travel hotel credit per anniversary year [up from $50]
• Travel protections remain the same except that emergency evacuation coverage up to $100,000 is now added
• A $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or Nexus credit every 4 years

Collectively, it’s great that benefits are going up on the card but there is no offset with the annual fee. That keeps the card affordable and appealing to people who otherwise are scared off by high annual fees. In that sense, it appears reasonable compared with competitors. It’s a good card to both earn points towards travel and also protect yourself against travel issues.

…But takes away a major feature with transfers

There are two downsides coming for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. We’ve already discussed one negative separately, the loss of the 10% anniversary bonus perk. Unless you were a heavy spender on every day spend, you’re probably better off with the new set of benefits.

However, there’s one more negative and it’s a doozy. Transfers to the World of Hyatt program will be devalued to a 4:3 ratio. This will be effective as of June 15, 2026 for new cardholders applying on or after that date. Existing cardmembers will see the 1:1 ratio until the end of September 2026. Starting October 1, 2026, the 4:3 transfer ratio will apply to all Chase Sapphire Preferred members.

On top of this impacting Chase Sapphire Preferred members, this new (lower) transfer rate also impacts a couple of business cards too. Both the Ink Business Preferred and Ink Plus (no longer available) will no longer get the 1:1 transfer ratio. (Ink Business Preferred cardholders will all transition on October 1, 2026 regardless of when the card is picked up.)

Chase Sapphire Reserve members will continue to have access to a 1:1 transfer ratio to Hyatt. In other words, Chase didn’t raise the annual fee on the Preferred and in exchange, will save money by reducing how much the bank owes Hyatt.

All we can say is… ouch.

It feels almost as if one hand isn’t talking to the other on this one

One cannot avoid the 1-2 combo from both Chase and Hyatt on this one. Hyatt raises the number of points you need for each night at their hotels in May 2026. Hyatt also pushes through a number of hotels going up in category, exacerbating the problem for customers staying at those specific hotels. Then, in June 2026–just a couple of weeks later–Chase adds in this massive change on top.

Why is it massive? Because now Chase has a transfer partner that’s no longer 1:1 standardly (unlocking the door for others to eventually change). They’re also complicating their program by differing the rate based on the card you have (mirroring what Citi does on its cards).

But is it really intentional to do both weeks apart? That’s not clear.

It feels almost as if one hand didn’t talk to the other on this one. Hyatt, in its quest to clean up its balance sheet, increases rates and announces it months in advance. That alone would (1) temporarily boost transfers to Hyatt from Chase as people rush to use points at current levels and (2) create long-term depression of transfers to Hyatt as people look to other programs to do business with. Then, Chase follows up with its own balance sheet cleaning action of its own.

You’d think that Hyatt would have given Chase a heads up and vice versa. However, we don’t work there and cannot definitively say. But the combination of the two should drastically reduce the Chase to Hyatt pipeline for many customers.

Suddenly, the devaluation looks even worse for Chase customers

It feels like Chase forgot that there is a competitor out there for transfer points to Hyatt. Bilt Rewards offers a 1:1 transfer rate from its currency over to Hyatt. In fact, we think Bilt leadership has to be salivating a bit. You see, their program offers 1:1 transfers across any card you might have over to Hyatt. Meanwhile, Chase says ‘no thanks’ to anyone who has anything less than their Chase Sapphire Reserve, a $795 annual fee card.

If someone had only the intention of boosting their Hyatt points stash and didn’t care about anything else, do you think they would take the $795 annual fee card from Chase or is it better to settle for a no annual fee Bilt card?

Want to know why programs like Bilt and Rove are gaining steam? It’s because the big banks keep retracting, leaving an opening for competitors to swoop in. Now, we’ve followed the pain points with Bilt’s 2.0 refresh so it hasn’t all been roses over there. But it sure seems like Chase is resting on its laurels a bit. Sure, the short-term impact could be that Chase saves some money by reducing transfers on their cheaper cards, but the long-term impact doesn’t look quite as rosy in our opinion.

Loyal Hyatt customers might pick up the Hyatt credit card (from Chase) but then stop collecting Ultimate Rewards points altogether. Losing 25% value transferring to Hyatt is huge for Chase Sapphire Preferred customers to overcome, even if you’re boosting with the Chase Freedom Flex. It’s far easier for these customers to also just pick up a Bilt card and focus on points earning there.

Of course, the calculus changes back in favor of Chase if Bilt is forced to implement a comparable transfer ratio as the Chase Sapphire Preferred. We’ll see if that happens. But as of now, maybe it’s time for Hyatt customers to pick up a Bilt credit card?

Suggested reading:

• The Complete Guide to Maximizing Bilt Points
• Rakuten is a Great Points Generator (Now Including Bilt)
• Hyatt Brand Rankings: A Clear Look at How World of Hyatt Loyalty Has Started to Fall Behind