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As much as we love premium credit cards, you may find that you can't maximize their benefits or want to keep your annual fee costs low. If so, a mid-tier travel card is perfect for you.
Today, we're looking at two popular mid-tier travel rewards cards: the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) and the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see rates and fees). Both come with valuable welcome bonuses, solid earning structures and extensive redemption options for a reasonable $95 annual fee.
Which is better for your wallet? This guide will help you make that decision.
3 points per dollar on dining (including takeout and delivery), select streaming, and online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
2 points per dollar on all other travel purchases
1 point per dollar on all other purchases
3 points per dollar on restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, EV charging stations, air travel and other hotel purchases
1 point per dollar on all other purchases
$50 statement credit on hotel stays purchased through Chase Travel
10% anniversary points boost
Complimentary DashPass membership for at least one year (when you activate by Dec. 31, 2027)
$10 each month toward non-restaurant purchases on DoorDash
Robust travel protections
World Elite Mastercard benefits
Citi Entertainment Access
Extended warranty
Travel protections
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering 100,000 points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. According to TPG's April 2025 valuations, the bonus offer is worth $2,050. After subtracting the $95 annual fee, you'll walk away with a net value of $1,955 in the first year. This is tied for the highest offer we've seen on this card in years.
The Citi Strata Premier, on the other hand, is offering 60,000 ThankYou points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months after account opening. TPG's April 2025 valuations peg ThankYou points at 1.8 cents a piece, making this offer worth $1,080. After accounting for the $95 annual fee, this card's net first-year value is $985.
Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred. The substantially higher welcome bonus and valuation of Chase Ultimate Rewards gives it the edge.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you'll get these benefits:
The Chase Sapphire Preferred's statement credit and anniversary points boost are great perks with serious value, but the card's travel protections really make it shine. Knowing you're covered if something goes wrong on your trip will give you peace of mind in addition to potential monetary value, and it's unusual to see this type of coverage on a mid-tier card.
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The $50 hotel statement credit also covers more than half of the card's annual fee, effectively reducing that cost to $45. And you can take advantage of this benefit with a quick one-night getaway. Plus, if you maximize the monthly DoorDash promo, you could net an annual savings of up to $120, offsetting the annual fee entirely.
If you opt for the Citi Strata Premier, you'll get the following benefits:
While the list isn't as extensive as the Chase Sapphire Preferred's, the Citi Strata Premier has some solid benefits. You'll get a hotel credit worth double that on the Chase Sapphire Preferred and World Elite Mastercard perks like cellphone protection and travel protections. In today's world of concert pre-sale tickets, having access to Citi Entertainment can help ensure you'll get access to your dream concert.
Winner: Chase Sapphire Preferred. Its statement credits and anniversary points give it a more robust benefits list
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you'll earn 5 points per dollar on travel booked through the Chase Travel portal, 5 points per dollar on Lyft purchases through September 2027, and 3 points per dollar on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs). You'll also earn 2 points per dollar on travel purchases and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
With the Citi Strata Premier, you'll earn 10 points per dollar on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel portal, 3 points per dollar on air travel, dining, supermarket, other hotel, EV charging and gas station purchases, and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
While both cards earn bonus points on dining and travel purchases, the Citi Strata Premier also earns bonus points on supermarket and gas station purchases, meaning you'll likely be able to rack up points more quickly with it than with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Winner: Citi Strata Premier. Its wider range of bonus-earning categories gives you more earning opportunities.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred gives you the option to redeem your points for travel by transferring them to any of Chase's 11 airline and three hotel partners or by booking through Chase Travel at a rate of 1.25 cents per point.
You can also redeem your points for gift cards or use Chase's Pay Yourself Back feature to redeem them for cash back. However, your most valuable redemption option is to transfer your points to Chase's partners, which we'll review in the next section.
With the Citi Strata Premier, you can redeem your points for travel by transferring them to any of Citi's 21 hotel and airline partners or booking through the ThankYou travel portal at a rate of 1 cent per point. Additionally, you can redeem them for gift cards or a statement credit for a value of 1 cent per point.
You can also use Citi's Shop with Points option and use your points to pay directly at checkout at merchants like Amazon and Walmart. However, you'll get less than one cent per point going this route, so you're better off using your points as a statement credit to cover your purchases after you've made them.
Winner: Tie. Both cards allow you to transfer your rewards to travel partners, book through their travel portal or redeem your points for cash back and gift cards.
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you'll earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points that you can transfer at a 1:1 ratio to 14 airline and hotel partners, including Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, United MileagePlus, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and World of Hyatt.
You can get incredible value from options like transferring your points to Iberia Plus and booking Miami to Madrid for as low as 21,250 points each way or transferring your points to United MileagePlus and taking advantage of its Excursionist Perk.
With the Citi Strata Premier, you'll earn Citi ThankYou points to transfer to 21 travel partners, including JetBlue TrueBlue, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles and Choice Privileges.
TPG credit card writer Danyal Ahmed loves using his Citi Strata Premier card to transfer points to partners such as Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. He recently transferred 25,000 points to Cathay Pacific to fly between Beijing and Hong Kong in business class.
Winner: Tie. Both cards allow you to transfer your points to valuable transfer partners.
Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Citi Strata Premier offer valuable welcome bonuses and solid earning rates on travel and dining purchases for the same $95 annual fee. Ultimately, which card is best for you will come down to which card's transfer partners you use the most.
For instance, if you frequently fly Southwest Airlines and stay at Hyatt properties, it would make sense to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards and transfer your points to those programs.
And, of course, for maximum versatility, you may decide you want to get both cards. If you go this route, make sure you'll be able to earn the valuable welcome bonuses on both.
The Citi Strata Premier and Chase Sapphire Preferred are two leaders when it comes to affordable, mid-level cards that earn valuable transferable points. Each card wins in different categories in our analysis, so the best card for you will depend on which benefits and redemption options you value most. No matter which way you go, you can feel great knowing you're adding a fantastic mid-tier card to your wallet.
For more details, see our full reviews of the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Citi Strata Premier.
Apply here: Chase Sapphire Preferred
Apply here: Citi Strata Premier
Maximize your travel
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