The One Card Every Sports Family Should Start With

If you're a travel sports parent, you know how quickly costs can add up. Hotel nights, rental cars, flights, gas, snacks, and more snacks all add up. Whether you're headed to a tournament, meet, or competition, each weekend seems to bring another hefty travel bill.

What if your next few hotel nights were free—just by using one smart credit card?

Let me introduce you to the Chase Sapphire Preferred®. It's the best beginner card for families who want to transform everyday spending into real savings.

Why This One Card?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred makes earning and using travel points easy and practical. It earns valuable points, offers strong travel protections, and, most importantly, enables you to significantly reduce your travel expenses this season.

Key Benefits

Sign-Up Bonus

You can earn 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points after spending $5,000 within the first three months. That's worth about $900 in travel, especially when redeemed through the Chase Travel portal or transferred to hotel partners like Hyatt.

Redemptions

Many Hyatt Place and Hyatt House properties—ideal for sports travel—cost just 8,000-15,000 points per night. With your bonus, you could cover:

• 6 to 9 nights at lower-tier properties (8K-12K points per night)

• 4 to 5 nights at mid-tier locations (15K-18K per night)

  
  

Bonus Categories That Fit Family Life

You'll earn 3x points on dining and 2x on travel. These categories perfectly align with family spending patterns.

The One Card Every Sports Family Should Start With

Travel Protection

This card includes trip delay reimbursement, rental car coverage, and baggage protection, making it an excellent choice for traveling families.

Flexible Redemption

You can book your travel through Chase Travel or easily transfer your points to Hyatt, Southwest, United, and more.

What About the Fee?

The card has a $95 annual fee, but the 75,000-point bonus is worth $900—that's more than 8x the cost of the fee.

Example Hyatt Redemptions

• Hyatt Place Salt Lake City (8,000 points): 9 nights

• Hyatt House Denver (12,000 points): 6 nights

• Hyatt Place Anaheim (15,000 points): 5 nights

  
  

How Our Family Used It

We capitalized on our Sapphire Preferred bonus to book five nights at a Hyatt Place in Minneapolis for my daughter's gymnastics nationals. The stay would have cost us over $1000, but we paid zero. The hotel included breakfast, the location was convenient, and we had ample room to relax between sessions—all without straining our travel budget.

Tips for Maximizing Your Points

Keep Track of Your Spending

Make sure to monitor your expenses. You should aim to meet the $5,000 spending requirement to qualify for the sign-up bonus.

Use Points for Travel Necessities

When you use the points you’ve accumulated, consider applying them toward hotels, flights, and even car rentals. This is where the Chase Sapphire Preferred® truly shines.

The Bottom Line

If you're ready to stop overpaying for travel every tournament weekend, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® is the best place to start. It's user-friendly, budget-smart, and powerful enough to cut your travel costs significantly. Ready to turn points into hotel nights?

Here's more info Chase Sapphire Preferred®:

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