Annual fee winner
Tie
-
Both cards charge an annual fee of $95, which is considered low in the world of travel credit cards. While you may hesitate to sign up for a card with a yearly charge, you’ll see a substantial return on your investment during your first year if you spend enough to earn either card’s welcome bonus (provided you pay off your card in full each month to avoid paying interest).
Plus, if you take full advantage of either card’s rewards and benefits, the annual fee will likely still be worth paying in subsequent years.
Both Sapphire Preferred and Citi Strata Premier offer an annual hotel credit. In the case of Citi Strata Premier, you can receive a $100 hotel credit when you spend $500 on a single hotel stay booked through the Citi portal. That alone offsets the fee. For Sapphire Preferred, you receive up to $50 statement credit each year toward any hotel stay booked through Chase Travel℠.
Additionally, Sapphire Preferred cardholders receive a points bonus each year equal to 10 percent of spending in the previous year. Therefore, if you spend $10,000 on the card in a year, you’ll receive 1,000 bonus points.
And, if those extra perks aren’t enough, there’s always regular earning to help offset the fee. For example, if you spend at least $61 per week on gas, groceries or dining out with your Citi Strata Premier Card, you’ll earn enough points (9,516 annually, worth $95 in rewards) to make up for the annual fee. The same is also true if you spend $1,900 annually (9,500 points) on Lyft rides or travel booked through the Chase portal with your Chase Sapphire Preferred.