How to use the Chase Sapphire Preferred hotel credit

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card currently has an intro offer of 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. This card has a $95 annual fee, but, you can earn back over half of that cost every year by taking advantage of a single easy-to-overlook perk — the annual hotel credit. (See rates and fees).

Sapphire Preferred card members can receive a $50 annual Chase Travel Hotel credit every account anniversary year for hotels booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal. Here's what you need to know about how to use this credit and when it makes sense.

This card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which are some of the best travel rewards thanks to their versatility. You can redeem Chase points for cash back or similar redemptions for one cent each. And if you use your Chase points to book travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, you may be able to redeem for more value.

You can really ratchet up your points' value by taking advantage of Chase's transfer partners. Chase points transfer to 14 airline and hotel loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio. Through these programs, you can book business-class award flights or luxury hotels and dramatically increase the value of your rewards. This includes plenty of one-way Star Alliance business-class flights from North America to Europe for only 60,000 to 70,000 Aeroplan miles, flights that normally costs thousands of dollars.

The Sapphire Preferred also comes with a long list of travel and purchase insurance benefits. You'll get trip delay reimbursement, primary rental car collision coverage, purchase protection, extended warranty coverage and more.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred annual hotel credit can earn you an automatic statement credit of up to $50 every card anniversary year. To qualify for the credit, you need to book a hotel through Chase Travel℠ and pay for the booking with your Sapphire Preferred card.

The $50 in hotel purchases that earn you the credit will not earn Chase points. Once a qualifying transaction is posted to your account, the statement credit should get credited within one or two billing cycles.

To use the Sapphire Preferred annual hotel credit, you book a hotel stay through Chase Travel℠. This platform works like booking through another online travel agency like Expedia, Priceline or Kayak. Simply search for the dates and the location where you need a hotel and book from the available options.

To use the hotel credit, first log in to your Chase credit card account and navigate to the Ultimate Rewards page. Next, select the "Travel" drop-down menu and click "Book travel."

Choose "Hotels" and enter the information for your trip. Once you start a search, you can filter the results by star rating, brand, cost and more.

After you've selected the hotel and specific room type, you'll be able to see the final cost in dollars and points.

To earn the full $50, you need to charge at least $50 on your card. If you want to pay with points, just be sure to redeem points for all but $50 of the cost. You can easily adjust how many points you're using for the booking in the "Points redeemed" box, just be sure to click the update button when you change the number of points you want to use.

From here follow the steps to enter the traveler information and payment card info before you finalize the reservation. Be sure to pay with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card. If you don't book with your Sapphire Preferred, you won't earn the credit.

The Sapphire Preferred hotel credit is straightforward — just book a hotel through Chase Travel℠ to qualify for the offer. However, you should compare prices for the same dates, hotel and room type to ensure you're getting the best price when booking with Chase. As long as you aren't paying more for the booking, taking advantage of this credit makes sense.

If elite status perks are worth more to you for a particular stay, you may want to consider trying to maximize this credit on a different booking. That's because when you book hotels through a third-party site such as Chase Travel^SM you typically won't earn elite status credit. You also won't normally receive elite status benefits, such as free breakfast or room upgrades.

If you're looking for hotel credits and benefits, a co-branded hotel credit card will typically offer the most value, but the perks will be tied to a specific brand. For statement credit perks that are more universal, you'll likely need to consider a general travel credit card.

The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offers an annual travel credit of up to $300 for bookings made through Capital One Travel. This credit applies to hotels, but also flights, rental cars and more. When you combine this travel credit with the card's annual 10,000-mile bonus, it's not hard to justify keeping this premium credit card.

The U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card has an incredibly easy-to-use travel and dining credit worth up to $325 every year. To qualify for the credit you don't need to book through a specific site. Instead, you just pay for travel or dining with the card and you'll earn the credit on the first $325 in eligible spending.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has an extensive array of ongoing benefits for cardholders. These benefits include an annual $50 hotel credit that applies to hotel bookings you make through Chase Travel℠.

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Information about the U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card has been collected independently by CNBC Select and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer prior to publication.