You can earn 60,000 points with the new Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus — here's the smartest way to spend it

New Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card members can now earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

When Sapphire Preferred cardholders redeem their bonus for travel purchases via the Chase Ultimate Rewards® portal, the 60,000 points are worth $750. That's a significant saving that you can put toward your summer vacation plans to help offset expenses like flights, hotel stays and cruises — making this card one of CNBC Select's top travel credit cards. Plus, you can potentially get even more value when transferring points to one of Chase's travel partners.

Read below to see if you qualify for the Sapphire Preferred and its new bonus, plus the best way to spend the 60,000 points if you do.

In order to qualify for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card bonus, you must meet the below two eligibility requirements:

1. You currently don't have any Sapphire cards (Preferred or Reserve); and
2. You haven't received a new card member bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 48 months

After qualifying for the Sapphire Preferred welcome bonus, you will receive the 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points in the next billing cycle.

On top of the generous welcome bonus, cardholders also earn points on their everyday purchases: 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3X points on dining, 2X points on all other travel purchases and 1X points on all other purchases.

There are many ways to redeem your Sapphire Preferred bonus points, but some methods are more lucrative than others.

Book travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards

Value: 1.25 cents per point

Cash in your Chase Sapphire Preferred Card's 60,000 points to book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal and get the most bang for your buck.

Redeeming your points this way gives you 1.25 cents per point — making them worth 25% more, or $750 — and you can use the points to cover future airfare and accommodation booked through Chase's travel portal.

Transfer points to a Chase travel partner

Value: Varies

You can also transfer your points for a 1:1 ratio to one of Chase's 14 transfer partners in the Ultimate Rewards program. These partners include 11 airlines:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Flying Blue (KLM and Air France)
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Plus, three hotel chains:

• IHG One Rewards
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt

By using Chase points for these high-value redemptions, you can get much more than 1.25 cents per point in value. For example, Chase cardholders can redeem Virgin Atlantic miles to fly domestically on Delta for just 7,500 to 15,000 miles per segment, which can be a steal compared to what Delta charges customers when using Delta SkyMiles® for the same flight. And Delta One business class flights from the U.S. to Europe (with the exception of the U.K.) are 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles each way for nonstop itineraries.

The World of Hyatt hotel program often presents one of the best values for transferring Chase points. Standard nights range from just 5,000 to 40,000 points. You can book luxurious hotels such as the Park Hyatt Maldives or the Park Hyatt Tokyo for as little as 25,000 points a night. Rooms at these hotels often cost around $1,000 a night, potentially yielding a value of 4 cents per point.

Keep in mind that once your points are transferred to a travel partner, they might have more or less value depending on the program's rules and regulations.

Gift cards

Value: 1 to 1.1 cents per point

You can use your points toward gift card purchases at various restaurants, department stores or for entertainment services. The value of one point is worth a penny, so, for example, a $25 Chili's® gift card would cost 2,500 points.

Redeeming points for gift cards generally isn't the best option because you can redeem for cashback at the same value, and when you redeem points for a gift card, you won't earn any points for your spending.

One small exception is that Chase will occasionally sell gift cards with a 10% bonus, giving you a value of 1.1 cents per point.

Minimum gift card redemption amounts vary by merchant, but many cards have $15 or $25 minimums. Gift cards are shipped and cardholders have two options: free standard shipping, which takes six to 10 days, or rush shipping, which costs $10 and takes three to six days.

Cash back

Value: 1 cent per point

Chase's cash-back option allows cardholders to redeem their points in the form of a statement credit at a 1:1 value. For example, 60,000 points could earn you $600 cash back.

While there are many ways to cash in Chase Sapphire Preferred Card's 60,000-point bonus, some redemption methods are better than others. We recommend your top choices should be using those points to book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal or transferring them to airline and hotel partners where you can get maximum value.

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