Airbnb card guide
Best credit card for Airbnb
Compare the best card for an Airbnb booking after rewards, unused travel credits, point values, and foreign transaction fees.
Last reviewed August 30, 2026 · Issuer terms can change · How rankings work
The short answer
For a direct Airbnb booking, Chase Sapphire Preferred is the clean rewards pick among the Sapphire cards: current terms award 3× on Airbnb as a qualifying vacation-home brand, while Sapphire Reserve awards 1×. An unused Reserve $300 travel credit can temporarily reverse that answer.
Compare the cards I haveWhat to use—and when
Best default
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Earns 3× on direct Airbnb bookings under Chase’s vacation-homes-at-top-brands category and has no foreign transaction fee.
Best while its travel credit remains
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Airbnb ordinarily earns 1×, but an eligible booking can use the card’s still-available $300 annual travel credit. The credit is worth more than the points difference until it is exhausted.
Simple fallback
2% no-foreign-fee card
Can beat Reserve’s 1× once its travel credit is gone, especially if you redeem Ultimate Rewards conservatively.
Decision rules
- Use a still-available statement credit before optimizing a small points difference.
- For a foreign-processed booking, subtract the card’s foreign transaction fee from the reward value.
- Value transferable points at the redemption you realistically use—not an aspirational first-class flight you will never book.
Common traps
- Sapphire Reserve’s 4× direct-hotel category explicitly excludes vacation rentals such as Airbnb.
- Booking.com is not Airbnb: Preferred generally treats it as other travel at 2×, while Reserve generally earns 1× because it is not a direct hotel booking.
- A charge in U.S. dollars can still be foreign-processed; currency and merchant location are different questions.
$1,000 Airbnb example
Before credits, Preferred earns 3,000 Ultimate Rewards points and Reserve earns 1,000. If Reserve still has at least $300 of annual travel credit, Reserve can be the better immediate choice despite earning fewer points on the credited portion.
Questions people actually ask
Does Chase Sapphire Preferred earn 3× on Airbnb?
Yes, current Chase terms list Airbnb among the direct vacation-home brands eligible for 3× on Sapphire Preferred.
Does Chase Sapphire Reserve earn 4× on Airbnb?
No. Its 4× direct-hotel category excludes vacation rentals and homestays such as Airbnb, so the normal earning rate is 1×. Its annual travel credit may still apply.
Primary sources
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