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Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See rates and fees)
Chase just relaunched Sapphire Reserve in June. They’re already making two changes, effective January 1, 2026:
- The Edit Credit becomes more flexible. The $500 annual credit for stays with The Edit properties won’t be $250 in the first six months of the year and $250 in the second six months anymore. Starting January 1, it will be up to $250 for each prepaid booking of two nights or more with The Edit, up to $500 annually (no need to split them up into different six-month time periods).
- New $250 credit for Chase Travel hotels: There’s a new statement credit for 2026, up to $250 on prepaid Chase Travel hotel bookings of two nights or more for IHG Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts. These bookings are eligible to earn hotel loyalty program points and stay credit.
We had heard from cardmembers that they wanted more flexibility around the Edit Credit and that they really value the ability to earn both UR points and hotel loyalty points on certain Chase Travel hotels, so we made these updates to better address their needs.
I love both of these moves. First, The Edit credit could even conceivably be used for two different back-to-back stays, booked one right after the other. And if you use both at the same time that’s one less thing to track and remember to do later, with all the credits that the card now comes with.
And the new $250 brand-specific hotel credit is… even more value, without taking anything away. I’m really liking The Edit because it means hotel points and loyalty credit and also the ability to redem Chase points at 2 cents apiece towards stays.
I’m also liking the 2016 $250 hotel credit because it’s eligible for status benefits – and the card now comes with IHG Platinum status (and Diamond for those spending $75,000 or more with the card annually). I’m loving that the $250 credit and The Edit both are available with some GHA Discovery properties as well, since that’s become my second-favorite hotel program.
Note, though, that the $250 hotel credit is for 2026 and isn’t framed as being an ongoing benefit.
The relaunched Chase Sapphire Reserve initial bonus offer is now 125,000 bonus points after $6,000 in purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
If a Chase point is worth 1.8 cents, then this bonus offer could be worth $2,250. And Chase promotes “more than $2,700 in annual value” from the card itself (even before today’s announcement). So combined that totals nearly $5,000.
Basics Of The New Sapphire Reserve Card
- Earning: 8x on Chase travel portal purchases; 4x points on flights and hotels booked direct; 3x points on dining; 1x on all other purchases. The card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed through Chase’s travel portal (either at 1 cent per point, or on Points Boost airline itineraries and eligible hotels for up to 2 cents per point) or transferred to a number of airline and hotel partners.
- Star Alliance: United MileagePlus, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Air Canada Aeroplan
- oneworld: British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus
- SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Non-alliance: Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, Aer Lingus AerClub
- Hotels: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards
- Star Alliance: United MileagePlus, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Air Canada Aeroplan
- Airport lounge access: Priority Pass Select and access to Chase Sapphire Lounges plus two guests (generally requires same day boarding pass, within 3 hours of scheduled departure).
- Statement credits: $300 annual Travel Credit (no change); $500 Edit hotel credit; Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS credit (no change); $300 Annual Dining Credit ($150 twice semi-annually for “Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables”); $250 combined Apple TV+ & Apple Music subscription; $300 StubHub/viagogo ticket credit ($150 twice annually); $120 Lyft credits (no change, $10 monthly, plus 5x earn on Lyft through September 30, 2027); $300 DoorDash credits and one year of DashPass (up to $25 monthly between delivery and grocery credits); $120 Peloton Membership credit (no change, $10 monthly).
- Additional benefits: IHG Platinum through December 31, 2027 and travel protections like trip delay and cancellation and primary collision damage waiver on car rentals.
- Unlocked after $75,000 in annual spend: Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards A-List status (first checked bag free, priority check-in and boarding; when Southwest moves to assigned seating, A-List members get preferred seats at booking and extra-legroom seats within 48 hours of travel); $500 Southwest credit on bookings made via Chase’s travel portal; IHG One Rewards Diamond status (top tier, 100% bonus on base points earned at IHG properties, complimentary upgrades up to suites if available, free breakfast); $250 Shops at Chase credit.
I’ll use ‘em, but it takes real effort to ensure you use these credits before they expire. Still, I’d trade all this noise for them keeping the 3x generic ‘travel’ category instead of screwing rental cars, cruises, and payments to travel agencies, because that was my bread and butter with the CSR until this Oct.
(Also, typo above, you said ‘2016’ when you meant ‘2026,’ no biggie.)
This just shows that people have rejected the new CSR, so now Chase is offering a few handful of sweeteners. Keep rejecting this card and the deal will only get better.
I’m still product-changing to CSP before the af is due. I don’t have time to keep track of all those credits, and with a $1000 af, you need to seriously maximize these entertainment book coupons.
@Gary – two questions. First I had thought that there was going to be a $250 Edit benefit from 10/26-12/31 for those of us who were longer term card holders. Is that still the case?
Second, I thought that if you used the Edit benefit you wouldn’t get points on the overall transaction, but the note you received now has a suggestion of earning points – do you have any idea what is going on there? The website still says “Any purchases that qualify for the $500 Credit for stays with The Edit will not earn points” although the * that brings up that T&C still references the $250 per half of year scheme.
@1990 – agree completely. RIP CSR 10/26 and hello Citi Strata Premier / Citi Strata – it’s the new best travel bonus combo in the business (and Premier includes travel agencies!) These changes by Chase mean something I guess, but The Edit itself is a joke – can barely find a sub $1k/night property in London for instance – so great that you are giving me $250 off an overpriced stay through Chase Travel (yes now it can get $500 off if you book two back to back stays). The new $250 benefit for IHG isn’t bad though- and if i’m reading the tea leaves of the note Gary received, I guess you also continue to earn IHG points on that stay? I’ll try to use these, but…
I’ll be very interested to read the updated T&Cs once they are released, the references to this new program on the Chase website are there, but they are still disjointed and the whole thing is not updated yet.
Bottom line – Chase completely screwed this up. People must be running for the doors if they are offering 125k points for new sign-ups. Maybe they are trying to make a mini-splash before Amex announces their changes tomorrow, but for a product that should be a gateway product for HNWI’s to further access Chase banking services, the banking market leader seems to be annoying a lot of their loyal customers instead.
@Peter — I’m seriously considering it; though, I’m waiting for December 2025 to attempt the Strata Elite triple-dip (don’t worry Gary, I’ll use your link, if the offers still decent, unless the in-branch 100K is still around). As for Chase, I’ll still keep the CSR; yeah, I am mostly miffed about the 3x travel, and also, I become an ‘old man waving my fist at the clouds’ whenever there’s changes. Oh, and the Amex changes are wild. Lululemon? Psh, P2 will use that, but not me (and we got 4x Platinum.)
@1990 – the Citi near me took their 100k posters off the windows this week, not sure if it’s still available though. I also have not yet signed up for Strata… waiting to see how everything shakes out on the game board (including with Amex) before rejiggering later this fall.
Got two offers in the mail yesterday in two different fancy envelopes for Venture X offering 90k bonuses (versus standard 75k), that may be part of the plan. Not sure yet. The family thought the one in the darker blue envelope looked classier. Once the LGA TB Cap1 lounge opens – do I really need the CSR lounges anymore? Cap1 will have newer lounges in the same NYC locations (LGA TB and JFK T4)…
I may, or may not, keep the CSR, but I see little need to put my spend on it anymore. The grooves in my mind still default to the CSR/Freedom Unlimited 1.5x combo, and changing habits will take a little bit of effort (including a re-education campaign for P2…) so I’m measuring three times before cutting once.
And you can bet that after being a long term card holder I’ll be calling up Chase to explore what retention offers may exist. I will say that the new $250 IHG credit does potentially have real value unlike the Edit nonsense that they are shuffling the deck chairs with. That may factor into it as well.
Looks like another card with reasons to promote it on this site daily.
@Peter — I have too many cards for CapOne to ever approve me. I’d need to go 0/24 for any chance, though, I applaud those of you who get approved and get to enjoy those new lounges. According to @L737 (and Gary), the Bodega at JFK T4 is excellent.
It’s amazing to see how much advertising they are throwing behind this card – it’s literally all over the place in every city I’ve been to. Doesn’t appear to be working as well as they hoped. $800 is a big ask for a credit card in most people’s minds.
Life is complicated enough. Avoid coupon book credit cards. Banks need to offer simple and fair pricing for these products.
Never mind, I figured it out. It’s all sleight of hand. Here’s my analysis:
For the Edit, the updated language is: Get up to $250 in statement credits through December for prepaid bookings made with The Edit. Starting January 1, 2026, enjoy up to $500 in automatic statement credits annually with a maximum of $250 per transaction. Two-night minimum. Purchases that qualify will not earn points.
For the $250 IHG credit through December 1, 2026 (11 months!!), the updated language is: Starting January 1, 2026, get up to $250 in statement credits through December 1, 2026 on prepaid Chase Travel hotel bookings for stays with IHG® Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts. Two night minimum required. Purchases that qualify will not earn points.
So neither credit earns you the 8x chase travel portal points. And as best as I can tell, you can’t opt out of these credits.
Edit hotels are in the ~$1k a night category. So let’s say you booked your two-night minimum prepaid stay for $2k. You get a $250 credit so $2,000 – $250 = $1750. No points, right? Ok, “great”.
If you instead booked for $2k through Portal w/o Edit $250 credit you get 8x points. That’s 16,000 UR points. Those used to be valued by Chase as 1.5c of cash with the CSR – let’s assume that valuation for a moment – that’s $240.
So, all they are doing here is saying “We’re not going to give you $240 worth of flexible points, instead we’re going to give you a $250 credit.”
Even worse with Points Boost!, Chase is now arguing that the 16k points are really worth $320 because with Points Boost! you can get 2.0c of value. So, based on Chase’s logic, instead of giving you $320 of value, they’re only giving you $250.
The Edit and this $250×2 Credit are simply sleight of hand and ensure that you will not receive any points the first two times in any calendar year that you book an Edit hotel. They actually made it worse from when it was Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec because at least then you could make your second Edit booking and get the 8x points before the next credit kicked in! And the Edit’s offerings are so poor as compared to FHR anyway…
And on the $250 IHG credit, its another “benefit” for a pre-paid booking with a two night minimum that does not earn the 8x portal points and is one time only for 11 months in 2026. Uh… ok. Look, I suppose if you can find a two night stay at an IHG property for $125 a night, this one checks out. You wouldn’t get the points, but it’s only 2000 points on $250, so $30-40 depending on how you value that. So this credit is worth, at it’s maximum valuation, $220. Not bad. But it’s a one time credit and not a reason to keep the CSR long term.
All in, what a complete disaster. Chase, the country’s banking leader, has no one but itself to blame for telling its HNWI clients to start looking at other banking products. The CSR was its silver bullet – the ultimate HNWI retention tool. Now they are just angering their HNWI customer base. Heads should roll at Chase over this completely bungled roll out.
@1990 – can’t help you with C1, but on our recent family trip to Japan, my kid kept saying he was “using the bodega” when trying out the bidet.
Yep. I am closing my CSR at the end of the year to avoid the ridiculous annual fee and annoying coupon book model. If their goal was to push their premium cardholders to check out the competition, mission accomplished.
Seems from the comments that I’m in good company. Gary, for years you and your colleagues have told us to beware of booking travel with credit cards as when problems arise, it is much more difficult to correct. I was planning to use my CSR for a cruise I am taking next summer. Final payment is due in May and I loved the usual 3x points. Looks now like I will either charge on my wife’s CSP for 2x points and get the same insurance benefits. Will cancel CSR and probably open my own CSP (my wife has one) in order to keep the same large line of credit. But no matter what you say, the general opinion is that this card has lost most of its value – certainly to your savvy subscribers. I will miss it.