Chase Made Sapphire Reserve Credits Easier To Use — New $250 Hotel Credit, More Dining Cities, No More Split-Year Timing

Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See rates and fees)

American Express Platinum gets a lot of kudos for its refresh, with exceptionally valuable credits that overwhelm the card’s hefty annual fee. So Chase’s Sapphire Reserve – with its rich, but not quite as large, credits – often gets compared to it. I wouldn’t actually spend money on a Platinum card outside of these reimburseable credits and the airfare category that earns 5x, if I can avoid it, while Sapphire Reserve is a great card for spending.

Chase’s Sapphire Reserve earns 8x on all travel booked through Chase; 4x on flights and hotel stays booked directly; 3x on dining; and 1x on other purchases.

Booking airfare through the Chase portal to earn 8 points per dollar becomes a really compelling play. And since Chase “The Edit” hotels and many others earn hotel points and stay credit and qualify for elite recognition, booking through there can make sense as well. There’s no question that this is my primary hotel spend card as well.

But Chase is making its hotel credits and dining credits both more valuable and easy to use.

The $500 Annual ‘The Edit’ Hotel Credit Is About To Become More Flexible

Sapphire Reserve comes with a $500 annual hotel credit: for prepaid bookings of 2 nights or more made with The Edit. These reservations also generally include a $100 property credit; daily breakfast for two; upgrade (subject to availability) and more. Currently you receive a statement credit up to $250 from January through June and then again July through December. In 2026 it shifts to simply two credits per calendar year.

Starting January 1, the annual $500 credits for The Edit hotel bookings become more flexible. Instead of $250 in the first half of the year, and $250 in the second, the two credits of up to $250 for each prepaid booking of two nights or more with The Edit, up to $500 annually, can be used at any time of the year with no need to split them up into different six-month time periods.

I especially like that The Edit bookings still earn points and stay credit with hotel loyalty programs, and that elite status benefits apply. That’s great for me with status in Hyatt, Marriott, IHG and GHA Discovery.

New $250 Hotel Credit Is Being Added – And It Can Yield A Free 2-Night Stay

Starting January 1, there’s a new credit for Chase Travel hotels of up to $250 on prepaid bookings of two nights or more at 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).

IHG properties are everywhere, and many of them are inexpensive – it’s not hard to book a two night stay that does not exceed $250 (making the stay ‘free’).

More Restaurants To Take Advantage Of Dining Credit

Sapphire Reserve offers a $300 dining credit consisting of up to $150 statement credits from January through June and $150 July through December at restaurants that are part of the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program. You can see eligible restaurants here but they include several of my staples in my home town.

This list is smaller than Amex’s dining credit, valid at all Resy restaurants. However I noticed that the list of cities where the dining credit was available had grown quite a lot, so I asked Chase where this stood and they confirmed the growth in both new markets and “100 new restaurants.”

A spokesperson offers,

[E]xpanding the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program is a top priority and we’ve added over 100 new restaurants to the program since launch. We’re focused on ensuring that there are more options in the markets cardmembers live in and travel to. A few of the new markets include Tampa, West Palm Beach, Kansas City, Charlotte and Santa Fe (NM), with additional new markets and restaurants to come.

Up To $1,270 In Additional Credits

That’s all on top of several other credits:

• $300 annual travel credit: This is simple, automatic and easy to use – up to $300 in travel spend charged to the card gets credited back per cardmember year. So, sure, it’s a $795 card but this goes a long way to directly offset that.

• $300 Stubhub credit: up to $150 in statement credits from Jan. 1 through June 30 and the rest from July 1 through Dec. 31 for tickets purchased on StubHub.com and viagogo.com. Activation required.

• Subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music free subscription to Apple TV+ and Apple Music through June 22, 2027 (a value of $250 per year). Link your Apple ID and activate subscriptions to use this benefit.

• Bonus points-earning and monthly credits with Lyft I charge my Lyft spend to this card to earn 5x total points per dollar through September 30, 2027. Through that same date you also receive a $10 per month credit with Lyft to redeem through their app.

• Monthly DoorDash credit: You get free DoorDash DashPass membership for at least 12 months when you activate by December 31, 2027, along with $5 per month credit for restaurant orders and $10 twice monthly for groceries and retail.

  One suggestion is to ‘DoubleDash’ when ordering food to take advantage of the groceries and retail credit, so there’s no separate delivery fee for those items and you can fully benefit from that credit. Better than a ‘pickup’ order from an eligible merchant!

Elite Status And Lounge Access

The card comes with IHG One Rewards Platinum Status through December 31, 2027. That’s good for upgrades and late checkout (subject to availability) once you link your IHG account with Chase. (Heavy spenders on the card can receive Diamond, as I note below.)

Intercontinental Tahiti

Crucially, the card is the best way to access Chase Sapphire airport lounges. Chase airport lounges in the United States are available to passengers with a same day boarding pass within 3 hours of scheduled departure as follows:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve, J.P. Morgan Reserve, and Ritz-Carlton Visa cardholders (including authorized users) plus two complimentary guests, with additional guests charged $27 each.

• Priority Pass cardholders from other sources, allowed 1 free visit per calendar year to a Chase lounge and with no free guests. Each additional visit or guest is $75.

• $100 at the door without Priority Pass.

Bar at Chase Sapphire Lounge, Philadelphia

They have 8 Sapphire lounges, and 2 more have been announced publicly.

Airport	Size (sq ft)	Opened	Key notes
New York–LaGuardia (LGA)	21,800	Jan 2024	Two-story design; Reserve Suites; Face Haus spa; arcade; broad a-la-carte & buffet program
Boston Logan (BOS)	11,500	May 2023	Tap-room with local beer; massage chairs; showers; kids’ playroom
New York–JFK (JFK)	7,600	Jan 2024	Shared Etihad space; full cocktail & dining menu; showers
Washington Dulles (IAD)	5,200	Mar 2024	Shared Etihad space; compact but full service offering
Philadelphia (PHL)	20,000	Feb 2025	Beer-garden zone, shuffleboard, retro arcade, rest pods, Face Haus facials
San Diego (SAN)	10,000	Dec 2024	Wellness area with private pods & meditation; full F&B
Phoenix (PHX)	3,500	Nov 2024	Small and overrun, limited amenities
Las Vegas (LAS)	5,400	Dec 2025	Top-notch champagne

Chase Sapphire Lounge, Las Vegas

Chase Sapphire Lounge, Washington Dulles

Known lounge pipeline:

• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW): ~ 18,000 sq ft in terminal D
  
• Los Angeles (LAX): ~9,200 sq ft in the Tom Bradley International Terminal

Cardmembers can also enroll in Priority Pass Select at no cost. This is available to additional cardmembers on an account as well. This provides access to more than 1,000 lounges worldwide.

Of all the Priority Pass cards I have (Chase, American Express, Capital One, Citibank) I use the one from Chase. Like the others, it no longer offers dining credits at Priority Pass-participating airport restaurants and markets, but it does include participating spa, gaming and other activities.

The Club, New Orleans

The Club, Charleston

Redeeming Points

When I first saw the promise of ‘up to 2 cents per point’ on some flights and hotel stays through Points Boost I was skeptical, but there are numerous business class redemptions on Chase’s partners that qualify for 2 cent a point redemptions and still plenty of hotels also (even if not all The Edit hotel redemptions are available at 2 cents, starting December 23). This isn’t a needle in a haystack, it’s a real option to consider instead of points transfers.

Park Hyatt Paris

Park Hyatt St. Kitts

Nonetheless, what I value most are transfers to airline and hotel programs: This is how I’ve spent nearly all of my Chase points to date. Aeroplan for Star Alliance redemptions, Flying Blue for Air France business class to Europe, and Hyatt for hotel stays.

• Star Alliance: United MileagePlus, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Air Canada Aeroplan

  
  Singapore Airlines Suites Class

• oneworld: British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus

  
  British Airways Business Class

• SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

  
  KLM Business Class

• Non-alliance: Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, Aer Lingus AerClub

  
  Southwest Airlines

• Hotels: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards

  
  Suite Balcony, Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi

  
  Park Hyatt St. Kitts

Additional Benefits For Spending $75,000 On The Card

I’ve used this as a primary airline, hotel and dining card and – since I often do reimburseable work spend on the card – I wind up hitting the $75,000 spend threshold that unlocks a number of other benefits.

• Southwest Rapid Rewards A-List Status
  
• IHG One Rewards Diamond status
  
• $500 Southwest travel credit for use through Chase’s portal
  
• $250 Shops at Chase credit to spend.

The Southwest and Shops at Chase credits can be an additional 1% rebate on spend, and Southwest status is great for me living in a city where Southwest flies 41% of the seats. IHG Diamond is their top elite tier, and adds in benefits like breakfast.

However, I’m a bit frustrated by the variety of items at Shops at Chase, and that they seem to always charge full retail when similar items may be discounted elsewhere. Nonetheless, that can be offset by Chase offers. For instance I added a ‘$250 off $500’ Shops at Chase Tumi offer (valid through December 31, 2025) to my account so I have to decide whether to spend over $500 on a Tumi item with this Chase Offer + Shops at Chase credit.

Starting in mid-2026 they’ll be adding Hyatt’s mid-tier Explorist status as a benefit as well.

Unmatched Travel And Purchase Protections

This has long been go-to for renting cars, because collision coverage is primary (your insurance may not need to be involved for dings and scrapes) and for confidence buying items that wind up damaged or defective. At a time that many issuers have scaled back on these protections, Sapphire Reserve’s remain very robust, for instance:

• Purchase and return protection, plus extended warranty: A lot of cards have cut back coverages, but here you get the full slate – from theft/damage protection on purchases (subject to conditions) for 120 days; reimbursement for 90 days, up to $500 per item and $1,000 per year, on items a retailer won’t take back (subject to conditions); and an additional year on certain manufacturer warranties of three years or less.

• Primary rental car collision coverage: When you decline a rental car company’s collision damage waiver, this card covers you on vehicles up to a specified value and limit against collision and theft. And what’s great is that the coverage is primary so your insurance may not have to get involved at all. That’s a great reason to pay for the rental car with this card.

• Trip delay, trip cancellation, and baggage coverage: More great reasons to pay for travel with this card because it triggers additional coverages. If you have to cut short or cancel a trip for covered reasons like illness or weather, you can get reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for prepaid, nonrefundable expenses.

  If you face a delay of six hours or more, or an overnight stay, you can be covered for unreimbursed expenses up to $500 per ticket. Your baggage has coverage up to $3,000 per passenger against damage and loss. Meanwhile, delayed bags (over six hours) can provide reimbursement up to $100 per day for up to 5 days to make needed purchases of toiletries and clothes.

In all cases there are terms to the coverage and a period of time in which to submit claims along with required documentation.

Chase Sapphire Reserve®