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Chase is completely revamping the Sapphire Reserve card.
- They’re raising the annual fee from $550 to $795, but offsetting this with what they say is more than $2,700 in credits.
- They’re changing points-earning by replacing 3 points per dollar on all travel with 4 points per dollar on airline and hotel spend. All travel spend through Chase’s portal will earn 8 points per dollar (even airline tickets, and The Edit hotels increase from just 3x!).
- And they’re changing redemption by replacing 1.5 points per dollar on spend through Chase’s portal with Points Boost offering up to 2 cents per point on eligible hotel and airline itineraries.
There are a lot of moving pieces here. Frankly I think it’s brilliant as I’ll explain in a follow up post. But suffice to say that, while some members will find reason to be disappointed, overall I think they’ve done a really great job re-engineering the economics of the card both to benefit their own book and to offer more value to cardmembers.
New Points Earning Rates
Chase Sapphire Reserve has earned 3x on travel and dining, plus 10x on hotels and cars and 5x on flights booked through their travel portal. New earn rates are:
- 4x on flights and hotels booked direct
- 3x on dining
- 8x on all bookings through Chase travel (air, hotels, car rentals, cruises, activities, etc)
- 1x on all other eligible spend
They’re trading out 3x on all travel for 4x on flights and hotels booked direct, and shifting to a straight 8 points per dollar through their portal including on airfare.
- For those of you willing to book flights through a travel portal this is incredibly lucrative.
- For those who book direct, 4x makes the card competitive enough with Amex Platinum’s 5x to use it for flight bookings.
- And at 4x I’d honestly use this card for all of my hotel spending, forgoing any hotel’s co-brand products, except where you need spend on that card to contribute towards your hotel status.
While some will lament the loss of 3x earning for things like Uber, car rentals and parking I’d note that you can still get 8x on car rentals through Chase’s portal if you prioritize points-earn over status recognition, and suggest you look at how much you spend on those newly excluded categories versus how much you spend on hotels and airfare. For me, it’s heavily skewed towards hotels and airfare. The only place I lose is that it’s the card I would normally use for Airbnb or Vrbo when I’m stuck with one of those.
A Higher Annual Fee – And Over $2,300 In Credits
Chase Sapphire Reserve’s annual fee goes up from $550 to $795 for new card applicants starting June 23. Existing cardmembers migrate to the new set of benefits October 26, 2025 so will see the new annual fee with their renewals after that date.
Authorized users will go up to $195. There are no changes to authorized user benefits, but of course authorized users receive lounge access, including Priority Pass, on the same basis as primary cardholders.
There is a huge portfolio of credits that will justify this increased annual fee.
- $300 annual Travel Credit: There is no change to this benefit. It continues to apply to all travel spend.
- $500 Edit hotel credit: $250 twice semi-annually, applies to two-night minimum stays.
- Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS credit: No change to this credit, worth up to $120 every 4 years
- $300 Annual Dining Credit: $150 twice semi-annually for “Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables” restaurants (bookable on OpenTable, ‘curation by The Infatuation & Visa Dining Collection’) I find that many of the restaurants I actually visit are part of the platform.
There are a dozen restaurants in Austin eligible so far. There are even restaurants in Milwaukee. But it’s currently just 289 restaurants – Chase says the list is growing. I’ve archived the list, accurate only as of today, here (.xlsx). If you frequent small towns this will be less helpful.
- $250 combined Apple TV+ & Apple Music subscription credit: If you spend on these, it’s real money back in your pocket. Otherwise it’s a good reason to sign up.
- $300 StubHub/viagogo ticket credit: $150 twice annually
- $120 Lyft credits: $10 monthly, plus 5x earn on Lyft through September 30, 2027. This is the current benefit, and in my mind a devaluation from the previous 10x earn rate for Sapphire Reserve cardmembers.
- $300 DoorDash credits and one year of DashPass: up to $25 monthly
- $120 Peloton Membership credit + 10× on Peloton equipment and accessories over $150 not something I personally value but many of you still have Peleton bikes. The $120 credit is $10 monthly.
Since I spend on travel, the $300 credit is nearly as good as cash (not quite as good, because this spend doesn’t earn points in the new 4x category since you’re getting the money back). I’ll legitimately use the $500 Edit credit, ideally stacked with PointsBoost 2 cent redemptions, hotel points-earning and elite status and The Edit on-property benefits.
Chase also says they’re launching Vacation Homes as part of their travel offerings next month, where you’ll earn 8x. Vrbo just eliminated rewards-earning for those without Expedia elite status, and Airbnb still doesn’t have a loyalty program.
Their $300 annual dining credit is something I’ll use like cash since I eat at these restaurants anyway. In fact, I’m really impressed by the list of restaurants. It doesn’t matter how you make the booking, and there’s no prepayment involved. It’s a rebate on spend at those restaurants.
Combine that with $300 with Stubhub and $300 with DoorDash, along with $120 in Lyft (since I use Lyft many times each month already) I’m getting over $1,800 in credits which is more than double the card’s annual fee. And that’s without valuing AppleTV, Global Entry (I have many cards which offer this) or Peleton.
Another way to think about this, though, is that if you hold Sapphire Reserve today then you’ve capitalized it as being worth $550. Holding the rest of the card’s changes aside, are they providing at least $245 in incremental value with a $500 Edit hotels credit, $300 dining credit, $300 StubHub credit, $250 Apple TV+/Music credit, and much bigger DoorDash credits? That seems like a no brainer, honestly, as much as I chafe at the model generally of ‘higher card annual fees and a series of credits you need to use to make up for it’. I’ll easily get real value from the credits on spend I’m already doing each month.
Points Boost Replaces 1.5x Travel Redemptions
The card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be 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, Emirates Skywards
- Hotels: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards
Park Hyatt Chicago
One useful feature of the card, though, is that you could spend the points at 1.5 cents apiece in value towards any travel booked through Chase’s online portal. You wouldn’t necessarily get as much value as redeeming for a business class award to Europe, but you wouldn’t have to worry about award availability. You could just buy any flight or hotel for sale, using your points as payment at a reasonable rate.
With the card’s changes, 1.5 cent redemptions will drop to just 1 cent. However the new ‘Points Boost’ benefit gets added where you can redeem at up to 2x on rotating offers for hotels that are part of Chase’s more than 1,100 property The Edit portfolio and airfare. The card also comes with spending credit with The Edit bookings, those reservations don’t preclude hotel loyalty program points and status-earning, and come with extras like free breakfast and a $100 property credit.
Points Boost is also available on Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred and Plus cards. Chase tells me,
The air inventory for Points Boost will include Economy, Premium Economy, Business and First-Class. Points Boost offers for flights are dependent on the cabin classes and offers will range from 1.25x up to 2x based on airline, cabin class and card.
o paint a picture for what cardmembers can expect at launch, they will see airlines including United Airlines, Air Canada, Southwest Airlines, Emirates, Qantas, Singapore Airlines and more.
All hotels in The Edit program (1,100+) will be included in Points Boost with 2x the value, as well as thousands of additional top booked hotels through Chase Travel that will be boosted up to 2x the value.
Existing cardmembers get the best of both worlds. Current Sapphire Reserve cardmembers (and those applying in the next couple of days) keep 1.5× Chase Travel redemptions on points held in their account as of October 26, 2025 until October 26, 2027. Until then the best offer (1.5x or Points Boost) will be auto-applied.
New Benefits For High Spenders
Spending $75,000 per year on the card earns:
- IHG One Rewards Diamond Status: this is IHG’s top tier of status, though it doesn’t come with the benefits that are earned at night thresholds like food and beverage credits or confirmed suite upgrades. Diamond comes with a 100% bonus on base points earned at IHG properties; complimentary upgrades up to suites if available; free breakfast; early check-in and late check-out, if available.
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards A-List Status: including first checked bag free; priority check-in and boarding; 25% points bonus; same day confirmed changes. And when Southwest moves to assigned seating, A-List members get preferred seats at booking and extra-legroom seats within 48 hours of travel. Spending on this card is a workaround for Southwest’s recent program changes.
- $500 Southwest credit: on bookings made via Chase Travel.
- $250 Shops at Chase credit: pay with card or points at brands including Baccarat, Bang & Olufsen, Breitling, Callaway, CALPAK, Cuisinart, Dyson, Samsonite, SMEG, Solo Stove, SONY, Therabody, Tory Burch, and TUMI. The shop is also available to Ultimate Rewards customers with Freedom, Sapphire and Ink cards.
Now there’s a reason to put additional spend on the card, potentially even outside of accelerator categories of air, hotel and dining.
Additional Benefits
While cardmembers spending $75,000 earn IHG Diamond status, all Reserve cardmembers will receive IHG Platinum through December 31, 2027.
The card continues to offer some of the best travel protections, like trip delay and cancellation and primary collision damage waiver on car rentals.
And Chase’s acquisition of Frosch International Travel finally has an integration, branded as ‘Reserve Travel Designers concierge,’ cardmembers gain access to dedicate travel agents.
No Changes To Airport Lounge Access
When I met with Chase about these changes there was a bit of smirk in the air over changes being made to a rival’s lounge network. They emphasized that there is no plan to change lounge access provided by this card – it continues to offer access to Chase Sapphire Lounges for the cardmember and two guests, and they aren’t making cuts to their Priority Pass Select which currently includes two guests.
Chase airport lounges:
| 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 |
| Hong Kong (HKG) | 12,000 | Oct 2022 | Extensive buffet + small menu |
Known lounge pipeline:
- Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW): ~ 18,000 sq ft in terminal D
- Las Vegas (LAS): ~ 4,500 sq ft in terminal C
- Los Angeles (LAX): ~9,200 sq ft in the Tom Bradley International Terminal
Bar at Chase Sapphire Lounge Philadelphia Airport
New Card Design
Starting June 23, cards will be issued with a new design. This was teased last week through Chase’s social channels. Chase tells me that the new card is heavier, at 19.6 grams.
How To Play These Changes To Your Advantage
I expect that there will be big bonus offers coming to support such a big product refresh. You might want to hold off applying for a few days to take advantage of those.
On the other hand, you may want to just on the card immediately even accepting that you might be forgoing a larger bonus.
New cardmembers get benefits starting June 23rd, existing cardmembers transition to the new system October 26 but have access to Points Boost right away.
Chase Sapphire Preferred will be losing 1.25x through the Chase travel portal, and gaining access to Points Boost. Sapphire Preferred doesn’t lose its broad travel category for accelerator spend.
You can still lock in the current $550 Sapphire Reserve annual fee for the first year applying before June 23, and more importantly you lock in the grandfathering of 1.5x redemption through Chase’s portal for two years on points in your account. In the meantime, you’ll gain access to the new set of statement credits this fall.
Similarly, if you have a Sapphire Preferred that’s more than a year old you might consider product changing to Sapphire Reserve in the next couple of days to get in on the ‘old’ version of the card as well (this would forgo a Sapphire Reserve initial bonus altogether, however).
I imagine most people will drop this card after these changes. The Edit is ridiculously overpriced and absolutely useless. The dining credit could be alright except I would have to go out of my way to claim it. I don’t use Lyft, or Apple TV/Music. I can only get $60 out of the DoorDash credit since none of the grocery stores in my area offer pickup. The only organic benefit is the original $300 travel credit and StubHub credit. My AF just renewed earlier this month, so I’ll keep it for now. But I can guarantee you I will be using up all of my points before next renewal and canceling the card. Sucks cause I’ve had this card since 2018 but this coupon book strategy is getting really old. I’m just gonna go back to cash back and call it a day.
Every priority pass restaurant I’ve visited recently has declined my chase sapphire reserve’s priority pass saying that chase doesn’t pay for it anymore.
Gary I’ve lost faith in you. How much does Chase pay you? I’m used to livid tantrums from you… But your ok with this?
These changes are so bad they aren’t even worthy to be called crap.
All with a points devaluation and lower points earnings… And a higher annual fee?
I’ve had this card since it came out… I will be dumping it come January.
@Peter — Yeah, the Southwest offering here is a bit weak, especially since most folks who can easily spend $75K/year on a credit card are usually not choosing Southwest as their carrier of preference; perhaps, if Chase had leveraged its other airline partners, like United or BA, etc., then that might have been more enticing for the ‘premium’ market segment. But, as it stands, even the $500 credit is annoying because it’d have to be booked via Chase, not with Southwest, directly, and I’m sure there’ll be some nice ‘fine print’ restrictions, like, “only for bookings on Tuesdays in June when its raining…”
@Dan – all of 2025 spend will count towards Southwest benefits
@Paul — I’m not upset with Gary; he’s just the messenger. I trust his evaluation, and still, I’m upset with Chase, not him. Gary didn’t cause these changes, the bank did. Let’s be clear.
Claiming that The Edit credits are useful for any normal person is so laughable. Those hotels are at least $600-$1k+ per night. No normal person will book those hotels even with the credit.
I just used all my points by booking at 1.5cpp through the chase portal for a European vacation. Now that benefit has been blown to smithereens. I don’t eat out at the 6 fancy restaurants they list for Seattle. I don’t use Peloton. And to top it off, no Sapphire lounge or plans for one at SEA.
I think I’ll be cutting up my 4 chase cards. I’ve had the CSR since it came out and have loved it… Until now.
Oh, and unlike the cowards and shills over at The Points Guy, Gary actually allows comments on his site. We can respectfully disagree on here all day. We can even call each other silly names. We can also call out Chase’s nonsense here, too. Like, c’mon Jamie Diamond, is this really what the world needs right now? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
If $245 extra a year makes a difference to you then you frankly shouldn’t have a high AF travel card. That is basically a decent meal. Personally, I will get much more value from the additional credits than $245 but even if I didn’t I’d keep the card for lounge access and flexibility. BTW, I also have the Amex Platinum (along with 15 or so other cards ranging from no AF to $350/year) and hope they raise it to $995. I can’t wait for all the grifters and those that are over their skis financially to drop it so access to the Centurion Lounge is easier.
@AC
Seems you like to simply light money on fire. Do you think people should simply give them an additional $245 without getting additional benefit? What’s wrong with you?
Not to be harsh, but you sound like those guys you speak to when you call in for a retention offer and they give the spiel about how great card is and list EVERY benefit to make the card sound so great. There is so much junk with this card I’d never use.
$300 travel credit is very useful
$500 Edit credit is so so & I’d probably have to go out of my way to use it
TSA/Global Entry every decent card has it so way too overlapping
$300 dining credit is very limited and probably full of restaurants I’d never go to otherwise
$250 Apple TV & Music I’ve used Apple TV before and hardly ever watched anything decent on it.
$300 Stubhub/viagogo seems so non appealing. Probably would have to go out of my way to use it
$300 Doordash is probably close to the stuff I used to see with Amex’s Uber Eats credit which were mostly crappy restaurants
$120 Pelaton seems so useless. I exercise every day, run about an hour each day also lift weights several times a week. I could never see myself EVER paying for some silly Pelaton membership
I do agree with what one person said & you have to give credit that they allow opposing comments on this site. I know Gary has to make a living so can’t blame him pushing the credits like each one is the most fantastic thing ever. Chase has some great cards with some great features (I’ve had the Ritz card for many years and make great use of the yearly certificate & credits) but I’m down-voting the changes to this card. Seems like I’d just sign up for the bonus and cancel in a hurry the next year.
@Ozzie nailed it. no thanks Chase. Couponing out of control for stuff I’ll never use
These coupons are always geared toward people in larger cities. In small towns we have no applicable restaurants, there’s no Uber/Lyft, no entertainment venues for Stubhub, people actually do activities outside.
I’ve had takeout twice in 20 years, during Covid when I was quarantined. I would never do Doordash when all the restaurants are 2 minutes from my house. (Not to mention the crapiness of old food.)
Fortunately mine just renewed so I don’t have any decisions to make.
“No normal person will book those hotels”
What TF does that even mean?
The ONLY reason he’s ‘excited’ is the significant boost in affiliate income from flogging this ridiculous card.
Yep, no added value for me: Edit is expensive, I don’t want to have to use a website to eat dinner, I don’t pay for Apple TV (didn’t even realize there’s an Apple Music), don’t want Peloton… In other words, this new coupon book isn’t why I loved the Reserve; I loved the Reserve because I could grab it for travel without thinking about it and get great value. If I wanted to run a cost/benefit analysis on every transaction in my like to maximize value, this new card isn’t going to win, and I’m going to lose a lot of time. I’ll cancel at renewal.
“While some will lament the loss of 3x earning for things like Uber, car rentals and parking I’d note that you can still get 8x on car rentals through Chase’s portal if you prioritize points-earn over status recognition”
Or if you prioritize a better price if you can find a better one somewhere else than the Chase portal. Why would I spend $300 to get 8x if I find a AAA/Costco/whatever rate for $225 for a comparable or better car? For my next rental car, I have a reservation for $350. Lowest rate on the Chase portal right now is $821.
This is my first ever post here. I will be unsubscribing from your newsletter Gary (which I really enjoy!) because how else can I show my frustration with this post.
The 4x on flights is not comparable to 5x Amex Plat earning, that earns at a 25% better rate. They can’t even throw in hotel status at the new price, amex offers two!
Gutting the broad travel category is definitely a mistake, those high earners in big cities chase is chasing they take Uber and subways and busses and valets and parking and trains at a much higher rate than suburbanites.
I already downgraded to the csp previously, it is wild that it now earns higher on those categories (don’t forget the 10% year end bonus too).
Whatever, this is all a game and if chase doesn’t want the mass affluent playing in their court…well they won’t.
This change will cost us thousands of dollars from loss of benefits from purchasing cruises. We would not be able to use even a single one of their new coupon benefits, so there’s no value there. There are no details on “points boost”, so I suspect fewer than 1% of redemptions will qualify, and they will all be for undesirable bookings. There is nothing good at all for us here. Amex Green, here we come!
I got the Reserve literally as it came out. Even got the $300 twice since it was so new. Later downgraded to Preferred to get the AMEX Plat. And just barely break even on that for the same reason that the new Reserve benefits will not do anything for me.
The biggest problem? Third party bookings. After getting burned twice out of two times using the booking portals from Chase and AMEX, I stopped using it. There is no better advice than book directly with the airline or hotel. So how much of the benefit is lost there?
Given how I see the future of these point developing cards, I think I will stick with the travel cards that give me status like Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton and IHG. And since LP’s are what I really need for the airline of choice, this card again does nothing.
Other cards pay for Apple, and GE, and I don’t frequent places for the dining credit. And for this coupon card to be a value to me, I have to do a lot better than break even.
Don’t kid yourself; it’s awful for the middle class user. The incentives have gone backwards, doubling the annual fee in the last seven years and dismantling the Priority Pass benefit and 1.5x booking through Chase Travel. More points on their site are offset by the lack of competitive costs and loss of member benefits. They are worth 1/3 less when using them now. I couldn’t care less what it does for them. This is a frustrating loss.
$300 Annual Dining Credit: $150 twice semi-annually for “Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables” restaurants (bookable on OpenTable, ‘curation by The Infatuation & Visa Dining Collection’) I find that many of the restaurants I actually visit are part of the platform.
Please clarify because according to the account.chase.com/sapphire/reserve/benefits page the list of sapphire reserve exclusive tables is shorter than the visa infinite. For example there are 17 restaurants for Seattle on the visa infinite but only 6 listed for the reserve benefit page.
Will you earn 4x for hotels booked at 3rd party sites like Agoda?