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Changes to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card (See rates and fees) are actually great for me. I know they’re controversial to some of you. And in some ways I wasn’t sure at first how to balance the changes between new benefits and what’s lost.
However, as the past four months have gone by I’ve realized that I am still a few weeks away from October 26th when my card converts to have all of the new benefits and I really want them. In fact, I’ve been tempted several time to call Chase and have them convert me sooner, even though that means paying the higher annual fee up front instead of my seeing it next year.
- I rarely used the 1.5 cent per point redemptions. I would have if my primary points use were domestic coach travel, but it’s not. I aim to get a lot more value than 1.5 cents per point, so really considered redeeming at 1.5 cents to be a waste. It just wasn’t in my redemption path, so losing this doesn’t actually cost me anything.
- Meanwhile, Points Boost is huge. There are times I’d consider 2 cent per point business class redemptions against inexpensive premium fares. And I do transfer points to Hyatt, where I might at times only get 2 cents apiece. Being able to pair Points Boost redemptions with Chase’s The Edit extra benefits like an on-property credit, and not just with Hyatt hotels but others too, is great. And this is far better than transferring points to Marriott or IHG!
- 4x on air and hotel is huge, plus 8x on air through Chase travel. I lose 3x on non-air and hotel direct travel spend, like Airbnb and cruises, but I don’t book through Airbnb much and I don’t take cruises. I will gain more on the points side than I lose and will probably book a bunch of my air through the Chase portal for the extra points-earning, even compared to Amex Platinum.
- The Edit and Dining credits, for me, will not just cover the $200 increase in annual fee, but will cover basically cover the annual fee itself for me – since I’ll use these for stays I’d take anyway and for restaurant meals I’d otherwise pay for. A bunch of my favorite local restaurants are on the Exclusive Tables list. I already eat at Clark’s Oyster Bar, Este, Kemuri Tatsu-Ya, and Emmer & Rye.
I guess I’m losing 3 points per dollar on dining for the restaurant visits I get credited back to my card, so it’s not literally as good as cash (there’s still a tradeoff). But it’s close. And that’s without even the card’s $300 annual travel credit. And it’s without the StubHub credit for tickets I would have purchased anyway. The card was marginal, and not a money-maker, before. It is one after the refresh.
- I’ve already spent over $75,000 on my card this year, and that means I’ll get credits that amount to an additional 1% rebate on card spend plus two new statuses:
- Southwest A-List Status: which means free preferred seat at time of booking, and extra legroom seats within 48 hours; priority boarding; free checked bag; priority check-in.
- IHG One Rewards Diamond Status: (I rarely stay there as Hyatt is my primary focus, but this will be nice when I have to stay at an IHG property)
- $500 Southwest credit: for bookings through Chase’s portal. Southwest is 41% of the seats from my home airport in Austin so I’m going to fly them. A $500 credit is real money to me.
- $250 Shops at Chase credit: worst case I buy Aesop products there and save real money I’d otherwise be spending.
- Southwest A-List Status: which means free preferred seat at time of booking, and extra legroom seats within 48 hours; priority boarding; free checked bag; priority check-in.
I’ve booked Southwest trips without the A-List status and that’s probably dumb. I should’ve just called Chase and upgraded early. I haven’t done it, but then I go to dinner at a place like Kemuri Tatsu-Ya and I smack myself on the forehead, “could’ve had a V-8!”
Bottom line for me is that the card was somewhat marginal before, but it’s a no-brainer now. It has great credits and benefits, and unlike Amex Platinum it’s a card I actually use for spending. Which makes it great for me and for Chase I guess. I realize that not everyone loves the card’s changes but for me they’re a huge win.
*slow clap for Gary*
(Amex did far better with Platinum.)
I do wonder if JPM moving a lot of jobs over the last number of years to Texas had something to do with these benefits, because for the coastal elites, they make much less sense. Texas has the most number of IHG properties in the US. People in Texas fly Southwest. So perhaps they think the coastal folks who are HNWIs will just keep paying the fee anyway and not care about it, and the marketing thesis is that they want to capture more people in the middle of the country.
Hope it works for them, but given leadership’s recent tepid comments on the refresh, have to imagine this is all just a complete failure. No question that Amex is currently rubbing salt in Chase’s self-inflicted wound on a daily basis.
End of the day this is a lounge access and travel insurance card, and thought your comparison post the other week was excellent. Would recommend it to all. For those that travel frequently, CSR may still have a place in the wallet, but at a greater cost. And much less reason to put spend on it after October 26 versus a Citi ThankYou point strategy with Strata Premier/Regular and DoubleCash or C1 strategy with VX/Savor.
@Peter gets it, once again. I do enjoy the Sapphire at LGA Terminal B, but that terminal already has so many alternatives, I can probably let it go. For now, I’ll keep my CSR to try these new credits, but come next year when that new AF hits, I may just downgrade to CSP or cancel altogether. Mainly, I’m upset by the changes to the general Travel category (3x to 1x for non-UR portal rental cars, cruises, agents, etc.); if they hadn’t done that, I’d keep CSR.
The Edit sucks. Forcing two nights means the only way this is a viable option is out of the US
For me, the loss of 3x on general travel is devastating. CSR has been my go-to card for tolls, parking, car rentals (very strange that car rentals not included with hotels and airfare as 4x categories, especially given the premium rental car coverage), ferries, and everything else that could conceivably fall under Chase’s generous definition of “travel.” To the point that travel is the biggest source of points on my card.
My annual fee comes due in February. Guess I’ll see how the new benefits work out and if it’s not worth it downgrade to the CSP.
@Andrew — Yup. This is the main issue. I would spend tens of thousands of dollars using this card for 3x travel. No more starting October 26. Very disappointing. Boo… Chase… Boo….
Jeez, Gary, after reading this I had to double check to make sure I wasn’t reading a typical shill post from TPG. Peter and Andrew hit the nail square on the head.
Gary, how does the Edit rates on Hyatt hotels compare to either the member discount, Senior discount or AAA fee.
Given that I’m globalist, I already get breakfast and late checkout.
If you have any rate comparisons, that would be great.
@1990/Andrew – I don’t think Chase realizes how much people hate the fact that they completely changed the fundamentals of the card. The loss of all 3x travel is brutal. The whole point of the card was “hi, we’re a travel card, put all travel spend on this card, and we’ll give you 3x and your first $300 off”. Now it’s “put your first $300 of air / hotel spend on this card”. But people have a lot of different ways of paying for air/hotel spend, and Chase clearly knows that, which is why it is being more “generous” with the 4x. If it works for you, great! But it clearly is a loss in value for many.
But, here comes Citi to the rescue. Strata Premier for $95 (or $0 if you use the $100 hotel credit) is 3x on airlines, hotels, and travel agencies. Strata Regular for $0 is 3x on select transit: car rentals, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis/limousines/car services, passenger railways, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, bus lines, and motor home and recreational vehicle rentals. Get them both together with a $0 DoubleCash for 2x all non-bonused spend and watch the ThankYou points roll in.
@BeatNavy – Yep. FHR is a much better program than the Edit, and Amex gives you flexibility with one-night FHR stays for its credit versus two nights with Chase. If you were looking at these two programs and had to choose one, it’s not even a contest – Amex wins hands down.
@Peter — 100% agree on CSR changes, on Strata Premier, and on FHR. You speak my language, good sir!
@postnobills — VFTW (and DoC, OMAAT, LALF, and others) are still superior to TPG, because at TPG couldn’t handle comments…
@peter you nailed all of it. The CSR change was ho hum at best, but compared to Amex there’s no contest. I won’t be keeping it and won’t be regretting it. Something in Chase world is different. They aren’t interested in my demographic anymore so I will bless and release them to pursue the ATX hipsters they desire.
Getting FOMO so shouting out @Peter as well!
I have both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and AMEX Platinum.
The AMEX refresh was so much better than the Chase.
It’s not even close.
@L737 — *chanting* Pe-ter! Pe-ter! Pe-ter! *intensifies* PE-TER!! PE-TER!!
@Peter I def agree with you here. Perhaps the original team at JPM who launched the CSR all left to bigger & better things but the refresh is a wide miss on the core customer base of this card and what made it a magnet in the first place.
It’s a definite downgrade for me as it doesn’t make sense without the general 3X Travel, Transit & dining multiplier. I used to do the CFU forgoing the chance to get 2X in the Amex & Citi ecosystems just because of the CSR. With the refresh I’ve now acquired cards in both Amex & Citi ecosystem that pay me higher multipliers and higher benefits so I’m all out on Chase when they previously accounted for 90% of my spend for the past decade.
@1990 — *Conga line* Peter Peter Pe-ter!
@Peter, 100% agreed on Chase giving up its status as the “it’s easy, you don’t need to think about it too much” premium card. That was the best thing about it.
To me, the true alternative for general travel spend isn’t anything from Citi, but instead the Amex Green Card, with 3x points on travel/transit/tolls/parking, etc. (pretty much identically defined to how Chase defines “travel”), plus 3x on dining, too. Only thing I don’t like about it is Amex’s rental car coverage isn’t as good (it’s secondary, not primary, unless you pay a per-rental fee of like $15 to “enhance” the coverage). It’s to the point where I’m tempted to open one if I end up keeping the CSR instead of downgrading to CSP.
So far I’ve been 100% committed to the Chase ecosystem. Losing that uniformity and splitting my earn over multiple currencies has benefits, but again, undercuts the “keep it simple” ethos that’s kept me with Chase so far.
@ Gary — Marriott is your primary focus? Huh?
@ Gary — Of course the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s refresh has been great for you and every other blogger. The referral is what, $200, per approval?
I’ve already downgraded to the CSP – Citi Strata will get most of my spend for regular travel
I fly domestic and never business (I don’t have tons of money to waste on plush seats). 1.5c redemptions were the key reasons not only for owning CSR but also for a bunch of Chase family cards — both personal and business — optimizing spend per card and transferring points to CSR for 1.5c redemptions.
The value of CSR has been 1.5c + lodges.
I would never touch Edit with their 2-day requirement, and even normal hotels I would book elsewhere (Chase Travel for hotels is always ~10-15% more expensive than I can find elsewhere for the same hotels on Google travel or Kayak, so no point to waste points on that).
The new coupon rewards system does not even have financially worthwhile coupons. Not renewing that card when my current one expires. And closing a bunch of other a Chase cards, too, since now they don’t make sense by themselves.
Luckily I have the Ink Preferred which still gives 3x on travel.
The only downside is it only has primary insurance for business travel.
I have to use my wife’s Sapphire Preferred for car rental. Losing 1 point/$ on car rental is acceptable but does move me a bit away from the Chase ecosystem.
Thanks for the chants and such, but we can save those for Gary who has provided this community with so much insight and lots of good strategies over the years. Not to mention letting us have a robust comment section on his forum – I’ve learned a lot from the comments as well, including from Gary’s comments!
@Andrew – CSR is secondary coverage in NY, so offers me little benefit there. C1VX and Atmos Summit have primary though, perhaps a few others? I agree the Amex Green is a really good KISS (keep it simple stupid) card – it’s kind of built like the CSR was at launch (absent priority pass). And I love the MR ecosystem, and earning MR points with Rakuten can be really really lucrative as well. That said, the $150 fee for the Green without any credits (other than $209 clear which… I guess some may value that at more than ~$25) may be tough to swallow when so many of the bonus categories can be replicated with low or no fee cards, including most of the travel categories with the Strata Premier / Strata Regular. That said, if you cruise (I do not), Amex Green is one of the few that still offers 3x on cruising.
Finally, as far as today goes, I’m just terribly sad for Ben/OMAAT – ovarian cancer is awful. For those who are able, please consider making a donation to a charity like Tina’s Wish, which funds research for the early detection of ovarian cancer (sadly no early detection test exists yet, and early detection would of course save so many lives).
@Gene — For us CSR card members, our referral bonus is 15,000 UR points, up to 100,000 per year, so if Gary gets an extra $50 in equivalents, good for him. He’s gotta keep the servers running! Gotta keep the domain active.. GoDaddy wants its fee-fees, too. Bah!
@Peter — You’re a good man. Gary is a most gracious and honorable host to our fun, and indeed, he regularly serves this community and mere strangers looking for good advice on travel, cards, life.
Ga-ry! Ga-ry! Ga-ry! *intesifies* GA-RY!! GA-RY!! GA-RY!!
Happy weekend, everyone!
Looking forward to dropping the CSR like a hot potato before the next AF hits. Goodbye.
This article was embarrassing.
I thought View From the Wing didn’t do one sided Point Guys style articles where they trick people into signing up for bad products.
Enjoy your referral points I guess
This article, AND all of the replies except one were extremely informative. If Andrew gets some referrals why does anyone care? That mentality reminds me of “straddle the breakdown lane in bumper-to-bumper traffic, make sure no one can zoom ahead!”
I have CSP and their portal is good for domestic travel but falls short on international bookings. So I’ve been putting my business spending on a United Club Card because I do international travel and want United points (and status) for United’s relationships with Star Alliance airlines. It’s nice to have Lufthansa or AirFrance flights pop right up in the portal when you’re heading to Europe. When you attain Gold status and there’s room up front on a United flight, United sends you offers to upgrade for, like, $200.
I’m thinking of getting an AmEx Green based on the fact that they give you 3x points for cruises. Is it possible to use AmEx points for flights on airlines other than Delta?
@Sooch – I don’t think this is in anyone else’s style. This is a recognition that lots of people don’t like the card changes, but that they happen to work really well for me, and the way I know that is because I keep wishing that I’d made the switch proactively to the new card structure.
@Gene – I stand by my explanation of why this card works for me, while recognizing there are lots of use cases others have that mean it doesn’t work for them. I thought it was interesting enough to share, that I kept slapping my forehead that I should’ve switched to the new value prop earlier. Others might see their own scenario matching – or not matching – my own and that could be clarifying. Re Marriott that was an odd malapropism that’s been corrected in the text.
The edit has some significant issues. I won’t go into too much with the bugginess of the interface. For one, refreshing when you change the map is problematic or the lack of a filter to show only edit hotels.
The bigger issue is that their portal will NOT include resort fees or special fees. Their terms seems to imply for example hotels in Vegas, the resort fee is applied after your check in.
I’m still testing out the changes with csr. I just applied for Amex Plat and I have several trips coming up. So far I used all my Amex credits but still struggling with csr edit because the prices on edit is worse than Amex so the $250 ends up being much smaller especially when I book for more than 2 nights. It still seems likely that I will cancel my csr. They sort of saved themselves with the newer $250 non edit credit so we’ll see.
My $550 CSR annual fee just posted on Oct1 and so I have ca. 11 months to try new benefits at old price. There are no restaurants in my area to take advantage of the new credits and I am not interested in jumping through the hoops of the Edit program to arrive in style on Southwest to my overpaid two-night stay. Unless Chase adjust and improve, my CSR will go into a recycle bin next Oct.
Never heard of any of those restaurants you mentioned.
@Kuloko — You lucky duck… winner winner, chicken dinner, using Chase’s new credits…
My Chase Sapphire Reserve will definitely not be renewed. I just spent hours submitting and resubmitting the exact same documentation for a trip delay claim for myself and my wife. Virginia Surety staff are totally incompetent. When they approved the claim it was only for one passenger even though all claim information and documentation was for two people. The “new” benefits are worthless and having to wait until October 26 is ridiculous.
My Amex Platinum will stay since I have already used a RESY credit and used two quarters of Lululemon credits. I will easily use the new increased Fine Hotel and Hotel Collection credits which have value where the Edit from Chase does not.
@Leroy — If only you were Leeroy Jenkins, instead, then they’d have to honor your claims… /s
In all seriousness, the travel insurance offered by the various credit cards is sadly deficient, and many claims are often delayed and denied, especially for delayed flights (too many exceptions, odd rules, like 72 hours minimum delay, affecting 50% of your Trip, etc.) You basically need to purchase your own independent policy if you really want coverage. This is all yet another reason I have consistently and repeatedly advocated for an EU261 or Canada’s APPR equivalent for the USA, which could at least provide a baseline compensation ($200-600) for significant delays and cancellations under the airlines’ control. Alas, I doubt Congress will ever do this. Ugh. We hate consumers and workers in the USA, apparently. Hope that’ll change some day. (To the nitpickers, I know insurance is regulated by the states, but my earlier point is that the card-provided coverage isn’t good enough, we shouldn’t be relying on it.)
Is it possible to have the new benefits applied to an existing Sapphire Reserve card that was opened last year? The chase rep i spoke said it is not possible, but this article implies that it is by going ahead and paying the higher fee.
CSR personal card should not lost the 3X Dinning, if I read Chase correctly. Only the new CSR business does not have the 3X dinning. Please check.
I have both chase reserve and Amex platinum. The Amex refresh as so much better! Chase took away a lot of key benefits (like the 3x travel multiplier – it used to be generous, train tickets, ferry passes, tours, parking, car rentals. It was my favorite feature of the card!). I also don’t appreciate that they market downgrade as improvements and add restrictions to new benefits to make harder to use. Now they are a travel card that doesn’t actually rewards for travel and a huge branding mistake. Moreover, the Chase reserve and Amex Platinum used to complement each other – with the new changes they are redundant. With the stingy Chase “refresh”, guess which one of the two I am likely to cancel? Right now I still have both, but it wouldn’t take much for Chase Reserve to be on the chopping block.
Mr. Leff is happy with the Chase refresh….Good for him, but his happiness is due to perks that benefit him specifically. There are plenty of us out there that won’t benefit. I’ve had CSR since it became available. The $990 (two cards) refresh provides me with no additional relevant benefits. For example, I never fly Southwest, for a lot of reasons. The Edit is not really usable nor are AppleTV or Stubhub credits. I’ll be downgrading this month before the new fee hits. One thing I will miss is the superior point allocation for compared to Amex Platinum. I’m looking at one hotel right now and CSR is about 150k points and Amex is 207k points, for the same hotel.
Bottom line, for most people its a complete f’n dud. Dumping it at my next renewal.
Note that the new benefits don’t kick in for existing cardholders until October 26.
“I’ve already spent over $75,000 on my card this year…”, LOL. I’m pretty sure Elton Musk won’t even notice the $200 annual fee increase.