Data Point: Chase Sapphire Reserve’s 100K Bonus Approving Applicants Over 5/24—Is The Rule Relaxed?

by Gary Leff

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Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See rates and fees)
Sapphire Reserve for BusinessSM (See rates and fees)

Chase has launched the refreshed Sapphire Reserve, and introduced the brand new Sapphire Reserve for Business. They’ve also changed their rules for who is eligible to be approved for these cards, and to earn an initial bonus.

They’ll now approve cards for customers they might not have in the past – for instance, someone that’s earned a bonus for the card in the past four years. But the bonus is now once in a lifetime. If you’ve held a Sapphire Reserve in the past and earned a bonus for it, you won’t be able to earn a Sapphire Reserve bonus today. Also, if you have an open Sapphire card like Preferred, you won’t be able ot earn a Sapphire Reserve bonus today (so you’d first need to consider downgrading the open Sapphire to a card in the Freedom family).

I personally expect this approach to spread to other products within the Chase portfolio over time. However there’s another wrinkle (and opportunity) to be aware of.

New Chase offers, especially best-ever offers, sometimes are processed without ‘5/24’ blocking approvals and bonuses. And these are… new, best-ever offers.

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve® earn 100,000 bonus points + $500 travel portal credit after $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

  • Sapphire Reserve for BusinessSM earn 200,000 bonus points after you spend $30,000 on purchases in your first 6 months from account opening

Here’s one data point,

I am over 5/24 and was approved for the CSR with the bonus (100k points + $500 portal credit). I have never held any of the sapphire cards before…

I would love to hear from readers with experience getting approved for the cards, with bonuses, who have had 5 or more new cards opened in the past 24 months. It helps to know what cards and when.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a $795 annual fee.

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

  • 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 ($250 twice semi-annually, applies to two-night minimum stays); 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.

The Sapphire Reserve for BusinessSM also has a $795 annual fee. The card largely mirrors the consumer version, but there are a few key differences.

  • higher spend requirements for extra benefits (like IHG Diamond and Southwest A-List status)

  • different credits, more geared towards businesses

  • no annual fee authorized user cards (while the consumer card sees the fee for those increase), but business card authorized users don’t get lounge access

Have you applied for the card? What was your outcome?

Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Sapphire Reserve for BusinessSM

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

Comments

  1. 5/24 doesn’t count other biz cards so not that surprising. But unless I can get the bonus while having a CSP it’s not interesting.

  2. Have they relaxed the 48-month rule for the Sapphire bonuses? Because that’ll ‘get’ some folks, unless they trifurcate between Preferred, Reserve, and Business. I mean, if I were Chase, I’d want everyone to have all three cards. Then again, giving away 100K points for every bonus might set them back. C’mon Jamie Diamond, spread the wealth!

  3. After the negative reactions from many I’m not surprised they came back with a massive incentive. Would consider but don’t qualify for the SUB, boo!

    PS @1990 — Hope you got where you needed to be in a smooth manner!

  5. Applied for the business CSR. I was at 5/24. I have a business relationship through cards with Chase that goes back close to two decades and have a number of business cards currently open with them and spend $10K-$20K a month on different biz cards. Went pending then approved a day later.

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