American Express, Chase, and Capital One have all made changes to their premium rewards cards recently. And Citi has just introduced their competitor in the space. Which one is now the best, and most importantly which one is best for you?

The four contenders:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve® $795 annual fee (See rates and fees)

  

• Capital One Venture X $395 annual fee.

  

• The Platinum Card® from American Express $895 annual fee (see rates and fees).

  

• Citi Strata Elite^SM Card $595 annual fee (see rates and fees.)

  

How To Evaluate Rewards Card Value

There are (3) things that a card will generally do for you, beyond serving basic payments (and, for some, financing).

• Initial bonus: a card might offer 75,000 points or 100,000 points and that’s valuable. It makes a card focal. You pay attention, decide to try out the card. But the bonus itself isn’t a reason to keep the card, let alone use it.

• Benefits: airline cards often come with free checked bags and earlier boarding (so you avoid being forced to gate check your bags), a card may offer companion airfare or lounge access. These can be reasons to get a card but are not themselves a reason to spend regularly on that card.

• Return on spending: whether your ongoing spending earns the most points in a valuable currency that advances your rewards goals – once you’re past earning the card’s bonus, this is the reason to spend on the card. Note that ‘return on spending’ with a hotel or airline card might be in the form of progress towards elite status.

How Each Card Delivers Value

With each of these cards there are currently significant bonus offers. They all earn valuable (transferable) points. But they earn them at different rates. And they each have benefits that will align with different customers.

• Chase Sapphire Reserve® 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

  Earns 8x on all travel booked through Chase’s portal (even air); 4x on flights and hotels booked directly; 3x on dining worldwide.

  Benefits include $300 travel credit; $300 credit at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables restaurants (2x$150 semi-annually); $300 Stubhub and viaigogo credit (2x$150 semi-annually); complimentary AppleTV+ and Apple Music; $10 per month credit with Lyft; $5 per month DoorDash restaurant credit and $10 twice per month for groceries plus DashPass membership; up to $500 per year credit on prepaid hotels with The Edit (2x$250). There’s also IHG One Rewards Platinum status.

• Capital One Venture X 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months.

  Earns 10X on hotels and rental cars and 5x on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel and 2x transferable points on all other purchases.

  Benefits include a $300 Capital One travel credit each cardmember year and 10,000 bonus points on card renewal. Those two together more than cover the card’s annual fee in my view.

• The Platinum Card® from American Express as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards points after $8,000 spend in your first 6 months of cardmembership.

  The key earn category here is 5x on airfare purchased directly from airlines. Most spend earns just 1 Membership Reward point per dollar.

  Benefits include $200 Uber credit + $120 Uber One subscription credit; $300 digital entertainment credit; $600 credit for Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts and Hotel Collection properties as 2x$300 semi-annually with Hotel Collection requiring 2+ nights; CLEAR credit; $200 airline fee credit with one selected airline; $300 lululemon credit (4x$75 quarterly); $100 Saks credit (2x$50 semi-annually); Walmart+ credit; $200 Oura credit; $300 Equinox credit [many of these benefits require enrollment, and terms apply to each.] This list feels like it goes on and one. And there’s also Hilton and Marriott Gold status as well as car rental status.

• Citi Strata Elite Card 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.

  Earns 12x on hotel, car rentals and attractions and 6x on air travel booked through CitiTravel.com ; 6x at restaurants Firday and Saturday 6 pm – 6am Eastern and 3x at other times; and 1.5x transferable points on all other purchsaes.

  Benefits include four American Airlines Admirals Club passes each year; $300 hotel benefit for 2+ night stays booked through Citi Travel; the $200 Splurge credit (take it for American Airlines travel!); and $100 in Blacklane credits twice each year.

Bottom-Line For Each Card

Each of these cards offers strong benefits and a strong up front bonus. Three of the four offer good return on spending.

What’s going to separate out the one that’s right for you is probably going to be the lounge access that best matches your travel. Each one offers a Priority Pass card, but the truth is that the branded lounges are much nicer.

If you fly out of an airport where one card offers a branded lounge, and the others don’t, that’s probably a differentiator. If your travels match one lounge network better than another that’s going to push you in a clear direction.

Here’s the bottom-line take on each card:

• Platinum Card from American Express gets you the biggest lounge network and credits that most outweighh the card’s cost. However, outside of airline tickets purchased directly from airlines (and to take advantage of the card’s credits), this isn’t a card that makes sense for your spending. This card is all about the benefits, worth keeping as a great tool, but not one that should be a regular go-to for spending.
• Chase Sapphire Reserve has a lot of credits that make the annual fee worthwhile, and is great for spending on airfare and hotels as well as at restaurants. Sapphire lounges are often nicer than Centurion lounges, though there aren’t as many of them.
• Capital One Venture X Capital One has the smallest network of their own lounges, but their lounges are the best overall. The card is the best value product with the lowest price – by a lot – at just $395. There aren’t a lot of hoops to jump through to get value out of the card. And it’s the best for everyday spending.
• Citi Strata Elite^SM Card doesn’t have its own lounge network, but offers 4 American Airlines Admirals Club passes per year. This card has great statement credits based on calendar year ($200 credi that can be used at American Airlines, Best Buy and others; $300 hotel credit for 2+ night bookings through Citi Travel; $200 Blacklane credit that’s $100 semi-annually) which are set up on a calendar year meaning your first year cardmember value is huge.

How Bank Lounges Stack Up

Here are the current and announced networks of Chase, American Express and Capital One lounges. The number and locations of these lounges will often be what determines which one is best for you – based on where you live and where you fly (to and through).

Airport		American Express		Capital One		Chase
Domestic
Atlanta		✓
Boston		✓ (Upcoming)				✓
Charlotte		✓
Dallas – Fort Worth		✓		✓		✓ (Upcoming)
Denver		✓		✓
Houston – IAH		✓
Las Vegas		✓		✓		✓ (Upcoming)
Los Angeles		✓				✓ (Upcoming)
Miami		✓
New York JFK		✓		✓		✓
New York LaGuardia		✓		✓ (Upcoming)		✓
Newark		✓ (Upcoming)
Philadelphia		✓				✓
Phoenix		✓				✓
Salt Lake City		✓ (Upcoming)
San Diego						✓
San Francisco		✓
Seattle		✓
Washington DCA		✓		✓
Washington Dulles				✓		✓
Airport		American Express		Capital One		Chase
International
Buenos Aires EZE		✓
Delhi		✓
Hong Kong		✓				✓
London Heathrow		✓
Melbourne		✓
Mexico City		✓
Monterrey		✓
Mumbai		✓
Stockholm		✓
Sydney		✓
Tokyo Haneda		✓

American Express just has more lounges than the others, and that’s without adding in their ‘Centurion Studio’ partnership with Escape Lounges.

However, if I were based in Denver, Las Vegas or New York JFK (flying out of terminal 4 – all 3 JFK bank lounges are in terminal 4) I’d choose Capital One because I like those lounges better.

At Washington Dulles I’d choose Capital One over Chase (where its Etihad-partnered lounge is lovely but small).

Chase Sapphire Lounge Washington Dulles

In Philadelphia I’d choose Chase over American Express, because the Chase lounge there is fantastic and the Philadelphia lounge is arguably Amex’s weakest.

At Washington National it’s a no-brainer to pick Capital One because the ‘Landing’ restaurant they have there is genuinely fantastic – food I’d gladly eat in a restaurant outside the airport, in contrast to the mediocre buffet you’ll get at the other end of the terminal.

Capital One Landing DCA

Capital One Landing DCA

Capital One Landing DCA

The basic rule, I think, is that where Amex has a lounge and others don’t, Amex wins. Where others have a lounge also, the Chase or Capital One offering is probably better. That may not hold in Phoenix because the Chase space is just so small there.

And of course, American Express hasn’t opened yet in Boston! And their new ‘Sidecar’ concept launching next year could turn the tables a bit in places like Las Vegas, where they seem to be copying Capital One’s dining-focused offering.

Spend Bonuses And Transfer Partners Matter, Too

Now, I’d add a couple more wrinkles. Each of these cards offers great points transfer options. With Capital One, American Express and Chase I love transferring to Air Canada for Star Alliance flights. All four transfer to Singapore Airlines for Singapore’s own premium cabin flights. All four have an option to transfer to Avios. And all four transfer to Air France KLM which has the best program in SkyTeam and frequently offers reasonably-priced business class awards between the U.S. and Europe. They all transfer to Virgin which is good for ANA business and first class redemptions.

But there are also differences. Chase lets you redeem points at up to two cents apiece for The Edit hotels and other Points Boost hotels and airlines. I see lots of business class flight options on United at 2 cents apiece. And Edit hotel bookings earn elite status credits and points and receive elite benefits, on top of additional credit, breakfast and upgrade benefits.

Chase has Hyatt and United as transfer partners. Citibank has American as a transfer partner. Those differentiate their currencies. (Amex partners with Delta, which differentiates them negatively.)

And Chase is the only one that really bonuses heavy spend. $75,000 spend in a calendar year earns IHG One Rewards DIaomnd status; Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards A-List Status; $500 Southwest credit on bookings made via Chase Travel; $250 Shops at Chase credit to spend on brands including Baccarat, Bang & Olufsen, Breitling, Callaway, CALPAK, Cuisinart, Dyson, Samsonite, SMEG, Solo Stove, SONY, Therabody, Tory Burch, and TUMI.

My pre-existing Chase card doesn’t get the new benefits besides Points Boost until late October. I keep kicking myself for not calling and asking for the benefits (and current annual fee) now to take advantage of these – because I’ve actually already hit the $75,000 spend on the card for 2025.

My Premium Card Strategy: How I Use All Four Of These Cards

I actually have all of them. You probably should not do that, but they work for me. Here’s how I think about the value of each one differently.

• The Platinum Card from American Express has been my card for airfare spend, though I’m tempted to book air itineraries through Chase’s portal to earn 8x with their card now. I keep this card primarily for its Centurion and Delta lounge access, and I get Hilton Gold status. And it way, way more than pays for itself with all of its new credits.

  
  American Express Centurion Lounge New York JFK

• Chase Sapphire Reserve is super strong with 4x on direct-booked air and hotel, which to me obviates the need to spend on another hotel card (unless you’re spending for credit towards Hyatt status). And it’s the best of these products for non-weekend dining.

  I can do enough of this spend to earn the card’s $75,000 perks, covering me for the occasional IHG stay and for Southwest Airlines travel (Southwest is 41% of the seats out of my home airport).

  I love The Edit’s credits that stack with points payment at 2 cents apiece and status-earning, and I use the points for Hyatt redemptions. Their New York LaGuardia, Philadelphia, San Diego and Boston lounges are really good.

  
  Chase Sapphire Lounge Philadelphia

  
  Chase Sapphire Lounge New York LaGuardia

  
  Chase Sapphire Lounge New York LaGuardia

• Capital One Venture X gets me into my two favorite bank lounges – the Capital One lounge at New York JFK with its cheese counter tastings and its fresh Ess-a-Bagels with pastrami, with lox, and even with smoked whitefish, and the Capital One Landing at Washington’s National airport with José Andrés tapas. And I use it for spending that doesn’t earn at least 2 points per dollar on other cards.

  
  Capital One JFK Lounge Cheese Counter

  
  Capital One Landing DCA

  
  Caviar dolloped on top of labneh cream cheese cones, Capital One Landing DCA

• Citi Strata Elite^SM Card is brand new. It made a ton of sense to get with the current initial bonus offer, plus all of the calendar year credits which are available twice during the first cardmember year (use before the end of 2025 and again in early 2026).

  That means my first cardmember year I’ll get $400 to spend with American Airlines; $600 to spend on hotels via CitiTravel.com; and $200 to spend on Blacklane. That’s $1,200 in credits plus the 80,000 point bonus I’ve already earned. Meanwhile, I’m using the card for all of my weekend dining at 6x.

  I don’t need the American Airlines lounge passes – I have the Citi Executive AAdvantage Card’s club membership for access.

  
  American Airlines Admirals Club, Washington National Airport E Concourse

  
  American Airlines Admirals Club, Philadelphia

Most people should not get all of these cards! First, most won’t visit all of the lounges. You’d need to ask yourself if you travel that much. Second, taking advantage of all the benefits can become a full-time job. It’s enough just to maximize the credits from Platinum or Sapphire Reserve, but to layer in both and the other cards too and ensure they don’t slip through the cracks – worried you won’t get full value from the product – well, that’s just too much for most.

And so you should decide which one (or two?) best align with your lifestyle. The best rubric, I think, is to start with the lounges you’ll enjoy and actually use – and then to check it against being sure you’ll use the card’s credits so that it’s positive-sum against the annual fee.

For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.