New Sapphire Reserve
When Chase unveiled the new Sapphire Reserve, the bank firmly grabbed the attention of credit card enthusiasts, from prospective cardholders to people who do stuff on the internet for money – and seemingly everyone in between. Indeed, Chase flooded the zone with the revamped card’s exhaustive (or exhausting?) portfolio of new benefits. As a current cardholder, I was on the receiving end of Chase’s Trapper Keeper-like snail mail, a full-on campaign to convince me to keep mine. But time has brought more developments, plus a few more questions. My biggest one – what’s the deal with the new Sapphire Reserve?
A Bit of a Bumpy Beginning
After an initially-strong rollout of the new Sapphire Reserve, some customers experienced issues with Chase’s version of the Amex pop-up feature. This part of the application process was to clarify welcome bonus eligibility. Chase would inform applicants if they able to receive the Reserve’s welcome offer, and they could decide to withdraw or proceed with their applications. However, Chase approved some withdrawn applications, anyway. What a mess!
And the more we look at some Sapphire Reserve benefits, the uglier they can get, too. Chase touts annual benefits such as $300 travel, $500 Edit hotel, and $300 annual dining credits. But for individuals simply interested in trying out the card for a single cardmember year, these perks essentially last nine or so months. Enjoy this language from the Sapphire Reserve:
We may reverse statement credits if an eligible purchase is returned, canceled, or modified or if you close your account within 90 days of receiving a statement credit.
Chase also stuck new and existing cardholders with different schedules for certain updated Sapphire Reserve’s benefits. Chase values points differently on its travel portal based on which type of cardholder earned them, when they did, and, oh, also, on the redeeming end.
Messing Around with Welcome Offers
The refreshed Reserve’s welcome offer came with 100k bonus Ultimate Rewards points and $500 Chase Travel Portal credit after spending $5k within the first three months. I felt that offer was fine enough, but as an existing cardholder, I wasn’t the target audience. Many individuals I talked to, within and outside of the MtM Diamond Lounge, were underwhelmed by this welcome offer. Chase might have generated more buzz for a credit card since their initial launch of the Reserve, but did that result in the bank’s expected number of new applicants? I have doubts.
One reason is because within a few months of rollout, Chase updated the new Sapphire Reserve’s welcome offer to 125k bonus points after spending $6k within the first three months. Of course, opinions vary on which offer – the initial version or follow-up one – is better. Many I talked to thought of the first one as simply 100k, highly devaluing or completely ignoring the Chase Travel Portal credit. Chase die-hards naturally like the more flexible Ultimate Rewards currency. Whatever the case, in a world where we generally see point offers decrease after a usually-noteworthy new card offer, not only did Chase maintain the points amount, the bank increased it. Is Chase attempting to attract substantially more applicants with this higher-point welcome offer? It sure seems like it.
Tweaking Benefits Already?!
But it appears Chase is even antsier. A day before the Amex Platinum refresh went live, Chase mentioned a few more adjustments are on the way in 2026.
Updated Edit Credit
The Edit credit, which Chase initially planned to dole out in single $250 increments for the front and back halves of the year, will have the semi-annual timing removed.
Starting on 1 January 2026, cardholders have access to $500 in automatic statement credits annually for Edit prepaid bookings, with a maximum of $250 per transaction. Cardholders can use these $250 credits for two stays at any time during the year, but Chase still requires a two-night minimum.
Another $250 Credit
Beginning next year, Reserve cardholders will obtain up to $250 in statement credits on prepaid Chase Travel hotel bookings for stays at these properties:
- IHG® Hotels & Resorts
- Montage Hotels & Resorts
- Pendry Hotels & Resorts
- Omni Hotels & Resorts
- Virgin Hotels
- Minor Hotels
- Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts.
Following Chase’s M.O. with the Edit credit, this perk requires a two-night minimum stay.
My Initial Take to these Changes
Chase has made the Edit credit a bit more user-friendly, but the bank didn’t want to be too generous, it seems. Each use of the benefit still requires a two-night stay, and cardholders must go through the silliness of separate bookings to fully obtain the $500. The newly-unveiled $250 will be welcomed by many – it’s a new 2026 benefit over and above what Chase offered just a few months ago in the refreshed card package. I’m personally interested to experiment with this one in 2026 and beyond.
That said, I feel like these changes so soon after the Sapphire Reserve refresh and Chase’s announcement timing just before the Amex Platinum refresh reek of desperation.
Amex Adds Some Pressure
Amex hit a home run with last week’s Platinum refresh. I haven’t seen such common agreement among people who do this stuff on the internet for money in many years. (Ironically, the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s status as an excellent card has been right up there in all of those same years.) In my view, Amex’s benefits match or beat the Reserve’s in most areas, and Platinum cardholders can more easily maximize them. Maybe Chase knows this. Indeed, based on Chase’s latest benefit tweaks, the bank seems to have felt the pressure from Amex even before the Platinum refresh details were official.
New Sapphire Reserve – Conclusion
Cardholders are winning more. Whether one gravitates to Chase, Amex, or both, this increased competition incentivizes developments where consumers should benefit. Chase and Amex have spoiled us the last few months with the volume and velocity of these changing perks; I now expect things will settle down a bit. But I’m interested to see more shrewd maneuvers from Amex, Chase, and other banks over the next 12 months or so. Particularly, I’m intrigued how Amex continues evolving its lineup with existing card refreshes, new products, and hopefully, the return of old ones (hello, Everyday Preferred). I’m curious to see how game Chase is for keeping up, perhaps in ways I’m not even thinking of right now. All of this, and I haven’t really even touched on the business card side. I’ll do that another day. I need to catch my breath, probably in a Resy-eligible spot.
What do you make of all the new Sapphire Reserve developments since the refresh?
I’ve been in the UR/Sapphire program since the inception, and even switched my personal and business banking relationships to Chase because of the simplicity and value of Ultimate Rewards. In the last 10 years, I’ve learned that (1) the insurance coverage is worthless (had one claim that was clearcut, but still took 6 months to resolve), (2) Chase Travel consistently charges more than booking direct, and good luck to you if anything unexpected happens with your itinerary (Chase support is worthless), (3) devaluations of the travel partners, especially United.
The value proposition is less (bigly less), and I’ve moved my personal and business relationships away from Chase, signed up for a 2% cash back card. I book ahead for the lowest first class fare when traveling. I ALWAYS book direct.
The coupon-book approach, not fulfilling ‘what’s advertised’, as well as the devaluations/race-to-the-bottom has burned me out.
Good luck to Chase with UR and I sincerely appreciated the value and what seemed like 2-way loyalty when the program was worth something. The value of my time coupled with a 2% cash back card wins over Chase’s new approach, every day.
I’m sure that Chase calculated the breakage in their XLS models. As a top 2-percenter, I value the time that I have, and with the new overhead involved to manage the ‘new’ UR, it seems that I’m no longer in the target demographic.
Such a great, differentiated program when they launched. I will miss the olden days.
Each person has different circumstances and objectives. I am not a fan of Chase. And, I look for reasons to drop Chase. But, I acknowledge that the CSR does earn 4x on direct bookings. And, it has periodic transfer bonuses to (for example) Air France. And, I’m able to redeem at good value at Air France. I use other transfer partners as well. For my circumstances, I can’t see abandoning all points ecosystems in favor of 2% cash back. Wishing you success.
I mean…I’m not an Amex customer — the Plat is worse for the issues I describe here. The CSR could have some appeal to me, but $1000 (once you add the AU) is a big, big ask. I can easily knock out the StubHub credit, and I travel enough to burn the various Edit credits. I could come out ahead, and I like some of the perks from Lyft, but it still feels like you are being hamstrung. I use shopping portals a lot for cashback/points on direct bookings. With the Edit, you give up all of that. You can get IHG points, but not the 10x from the IHG Premier. You can’t use 4th night free. So you trade 8x Chase points for 10x on the card and maybe 10-20% in cash back (the property credit makes up for some of this, I guess). And you are being funneled into a certain type of hotel, rather than just getting an HIE or Hyatt House if that fits your needs for a particular trip. It is a lot of constraint to recover a sunken cost in exchange for lounge access and some travel insurances. I’m just not convinced the value proposition is there for any of the cards unless you highly value (and frequently use) the lounges. There are so many ways to book luxury properties and get similar amenities.
The dining credit is only useable at a small stable of restaurants and is simply inconvenient. As such, I assign no value to it. I won’t laundry list the other challenges. In the end, the credits on the CSR are far less valuable than those on the refreshed Platinum. I can see having multiple Platinum cards. I cannot see having multiple CSRs.
IMHO, Chase dropped the ball by not being competitive with Amex Plat refresh. They continued to shoot themselves in the foot by disqualifying a bunch of former Sapphire holders from the bonus. This means even those who may not mind getting the Sapphire Reserve again and hold on to it for the benefits are not going to find sufficient value compared to Amex Plat.