Major Changes to the Chase Sapphire Cards

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® are getting a bit of a makeover with some new benefits. Most of these new benefits are focused on higher-earning rates within specific categories, but there are also other perks including hotel credits and annual point bonuses.

Let’s take a look at what changes are coming our way and our take on these updates.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Changes

Many of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card’s benefits are all sticking around, but here is a breakdown of what’s being added.

• Annual $50 hotel credit when you book through the Chase Travel Portal
• 5X Ultimate Rewards points on any travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal
• 3X Ultimate Rewards points on:
  • Dining
  • Select streaming Services
  • Online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs). Note this excludes in-store grocery purchases.
• A 10% annual Ultimate Rewards bonus calculated off of your yearly card spending. Note this is earned after you renew your card and pay your annual fee.
• Annual fee remains at $95

Chase Sapphire Reserve® Changes

One of the most loved existing benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the $300 travel credit that is awarded annually on your card anniversary. Once you earn the travel credit, then you’ll start earning 3X Ultimate Rewards points on all your travel purchases. The other categories that will earn you 3X Ultimate Rewards points are dining, delivery and takeout. You don’t need to worry about any of these perks disappearing because they are sticking around even with the new additions.

If you’re a power user of the Chase Travel Portal, these new changes below will impress you:

• 10X total points on Chase Dining purchases through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal
• 10X total points on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards® immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually
• 5X total points on air travel purchased through the Chase Travel Portal
• The annual fee will remain at $550

Our Take on These Changes

If it wasn’t obvious before that Chase earns more revenue off of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card rather than the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, these new changes and the current welcome offers for these cards have made it crystal clear. The new benefits to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card heavily outweigh the Chase Sapphire Reserve® perks in my opinion. At a quick glance, the 5-10X points earning rate added to the Reserve looks appealing, but if you don’t frequently book travel or dining experiences through the Chase Travel Portal, you’re not going to have much use for the increased earning rates.

I am much more intrigued by the changes to the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The earning rates and perks we’re all used to aren’t going anywhere, but now we have higher earning rates on categories where people typically spend more heavily. The $50 hotel credit and 10% annual point bonus are exciting too. Because these last two benefits aren’t awarded to new card members until the first card anniversary, it’s clear Chase is strategizing to retain members past the first year and it looks like it’s going to work.

Another angle to consider when evaluating these new benefits is to compare them to what else you have in your wallet. In addition to the Chase Sapphire Preferred, I also have the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. With this card, I already have 3X Ultimate Rewards points on dining purchases and 5X Ultimate Rewards points on travel purchases through the Chase Travel portal, so the 3X on streaming, online groceries, annual point bonus and hotel credit is where I find the most value. How you value these benefits is going to significantly depend on your lifestyle and spending habits. If you live in an area that doesn’t have online grocery delivery, then those 3X points don’t carry as much weight.

Regardless of which benefits you find valuable, it’s hard to complain about any of these new changes especially when the existing ones aren’t being removed and the annual fees didn’t increase.

Final Thoughts

These changes to Chase’s Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards are a welcome addition that will bring new and existing card members additional value at no extra cost in fees. The new perks to the Chase Sapphire Preferred combined with the card’s generous welcome offer make it a great time to add this card to your wallet if you don’t already have it.