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The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve Benefits are Changing as of August 16, 2021, with no change to their annual fees. These are additional benefits; nothing is being taken away, and the annual fees aren't changing. The best changes are for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which Chase tends to promote more because it's a more profitable card than the Chase Sapphire Reserve. This is also why the signup bonus for the Chase Sapphire Preferred is so much better: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, with a $95 annual fee, vs. only 60,000 points for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, with a $550 annual fee.
Here are the changes, along with our take on them:
Chase Sapphire Preferred Changes
- 3X Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on dining, streaming services, and online grocery store services such as Instacart and FreshDirect (excludes Target, Walmart, wholesale clubs)
- Chase Travel portal: 5X Ultimate Rewards points for travel booked through the Chase Travel portal, one $50 hotel credit per cardmember year for a hotel booked through the portal (these are pretty worthless benefits at least in terms of hotel reservations, since going through the portal means you wouldn't earn points or enjoy elite benefits for any hotel stays, nor is it possible to enjoy any VIP perks such as Four Seasons Preferred Partner, Hyatt Prive, etc.)
- 10% Anniversary Bonus: Earn a 10% bonus on the base Ultimate Rewards points earned during the year, when you renew and pay your annual fee (note that this excludes signup bonus and category bonuses)
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Chase Sapphire Reserve Changes
- 10x Ultimate Rewards points on Chase Dining, as well as hotels and car rentals booked through the Chase Travel portal
- 5x Ultimate Rewards points on flights booked through the Chase Travel portal
Frankly these changes are unimpressive, unless you happen to be a heavy user of Tock, which powers Chase Dining, or of the Chase Travel portal, which we never recommend for hotel reservations (see below), and rarely recommend for flight bookings, due to how painful it can be to change flights (you must go through the portal if you used it to book, not through the airline).
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The Verdict
We wouldn't call these Chase Sapphire changes huge, as mostly they appear calculated to reward usage of the Chase Travel Portal, which is powered by Expedia. We never recommend booking through the portal or OTAs given the lack of customer service (and you won't be able to change your flight or hotel reservation with the airline or hotel, you'll have to go through the Chase Portal for any changes) and the fact that for hotel bookings, it means no loyalty points earned, no elite recognition, and no preferred partner benefits. Also see 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Book a Hotel Directly (and Not via a Third Party OTA Either).
That said, the Chase Sapphire Preferred's 3X earning on dining and online grocery and 10% anniversary bonus are welcome additions. These won't be enough for us to give up my husband's Chase Sapphire Reserve, since in our case, earning the extra point per dollar, via 3X on travel, including all hotel, flight, car rental, etc. spend, more than makes up for the higher annual fee compared to the Chase Sapphire Preferred, even with the new 10% anniversary bonus.
What do you think of the new Chase Sapphire card changes coming August 16?
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Glad that the Preferred will now earn 3x points on dining and a 10% anniversary bonus! I’d have no problem using the $50 hotel credit since I don’t always stay at hotels with a loyalty program. The new perks of the Reserve are worthless to me and, not wanting to give up the card without a fight, I called Chase to see if they could keep the fee at $450 for another year but was told there is no retention offer for it so downgraded to the Preferred. I’m missing out on the 100,000 points by not applying for it… Read more »
Peggy, glad you too find the Sapphire Preferred’s new 3X points on dining and 10% anniversary bonus useful. Not familiar with the B of A cash rewards card, but for significant flight reservations you may want to keep those on the Sapphire Preferred for the travel insurance coverage; and for car rental, it’s also good to have primary coverage, rather than secondary.