Key Takeaways
Changes to the Chase Sapphire Reserve affect point redemption for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, as well.
Cardholders can redeem points with Points Boost to maximize their points on travel.
Preferred cardholders are now eligible for the Reserve card, too.
While the bonus and fee change to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® may have been the headline earlier this summer, the cascading effects for other Chase cardholders might have flown under the radar. Several major changes restructured much of the Sapphire rewards program, changing the redemption rates on your rewards points, particularly for travel expense
End of the 25% to 50% Bonus
One valuable characteristic of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card was the ability to redeem Ultimate Rewards Points through Chase Travel℠ with a 25% bonus. Amid the rollout of new rewards for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase did away with the fixed redemption rate for the whole Sapphire family.
Instead, points will now be redeemed at a rate of 1 cent per point across the board. However, cardholders do have the potential to redeem at greater rates through Chase Travel when using the new Points Boost system.
What Is Points Boost?
The new Points Boost system works with Chase partners to provide Sapphire cardholders with higher point redemption rates on select flights, hotels and other travel expenses. For Sapphire Preferred cardholders, points can be redeemed at 1.5 cents per point on select hotels and flights and 1.75 cents per point for premium flights with select airlines. This is compared with the 2 cents per point on selected travel options available to Sapphire Reserve cardholders.
Since only some airlines and hotels are offered through Points Boost, the value of the points largely depends on the flexibility of the traveler.
“Some people are loving this since it boosts the max value you can get – without learning how to use transfer partners which, to be clear, remains my favorite way to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points,” says Dave Grossman, founder of MilesTalk and Your Best Credit Cards.
However, some may not want to book what is offered at the increased Points Boost rate. “For those people, other redemptions are now worth just 1 cent per point,” Grossman says. “For that audience, it’s definitely going to make their points less valuable.”
In order to redeem points at Points Boost rates, you must make purchases through Chase Travel. To view eligible options, look for a blue rocket ship next to your trip search results. You can also filter your results to show only Points Boost-eligible flights and hotels.
While cardholders adjust to these new rates and redemption options, Chase has implemented a buffer period when existing Sapphire Preferred cardholders can redeem at either the fixed 25% redemption rate or the Points Boost redemption rate, whichever is higher, on points earned before Oct. 26, 2025.
This will last until Oct. 26, 2027, when the fixed rate will be completely phased out in favor of Points Boost. Those who joined after the changes were announced on June 23 qualify only for the Points Boost options.
Additional Changes
Chase is offering new Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card cardholders 75,000 bonus points after they spend $5,000 within the first three months from opening an account. Similarly, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a 100,000-point welcome offer, with a $500 Chase Travel credit, after spending $5,000 in the first three months.
As part of its latest rollout, Chase now allows customers to hold both the Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards at the same time. Chase also announced a once-in-a-lifetime rule on welcome bonuses. If you ever earned a welcome bonus on a Sapphire card, you generally can’t earn the bonus for that card again. But what about for a different card? Existing Sapphire cardholders who earned a welcome bonus are also likely ineligible for a welcome bonus when they open another Sapphire card.
Source:
Sent from Proton Mail Android