Chase to Make Negative Changes to Sapphire Reserve Card Benefits

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is widely considered to be one of the best premium credit cards available in the US. It has a host of benefits, including a $300 annual travel credit, 3x points on travel and dining purchases, complimentary lounge access at airports, and much more (customers can also request a increase to their credit line with Chase by visiting www.Chase.com/IncreaseMyLine).

However, Chase is on the verge of removing some benefits from the card, and altering others. Here’s a snapshot of what’s set to take effect (hat tip to DoctorOfCredit):

Basically, there are three changes going into effect in late August, 2018. In order of descending order of significance, the changes are:

• Priority Pass Select access will be limited to two (2) guests per visit. Previously there was no limit. This could be a big drawback for families and group travelers, although for many people it won’t make a difference.
• Price Protection will be removed completely. Chase Price Protection will actually be removed from ALL Chase cards this year – a surprising move, particularly on the CSR with it’s whopping $450 annual fee
• The $300 annual travel credit will remain unchanged, but purchases qualifying for the credit will no longer earn 3x bonus points. Previously these purchases qualified as travel, so you would earn 3x points per $1 spent. Since everyone should be maxing out the travel credit, this change simply means that all CSR cardholders will earn 900 fewer points per year (and 900 UR points could have a number of great uses).

Our Thoughts

None of these are massive changes, but they are still significant. The 3x earning on the travel credit change seems rather silly, as it only saves Chase about $10 per year per cardholder. The other changes could be a big downside, depending on how you like to use the card’s benefits.

Ultimately, any negative change to a card with a $450 annual fee is concerning. Although, when the CSR launched many people (myself included) believed that the benefits were too good to be true for the long run. Hopefully this isn’t the beginning of more benefit downgrades…