00:00:00:02 - 00:00:08:13
Chris
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card just got its biggest refresh in years. New earning categories, better credits and a 100,000 point limited time offer.
00:00:08:16 - 00:00:16:12
Katie
Most of it is great news, but there is one change buried in this refresh that has us genuinely concerned about where the points game is heading.
00:00:16:13 - 00:00:21:19
Chris
Plus, we'll talk about an under the radar choice evaluation and Katie Seattle hotel mistake.
00:00:21:21 - 00:00:31:01
Katie
It's all coming up right now on the Upgraded Points podcast.
00:00:31:03 - 00:00:34:06
Chris
Hey I'm Chris. Welcome to the Upgraded Points podcast.
00:00:34:06 - 00:01:00:05
Katie
And I'm Katie and today we are talking about a choice devaluation, my Seattle hotel snafu, and then the Chase Sapphire Preferred new 100,000 point bonus and updates. So it's going to be an exciting show. Before we jump into all of that, don't forget a freeway to support our show is by leaving us a five star rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're watching or listening.
00:01:00:06 - 00:01:09:06
Katie
It's a chance for you to tell us what you think of the show, and it helps others discover it, too. So let's start out with some bad news. Chris, what's going on with choice?
00:01:09:08 - 00:01:41:23
Chris
Choice made a no notice overnight devaluation and it impacts many hotels in Japan. This is obviously bad news. Some properties jumped 200% overnight. Hotels that were once bookable for 8000 points. Now costs 25,000 points per night. And this is a sleeper program was a sleeper program I mentioned. I looked into it when I was booking my Japan trip, but many of the rooms that we found didn't accommodate four people, so it didn't work out for us.
00:01:41:23 - 00:01:57:00
Chris
But this is a big bummer for travelers searching for cheap stays in major Japanese cities, because they are some really nice hotels that were bargains. So you're really gonna have to run the numbers now to see if choice is going to be your best choice.
00:01:57:02 - 00:02:10:14
Katie
I like what you did there. Yeah, that's too bad. We've been talking about choice a little bit here. And there is sort of, like you said, a sleeper program. So that's that's kind of a bummer. But hopefully there's still a few sweet spots out there that we can we can get. I'm going to be looking at hotels for Japan.
00:02:10:15 - 00:02:12:14
Katie
So maybe I'll take a peek and let you know.
00:02:12:15 - 00:02:13:12
Chris
Let us know.
00:02:13:16 - 00:02:28:16
Katie
So I just got back from a trip to Seattle. We did a couple days in Seattle and then we went out to Olympic National Park. It was just an easy like family trip, which was great, but I kind of made a mistake with my Seattle hotels.
00:02:28:18 - 00:02:29:11
Chris
Oh yeah.
00:02:29:12 - 00:02:57:05
Katie
So I had two hotel reservations booked. I had booked the Hyatt Regency Seattle, which I had mentioned a while ago, and I was really excited. I was able to use two free night certificates. This was booked before it moved to a category five, and the cash cost was like $1,400. So the sense per point was like bananas. It was a great deal and one of my free night certificates was expiring.
00:02:57:05 - 00:03:23:18
Katie
Soon after. The rest of my family used the Chase edit or chase the edit the credit and booked the W, and so I had planned to do that as well. Originally, I booked this in 2025. I'd already used that year's edit credit, so I just went ahead and booked the W through Chase with points. I got the $0.02 per point points boost, so that was nice.
00:03:23:18 - 00:03:42:21
Katie
So I paid like 5000 chase points for two nights, which actually is isn't bad. My plan was to rebook it this year with a new $250 credit that I had. When I went to do that, the price had gone up. I think the base level room had sold out, so it was like, you know, a junior suite or something, and it just it didn't make sense.
00:03:42:21 - 00:04:04:11
Katie
So yeah, I just kind of left it. And my plan was to go look again and see if, you know, a cheaper room had opened up and I could use my credit. Well, I completely forgot about it just was out of my mind. And keep in mind, I have a spreadsheet with all of this information with a big color coded note, like saying this needs to be canceled or.
00:04:04:11 - 00:04:06:03
Chris
Revoked.
00:04:06:05 - 00:04:28:03
Katie
Completely forgot about it. So a couple days before we left, it dawned on me that I had two hotel reservations, and at that point I was still going to use the Hyatt one because that was just such a great deal. And the the one I booked through Chase had already passed its free cancellation period, so I couldn't cancel that.
00:04:28:05 - 00:04:33:03
Katie
The Hyatt one was able to be canceled, so I ended up canceling that. I didn't get that amazing deal.
00:04:33:05 - 00:04:33:13
Chris
Yeah.
00:04:33:14 - 00:04:52:10
Katie
I still have a free night certificate that's expired in like three weeks now that I had to figure out what to do with. So it was it was not optimized for perfectly. In the end, it worked out just fine. It was actually really beneficial to be at the same hotel as the rest of my family. So that worked out well.
00:04:52:12 - 00:05:16:18
Katie
And even though I wasn't able to use that $250 credit, I did still get all the benefits of booking through the edit, which actually worked out really well. So I had free breakfast every morning for two people, and the way they did it, there is a $60 credit every morning, so it is limited, which I thought was kind of strange because I thought with the edit it was just free breakfast, but I mean, it was fine.
00:05:16:18 - 00:05:44:06
Katie
So we had a $60 credit each morning. We had there was a they have a destination fee at that hotel, so there was another $14 food and beverage credit every day, and then another $100 food and beverage credit. So that covered our food. Three breakfasts plus a dinner. So that actually ended up being a really good option. The hotel itself, great location, loved the location, walkable to almost anything you want to go to.
00:05:44:10 - 00:06:16:01
Katie
It was weird though. The lobby definitely felt very w, but the rooms did not. The rooms were there were fine. There was nothing wrong with them, but it didn't feel like a W. It was just kind of generic decor. The bathroom had that old style, like beige tile and a shower curtain, and it felt more like, like just a western or a a marriott brand and not a W.
00:06:16:03 - 00:06:28:21
Katie
But again, nothing wrong with it. Like it was fine. I would stay there again if I could if it was a good deal. But pay attention when you book back up. Hotels is my is my tip for the day to everyone out there.
00:06:28:23 - 00:06:32:23
Chris
Okay, good to know you don't always need two hotels every time you go to.
00:06:33:01 - 00:06:38:13
Katie
Yeah. And even if you keep a spreadsheet, maybe make a second note, maybe put a thing in your phone.
00:06:38:13 - 00:06:40:02
Chris
Just an alarm. Yeah.
00:06:40:03 - 00:06:43:10
Katie
Yeah. Or I don't know, pay attention to the notes you write for yourself.
00:06:43:12 - 00:06:48:04
Chris
So it wasn't design. You can be able to use that high at night. Now I don't have to give it away.
00:06:48:05 - 00:06:51:06
Katie
No, I have to look. I might have to give it away.
00:06:51:08 - 00:06:52:19
Chris
I know I just gave way.
00:06:52:19 - 00:07:11:22
Katie
One I had I had an opportunity. I thought it was going to work out. I have a trip coming up. Just a short, quick little weekend getaway. And there was a hotel there that I realized was category four. And it's like two days after it expires. Oh, and Hyatt would not extend it, so we'll see.
00:07:11:23 - 00:07:28:15
Chris
Yeah, I had the same thing. I have a certificate. It's going to expire a month later, not as close. So I went into the chat and they said, no, I can't extend it. And I was like, well, I heard that some sometimes you can get some points for it. And I'm like, yeah, sometimes. But you did that last year.
00:07:28:16 - 00:07:32:12
Chris
I was like, oh, sorry.
00:07:32:14 - 00:07:37:00
Katie
Yeah, I tried that too. And they were like, no, no, nothing.
00:07:37:01 - 00:07:59:02
Chris
Oh well, all right, well let's take a break. And when we come back, we are going to do a deep dive into the new changes for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, as well as the huge welcome offer.
00:07:59:04 - 00:08:05:19
Chris
Hey, real quick, before we jump back in, if you're listening to this podcast, you're exactly the kind of person we build our free newsletter for.
00:08:05:20 - 00:08:15:23
Katie
We break down the best credit card offers, transfer bonuses, award alerts, and travel news that actually matters. No fluff, no spam, just the stuff we text a friend if something big dropped.
00:08:16:00 - 00:08:20:21
Chris
A lot of the deals we talk about on the show don't last long. The newsletter is where we flag those fast.
00:08:20:22 - 00:08:33:06
Katie
It's totally free and you can sign up at Upgrade Points letter or.
00:08:33:08 - 00:08:57:06
Chris
Okay. Welcome back. Let's talk about this new huge welcome offer from the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Right now you can earn 100,000 bonus points. This is tied for the highest offer ever on this card. We've only seen it twice in its history. The standard offer is 60,000 points. So this is a big offer. And that's not it. There's been a lot of changes to the card as well.
00:08:57:08 - 00:09:18:13
Katie
Yeah, yeah the 100,000 point offer is exciting. But they they added some benefits, made a couple changes and didn't change the annual fee which is always nice to see some added benefits without a new annual fee because that doesn't always happen these days. So let's go over the new earning rates and benefits. And then we will talk about what's staying the same on the card.
00:09:18:13 - 00:09:43:03
Katie
So you can kind of have a full picture of whether or not this is a good card for you. So three points per dollar on gas and EV charging is a new perk on the Chase Sapphire Reserve as of June 15th. Also, this card will now earn three points per dollar on vacation home rentals at brands including Airbnb, Verbo Plum Guide, HomeAway, homestay.
00:09:43:03 - 00:09:59:03
Katie
Com and that's great if you do a lot of home rentals. There is a $100 Chase Travel Hotel credit each anniversary year, and this used to be $50. They just doubled it.
00:09:59:05 - 00:10:00:08
Chris
So nice.
00:10:00:09 - 00:10:06:16
Katie
Yeah. And if you remember, this is a $95 card and this is $100 hotel credit.
00:10:06:16 - 00:10:10:03
Chris
So that's not split up, right? I think you can use that all at once to.
00:10:10:04 - 00:10:32:03
Katie
I believe. So I do think I read if you had already used your $50 credit this year, then you'll just get another $50 credit. But I think if you hadn't, it's just going to switch to $100, which is fantastic. Every four years, you're going to be eligible for a credit of up to $120 for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or Nexus.
00:10:32:05 - 00:10:59:18
Katie
They have added emergency evacuation and transportation coverage, and card members can get a complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year when you activate by the end of 2026, so that's a lot of value for a $95 card. I mean, if you can make if you're booking hotels, you're paying for hotels, you book one hotel, stay through Chase travel, and you have a $100 credit on a $95 card.
00:10:59:19 - 00:11:02:05
Katie
Like, that's that's pretty solid math.
00:11:02:07 - 00:11:27:20
Chris
Yeah. That's good solid math. That's a solid lineup of benefits for a card that was already a popular card for many reasons. I'll go over a list of benefits that are not being removed. So these are all still on the card. In addition to what Katy just went over, you still have five points per dollar on all Chase travel purchases, including flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, activities and tours.
00:11:27:22 - 00:11:56:04
Chris
You can get two points on all travel worldwide and then three points on dining worldwide, including takeout and eligible delivery services. There's three points on streaming services, three points on online grocery purchases, five points on Lyft rides through September 30th, 2027, and you get five x total points on eligible peloton and accessory purchases over 150 bucks through December 31st, 2027, and then one X on everything else.
00:11:56:04 - 00:12:32:09
Chris
Now that is in addition to what Katy mentioned, which is A3X on gas and Evie charges three x points on vacation homes, and you still get all of the credits and protections and perks that are still available. Plus your points boost. Your points are worth 1.5 x on top of hotels and flights. When book through select airlines through Chase travel, don't forget you have your complimentary Dash pass membership, which is worth $120 per year, plus up to $10 off on groceries, daily essentials and more on DoorDash plus.
00:12:32:11 - 00:12:34:17
Katie
Plus, plus and plus plus.
00:12:34:18 - 00:13:02:09
Chris
Yeah, you get the $100 trace hotel credit every anniversary that was 50. Now it's 100. And then that emergency evacuation and transportation coverage, that was something we had seen on the chase after reserve card. So now you get this really big travel protection on a $95 card that's really big, $120 Global Entry. Again, this is something we see on cards with a much higher annual fees.
00:13:02:10 - 00:13:16:20
Chris
And be sure to go activate your complimentary Apple TV subscription if you do it by December 31st, 2026, you'll get you get a full year. So that's tons of no brainer stuff for a card that's $95.
00:13:16:21 - 00:13:36:22
Katie
Yeah, I mean, up until now, complete no brainer. Sign me up. It sounds amazing, but we have to be fair. We have to be fair. There are a couple of things that are being removed that we need to talk about. Because it is not all sunshine and roses. It's mostly sunshine and roses with this update, but not all sunshine and roses.
00:13:36:22 - 00:14:03:15
Katie
So there are two main things that are being removed that we have to talk about. The first one actually not a huge deal. That 10% anniversary bonus is being discontinued and that is effective immediately for anyone that applies 15th or after. If you had already had this card prior to June 15th, your purchases through October 1st, 2026 will be eligible for that 10% points boost.
00:14:03:17 - 00:14:24:02
Katie
And this is a 10% points boost on what you spend, not the points you earn. So it's not as amazing as it sounds, you know at first glance. So if you spent $25,000 on this card during the year, which is quite a bit to put on a single card, you'd get 2500 bonus points. Like it's nice but nice.
00:14:24:03 - 00:14:35:17
Katie
I don't think this should move the needle for anyone, whether you're deciding to get this card or not. Know so. But okay, I got to take a big breath in the bad news.
00:14:35:19 - 00:14:37:07
Chris
Something that might move the needle.
00:14:37:08 - 00:15:02:20
Katie
This one might move the needle. And this one I think needs to get talked about. This actually also applies to the Ink Business Preferred card, which is the business version more or less of the Sapphire Preferred. And your transfer ratio to World of Hyatt is going down. It was 1.1 and it is moving to 4 to 3. So or 1 to 1 not 1.1.
00:15:02:22 - 00:15:29:16
Katie
So 1 to 1 two 4 to 3. And for Sapphire Preferred members, if you apply on or after June 15th, this is in effect as soon as you apply. If you had the card prior to June 15th, you have until October 1st to transfer your points at that solid 1 to 1 ratio. After that, it's going to go down to 4 to 3 for Ink Business Preferred card holders.
00:15:29:16 - 00:15:54:06
Katie
Whether or not you've had the card prior to June 15th or not, you just need to keep in mind that October 1st date so you'll get the 1 to 1 transfer ratio until October 1st that it switches for everyone. So I think at first glance, maybe that doesn't seem like a huge deal, but it is actually a pretty big, significant change.
00:15:54:08 - 00:16:12:05
Katie
So let's talk about Chris. What do you think about all of these changes? We talked about a whole list of amazing changes. We talked about a 100,000 point bonus, which no one can argue. That's a great bonus. Now that we know about these two things that have been taken away. What do you think?
00:16:12:07 - 00:16:29:05
Chris
Yeah, the 10% doesn't really faze me too much. Like you said, it's you'd have to spend a lot on this card to make that really a big loss. I know a lot of people have this card just for chance for it to hide it, so that's going to be a big change for them. But let's look at it from a whole.
00:16:29:08 - 00:16:59:16
Chris
The refresh refresh is largely positive. You have new earning categories. There's an awesome 100,000 point limited time offer. There's a new Global Entry credit. They doubled your hotel credit all for $95 per year. That is a great deal, but that I had transferred. Evaluation sucks. I'm not sure if it's enough to convince people to jump up to the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, because that will maintain the 1 to 1 ratio.
00:16:59:22 - 00:17:07:12
Chris
Maybe that's what Chase is hoping for, but this will definitely, like you said, maybe move the needle for some people. Katie, what do you think?
00:17:07:18 - 00:17:28:22
Katie
Yeah I think overall great news. And just, you know, if you're someone who doesn't have this card and you're deciding whether or not this is a good card to get, the answer is yes. It's generally a good card to get you. You really can't go to wrong with this card, especially with this 100,000 point welcome offer. That's a huge number of points for a $95 annual fee card.
00:17:28:22 - 00:17:57:07
Katie
And at its core, you're still getting a ton of value for that annual fee. So yes, it is still a solid card that I think is going to make sense in a lot of people's wallets. The one small detail and I'm doing air quotes there. If you're not, if you're not watching this, if you're listening and it is this Hyatt thing, and it was kind of thrown into the very end of the press release, kind of like hoping no one would notice, but.
00:17:57:09 - 00:17:59:18
Chris
It's no big deal. I don't know. No one likes Hyatt.
00:17:59:19 - 00:18:22:17
Katie
Yeah, just a quick I mean, the numbers, you know, don't even look. So this transfer rate change kind of has me upset for a few reasons. First of all, this is a 25% devaluation. That's huge. Like that's a big number. When you actually look at it, you know, you look at 1 to 1, 4 to 3. Okay, maybe you don't quite get the but 25% is huge.
00:18:22:19 - 00:18:30:18
Katie
This is the first Chase transfer partner as far as I can remember. That is not a 1 to 1 transfer ratio.
00:18:30:20 - 00:18:32:18
Chris
And it's.
00:18:32:18 - 00:18:54:05
Katie
Also the first time I think that we are seeing a reduced rate on a card with an annual fee. So you might know that like for city, they some of the no annual fee cards have access to the transfer partners, but at a lower rate than the cards with annual fees do. So that's not new, but this is a lower rate on a card with an annual fee.
00:18:54:05 - 00:19:22:02
Katie
And it's the first time we're seeing that for Chase. So it feels like a big deal that's trying to pretend that it's not a big deal. We talked about this trend in episode 47, Chris, and we were saying that we think this is going to be a trend for this year. And unfortunately, we were right. And I think the more and more we see this, the more it's going to become acceptable.
00:19:22:02 - 00:19:41:16
Katie
And that feels, you know, that's a huge shift in the wrong direction as far as I'm concerned. It makes the points game more complicated and also a little bit less valuable. It makes it harder for new people to get into the game because it's not as easy as, hey, you know, you get this great $95 card. You are in these amazing points.
00:19:41:16 - 00:20:06:05
Katie
You can transfer it to any of this list of partners. One point equals one point. One point equals one mile. It's not simple anymore. Now, for those of us who are in deep, we're going to navigate around this and find different ways to get value. So I'm not worried about us, but I don't like this complicated complicate. I was trying to make up another word.
00:20:06:07 - 00:20:08:06
Katie
It's getting complicated.
00:20:08:08 - 00:20:10:06
Chris
It's good. Even the words are complicated.
00:20:10:06 - 00:20:30:12
Katie
Yeah, words are hard for me today. So. Yeah, it's it's a bummer. I still think this is a great card. It's a great offer. If you're thinking about it. It's I'm guessing 95% of the time going to still be worth it. And you can use the card for a year, collect your points and then kind of evaluate the way you want to use your points to decide.
00:20:30:13 - 00:20:45:04
Katie
Like Chris said, do you want to upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. There's going to be some some math that you can do to figure out if the extra transfer ratio is worth it. Yeah, it's kind of a bummer, but the rest of it's great.
00:20:45:05 - 00:21:10:23
Chris
Yeah, I think it's it's still a solid card. And we get really hung up on on Hyatt because for a long time this had been the kind of default what you do with a lot of your Chase points because it had been so valuable. But with the recent height of maybe this isn't everyone's first thought anymore. So taking away or just ignoring for a second the Hyatt ratio transfer ratio.
00:21:11:00 - 00:21:39:12
Chris
This card just got a huge improvement in earning rates and welcome offers. So if you were looking at any of the other Chase transfer partners, this card is a slam dunk. If you were considering high as a transfer partner. Yeah. Just know that that 100,000 point welcome offer is going to be worth 75,000 high points now. So but taking away that math the card is still pretty good.
00:21:39:13 - 00:22:06:01
Katie
Yeah, I think that's actually a really good point you made, Chris. And one that I think we need to remember is not everyone is in Chase just for Hyatt. I generally am, but that doesn't mean that everyone else is. I'm guessing probably a majority of people are not necessarily in the Chase ecosystem just for Hyatt. And like you said, when you when you take that out, which they've had some of their own evaluations, so maybe it's not as much of a golden unicorn as it used to be.
00:22:06:01 - 00:22:22:23
Katie
This is an amazing card that still has 1 to 1 transfer ratios to a lot of great partners that are going to be very valuable for a lot of people. So yeah, I still think this is an excellent card for those of us who are in the Hyatt ecosystem. Hard. It's a bit of a bummer, but there are ways around it.
00:22:22:23 - 00:22:40:20
Katie
So overall, I think generally good news for and for most people this is going to be, I still think, a slam dunk with that 100,000 point welcome offer, because we don't see that very often. Like Chris said at the beginning, this is the third time in its history that we've seen a welcome offer on this card of 100,000 points.
00:22:40:20 - 00:23:01:03
Katie
So that's something you do not want to wait on. Let us know what you think of this new these new benefits on this card. Are you getting this card? Is the Hyatt devaluation transfer ratio devaluation the end of the road for you? Do you not care? Let us know what you think. You can reach us at podcasts at upgraded points.
00:23:01:05 - 00:23:04:16
Katie
And that's going to do it for us this week. We will see you next week.