In addition to Chase making The Edit credit easier to redeem, they’ve also announced today that both Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve for Business cardholders will be getting an additional benefit in 2026.
From January 1, 2026, through the end of the year, cardholders will get up to $250 in statement credits for prepaid bookings through Chase Travel℠ for select hotel chains.
The hotel chains that’ll be eligible for this benefit are:
- IHG Hotels & Resorts
- Omni Hotels & Resorts
- Virgin Hotels
- Pendry Hotels & Resorts
- Montage Hotels & Resorts
- Minor Hotels
- Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts
Chase has also advised that, in addition to the up to $250 in credits you’ll receive, cardholders will earn Ultimate Rewards points on the stay for any spend above $250, plus the stays will be eligible to earn points in the loyalty program of the chain you’ll be staying at. That presumably also means that you’ll earn elite night credits, be eligible to receive status benefits, etc.
Note that this benefit is for stays booked through Chase Travel, so booking direct on, say, IHG.com won’t earn you a statement credit. Also, be aware that this is a benefit that’ll only be around in 2026, rather than being a new, permanent benefit on the Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve for Business cards.
Something else that’s important to be aware of is that a minimum stay of two nights is required. That makes the credit much less appealing as you can’t redeem it for cheap one night stays, but it could still be useful nonetheless.
Considering IHG is included as one of the eligible chains, this new – albeit limited-time – benefit should be somewhat easy to use, despite the two night minimum stay. $250 could cover the cost of a couple of nights in an airport hotel, a couple of nights along a highway on a road trip, etc.
Both this new benefit and the positive change to how The Edit credit can be redeemed suggest that Chase is getting concerned with how few people are applying for the card and/or how many people are cancelling their existing card at renewal. The fact that they’re announcing these benefit changes 3.5 months before they take effect makes me think it’s more a case of them being concerned about the latter—that people are cancelling their existing Sapphire Reserve cards at a far greater pace than anticipated and that these benefits will hopefully stem the outflow.
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More sleight of hand. Yet another “benefit” for a pre-paid booking with a two night minimum that does not earn the 8x portal points and is one time only for 2026. Uh… ok. I suppose if you can find a two night stay at an IHG property for $125 a night, this one checks out. But it’s not a reason to keep the CSR. What a complete disaster and Chase has no one to blame but itself.
Starting January 1, 2026, get up to $250 in statement credits through December 1, 2026 on prepaid Chase Travel hotel bookings for stays with IHG® Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts. Two night minimum required. Purchases that qualify will not earn points.
It’s like no matter how many credits they provide, people always complain. They are literally giving you an extra $250 credit. On top of the $500 The Edit Credit, on top of the $300 Travel credit. That’s $1,050 value in those 3 credits alone. Tomorrow they could announce a new $250 credit for another travel category and people would still find something negative to say.
LOL @ “$125 night IHG property”. You should really consider applying for no annual fee cashback cards and stick with those.
This is a classic case of: Non-Premium travelers complaining about a Premium travel credit card.
Anyone who considers those credits to be worth $1,050 isn’t a premium anything. They’re just a dupe.
They’re providing a new credit that I have no use for. Will still cancel without a second thought
I can get other premium travel cards to work out in my favor. And I could get the previous CSR to work out in my favor. But this one doesn’t work out for me, although admittedly my math is a bit more complicated than yours.
But now I am just so confused about whether I am a premium traveler or not.
You are commenting on a site that publishes a spreadsheet that values the $500 Edit credit at $75 and that even values the $300 travel credit at $285 because of the loss of points on the $300. They have now added a one time only 11 month credit for $250 to use for a two night prepaid stay at an IHG property, which may or may not earn points above the $250 value of the credit (the words seem clear to me, but what Chase is doing with it I have no idea). The value of that credit, therefore, is not $250. At a minimum, you are losing 8x points on that $250, which is 2,000 points, a conservative value of which would be $30. So let’s call it $220.
I agree that many HNWI’s don’t really care and will simply absorb the fee increase and move on. If you are one of those individuals and you value the credits that Chase is offering at face marketing value, good for you! Enjoy them. For those of us who have held this card for nearly a decade and are perhaps slightly irked at the clear loss of value that Chase is delivering on 10/26, you’ll forgive us a moment of analysis about what is happening. Or perhaps you thought that Chase was giving an extra one time $250 credit because their CEO woke up yesterday and was feeling generous.
As the very post that you are commenting on says, “Chase is getting concerned with how few people are applying for the card and/or how many people are cancelling their existing card at renewal.” It’s probably because they know they are not delivering $1050 of value for a $795 annual fee, let alone the over $2,700 number they are using in their marketing materials.
If they are worried about cancellations, maybe they should decrease the annual fee?
If they’re really having trouble retaining current cardholders I’m thinking they may need to get into the retention bonus business.
Is this in addition to the edit credits?
Yes
Really strange that they’re adding this just for 2026. Sounds a bit as if they’re panicking — What can we do right now to stop the bleeding right this minute. If 2 x $250 credits didn’t impress people, I’m not sure 2 x $250 for one year, then 2 x $250 is going to make that big a difference.
I am grateful to Chase because I am hoping that by laying an egg with the new CSR that they might have prevented Amex from doing the most egregious damage the could have to the Amex Platinum. (We shall see tomorrow.)
Being able to use the Edit credits anytime during the year raise the value to me from exactly $0 to not quite but very close to $0.
The new one time only IHG etc. credit could be of value, but I don’t think it is enough to get me to keep my CSR for another year, especially if it requires a two night stay. I might have been tempted, but Greg’s recent post on hotel credits prompted me to update my assessment of all my free night and other travel credits, and I am going to have enough trouble using all of them next year anyway. If it was going to be a long term credit that could be used for single nights then it would cause me to reevaluate, but it isn’t worth changing my plans otherwise.
I have been saying since the changes were announced that these changes are good for me personally, but I am very grateful to everyone who has been threatening to cancel their card for getting Chase to give me even more benefits!
Sorry if I missed this- can it stack with the Edit benefit?
Fantastic. Statement credits are way better for obvious reasons then coupons which are applied at checkout.
Especially if it stays after cancelling the reservationof course 🙂
How is this different than the $250 they are offering semi annually? Would this stack on top of that?
MUCH larger list of hotels, but not additional benefits like breakfast. Also, The Edit lets you get a small discount on $1,000 a night stays, while this one will actually pay for some stays.
Is a two night booking required for this credit? If so then it limits utility for airport hotels or nights along the road.
It’s not mentioned in the post, but on the Chase website it states there is a two night minimum (bolding mine):
It’s a shame, because I would have had no trouble using this at an airport hotel. I’m sure I’ll still be able to find a use for it, it will just take a little more work/planning.
Yes, it is – I forgot to include that in the post. I’ll get it added now.