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Last week, news broke about Citi’s upcoming changes to their ultra-premium Prestige credit card: starting next year they’ll add 5X rewards for dining & airfare and limit 4th Night Free to 2 uses per year. In response, and even though I’m excited about these changes, I listed the reasons why I don’t think that the Citi Prestige has toppled the Sapphire Reserve. That post was written with an “average” traveler in mind. I believe that most frequent travelers will continue to do very well with the Sapphire Reserve and its fellow Ultimate Rewards cards. With those cards Chase makes it very easy to earn lots of points and to redeem them for great value.
But, what about a non-average traveler? Some of the techniques involved in earning the most points from Citi go beyond what I think of as “average”. Examples include: regularly seeking retention offers; obtaining an AT&T Access More card through multiple product changes (change first to the AT&T Access card and then to the More); finding manufactured spending options that offer 3X; etc. And the same goes for redeeming points for great value: combining 4th night free with Premier 1.25 redemption; redeeming sweet-spot awards with foreign airline partners; capitalizing on Citi transfer bonuses; etc. All of these things make the Citi ThankYou program extremely valuable for those willing and knowledgeable enough to go the extra mile.
What about me? Given the upcoming Citi Prestige changes, should I keep or ditch my Sapphire Reserve card?
Background
I’ve kept my Prestige card the last few years because it easily pays for itself. Back when Citi Gold checking was for mere mortals (they now seem to require $200K in investments), I apparently locked in a $350 annual fee. After the card’s $250 travel reimbursement, my net cost is only $100. And, since I tend to use the 4th Night Free hotel benefit once or twice every year, keeping the card easily results in a profit.
I also recently signed up for the $95 Premier card when it was offering a 60K bonus (you can find up-to-date bonus info here). The Premier card offers a 20% discount on travel point redemptions (1.25 cents per point value). By pooling my Premier and Prestige accounts, I can now combine the 4th Night Free benefit and the Premier 20% point discount if I’m willing to book my stay online. When booking a 4 night stay, this combination results in a 40% point discount vs. paying 1 point per cent. That’s like getting 1.67 cents per point value (see this post for details or this post if you want to argue about the 1.67 value). Also see: Complete Guide to Citi Prestige 4th Night Free.
Dining 5X: Citi Prestige for the win
Currently I’m using my Amex Gold card to get 4X for dining within the US, and I’ll use the Sapphire Reserve for 3X dining elsewhere. When the Prestige card adds 5X categories in January 2019, I’ll switch to the Prestige card for all dining. The one possible exception is when dining at a hotel restaurant: you never know if it will code as dining or lodging.
Travel 5X or 3X and travel insurance
Travel spend gets more complicated. The Prestige card will offer 5X for airfare and “most travel agencies”. For all other travel expenses, I have multiple options to earn 3X rewards:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve: 3X travel
- Chase Ink Business Preferred: 3X travel
- US Bank Altitude Reserve: 3X travel
- Citi Premier: 3X travel
- CNB Crystal Visa Infinite: 3X travel
I listed the above cards roughly in the order in which I prefer their points: Chase Ultimate Rewards > US Bank points > Thank You points > CNB points.
In general, I want to use the card that offers the best rewards and the best travel protections. Let’s look at various types of travel I tend to spend money on…
Flights
Both Citi Prestige and Sapphire Reserve offer very good trip protections (see: Ultra-Premium Credit Card Travel Insurance). The Sapphire Reserve is better for trip cancellation and interruption since it covers you fully even if you only pay for part of the trip with the card. The Sapphire Reserve also has better trip delay protection since Citi doesn’t count delays caused by missed connections. And Chase throws in emergency medical and dental coverage, up to $2,500 per trip.
None of the other cards on my 3X travel list above provide anywhere near the same coverage as the Sapphire Reserve or Citi Prestige.
Car Rentals
Both my Altitude Reserve and my CNB card offer primary collision coverage and 3X earnings. If I were to drop the Sapphire Reserve, I’d switch to the Altitude Reserve for car rentals. The Ink Business Preferred also offers primary coverage but only when renting “primarily for business purposes.”
Hotels
I don’t usually prepay for hotels, so trip cancellation/interruption coverage isn’t much of an issue. If I were to drop the Sapphire Reserve, I’d probably start using my Altitude Reserve at hotels (or maybe the Citi Premier if I needed more ThankYou points).
Uber / Lyft
I already use my Altitude Reserve card for Uber and Lyft rides. The Altitude gives me 3X points and I can instantly redeem previously earned points at 1.5 cents per point value via Real Time Mobile Rewards. I can have my cake and eat it too. That is, I can earn my 3X points and use them too (at 1.5 cents per point value).
Decision Time
I’ll keep my Sapphire Reserve at least until January 2019. At that point, the question will be whether to downgrade it to a no-fee Freedom card before the next annual fee comes due (it would then become my fourth Freedom card!).
Given all of the above considerations, here is the value I’d continue to get from the Sapphire Reserve if I were to keep it:
- Annual $300 travel credits
- Trip protection peace of mind
- Simplicity: One card to use for all travel
- Ability to redeem Ultimate Rewards points for 1.5 cents each towards travel
Is it worth it just for those things? The $300 travel credit offers obvious value. The rest are less obvious. It’s hard to attach a value to the trip protection peace of mind, especially when the alternatives come very close. And while simplicity is great for most people, I don’t much mind picking and choosing different cards for different purposes. And, finally, the ability to redeem points for 1.5 cents each can be extremely valuable. In practice, though, I rarely use it. But, I do like knowing it’s there, just in case. If I did my math right, I’d have to redeem 100K points per year this way to break even:
- Annual Fee: $550
- Travel Credit: -$300
- 100K points redeemed at 1.5 cents value (vs. 1.25): -$250
I thought that writing this post would clarify the decision for me, but it hasn’t. I honestly haven’t yet decided whether to keep or downgrade the card, but I’m leaning towards downgrading it.
What do you think? Should I keep or cancel my Sapphire Reserve?
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[…] Should I ditch my Sapphire Reserve? […]
I’m guessing the numbers become a little different if you don’t otherwise plan on keeping a $95 chase card (ink plus, ink pref, csp), right? I have an Amex Plat, Ritz, and the CSR as well but not the CNB or Citi Prestige, so for me it seems like a keeper for your mentioned reasons (trip delay insurance, 1.5x, etc).
Yes, that’s right.
Keeping the Reserve for the insurance. We cruise twice a year so more than pays for the difference.
That makes sense.
I’m doing that by default, too, but I’m wondering if there really isn’t a batter credit card out there for insurance. There HAS to be! Maybe it’s one that is bad at rewards and good at insurance? I have no idea, it just seems incredible that that is what keeps us holding on. It’s not insignificant, but if you had told me when I signed up for CSR that insurance was the biggest reason I’d hold onto it two years later, I’d have raised an eyebrow.
I wouldn’t pay $450 unless I was VERY CERTAIN the card’s returns would SUBSTANTIALLY EXCEED that fee. The value proposition CAN’T be “oh well over the next year I get $300 in travel credits and then MAYBE another $150 sorta kinda maybe breakeven”. Because things change all the time in the churning world, as does your life. And $450 spent now really should return more than $450 over the course of the year considering inflation/opportunity cost (maybe $500+). The value proposition has got to be “it’s totally worth the annual fee, and in addition should generate hundreds, if not a thousand+ in excess value”.
And I don’t see that kind of value proposition for the CSR anymore for most people in most circumstances. Unless you can magically reduce the AF somehow…
I absolutely agree with you: don’t pay for a card unless the value you get from it substantially exceeds the fee. The reason I came up with those break even numbers was because I don’t know how to quantify the peace of mind of the travel protections. By breaking even financially, in my mind, the travel protections are where the card’s value substantially exceeds the fee.
I think there’s a Club Membership quality of the CSR. Remember, once you get rid of it, you lose your club membership for at least 48 months. Our annual fee is months away so we’ll wait and see how Chase answers. They have to answer somehow. RIght? RIGHT???
I’m not sure about ” once you get rid of it, you lose your club membership for at least 48 months.” I haven’t tried, but my guess is that once I downgrade to the Freedom, Chase will happily let me upgrade back to the Reserve whenever I want to. If that’s not true, then that would be a serious reason to keep the card.
greg. i give you clarity. dont be a quitter. keep it for science.
LOL. OK, if you say so
haha.
Since CSR is the only transfer card in my family (well my wife has CSP, but that’s temporary), then using 1.5cpp on UR portal vs the next transfer option of $95 AF, you will have to spend 22000 points per year to break even the $55 difference. I spend way more than that on UR portal per year. So I will keep it. And will also use it for other travel (except for whatever Prestige has 5x). Yes, there is an Altitude Reserve, which is also 1.5cpp like CSR, and with primary CDW in US, but travel category is more limited, and I just prefer to cash the points at 1.5cpp, and not use it against travel.
Yep, that makes sense
Why do you value Altitude points higher than TYPs? I think TYPs are a bit better than 1.5c each.
Where are you realistically and consistently getting over 1.5cpp with TYP? JetBlue is my best redemption there and I’d peg it at 1.4cpp. I’d generally take a consistent 1.5 cpp on any flight.
Flying Blue, Avianca and Turkish. Didn’t try Cathay or others yet.
I’ve gotten great value from transfers to Air France, Singapore Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic.
I’m surprised no one else asked this. With Altitude’s real time mobile rewards it has become very easy to cash out points for 1.5 cents each. So I see Altitude points as being virtually equal to cash. Given that, when I choose to earn 3X ThankYou Points instead of 3X Altitude Points, that’s financially equivalent to me buying ThankYou points at 1.5 cents each. Since I have a very large stash of ThankYou points already, I wouldn’t purposely buy points at that rate.
Now that I think about it… I could and should argue the same for Ultimate Rewards points. With all else equal, I should prefer Altitude points…
Cash is the king, eh? Then you should ditch all the premium cards and just leave AR!
I’m confused as to why you’d have to redeem 60k points to break even. Isn’t that way more than breaking even?
Greg is comparing to have 1.5 cents per point value with Sapphire Reserve and 1.25 cents per point value with CIP/CSP. And Greg claimed that extra 0.25 cent per point will be enough to justify to keep the reserve if he redeem 60K points a year. But Greg, should you factor in the AF for the CIP/CSP? I think you just need to cover the difference of $55.
The reason I’m not factoring in the AF for the CIP is that I already have it and plan to keep it regardless of this decision. So, I see it as “given that I can get 1.25 cents value…”
Since I have and plan to keep a $95 Ink card which allows paying with points at 1.25 cents each, the Reserve only adds 0.25 cents per point in value. If I spend 60K points that way, then I’m getting 60K x 0.25 = $150 in extra value. Combine that $150 with the $300 travel rebate, and I break even by getting as much value from the card as the $450 annual fee.
another CSR perk, priority pass (don’t have other card so don’t know if they have it too) we used it for $60 food credit in MIA yesterday….I guess a main consideration is how many UR points you have and how often you use the 1.5 ppm booking engine
Yep. Citi Prestige has the same. I also have TWO different ultra-premium cards that offer priority pass with unlimited guests: CNB and Ritz.
I was already not sure whether to get the Preferred or Reserve but now after reading this I’m really not sure if I should get either…Ideas?
just get the Preferred for the 50K bonus. $95 already pays for itself going that route.
I would lean towards the Reserve if you are debating. Remember you get a $300 credit so you only need to find $450 – $300 – $95 = $55 worth of extra value out of the reserve to make it worth it. If you decide it’s not worth it after a year downgrade it to a CSP or Freedom.
However you know your spending habits better than me… you’ll have to run the math on it for yourself.
Also nothing is stopping you from getting the CSR now and Prestige in January if you don’t have either… then decide later which to keep, enjoy the singup bonuses now.
Another way to look at justifying the extra $55 for the CSR is the 3x on restaurants and travel over 2x with the CSP. $55/.015 = $3667 of spend on travel/dining.
That said I’m considering ditching the CSR and Amex Plat… in January after collecting both annual travel credits. Then get prorated AF refunds and downgrade.
Reasons I might keep the CSR – I do use United, Southwest and Hyatt points transfers a lot. I don’t use any AMEX MR transfer partners.
It totally depends upon your spend habits and what other cards you have. I still think the CSR is an awesome card for those who dine and/or travel a lot. Or, if you earn tons of points from other cards and want to redeem those points for 1.5 cents each, then the Reserve can pay for itself.
I have the Freedoms and Inks with points on all so looking to spend them wisely. We do like to dine out once or twice a week and we travel for a couple weeks once a year then do a long weekend or two.
So one giant thing that I haven’t seen mentioned (if i missed it sorry!) is that the AmEx gold is not proving to be very consistent with restaurant coding. My first cycle I had nearly $400 of restaurant charges that did NOT code as 4x (but 1x) on my brand new Gold card.
If I’m not going to get consistent 4x on restaurant spend with AmEx that takes it out of the running and leaves me to decide between Citi and Chase… I tend to value UR more than TYP because of the transfer partners Hyatt in particular is a huge win for Chase in this debate imo, I find Chase’s set of airline partners on the whole better for me but this very much depends on where you live and where you are trying to go so YMMV. So this is honestly a tough decision. I’ve also utilized trip delay insurance not once but twice in the past year with Chase saving me the annual fee just from that.
I’m curious about that. I just checked our first post 4X Gold statement and found that most restaurants did get 4X, but there was at least one that didn’t despite the category description saying it was a restaurant. I’m going to check through my old Sapphire Reserve purchases to see if the pattern is any different with that card. Ultimately, for me, it doesn’t really matter if Amex isn’t good at coding restaurants because I’m going to switch to Citi 5X in January.
I’m going through some of the same thought process, but with the refreshed Amex Gold. I don’t MS, so I’m just spreading around regular spend. I’ve always figured that I generated more than enough extra points through Freedom 5x quarters to cover the Sapphire annual fee (CSP, then CSR when it came out). Now, with Amex offering only one less point year-round than Freedom grocery, restaurant, and department store categories (since department store gift cards can be bought at grocery stores), and limited value for me with other bonuses, I need to sharpen my pencil a bit more. I’ll pay the CSR annual fee this month, and I’ll probably let it run through next year to see how Chase does with their new offers and whether Amex can come up with Marriott and/or Hilton transfer bonuses to compete with Chase Hyatt transfers, but Sapphire is no longer a no-brainer.
Don’t forget that the Citi Prestige also has Citi Rewind, a benefit I’ve heavily used this past year to the tune of several hundred $$ saved.
Yep. I didn’t mention all of the Prestige card’s benefits because it’s a given that I’ll keep that card. The question is whether to keep the Sapphire Reserve
Since you have the Ritz card, you could use it for partial pay travel to get the travel insurance benefit and therefore having the CSR is redundant
Good point! That would work especially well for award flights where I could pay the award fee with the Ritz card (and hopefully get it reimbursed towards the Ritz’ $300 airline fee credits).