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The premium card war created incredible benefits for consumers, but as the war has waged onward, we’ve seen credit card issuers start to dial back benefits. When the Citi Prestige hit the market it debuted benefits like free rounds of golf, 1.6 cent redemption on AA flights, incredible 4th night benefits, and if not the best travel protections – in the conversation. Since then, we’ve seen many of those benefits dialed back, and come July 29, 2018 we’ll see more devalued. Here’s a quick list.
Starting July 29th, 2018
- $500 Trip Delay starting at 6 hours ( This puts it in equal footing with the Reserve)
- currently 3hours
- ONLY Family members ( see Citi for details on this)
- Companions currently covered – so girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, work colleagues etc.
- $5000 Trip Cancellation ONLY family members
- Companions are currently covered
- Car Rental Coverage dropping to $75k
- Currently $100k
- Additionally ( BIG ONE ) loss of use, diminished value to the rental car, or additional fees and taxes are not covered
- I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve for all rental cars
- Damage and Theft will become secondary insurance
- 90 Day return protection drops to 90 days and $1500 a year
- Currently 120 days and $2500
- Citi Price Rewind reduced to $1000 a year and max benefit drops to $200 per item
- currently $2500 a year
- Max benefits per item will be the lesser of $200 or the amount charged to the Citi Prestige – down from $500 currently
- The maximum benefit per calendar year per account will be reduced to $1000, from the current $2500
So is Prestige still worth it?
I’ve been a Prestige holder for nearly two years and have gotten tons of value out of it. The $250 annual airline credit knocks the annual fee down considerably. I picked up the card when I was Citi Gold so my fee is actually $350 vs the standard $450. That means I only need get $100 of value out of the 4th night free benefit and I’m ahead on value every single year.
Add in transfer partners like Singapore Airlines, Cathay Asia Miles, and the newly added Avianca, and there are many ways to extract value.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.