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It wasn’t long ago that the Citi Prestige® Card was the standout product in the premium travel card market. The card featured a stellar list of perks and benefits that included access to Admirals Club® lounges, a high fixed-value redemption rate of 1.66¢ per mile on American Airlines flights, and the fourth night free on paid hotel bookings.
But recent devaluations and the loss or watering down of many of the card’s best features have left cardholders wondering if it's worth holding for the long term. Today, we’re lining it up against crowd favorite, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), to determine if the card still deserves a place at the top of the premium rewards card category.
Signup Bonus
- Sapphire Reserve – Earn 100,000 bonus points + $500 Chase Travel℠ promo credit after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Prestige Card – This card is no longer available to new cardholders
The Sapphire Reserve offers up 100,000 bonus points + $500 Chase Travel℠ promo credit bonus points. The welcome offer on the Sapphire Reserve is more than enough to cover the out-of-pocket expense of holding the card over the first year. The Sapphire Reserve also allows you to receive the bonus more than once, provided you stick within recently tightened application restrictions:
“The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months. If you are an existing Sapphire customer and would like this product, please call the number on the back of your card to see if you are eligible for a product change. You will not receive the new cardmember bonus if you change products.”
The Sapphire Reserve falls under Chase’s 5/24 guidelines. If you were approved for five or more personal (and some business) cards in the previous 24 months, you stand little chance of an approval on the Sapphire Reserve.
Earning Potential & Bonus Categories
- Sapphire Reserve – 8x total points on purchases through Chase Travel℠, 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly, 3x on dining, and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Prestige Card – 5X points on air travel and at restaurants, 3X points at hotels and on cruise line purchases, and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases
The Prestige Card provides a robust 5x bonus points on air travel and restaurants, but Chase’s broad interpretation of the travel category means Sapphire Reserve cardholders can extract bonus points from more purchases.
The other thing to factor into the equation is the ability to pair cards up for higher-earning/redeeming ratios. The Sapphire Reserve counts a number of high-earning stablemates within the Ultimate Rewards family, such as the Chase Freedom® and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), that allow you to pool points together for fantastic returns on almost every spending category, including business expenses. Unfortunately, outside of the 4th-night free benefit and lounge access, there is a strong argument that Prestige Card cardmembers would get more value out of the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card which features lucrative bonus categories for a significantly lower annual fee.
Related: Is it worth keeping the Chase Sapphire Reserve?
Lounge Access
- Sapphire Reserve – Priority Pass Select Membership
- Prestige Card – Priority Pass Select Membership
Both cards feature similar lounge access. The Prestige Card allows you to bring up to two guests or immediate family members (spouse, domestic partner, and children under 18 years of age) into the lounge, and additional guests cost $35 each. The Sapphire Reserve now features a similar cap — 2 guests or immediate family.
Before Citi stripped Admirals Club access from the Prestige Card, this category would have been no contest. As it stands now, for all intents and purposes, there is no difference between the lounge access policies on these cards.
Airline/Travel Credit
- Sapphire Reserve – $300 travel credit
- Prestige Card – $250 travel credit
The travel credit on the Prestige Card covers almost all travel expenses, making it much more useful than the airline credit it used to offer. Stack it up against Chase's $300 travel credit on the Sapphire Reserve, however, and Chase comes out a clear winner. Chase defines travel as everything from airline tickets to road tolls and parking fees, and the credit is automatically applied when Chase detects a purchase coding as travel from the merchant.
Where the Prestige Card does have the Sapphire Reserve beat, is how the credit is allocated in the first year. Chase clamped down on cardmembers double dipping the travel credit in the first 12 months, by shifting the claim period from calendar year to cardmember year. Citi, on the other hand, still defines the claim period as once per calendar year, meaning you can claim the credit twice in the first 12 months. Provided you maximize the $250 credit each time, Citi is essentially paying you $5 for holding the Prestige Card the first year.
Rewards Program Redemption Value
- Sapphire Reserve – Ultimate Rewards features 14 hotel and airline transfer partners, and you can redeem points for up to 2¢ each through the Chase Travel Portal (depending on your specific redemption).
- Prestige Card – ThankYou® Rewards features 21 airline and hotel transfer partners, and you can redeem points for 1¢ each for flights booked through the ThankYou® Travel Center
At the risk of our comparison sounding like a one-sided affair, you have to give Ultimate Rewards full credits for redemption value.
ThankYou® Rewards counts some fantastic international programs as transfer partners. You can also redeem ThankYou Points earned on this card for 1¢ per point for flights booked via the ThankYou® Travel Center.
The Sapphire Reserve and Ultimate Rewards list both United MileagePlus and Southwest Rapid Rewards as 1:1 transfer partners, along with World of Hyatt and a host of other high-value programs. Ultimately, Chase’s transfer partners offer more value, and the ability for Sapphire Reserve cardholders to redeem Ultimate Rewards points at up to 2¢ per point through the Chase Travel Portal provides enormous value and genuine flexibility.
Hotel Benefits
- Sapphire Reserve – Vias Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection & Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection
- Prestige Card – 4th Night Free
Neither card offers elite hotel status of any substance, but the Prestige Card does provide an elite-like benefit, typically reserved for elite status members on award stays. Citi’s 4th Night Free, even in its slightly diluted new form, is one of the single most valuable benefits offered on any premium rewards card. Book a paid stay of four or more nights through ThankYou.com, and Citi calculates the average nightly rate, returning one night in the form of a statement credit at the end of your billing cycle. While only of tangible value for cardholders booking longer paid stays, provided you book a hotel with a room rate north of $200, between the 4th Night Free and the $250 travel credit, the annual fee is covered. You can also stack the 4th Night Free perk with other offers such as member-only rates and free night packages for extra savings.
The only hotel benefit offered on the Sapphire Reserve is access to the Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection and Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection which provide elite-like benefits on paid stays at hotels within the collections. You’ll get complimentary breakfast, a welcome gift, discounts, and potential upgrades, early check-in, or late check-out based on availability.
Ancillary Benefits
Following Citi's mass-capitulation on travel benefits across its entire portfolio of rewards cards, this category is now a one-horse-race.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption
- Primary Auto Rental CDW
- Baggage Delay Insurance
- Trip Delay
- Lost Luggage
- Travel & Emergency Insurance
- Travel Accident Insurance
- Emergency Evacuation
- Emergency Medical & Dental
- Purchase Protection
- Extended Warranty
See the Sapphire Reserve Guide to Benefits for details.
Citi Prestige® Card
- Purchase Protection
- Extended Warranty
See the Prestige Card Guide to Benefits for details.
Final Thoughts
In the battle for premium travel card supremacy, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has the Prestige Card beat, no question. Citi’s 4th Night Free and $250 Airline Credit are top perks, but the removal of Trip Delay coverage and watered-down benefits make this card a lackluster version of what it once was. It feels almost as if Citi has given up the fight for market share in the premium rewards card space. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® maintains its spot as the travel rewards card to beat, with an almost perfect blend of points earning capacity and luxury travel perks.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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