Chase Sapphire Reserve 2026: Keep or Downgrade? | Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast
Is the Chase Sapphire Reserve worth keeping in 2026 – or is it time to downgrade?
Join host Justin Vacula and guest Beth on the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast as they break down the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s changing value proposition in a world of rising annual fees and constantly shifting perks.
They walk through the major benefits one by one – including hotel credits, food delivery perks, entertainment and rideshare credits, and newer partner credits like StubHub – and talk about what they’re really worth in everyday use.
Justin and Beth also explore downgrade paths, retention-offer strategy, cash-out options, and how the card fits into a broader points-and-miles setup in 2026.
You’ll hear practical takes, listener questions, and real-world scenarios to help you decide whether to keep the CSR, downgrade, or shift your spend elsewhere.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Meet Beth
02:09 Chase Sapphire Reserve: keep, cancel, or downgrade?
02:54 Walking through the new and updated benefits
07:40 Travel credits, status perks, and how to value them
12:15 Dining, convenience store, and everyday credits
17:53 Entertainment, rideshare, and lifestyle perks
22:06 Fitness perks and lounge access in context
24:54 Are the lounge benefits really worth it?
25:16 Retention offers, fee hikes, and negotiation strategy
25:31 Cashing out points vs keeping them for travel
25:58 Upcoming events, appearances & announcements
27:39 Using CardPointers to organize and maximize rewards
28:33 Monthly meetups, listener community & social events
29:19 Frequent Traveler University and other live events
30:20 High-spend strategies with the Chase Sapphire Reserve
32:39 Smart downgrade and upgrade paths within the Chase lineup
35:42 Listener comments, questions & real-world scenarios
45:14 Future travel plans and how CSR fits (or doesn’t)
46:41 Final takeaways & farewell
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Rough Transcript:
Theme Song: [00:00:00] Travel at low cost with points and miles. Credit card rewards bring the smiles. Many adventures tales to be told, make and save money, the world will unfold.
Fight the war on happiness. Pick up the gold. Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast breaks the mold.
Justin Vacula: You’re listening to the Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast, I’m your host, Justin Vacula, here to help you make money, save money, and travel the world, at next to no cost with credit card points, miles, benefits, and loyalty programs. Beth joins me today to chat about whether to keep or downgrade the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card in 2026.
With the annual fee increasing, are the new and existing benefits worth paying for, especially after using bigger credits at the end of [00:01:00] 2025 and the beginning of 2026. As usual, we have a fun America Loves Math moment this time surrounding the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Visit Meetup.com/PhillyMilesAndPoints to RSVP for monthly Greater Philadelphia Travel Credit Miles and Points meetups I host in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania.
The next meetups are November 23rd and December 21st, 2025. Find a link in the show notes. For more content between episodes, follow Hurdy Gurdy Travel Podcast on Facebook and x. Follow Justin Vacula on Instagram. Subscribe to Hurdy Gurdy Travel podcast on YouTube for daily content, including travel videos, podcast clips, and posts.
For more information including select episode transcripts, go to HurdyGurdyTravel.com. on with today’s episode recorded November 12th, 2025. Welcome back to the podcast. Now your third appearance. Beth, thanks for having
Beth: [00:02:00] me again.
Justin Vacula: You were on before chatting about your player five and six situation, maybe more players since then and Instacart and DoorDash we chatted about.
So today it’s gonna be the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Beth: Sounds great. Let’s go for it.
Justin Vacula: So what are you thinking preliminary before we discuss this here? We’ve definitely discussed this a lot off the air, keeping it downgrading it. What’s the current thought before we talk about the specifics?
Beth: So my instinct is to say downgrade.
And as hard, hard as that is for me to say, because I have loved my chase Sapphire reserve. I think this is the moment where I’m, my love is slipping away. And I’m gonna say in most instances, most people should consider downgrading
Justin Vacula: and we will talk about that. Perhaps the angel’s advocate, the devil’s advocate, the Blue Bank Chase advocate, all the advocations and admonishments.
It sounds great. The current annual fee is $795 up from what I believe [00:03:00] was the old 550. I was definitely a buyer before. I’ve upgraded the Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Reserve, but now things have changed. The Chase Sapphire Reserve lost the three x on all travel are a very generous travel category, and the new benefits aren’t so amazing in my eyes.
We still have the $300 travel credit, I’d value that the same as cash. So the annual fee at that point is effectively 495, but we have to overcome that 495 to break even. And ideally we’d want better than that, especially when we can downgrade to the Chase Sapphire preferred and only pay $95 and not have to deal with credits.
So perhaps we’re overcoming 400, we’d have to reach 400 or get higher than that to justify keeping the Chase Sapphire reserve.
Beth: And that’s generous of you to call to credits
Justin Vacula: because Ooh, they
Beth: look more like coupons. Right? Which nobody in [00:04:00] our world really wants to have to bother with. They’re not too much,
Justin Vacula: unless they’re really good ones.
We’ve certainly had a lot of good credits on other cards.
Beth: That’s true. That’s true. Just more and more of the things they’re adding to justify the increase in annual fee. It feels more and more like items that are hard to get, not readily available, not terribly useful for the average, I think listener to this podcast and in some cases almost very strange or, uh, niche kinds of credits.
And so whether that niche and that hard to obtain, I’m gonna call ’em coupons.
Justin Vacula: It’s moved more from a travel card to a lifestyle card, I think. ’cause they’ve had all these relationships.
Beth: Yeah, agreed. I definitely think losing the three X travel and losing the 1.5 redemption on chase travel, I think both of those moves suggest that it’s not as much of a travel card as it is.
Yeah, it’s a flaunting card, right? Look at the ice. But Chase [00:05:00] Sapphire Reserve,
Justin Vacula: lots of flaunting. Let’s talk about some of these benefits or changes. There’s a new eight x in the Chase travel portal and the edit, which is their premium hotel collection. But personally, I’m not using the portal for cash rates, so that eight x doesn’t do much for me and the edit hasn’t been so great.
I’ve looked in Vegas for dates that I wanted to go to Vegas, and I found $800 for two nights. Not terrible, but not great considering some dining credits. So there benefits that come with that, and the possibility of getting a rebate or refund on resort fees since I added my MGM rewards number to the reservation with my MGM Platinum status.
Normally when I book with MGM, I don’t have to pay resort fees, but it charged me the resort fees here. So we get $250 twice a year with the edit, and then after that you’re using points perhaps at 2 cents per point maybe, or paying out of pocket for the remainder. So personally, I don’t value this new edit credit that much, [00:06:00] and I don’t put much value in the eight x on the Chase travel portal and edit.
Beth: Yeah, I agree with you on both those things. So the eight x travel Chase travel portal. For those of us who wanna travel free or next to free, that does us no good. And then always booking through a portal anyway. It’s a third party booking. So that opens you up to multitudes of issues, right? If travel doesn’t go smoothly.
Yeah. About the edit. I’ve done some calculations myself. Part of the problem is you need to use it who nights right? To get the edit credit. Yep. So you need a two night stay as opposed to one night. And these are not cheap hotels, right? These are not your. Side of the highway, holiday inns. Far from it.
There are very few hotels that qualify. They’re very expensive. They’re only in big cities and you have to stay two nights and so I, I found a few cities where you might make sense of using it. I was surprised to find Chicago actually had some less expensive options in the edit collection. [00:07:00] But you’re still gonna be paying outta pockets.
And so you’re right. And when I say outta pocket, I’m willing to pay a bids, right? If, if I get a, a nice hotel and I get the, the perks that come with the edit booking or free breakfast property or food and beverage credit, I’m okay with paying a little bit for those things. But I don’t wanna pay four, 500 or some cases, maybe even two to 300 for that.
So yeah, I’m not, I’ve not been super impressed with the edit. And some people have done comparisons of the edit prices. With the booking directly, prices have found that the edit prices, so the same hotels on the edit portal, right, are greatly inflated prices,
Justin Vacula: and we also have status with many other programs.
We both have the Aspire card with American Express, so we have Hilton Diamond status. We can get benefits from that, like room upgrades, dining credits, and more. I have the Hyatt Globalist status, so I’m getting late checkout room upgrades when available. And complimentary breakfast. So it’s not that this [00:08:00] edit collection is so special.
And we also have the fine hotels and resorts credits with American Express, right? And that’s only a one night stay for $300 credit. And I booked for Fountain Blue or Fall Tall and Blue in Las Vegas. It was 380 total, and that was for one night. I’m gonna get 300 back and that 80 out of pocket is not bad at all, considering the nice hotel dining credits and the complimentary breakfast.
Beth: Agreed. The Amex, the Five Hotels and Resorts collection, it’s a much bigger collection as well. More options. Options in mid-size cities as well. So for example, we often stay in a mid-size city in Michigan. It happens to be that the Canopy Hotel in that town qualifies and it’s a nice downtown hotel. We really enjoy it.
It’s not super expensive now that is admittedly part of the hotel collection, and so you do have to stay two nights for that. We end up paying usually very little out of pocket because it’s a midsize city. It’s not a a [00:09:00] luxury hotel. It’s a very nice hotel, but a luxury. And so we do, we’ll pay a little bit outta pocket, but we do get them the a hundred dollars property credit.
And that pays for the parking plus usually a breakfast. And yeah, it feels like the Amex’s version, it’s hit far outstrips the the edit one.
Justin Vacula: Okay. So if we have a 7 95 annual fee, some math here, we have the $300 travel credit. The effective annual fee is 4 95, and we’d both be buyers of the Chase Sapphire Preferred at 95.
So we have to overcome 400 to at least break even on this. And I think with the edit credit, many might put this at zero.
Beth: I’m afraid so Justin, you America loves math and your math checks out there. We’ll keep the tracker going. Value zero.
Justin Vacula: We’ll keep the tracker going For listeners, I’m writing it as we go along.
No, no video presentation of a snazzy tracker, like if this were some sort of game show, but we’ll keep it going anyway, we’ll move on to the next one. [00:10:00] Four X points on flights book directly and hotels book directly. Personally, I won’t book much like this, but this can be nice for those with reimbursed travel, perhaps for business.
And I also have other cards, bonusing, general Travel. I now have the Altitude Connect for four XI believe, cashback now RIP, altitude Reserve, and the Amtrak credit card for two x and those points can be worth 2 cents per point or more for about a 4% return there. So any great argument for keeping the card for purposes of four x flights booked direct or hotels booked direct.
Beth: So I agree that it’s better to book direct if possible, but if you’re looking to travel for very little cost, then yeah, paying outta pocket makes no sense. Even if you’re getting those bonus categories. Yeah, I’m with you on this. It only makes sense if you’re getting it reimbursed or if you just, your hand is forced, right?
And you simply have to pay for travel. For some reason or another then sure. [00:11:00] It’s not a bad, it’s not a bad option, but I don’t value that very much Justin, so, yep,
Justin Vacula: I’m, I’m not either now it is a Visa infinite credit card. So you do get trip protections. Any argument for keeping the Chase Sapphire Reserve because it’s a Visa infinite.
Beth: So I will say for car rental purposes, it’s hard to beat Chase Sapphire Reserve. I had one very good experience with it, so I, that made me loyal for quite a while. Although my loyalty, as I said, is waiting, that benefit is there. But you might have really good protections, travel protections for things like car rentals on other cards, and you might have other Visa infinites for me.
I’ll put a little value on that, but it’s not gonna be much, much more than maybe let’s give it $25 for starters. 25 you can. You can try to, you can try to talk me up or down.
Justin Vacula: Alright. And I do have the United Club card with Chase, that’s also a Visa infinite and the Qatar card with Cardless, which is [00:12:00] also a Visa infinite.
So I’m not going to put too much on those travel protections, but they are nice to have. But if I have the other cards, then perhaps I would do direct flight bookings. Sure. We’ll move on to the next one. The Sapphire Reserve Exclusive tables benefit. These are $250 dining credits. I found many of these in Las Vegas.
I go to Vegas often, but I wouldn’t value this at 150, maybe 30 or $40 because I otherwise wouldn’t spend that much. I have to keep my frugal cred on the podcast as there’s misconception that just because we have credit, we’re gonna spend more. But I’m still not spending $150 when I’m going out to eat.
I’m rarely spending any money out to eat, but if I absolutely had to use like real world cash money, no benefits, no promos, nothing, I wouldn’t be spending more than 30 or $40 out to eat. And in many cases I’d only spend 15 to 20 and of course, get ice water rather than spending money on drinks.
Beth: Yes.
You’re the model for frugality, Justin. So I [00:13:00] have not tested this out yet because there are no exclusive table options where I live. I haven’t yet traveled since getting the credit, and I didn’t get it till October 26th because I was, I had the card before the changes, and so they didn’t grandfather us in right away.
We had to wait till October 26th. So I haven’t been to a city yet where there are options. I do plan to travel in November, maybe early December, somewhere where there will be options, but I feel a little guilty about this and part on making the trip. To actually use those credits, and that makes me kind of question Yep.
Whether or not this is the right approach to this credit. Now, we’ll, we’ll take a little trip somewhere to a city, maybe a few hours away where we can drive, so it’s not gonna be that expensive. We’ll use the Amex, FHR, not the edit collection from Chase. We’ll get some good value out of this little trip if we take it, if we get to use this exclusive tables collection.
Yeah, I’m gonna value it probably about the same as you, Justin. Probably 30 to $40 because. [00:14:00] If somebody said to me, here, I have a gift card for this restaurant, $150 gift card, how much will you give before it? And I’m, I don’t have a really clear plan to be in at that restaurant in that city where it’s located anytime soon, I would probably offer $30.
Justin Vacula: Yep. All right. I’ll put it at 40. So our counter 400 minus 40 is 360. We’ll move on next to DoorDash. $10 a month at convenience stores. $5 a month at restaurants on DoorDash. It’s okay. I’ve been getting a flatbread at Subway. After the credit, I’m spending about a dollar 50, so that’s good for on the go.
And I can get grocery items at Wawa. We’ve talked about this before, but I also have many grocery rewards elsewhere, so we’re getting, it looks like $180 in total credits. Not so bad if you were to value those at full cash. Maybe you would value it. What about 1 25, 1 50? What do you think
Beth: you do get the [00:15:00] $10 off per month?
Times two, you get it twice a month, so that increases the value slightly. So twice a month I can use my Chase staff or reserve to go to Wawa. That’s what I usually do when I do pick up. You have to do pick up, otherwise you lose almost all the money. And I get grocery items that are overpriced, but they’re free.
So my habit is to get. Two, two cartons of eggs and it’s cost me a, yeah, a little over a dollar way. Overpriced. I only pay a little over a dollar for those two dozen eggs, and I do it twice a month. How am I gonna value that? And the $5 a month at restaurants, I find that a bit frustrating. That’s such a small amount, right?
At least Amex gives you $10 on GrubHub and $10 at Uber Eats for the Golds, right? And then 15 on Uber Eats for the platinum. 15 means you can actually get a meal for free, $5 a month. That’s like a, that’s like a small side. Is it worth it? About pick? What about the flatbread? Are
Justin Vacula: you gonna get that flatbread at Subway?
I have one right across the street from where I am anyway. It’s right across the street [00:16:00] from Staples and I’m there often,
Beth: yeah, for me. And by the way, are using, are you using that, your convenience store? Money for Subway?
Justin Vacula: No. Convenience store at w Wawa, the $5 at Subway. Okay. The five. The $5. I look at Chinese restaurants in my area and it’s 10 to $15.
So. Yeah, I’m not that excited about making a 10 or $15 purchase with only five off, so I’ve just been getting the flatbread.
Beth: I’ll admit, I did pick up at a restaurant, a side of mac and cheese a few times. That was $7, paid $2 after the community stuff. $2 for mac and
Justin Vacula: cheese. Yeah, maybe it’s been, it’s very good.
Maybe it’d spend $3 for chicken noodle soup. I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Chicken
Beth: noodle soup. Absolutely. I would. Actually, you know what? Now that you say that, I’ve gone to the same restaurant, it’s very close to my home and it’s, they have, when I say mac and cheese, by the way, it is four cheese, homemade mac and cheese.
It’s out. It’s outta this world. Oh. Then you know what? It’s terrible for you. You really, you
Justin Vacula: really gotta come to Borg gata with me one of these times and go to the M four lounge or that’s a staple at the M four lounge. Mac and cheese.
Beth: Yeah. I could get a [00:17:00] mac and cheese side and a good bowl of chicken noodle soup and then I’d be all set for night.
Yes. Yes. All red ones
Justin Vacula: leave to casinos.
Beth: Yeah, so I’m not near a casino, and so this little restaurant near me has this incredible mac and cheese, but they also have soup and it’s about $7. Oh. And so I, I’ve done that a few times, I admit, but again, think about is it worth going even a mile, two miles round trip for a $2 small little side of soup?
I don’t know. All right, so what are we
Justin Vacula: putting on this? How much value?
Beth: I do, the convenience store is 20 a month for that, but I’m not gonna value that at that much. I would value that at about 10 a month, and I’m not gonna give any value to the $5 a month at restaurant. So I’m gonna, I’m gonna give it 120 a year.
Justin Vacula: 120. So our tracker was at 360, 360 minus one 20 was at home, 240. Are we getting close? Okay. How about the $300 StubHub credit? So this is $150 twice a year. I’m going [00:18:00] to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. That’s actually me singing that time at Sphere in Las Vegas, so the ticket was $159. I’m paying $9 after the discount, but I wouldn’t value this at 150.
I wouldn’t pay 150 or 159 to see the show, but I’d be a buyer at maybe 20 or $30. This will also be my first time at Sphere. And in the future, perhaps I’ll use this for concerts, all the metal bands that may be in Philadelphia, New York, and other places. What value might you put on the StubHub credit?
Beth: This one’s tough for me because I do, once in a while, go to a concert, but not super often. My kids actually occasionally will go to concerts. We live a few few hours from New York City, so Broadway shows are a possibility and once in a great while I’ll do it, but it’s hard for me to value this because if I wasn’t likely to go, but I’m going just because the credit is there, right?
Justin Vacula: Ooh. [00:19:00]
Beth: Yeah. So you have have
Justin Vacula: the FM Kirby Center in the Wilkesboro Scranton area, and the Mohegan, Pennsylvania. Arena or whatever they’re calling it, because that casino that’s so poorly run, keeps changing its name. It was Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Mohegan Sun, Pocono, what is it now? Maybe they changed it again, but I have no idea.
Mohegan Pennsylvania, I think was the last I saw. Okay, so what might you value this at? Would you go to the Kirby Center or the Broadway? I would,
Beth: yeah. I’ve done both, but again, I very rarely, I just, I’m not the kind of person that. It goes to just anything, just because it happens to be a show. It’s in my area, but I occasionally would use it.
I actually might give it oh,
Justin Vacula: 50. I hear 50.
Beth: Yeah, I was gonna say 50
Justin Vacula: 50, but I was gonna say
Beth: 50. 50 times two, because I think I value 50 times two. I would think I would value the one 50 credit at 50, and then the second one also at 50.
Justin Vacula: Okay, so two 40, we were at two 40 minus a hundred for [00:20:00] 140. We need to justify the annual fee.
Next we have Apple TV and Apple Music. I haven’t used these things. I pay for YouTube premium and I’m very happy with that past podcast guest and frequent co-host a, Darren mentioned some things on Apple TV that he liked, but I haven’t used it. I’m not a show or TV watcher really. So I’m putting this at zero.
Are you putting it at more than zero?
Beth: Nope, I’m putting it at zero two. I just, uh, no.
Justin Vacula: Not in that situation, man, Ted Lasso gets the thumbs down.
Beth: Yeah, and I feel like the, I think that was the only show I’ve watched in Apple tv and I think we signed up for a free few weeks subscription and then canceled it.
And during that time we quickly watched as much as we wanted to and that was it.
Justin Vacula: All right. And the StubHub thing, just to mention passed podcast guests, Eric and Bill, who are probably listening now, they go to hockey games every year and they were paying full price. For the tickets. So maybe they could get more value outta the StubHub credit.
Maybe [00:21:00] listeners will get different valuations. So I’m saying this is for me, this is what I think. Sure. So you’ll have to do the math on your own. We’ll move on to Lyft. $10 a month credit with Lyft, but I also have rideshare credits from many other cards, and I don’t always use these every month. I’ll try for a big trip every month, but I’m not always using the smaller credits.
Maybe $60 in value for this 120 total.
Beth: Yeah, I, you know what? I give it zero. When you live in a smaller town like I do, we don’t even have Lyft. And the times I travel, I’ve just never had an occasion. I take that back maybe once or twice to use Lyft, but that’s so rare, and the $10 is so little and you can’t accumulate it.
It disappears at the end of the month. For me, I’ve never used it and I don’t see myself using it. So if you wanna take $60. Off the one 40 we’re at because you do use it and I can imagine some do that, that’s fine, [00:22:00] but I would value it at zero.
Justin Vacula: Okay, we’re down to 80 remaining to break even. It’s not looking good.
Next we have the Peloton membership. I’m putting that 0, 0,
Beth: 0.
Justin Vacula: I got my Planet Fitness membership. I’ll be good.
Beth: I can walk out my door and go for a run or a walk and that’s all free. Listen, it is
Justin Vacula: getting chilly outside. Yeah,
Beth: I running and walking outside. You warm up very quickly. Ooh. It’s
Justin Vacula: a
Beth: zero to me. And then you can, that’s an easy one.
You
Justin Vacula: can go, you can go to Panera and have some hot coffee with the sip.
Beth: That’s true.
Justin Vacula: It was funny. Someone in our group chat that we have, they type out it as the Panera Strip Club. So I generate an image of a woman on a pole inside of a bread bowl. So that was a favorite.
Beth: I hope she had a cup of coffee.
Justin Vacula: Yes, in a strategically placed location, of course.
Beth: Perfect.
Justin Vacula: And next we have the Chase Sapphire lounge. Now we’re both often traveling out of Philadelphia, so it’s a nice lounge, [00:23:00] but we also have other options. The Delta Sky Club of Flying Delta Past podcast guests. Justin Walter called it the Sky closet.
And rightly we have the Centurion Lounge in Philadelphia. And if flying American, I can use the Admirals Club because I have status from that Qatar Carlos card I mentioned. So what might you value the Chase Sapphire Lounge access at?
Beth: I think I would put a small value on it because I’ve been there twice, but my family members.
Some who have access through my Ritz card, Ritz Carlton. There are get has free authorized users and so they get access into this lounge. Have used it probably a sum total for our family of 12 visits tho those with the Ritz Carlton card. My kids would not have access to this Centurion lounge or the others that you mentioned so that they were able, when they flew home through Philadelphia to use that lounge.
I means I’d give it a little bit of value to their kids. They don’t need. [00:24:00] Expensive drinks and food, so you know, they could also pack their lunch and bring it to, wait. I thought one
Justin Vacula: of your kids had business Platinum Card at the age of 18, right.
Beth: Those I cancel once they come up, but there’s just an retention offer.
So you’re right. I think right now, so my P five is not yet 21. I holding off this. I love hearing that. I love hearing P
Justin Vacula: five and I’m sure many listeners do too. What’s the highest number it goes up to?
Beth: I’ve got a P six, but yes, but she’s not 18 yet, so that’s coming. But the of the O, so the oldest two, so you know there’s my husband, but then there’s P three and P four.
My oldest two children have had. This plats, a few of them, but one right now has zero and one does have one. But I will be downgrading that card. I just paid the annual fee. Again, I was given a small retention offer. I paid the annual fee and I will likely cancel next opportunity. I’ll get the the benefits next year.
Then I’ll go down
Justin Vacula: to the gold or the green. Might the lounge be worth $80 a year?
Beth: No, I’m gonna say more like. [00:25:00] 30.
Justin Vacula: Oh. So we’re getting close. Now. I travel a lot more than you do, so I’d use the lounge more. But if I can use the other lounges instead and then not have to pay this annual fee and keep track of all these benefits and go through that, it’s seeming pretty close.
So we’re still at that $80, and if I were to say the lounge is worth $80 a year for me, then we’re only breaking even on the annual fee. And then that’s not so interesting.
Beth: So what this says to me is that based on those. Coupons. Excuse me. Credits the math doesn’t work out too well, but, and here’s the big, but for this, and I know you, you are gonna come to this towards the end, so we don’t have to deal with it now, but the cash out option to me is one that makes me pause when I think about getting rid of the card.
Justin Vacula: We’ll get into that after the break, but of course, the numbers don’t lie and they’re seeming to spell disaster for the Chase Sapphire Reserve. But after the break. We’re going to try to make an argument for [00:26:00] keeping if it’s close, our first announcement, join me at ZorkFest 2025 in Las Vegas, December 5th through the seventh at M Resort Casino Hotel ZorkFest, combines miles points and gambling content all in one weekend.
I’ll be there speaking at connecting with podcast listeners. Buy your ticket at ZorkFest.TravelZork.com. Use the promo code HurdyGurdy to support the show. Beth, I’ve been trying to get you to Vegas for years, but I don’t think you’re gonna be at this one in 2025. Probably less than a 1% chance of being there.
Beth: Less than 1% chance. I, I have a full-time job. That does mean I’m, I have limits to when I can travel.
Justin Vacula: Maybe 20, 26.
Beth: Uh, we’ll see. But that, given the, the kind of job I have, that’s not an ideal time for me to travel. So we’ll see.
Justin Vacula: Okay. We have Chicago Seminars, Hyatt Regency O’Hare, that recently concluded just a few days ago.
Stay tuned for announcements of dates and the hotel for 2026. I’m hoping it’s [00:27:00] in the same Hyatt, but that is subject to change, so stay tuned for announcements regarding that. But we do have something confirmed. The event, formerly known as Chicago Seminar’s, heritage Edition and Holiday Inn was renamed as the Chicago Points Travel Festival and will take place October 16th through the 18th, 2026.
Use the promo code Hurdy Gurdy and join the wait list if you can, because the event is already sold out Any chance for you being at either of the Chicago events in 2026?
Beth: Again, neither of them are timed for people in the education world. Not so likely.
Justin Vacula: That was a Darren laugh for you there. That seems similar, and this episode is supported by CardPointers.
If you have multiple credit cards like me, CardPointers helps you automatically activate bank offers and it knows which card to use for maximum rewards. CardPointers saves me time and money. Use my link CardPointers.com/HurdyGurdyTravel for discount on annual and lifetime plans. [00:28:00] And how about your relationship with CardPointers?
Beth: You talked to me into it and it’s been great and I’ve really liked the way in which I get to link my Amex offers on multiple cards, especially the good ones. Recently we’ve seen some from Home Depot and Best Buy. That were really good Amex offers, and so being able to have them uploaded on all my Amex cards is a great, it’s a great savings for me.
Justin Vacula: Yes. So it’s continuing to pay its value in that lifetime membership. Absolutely. And I also host monthly travel and points meetups in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Next meetups are November 23rd and December 21st, 2025. If you’re local or wanna make the trip, it’s a fun, casual way to talk point strategies.
Meet like-minded travelers and share ideas. RSVP at meetup.com/PhillyMilesAndPoints in addition to meetings, check for new social events, including opportunities to use Resy credits at the Thai restaurant Kalaya [00:29:00] in Philadelphia. And I know, Beth, that you’re a fan of Thai food.
Beth: Oh, I’m a huge fan and it doesn’t get better,
Justin Vacula: but unfortunately, you’re a bit far away from Kalaya and Willow Grove, but you have made the trip out to Philadelphia in the past.
Yes,
Beth: I have, and I hope to come again.
Justin Vacula: All right, excellent. Finally, I’ll be speaking with Frequent Traveler University in Irving, Texas, just outside of Dallas, May 1st through the third 2026 at the Nylo Las Colinas Hotel by Hilton. Join me and community members for social events and educational sessions.
Ticket sales are live, $200 for FTU members and $249 for non-members. You can grab an FTU annual membership for online courses, seminars, member perks, event discounts, and more. The signup link for membership and FTU Dallas is in the show notes. So you’ve done some of the online FTU events or in person in the past or maybe other in person events?[00:30:00]
Beth: Yep. Just online. I’ve never been in person,
Justin Vacula: but there’s always next time, so we’ll see. She’s never been in person. She’s only a.
Beth: Yes.
Justin Vacula: All right. We’ll return to the discussion about the Chase Sapphire Reserve with podcast guest. Beth. There’s one more consideration for the Chase Sapphire Reserve. You can spend $75,000 on the card in a calendar year for getting higher status with IHGA $250 credit for shops at Chase, A $500 Southwest travel credit and a-list status with Southwest.
As much as I like high spend goals, I don’t see spending 75,000 on this card at mostly one X, but if it still had three X travel or other interesting categories, I would. But would you put any value on this 70 5K spend? Goal
Beth: zero. Value zero. That’s definitely, yep. That’s the kind of high spend goal that you just, to me, makes no sense.
You know why? If you [00:31:00] have that spend, why not put it on a new signup, bonuses, put it on cards where you’re. Getting bonus select points, I, it just doesn’t make sense to me. The perks don’t match up to that amount of spend.
Justin Vacula: Yes. And with my very heavy spend, it’s not so appealing doing it at one X when I can use a lot of other cards.
So I’m not putting much value on that 70 5K spend goal either unless circumstances change and we’re able to spend creatively in those categories. And something has changed a little bit with Rove. We’ve had Carissa Rossin on the show before. Talking about booking through the Rove portal and you’re going to get those bonuses, so it’s something, but I don’t think I’m going to do 75,000 worth of booking with Rove.
Beth: Yeah, I’m not a chance for me either, so I just can’t. I just can’t value that right now. Those different high tier
Justin Vacula: spend. Yeah, I do it on the American Express Surpass card to get six x grocery and a free night certificate. I think that’s a really appealing one. [00:32:00] Of course I put tons of spend on MGM credit cards and I’m putting a lot of spend on grocery bonusing cards, but not at one x I’m looking for better than one X.
Beth: Absolutely. You have it a big zero for those. Uh, they get
Justin Vacula: zero, big zero, and at least with the MGM spend, we get status out of it. But with this, these credits, $500 Southwest, maybe close to same as cash or 400, 450 ish. But yes, I think that most listeners aren’t going to put that 70 5K on this card. So we’re at, even if we valued that lounge membership 80 a year.
Right. We’re perhaps even on the annual fee. But what about the strategic decision of, we’re recording November 12th, 2025. If we use the larger benefits at the end of 2025, then in the beginning of 2026. We use the benefits and then downgrade the card to the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Beth: So right now that’s [00:33:00] what I’m planning to do.
I had a annual fee, just hit November one, which just after the October 26th date where the annual fees went up. So mine hit up with that very high fee. I called in for retention offer. I got nothing with that. I think I’ll pay the fee for now, but come say mid-January once I’ve used up various credits and I probably won’t use them all, but I’ll use some of them including like the StubHub credits.
So I’ll use the DoorDash credits for that month, a few other items, and then I think it’s gonna be a downgrade for me.
Justin Vacula: Yes, if we use the benefits in January, there’s a lot of dead time with this card, I think, where. What would be half the year of not using the card really, or just breaking even on these benefits.
So I think that’s super appealing. And there are also some rumors floating around that there might be upgrade options that for holders of the Chase Sapphire Preferred, there might be options or offers to say, Hey, [00:34:00] upgrade your card and get bonus. Ultimate rewards for doing so. So maybe that could be a consideration too.
Beth: Even if there are not upgrade points given for upgrading, it might be worth it to upgrade, say at a strategic time in the second half of the year, maybe right before you’re heading out on a trip and you want the protections for your car rental and you want to use the lounges and you wanna book, maybe want one more StubHub credit, you use up on more SubHub credits.
We could strategically upgrade downgrade in order to make use of the credits without paying the full annual fee.
Justin Vacula: There’s something to be said about keeping life a little simpler, which is funny because I’m advocating for signing up for a lot of credit cards, a lot of programs using these benefits. But downgrading can make life a little bit simpler, especially if the decision was close, if the decision is close, and maybe go with the simpler alternative with the Chase Sapphire preferred rather than keeping track of the benefits.
And again, I’m happy to keep track of benefits and use [00:35:00] benefits when it really makes sense, but if it’s a very close decision here. Then it might be that downgrade.
Beth: Yeah, I agree. I think if it’s close, I’m gonna downgrade and I think I’ll feel a bit relieved, especially about credits like the edit collection, which.
Had me chasing, going down a rabbit hole, trying to find a hotel where I didn’t have to pay so much outta pocket in a place where I wanted to go. And at some point, an hour or two later, I stopped and I thought, why am I planning a trip around the edit? Credit doesn’t make any sense.
Justin Vacula: You could use the edit credit and walk over to the exclusive tables and hop on the Peloton and listen to apple tea.
Beth: Yeah, that’s not how I usually plan my vacation, so
Justin Vacula: yes. I’m joking there. Now we have some listener comments and questions. If you’re a subscriber on my Subscribe Star page, simply search her Gerdy Travel. I send out advanced notice of episodes and guest questions, although this one was a little bit more spontaneous, but we did hear from podcast listener Eric, who [00:36:00] writes my concern.
I don’t even know how to question it, but as someone who doesn’t do as much travel and liked the 1.25% cash out option, losing that option is going to leave me with some decision making.
Beth: Oh, I hear ya Eric. I hear ya. That’s to me one of the biggest concerns about downgrading because I use my points for both.
I use points for travel, but I also use them to cash out. And so I like that I can have a mix of those options and I would hate to lose out entirely on the option to cash out. So my plan right is. To strategically cash out a stair number of points. And don’t forget, with Chase, if you cancel a card, you lose all the points that are attached to that card.
So you have to really be careful that you move them to a different card first. But if you downgrade, you keep them. But even I do plan to probably pay myself back on lots of grocery spend, [00:37:00] even high grocery spend that I will manufacture. And then when my point total is low, I’ll downgrade. Then start accumulating points again, ideally.
And then when I upgrade again, I can cash out again at one 1.25.
Justin Vacula: Yes, that’s another, it depends. Your mileage may vary. The more travel you do, perhaps you’re gonna transfer the points to Hyatt other transfer partners. But for those that aren’t traveling as much, then that pay yourself back is more appealing.
And how about the annual fee? Are you able to pay yourself back on the annual fee? Is it still the 1.25? It used to be the 1.5 I think.
Beth: Yeah, it was 1.5, even after all the other pay yourself options went down to 1.25, but now the annual fee payback is also 1.25, so not great. It’s certainly worth considering as an option to use up those points to get a little cash back in your pocket.
Um,
Justin Vacula: we have another question or comment from Michael Traeger past podcast guest and subscriber Traeger writes, I would be curious [00:38:00] about your suggestion. Of what they should downgrade to, keeping in mind if what they downgrade to might have been a card they should apply for to get a bonus if they’re still eligible to get more chase cards and get the bonus on the new card.
Beth: So in the past, chase was different about this than say Amex, right? But things seem to be a little bit in flux with Chase about whether or not you could apply for a card you’ve had in the past about getting the same card, another card in the same family. So things could change quickly. But as of now, as I understand it, the rules are that you can only have one Chase Sapphire card.
So people have found themselves shut out of the Chase Sapphire Reserve because they have, have, or have had the preferred. I think downgrading to the preferred might not have an effect. Right? But we don’t know for sure and some people there are data points that differ a bit. But the most, the standard data point, the one we’ve seen most consistently is that right now there’s a family rule and it seems to be now shifting to [00:39:00] lifetime.
You can only have one chase Sapphire cards, but again, some people seem to have gotten by with more recently. I’ve gotten a second one recently. So we don’t, we’re not sure.
Justin Vacula: And at some point I encourage people to give up on staying under 5 24, maybe at the beginning. Okay, you get your five or six Chase cards, maybe some more, but the opportunity cost gets quite high as you run out of other business cards to apply for.
So I’m LOL 24. I don’t see myself ever getting back under, and with the last cards I got with Chase, I got a total of about seven or eight cards. They gave me a lot of. Hard times getting approved. I had to reallocate. And then on the last card, they only opened it with three K or 4K credit limit. So not much ability to spend on those.
So I wouldn’t be looking at canceling or churning these cards. I would just keep it rather than trying to wait for years to possibly get a signup bonus and then possibly get a popup that says I’m not eligible. That would be a mess.
Beth: So one interesting [00:40:00] move with cheese is to consider opening up. If you have, if you’re under 5 24, the Chase Aeroplan card, because you can move your chase ultimate rewards points.
Uh, you can move them, uh, you can buy miles with them essentially. Right? And with Aeroplan and the Aeroplan miles, you can use to pay yourself back for travel at 1.25%. And you also get a little bonus for over a certain percent. So you actually, if you wanna be able to pay yourself back for travel, you could open a chase.
A plan card, you get the, it was 80 5K sign up bonus, and now it’s 70 5K, and then you can get an additional, I believe, 20 5K with additional spend, but still, it’s a pretty significant sign up bonus for a $99 card. And you can, by the way, pay that annual feedback with your arrow plan miles, but then you can shift Chase ultimate rewards points to your APLAN card and pay yourself back for travel.
So it’s, it’s a way in which the cards, [00:41:00] even though co-branded cards have an sometimes an interesting relationship with the Chase, ultimate rewards cards
Justin Vacula: and options are good as usual, the answer to everything is more credit cards. So I think it’s looking like a business decision to use the bigger benefits in early January, if possible, 2026, downgrade to the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and then maybe in November.
Upgrading back to the Chase Sapphire Reserve using the benefits November, December, then again in January, and then downgrading back in 2027. Yep.
Beth: That’s a good strategy. As long as Chase allows it, I don’t see any reason not to do it, and don’t forget to get that travel credit. The $300 travel credit every.
Card member year. That’s something else to think about. And you can double dip that. I’m gonna be canceling my card, but I’m gonna use that 300 credit before I do for sure. But I already used it of course, from my last card member year. So that’s a card member benefit, right? Not an annual or semi-annual benefit.
So keep that in mind.
Justin Vacula: Maybe [00:42:00] double dip a bull. Although I’ve had tried similar things with American Express and then once you used a certain credit, you wouldn’t be able to do it again if you were upgrading downgrading, going back and forth. So it’ll be interesting. You have to
Beth: wait. Yeah, you, if you wait for the year to come up, then you can, so I think it goes by the original opening date of the Oh, okay.
So maybe single
Justin Vacula: dipping then,
Beth: right? Yeah. I guess you double dip the first year, the downgrade, right? And then you wait till you know the new year is about to start up again. The new card member year, open up the card again. As soon as that new card member year hits, you should get the $300 again.
Justin Vacula: All right.
Possibility there. So I’m looking at the downgrade in January. Are you looking at the same?
Beth: I am
Justin Vacula: absolutely. Sorry, chase, you have to add something or give us a retention offer. It’s not looking so good anymore.
Beth: Yep. I hopefully they see this happening across lots of card holders and they wake up and make some good [00:43:00] changes.
Justin Vacula: If you were to hang up and call again and get a rep offering a. Good retention offer, might 20,000 ultimate rewards keep you in, or what would that retention offer need to be?
Beth: Yeah, 20,000 would definitely keep me in. I think the 10,000 might keep me in. I couldn’t pay myself back at 1.25, so that’s $125 back.
That might do it. Less than that. They offer like 5,000. I’m out, but I think I would consider a $10,000, sorry, 10,000 point retention offer.
Justin Vacula: Maybe we call customer service. And customer service would call customer service. Creating a customer. Feedback loop or the customer service venda loop.
Beth: Yes. You always have to be concerned when you call customer service, right.
That they themselves aren’t quite sure how, like what they’re talking about and the people that they need to then confer with might end up Yeah. Putting you into a, a venda loop.
Justin Vacula: Yes. A past podcast guest, Brooke from card pointers [00:44:00] was joking about me making South Park references a lot and I was vindicated at the last.
Chicago seminars because someone referenced the underpants gnomes at the speaker panel.
Beth: Yep. There’s people are paying attention. Justin, that’s good.
Justin Vacula: Nice. We have to figure out what the question is. It’s like step one, collect underpants, step two, question, step three, profit.
Beth: Well, we figured out, we’ll, we’ll let our listeners know.
Justin Vacula: Yes. Maybe using one of these benefits in a more creative way or something we’re missing about the card. But if we’re missing something, if you think that. Keeping the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the play. Then let us know in the comments on YouTube or contact in some other way. Sounds
Beth: good.
Justin Vacula: I’m sure we’ll have you back on the podcast in the future.
Beth: I’d be happy to come back.
Justin Vacula: Yes. I ask where can people find you online, but for you it’s nowhere.
Beth: But yes, that’s the way I like it.
Justin Vacula: Ooh, un. Unless [00:45:00] 2026 changes things, then you’re on the new social network or some, something interesting happens. Maybe that’ll be a new benefit of the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Beth: You need to find me. Just reach out to Justin. He knows where I am.
Justin Vacula: A phone call away.
Beth: Exactly.
Justin Vacula: Maybe in the country of Poland in 2026 or any other travels coming up for you? Oh
Beth: yeah, lots of travel. I’ll be in the Netherlands and Belgium. And Germany. I will be in the, actually I’ll be in the Netherlands in a second time.
Uh, that’s where my family’s from. No, Eastern Europe, this coming summer. But we’ll go to the West Coast to visit family and then, yeah, who knows? I definitely. Have to think about our, our annual spring break trip. We haven’t planned it yet, but probably somewhere warm
Justin Vacula: Las Vegas, January to use the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit.
Beth: Yeah, maybe Justin, maybe you’ll get me there yet.
Justin Vacula: What if I met you in Vegas and shared some of the My Vegas rewards from the prophets of the phone Army?
Beth: I do travel a fair distance for free food as I’ve indicated by my [00:46:00] willingness to travel for my Chase exclusive tables credits. I’m thinking about doing, so
Justin Vacula: how about Boston to ride the MBTA with past podcast guest Purple Princess Perry Kim from the Netflix show.
Love on the Spectrum. She’s been sharing Hert Ventures on Instagram.
Beth: I love Boston and I love trains. That would, I would definitely be tempted by that,
Justin Vacula: maybe using FHR credit at Encore Boston Harbor.
Beth: I’ll have to look at the prices on that. I’ll let you. Definitely not
Justin Vacula: on the weekends, that’s for sure. Yep.
Weekday stays with FHR. Seem to be the way to go.
Beth: There you go.
Justin Vacula: All right. Any other thoughts on the Chase Sapphire Reserve?
Beth: No, I’ve loved this card for a very long time, and I’m sorry with this most recent change that is probably for the first time, I’m gonna have to say goodbye to my reserve.
Justin Vacula: What if we were able to use the Chase Sapphire Reserve to pay a 50 year mortgage?
That’s been the [00:47:00] recent thing.
Beth: Ooh. I’m not really in favor of 50 year mortgages. All right.
Justin Vacula: It’s possibly gonna be a built card in early 2026. Yeah. With the new upcoming relationship between Built and Cardless, any other cards in your future 2026?
Beth: Oh, I’m definitely always looking. So as you say, it’s the.
Always have to be opening new cards and yeah, I, I have to move past Chase because I’m over 5 24, so I might start looking at Wells Fargo, which is a, a bank that I’ve had no relationship with that has some cards that are interesting enough that I’ll consider. Cardless is definitely something. I’ll look at few options there, and then, yeah, we’ll see from there.
Justin Vacula: What about the Amtrak credit card with the first National Bank of Omaha? It’s November 12th, the recording, and there’s also an increased signup bonus.
Beth: There is, and I have nearly pulled the trigger so many times on that card, but I don’t want to get it until I know I have [00:48:00] a use for it. I would love to take, or the sleeper cards out west, that’s, uh, ified, but I have to find out when I can do that.
When I have the opportunity, I’ll open the card, I’ll get those Amtrak points, and then I’ll book the trip, but. I don’t have a plan yet in place, so I’m gonna hold off till I do
Justin Vacula: an opportunity. And the Verizon Visa card, there have been some recent Synchrony shutdowns, but I don’t think you’ll be shut down.
So you’re considering that Verizon Visa card cards?
Beth: Oh, I just got it Justin about two, two weeks ago. So I’ve already put spend on it. I already got the right now as a tiered bonus sign up bonus. So I already got the first $50 and I’m. Very close to getting this, the 150 after 2000 spend, and I’ve been a Verizon customer for a long time, and I can’t wait to start bringing my bill down.
So with six of us, it’s not a small one.
Justin Vacula: And the Verizon savings account with Open Bank, I recently got approved for saving [00:49:00] $5 a month on your Verizon bill. Seems appealing.
Beth: Yes, that definitely is gonna happen. That’s on my list right now.
Justin Vacula: And I think the A PY is quite high on that too, around 4% a PY. So if we’re getting 4% a PY and $5 every month, why not?
Absolutely
Beth: worth it. Yep, absolutely.
Justin Vacula: Okay. Anything else as we’re
Beth: No, I’ve enjoyed the time. I’ve enjoyed talking to you, Justin. Thank you for having me.
Justin Vacula: Yeah, you had a little bit of a cold today, but we powered through it. We thought we’d be all right, and I think it turned out pretty well. Good. We always strive for good audio here, that’s for sure.
Beth: Yes, indeed.
Justin Vacula: All right. Thanks for joining me today. Thank you, Justin. Thanks everyone else for listening. Stay tuned for future episodes. For more content between shows, follow Hurdy Gurdy Travel podcast on Facebook and x. Follow Justin Vacula on Instagram. Subscribe to Hurdy Gurdy Travel podcast on YouTube for daily content including travel videos.
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