Best Welcome Offer Ever?
Story of the week: Chase Sapphire Reserve Offer
We’ve been tracking the teased changes to the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), and now they’re official—arriving with an INSANE welcome offer: 100,000 points plus a $500 Chase Travel promo credit, after spending $5,000 in the first three months.
So far, I have expressed skepticism about the complicated new wave of credits that mostly reward big spenders, and lamented the loss of the CSR’s lazy-friendly–and previously best-in-class–fixed 1.5¢ redemption value for travel portal purchases using points. Quick take: some people will do well with the new credits, but it’s no longer the guarantee of simple value that it once was.
That said, with a bonus like this? Anyone would come out ahead—the points alone easily cover the annual fee, and then some. This is one of the best deals we’ve seen, maybe ever, so I would say jump on it if you’re in the market for a new card. You can always downgrade or cancel after a year.
Now, there are a couple elephants in the room. 🐘🐘
First, while this might be the best deal I’ve seen so far, I also said that about the 100k bonus on the Sapphire Preferred just a few months ago. And if you jumped on that deal (like I did), you’ll miss out on this one. “Best so far” doesn’t necessarily mean “better than what’s coming tomorrow.” At least Chase is giving us a $50 consolation prize for snagging the Preferred.
Second, Amex is coming with a refreshed Platinum card, and with current offers on the old one sometimes coming in at 175k points, Amex could be planning to steal Chase’s thunder with an even crazier offer.
So you may want to hold off until we get some more details on the refreshed Amex Platinum. But with so much value in this welcome offer, you can’t go wrong with the CSR if you can afford the annual fee. If you do sign up, consider helping us out by using our referral link: same bonus for you, some bonus points for us.
That’s also our sign-up bonus of the week. Other ongoing deals:
50k points on the Mesa Homeowner’s Card
5 free nights with the IHG Premier
175k points on the Hilton Aspire
80-100k miles on Delta cards
Up to 175k points on the Amex Platinum
Up to 100k on the Amex Gold (including via referral link)
100k miles with the AA Executive
$200 gift card on the Amazon Prime Visa
Quick Points of the Week ⚡
This week, we’re going to focus on the two biggest deals of the week ahead: Bilt’s Rent Day and the impending end of Amex to Hawaiian (to Alaska) transfers.
Rent day is Tuesday
Bilt’s Rent Day is a little underwhelming this week, with 25-100% bonus on gift card redemptions, depending on your status level. Only Platinum members will receive more than the 1.25¢ per point in value that you can get through the Bilt travel portal every single day, so most people will want to avoid this one. But some people do value those easy redemptions towards every-day purchases (as discussed in this interesting Fast Company article about Bilt), and so this could still make sense for some people. Beyond that mediocre bonus, the usual lineup of Rent Day benefits will be on tap, including double points (up to 1,000) on non-rent Bilt card spending, the Rent Free in-app game show, and exclusive experiences like dining events, comedy shows, and fitness classes.
Amex ends Hawaiian transfers TOMORROW
I’m not above re-using old graphics.
Last chance! TOMORROW, June 29th, is the last day to transfer Amex points to Hawaiian Airlines (and, in turn, to Alaska Airlines). Alaska miles are about the most valuable points currencies out there, so the ability to get them with Amex Membership Rewards points has been a huge value boost for that program. If you have a specific Alaska redemption in mind, or a way to accumulate more Alaska miles (via a Bilt or Alaska credit card), you may want to take advantage of this opportunity before it’s too late. (I shipped 20k MR points to Hawaiian, and on to Alaska.)
Enjoy the weekend! 🦥
Turn those Amex points into Japan trips via Alaska while you still can.