h/t to Danny the Deal Guru who just broke this new story
Effective July 1, 2024, it appears the Chase Sapphire Reserve card will be ending it’s restaurant-access perk within their relationship with Priority Pass. While the entire Priority Pass relationship isn’t being dissolved, a valuable aspect of it is.
How the Chase Priority Pass Currently Works
As of today, the Chase priority pass relationship for the CSR includes access to the lounges within the Priority Pass network, plus access to restaurants, markets, and other non-lounge locations. These includes places like the popular Capers Market at the PDX airport, Sweetwater Mountain Taphouse at DEN airport, and, Anita’s Kitchen at my home airport of DTW.
Effectively, you present the Priority Pass to the venue attendant and they either grant you complimentary entry, or credit your bill usually $28 per person at the end of your stay. Since you can bring in a guest to restaurants with the CSR Priority Pass, you could get a nice $56 rebate on your meal, and multiple $56 rebates if you were one of those that liked to restaurant-hop within the airport on your layover.
So, yea, this is a big loss for CSR cardholders, especially considering how the quality of some smaller airport lounges has been steadily degrading…
Is Chase Offering a Replacement Credit?
The Priority Pass credit is going bye-bye, and no announcement has been made for any other program to fill the empty spot left behind. However, let’s think about what else they’ve been up to lately…
As you’ve undoubtedly seen, Chase has opened a handful of Sapphire-branded airport lounges offering quiet places to relax during your layovers. These lounges are outfitted with solid food offerings, a decent enough drink menu, and some to-go options that might curb your hunger while in the air.
Even though there’s no official statement about this (that I’m aware of), I’m of the impression Chase intends to transition their airport-relaxation offerings to one with their name plastered on the doors. Meaning, get ready for more new Sapphire lounges and tighter restrictions on your Priority Passes.
This is all speculation, keep in mind. Maybe we’ll see this exact scenario unfold over the new few years, or maybe they choose to somehow re-expand their relationship with Priority Pass and do a 180 on this devaluation.
What About Other Cards?
So far we haven’t seen any further language that would cut Priority Pass perks from other cards in the Chase portfolio, but some are of the opinion that the hammer will drop soon. That means say goodbye to restaurant access with your legacy Ritz card, too.
EDIT: Since originally posting this article, it’s been confirmed that both the Ritz-Carlton and JP Morgan Reserve cards will also lose the Restaurant benefit.
You can still use this benefit on a select few other cards, but that list has been dwindling over time, too. Currently, the big name cards that offer restaurant access credits are
- Capital One Venture X Business (click here to learn more)
- US Bank Altitude Reserve (click here to learn more)
Is the CSR Worth Keeping Anymore?
This is the million dollar question that I’m struggling with myself, and I’m sure several of you will be thinking about prior to your next card renewal. To downgrade, or not to downgrade; that is the question.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the laundry list of intrinsic perks that come with the CSR already, and how they can be used to offset the annual fee in its entirety if you keep up on them consistently:
- $300 Travel Credit
- Annual DoorDash DashPass membership plus $5 monthly credit
- Instacart+ 1-year membership plus $15 monthly credit (until July 2024)
- LyftPink
Even with all these rebates, discounts, perks, benefits, and deal, I can’t help but think we’re getting into Amex coupon-book territory at this point. The time, effort, energy, and planning it takes to maximize all of these perks is a part-time job in itself, and likely not something that everyone will have the capacity to follow through with month after month, quarter after quarter.
You forget to use one credit and your annual benefits just got a major downgrade in the value department.
Getting to the Point
It’s apparent that this devaluation is a major blow to the overall benefits of the CSR (and potentially Ritz card), and one that’ll have several current cardholders rethinking their renewal plans this year. While the card still offers some very intrinsic perks, I can’t help but feel the “coupon-book” vibe of those perks works against us consumers really appreciating their value.
If you’re looking to retain your restaurant and market access going forward, it’s time to start looking at some of the other cards that offer this perk (for now) like the Cap1 Venture X Business, or the US Bank Altitude Reserve.
For the time being, make sure you’re getting your CSR out of your wallet for all your upcoming layovers and get every last ounce of value you can before this great perk is finally stripped away.
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