Goodbye Chase Sapphire Reserve, Hello Capital One Venture X – NerdWallet

We’ve had some nice occasions touring the world collectively, and your smooth metallic exterior has at all times caught my eye. However out of nowhere, you bought difficult and costly, and it’s time to say our goodbyes.

I feel you already know what you’ve performed, however for anybody who doesn’t:

• You’re growing your annual price to $795, a forty five% hike.

• You’re including a bunch of credit. And no, they’re not computerized or simple to make use of.

• You’re axing journey as a bonus class, changing it with solely direct bookings with the airline or resort. 

This can be robust to listen to, however your alternative has already been in my pockets for the previous few months. It might lack all of your new-found bells and whistles, however I by no means requested for these to start with. As an alternative, I’m choosing a card that’s half your age and drips with simplicity whereas mainly paying me to carry it.

I’ve jumped via each hoop you possibly can think about to optimize worth from bank card rewards and advantages. However as life will get busy, the attract of simplicity is tough to disregard.

After I first noticed the listing of recent advantages for Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders, it made me dizzy. Month-to-month credit for this, semi-annual credit for that. Most significantly, they’re credit to locations I must exit of my method to make use of, like an annual $500 credit score for pay as you go reservations via The Edit, Chase’s curated luxurious resort program. I don’t do pay as you go reservations, and extra so, I normally use factors for resort stays.

Your $300 eating credit score at Sapphire Reserve Unique Tables eating places is one other instance. I like a pleasant meal as a lot as the following man, however the eating places are in choose cities that I don’t dwell in.

That’s not price a $795 annual price to me. I used to be prepared to pay the outdated annual price of $550 to realize entry to a best-in-class $300 journey credit score (which is not altering) and 1.5 cent per level redemptions via Chase’s journey portal, however these redemptions have been changed with Chase’s roulette wheel of “Factors Enhance” redemptions, the place you’ll get 2 cents per level of worth. For all different journey portal redemptions not labeled “Factors Enhance,” you may solely get 1 cent per level of worth (a 33% devaluation).

In distinction, the Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card has a decrease annual price of $395, however comes with an annual $300 journey credit score for any journey booked via Capital One’s journey portal. That mixed with the ten,000 anniversary miles (price at the very least $100) I get yearly means the cardboard has a unfavourable annual price for me.

On the similar time, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® can be altering its bonus classes.

The brand new model will earn 4 factors per greenback spent on direct bookings with an airline or resort, however only one level per greenback on different journey spend, like automotive leases, trains and on-line journey companies (like Expedia or Accommodations.com). I spend some huge cash on “different journey,” and normally ebook flights and lodges with factors, so this can be a large hit to the cardboard’s worth proposition for my spending habits.

The Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card, in the meantime, earns a no-fuss 2 miles per greenback on all purchases that aren’t booked via Capital One Journey. (Capital One Journey bookings earn between 5 and 10 miles per greenback.) For my part, that is a straightforward win for the Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card.

Perhaps it’s a sizzling take, however airport lounges will not be that nice. Nearly all of my time in lounges have been via the Precedence Cross membership that comes with many bank cards, and people areas are constantly underwhelming.

Then I gained entry to Capital One Lounges via my Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card — I’ve been to most of them, and love each one. They’re trendy, nice and constantly have one of the best meals and drinks of any home lounge community. They’re the one lounges I really sit up for visiting.

Positive, the lounge footprint is proscribed. However they occur to be in places I fly via usually, like Washington D.C., Dallas and Las Vegas. I may also be part of the waitlist for the lounge the second my airplane lands, which makes overcrowding roughly a non-issue.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® affords entry to Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Membership. Don’t get me improper, these areas are superb and infrequently extra trendy AmEx’s Centurion Lounges. However I merely choose the atmosphere and experiences I’ve had in Capital One lounges over the experiences I’ve had in Sapphire Lounges.

As a perpetual destroyer of telephones, I like the cellphone insurance coverage that comes with my Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card. I automate my month-to-month cellphone invoice fee to the cardboard, and increase, I’m lined.

I lately used the insurance coverage to switch a Google Pixel I dropped in a puddle. The cellphone additionally had a cracked display, so it was toast. I submitted a declare on-line, and inside 48 hours obtained the funds to switch my cellphone. It was a quite simple course of. The insurance coverage additionally consists of theft and loss safety, making the protection fairly strong.

Sadly, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® doesn’t supply cellphone protection. My monitor file says I’ll break a cellphone about yearly and a half, and I’d be out a whole lot of {dollars} every time I want to switch a cellphone if I paid my invoice with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

The one potential hang-up to me parting methods with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is entry to sure Chase journey companions. I like World of Hyatt, and with the ability to switch factors from Chase to Hyatt has offered me with extra worth through the years than every other associate.

World of Hyatt isn’t a associate with Capital One, so that may be a giant loss. Happily, I even have an Ink Enterprise Most well-liked® Credit score Card, so I can transfer the Chase Final Rewards® I’ve earned from the Chase Sapphire Reserve® to that card earlier than my break-up and nonetheless have entry to Chase’s journey companions.

Positive, Capital One is gentle on home airline and resort switch companions and is extra geared in the direction of worldwide journey. However that’s okay, since I discover a ton of worth on worldwide itineraries booked by transferring miles to Air France-KLM, Air Canada and Singapore Airways. These airways all associate with Capital One, so I’ll nonetheless discover outsized worth for my factors, even when the Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card doesn’t give me entry to World of Hyatt transfers.

Perhaps I’m getting outdated, however in a life that’s continually pulling me in several instructions, simplicity helps me sleep. I’ve cherished you for lots of years, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, however you determined to go rogue and emulate the coupon ebook “worth” you get from many American Categorical playing cards.

That worth is now comically difficult, and the modifications come at a time when you already know I want fewer distractions. I do know I’m shifting on quick, however you pressured my hand. I’ll always remember the nice occasions we’ve had, however for now, I’m off to catch a airplane with my Capital One Enterprise X Rewards Credit score Card.