Chase shook up its flagship travel card – and the entire travel card marketplace, really – by unveiling some major changes to the *chase sapphire reserve*, pushing the annual fee up to a bruising $795 a year while adding a litany of new perks and statement credits. But there's even bigger news on the horizon: A huge welcome bonus.
How big will it be? Chase isn't saying – at least not yet. The new Reserve card won't officially open for applications until next Monday, June 23, so we might not know for sure for a while yet. But some of the bank's top executives have hinted repeatedly that something big is in the work … and considering Chase is relaxing the eligibility requirements for its Sapphire cards, more travelers than ever could potentially join the fun.
“When we do communicate our acquisition bonus, I think you will see we are thinking about acquisition as well,” Sam Palmer, the general manager of Chase Sapphire, said during a media event previewing the changes to their premium travel card last week. The same is true for Chase's long-awaited premium business travel card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® for Business.
Cryptic … yet promising. But what does it mean?
The current welcome bonus on the Reserve card is 60,000 points after spending $5,000 within three months. And that's been the standard for years, aside from a few elevated bonuses of 75,000 points or so.
It's never been bigger than when the bank first launched the Reserve card way back in 2016 with a 100,000-point welcome bonus – then an almost unthinkable sum of points. The card was so popular that Chase briefly ran out of the metal it used to manufacture the cards. The bank was looking to launch its premium travel card with a splash, and what a splash it made.
But that was a different era. Six-digit bonuses don't move the needle the same way they did a decade ago.
American Express's top cards that previously offered 60,000 points to lure in new cardholders have upped the ante to 120,000 points, 150,000 points, or even 175,000 points. Heck, even Chase's $95-a-year *chase sapphire preferred* has offered 100,000-point welcome bonuses twice within just the last four years.
Given how explosive the card's initial launch was back in 2016, a return of the 100,000-point bonus seems like the absolute minimum here. Plus, a $795 annual fee is a much tougher sell.
If Chase wants to hit the market with a bang, they know nothing convinces travelers to get past the sticker shock quite like an eye-popping bonus.
Plus, Chase could always pair a bigger welcome bonus with a higher spending requirement in order to earn it.
Spending $6,000, $8,000, or even $10,000 in a three-month span doesn't seem out of the question for a big bonus on a nearly $800-a-year card. Or Chase could copy a move it's made with several co-branded cards with a “stretch” spending requirement: Giving you a chunk of points for spending $5,000 or so, then the remainder for spending another few thousand dollars over a six- or even 12-month period.
Let me be clear again: I don't know what the number will be or when Chase will spill the beans. But I'd be surprised if it's not big – bigger than ever.
Bottom Line
A big card refresh merits a bigger bonus. And that's just what Chase is working on.
We don't know what it'll be yet, but all signs are pointing to a massive welcome bonus on the Chase Sapphire Reserve once it officially relaunches next Monday.
What number are you expecting?
