danshep77 - Luggage Guru

by Daniel | Last Updated Nov 6th, 2022 We may earn a commission for purchases using our links, at no cost to you. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card and the Amex Platinum card are my favorite credit cards. Even though the annual fee for both cards is relatively high at $550 for the Chase card and then $695 a year for the Amex card, it is relatively easy to make up for this expense by taking advantage of some of the many benefits that are offered with both cards. In this article, I'm going to talk about a few new bonus offers that are available with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. This includes the new Chase Sapphire lounges, the ability to receive a 40% bonus when transferring points to a travel partner, and the increased sign-up bonus, which just happens to be the best offer in the last 5 years. I’ll also talk about a couple of recent changes that have been made to the Amex Platinum card which includes the $300 Equinox credit and the ability to earn a higher status with Hertz. Learn more about the Platinum Amex card here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKW5s0ctZ_8 Change To The $300 Equinox Credit So the American Express Platinum card offers a ton of extra benefits, and one of them is a $300 annual credit that can be used at Equinox gym or through the Equinox+ app.Now, this is credited to your account at a maximum of $25 each month, which means it takes an entire year to realize the total benefit. But starting in January 2023 it will be possible to utilize the entire $300 credit all at once.And this is particularly nice if you use the Equinox+ app, as the current $25 credit leaves you with an additional payment of $15 each month, whereas starting in 2023 it will be possible to receive the first 7 months of membership totally fee.So a nice little change in my opinion. And at the moment it is possible to receive 80,000 Membership Reward Points after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first 6 months of card ownership.Now when redeemed through Amex Travel for either flights, flight upgrades, or hotel bookings through the Fine Hotels & Resorts program each point is worth 1 cent per point.Although it is possible to receive even more value when transferring these points to one of the many airline or hotel partners. And if you want to learn how to actually do this, check out my in-depth review of the Amex Platinum Card. Hertz Presidents Circle Status Now another new update to the Amex Platinum personal and business card is the ability to qualify for Hertz Presidents Circle status, which just so happens to be the highest level of status that is offered by Hertz. And with Presidents Circle Status it's possible to receive the following benefits:*Guaranteed car class upgrades*Add additional drivers free of charge*Earn 50% more Gold Plus Rewards points*Dedicated customer service phone number To take advantage of this new offer you will need to log in to your Amex accountThen from there bring the mouse over to the upper right-hand side of the screen to where it says “Rewards & Benefits” and click. On the next screen click again on the upper right-hand side of the screen where it says “Benefits”Then from here scroll down the page until you see “Car Rental Privileges” and click on “Learn More”On the new page just scroll down to where it says ”Hertz old Pluss Rewards” and click on “Enroll with Hertz”Then on the final page, you will able to register for Presidents Circle Status.And once you have applied your status should be updated within 24-72 hours. New Chase Sapphire Lounges After Chase mentioned that they would be opening their own lounges at a few select airports last year, they have finally opened their first Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club in Hong Kong. The new club is quite large, coming in at almost12,000 square feet, and it will be initially open from 8 am,-8pm on a daily basis with the intention of extending these hours in the near future. So as with most decent airport lounges, it is expected that the new Chase Sapphire Lounges will offer a whole range of complimentary food and drinks. Now access to the club is open to Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders and will allow you to bring along two additional guests free of charge. It will also be accessible by anyone holding a Priority Pass Select membership or Lounge Key So apparently, if you do have the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and want to access the new Chase Sapphire Lounge, you will need to activate your Priority Pass membership that is associated with the card, and then the checking into one of the new lounges you will actually need to show your Priority Pass Select Membership. Now it is expected that quite a few more Chase Sapphire Lounges will start to open in 2023 with the following location already confirmed: New York-LaGuardia Boston Washington Dulles Phoenix Las Vegas San Diego Best Sign-up Bonus in 5 years Now when the Chase Sapphire Reserve card was first released back in 2016 the sign-up bonus was a generous 100,000 points, and needless to say, as soon as I heard about it I applied for the card straight away.Since then, the signup bonus has ranged between 50k and 60k bonus points, which is still pretty good, but currently, it is possible to receive 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening the account. Now seeing that Chase Sapphire Reserve points are worth 1.5 cents per point when used for travel-related purchases that are booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards, this sign-up bonus is worth $1,200.And this is more than 2x the cost of the annual fee.It's also worth noting that it is actually possible to receive even more value from these points when transferring them to specific travel partners. Receive up to 40% more points Now transferring points to one of the 14 different travel partners is relatively easy, and at the time of writing this article, there are 3 special offers to choose from. Currently possible to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott Bonvoy points and receive 40% bonus points.And this is available until December 20th, 2022. Now Marriott Bonvoy points are worth 0.8 cents per point, so an extra 40% bonus means each point will technically be worth an additional .32 cents or a total of 1.12 cents per point. The second bonus that is currently on offer is the ability to receive 30% bonus points when transferring your Chase Ultimate rewards to Air Canada Aeroplan. Now, these points are worth 1.5 cents per point, so by adding an additional 30% bonus, you will receive an extra 0.45 cents per point, which means each point will be worth 1.95 cents, which is really good value.But just note that this offer is only available until November 30th, 2022. Now the last special offer currently running is the ability to earn 30% bonus points when transferring your points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.And just like the Aircanda Aeroplan points, these points are worth 1.5 cents per point, which means once you add the 30% bonus, each point will be worth 1.95 cents per point. But just note that this specific promotion is only available until Nov 12th, 2022. How to transfer points So to transfer your points to one of the travel partners the first thing you will need to do is be logged into your account, then once you are logged in all you need to do is click here on the upper right-hand side of the screen where it ways “REWARDS” and click the title blue arrow.Then from there on the next page select which account you will be transferring from, which in this case will be the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.Now on the next page go to the three lines on the left-hand side of the screen and click, then come down the menu to where it says “Transfer To Travel Partners”And on this new page, you will see 11 different airline partners and 3 hotel partners to which you can choose to transfer your points to. Final Thoughts So that's pretty much everything new that both the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and Amex Platinum Card have to offer.Even thoughts changes to the Equinox annual credit are minimal, it’s still a positive change and makes it that much easier to use without the need to outlay as much money.And then the ability to receive Hertz Presidents Circle status is a nice extra benefit as it usually requires you to spend $4,000 at Hertz or complete at least 20 rentals.Now I'm also excited to check out some of the new Chase Sapphire lounges when they finally start to open up in the US.Hopefully, It can take a bit of the load off some of the other airport lounges, as in my experience most lounges can get far too crowded, which makes it difficult to enjoy.And this includes the Delta SkyClub, Amex Centurion Lounge, and Priority Pass lounges.Now if you're looking for 3 of the best top-tier credit cards available now, check out my article here where I receive and compare the Amex Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, and Capital One Venture X card.