I get the underlying constraint Chase has. There is some pretty hefty margin in luxury hotel program bookings but in aggregate I was actually surprised at announcement that they were going down this route because even accounting for luxury hotel booking take for Chase (likely 20-25%-ish) it still meant Chase was still paying out 1.5-1.6 cents per point. That was always going to be a money loser for them, but I think they wanted the prestige of a successful luxury hotel program like Amex and figured it was worth the tradeoff.

That's pretty high given that even in the previous era Chase was only paying out around 1.3ish cents per point for travel bookings (assuming the usual 10% margin on bookings) - which they were obviously not okay with given that they moved away from the 1.5 cents per point general valuation on the travel portal to 1.25cpp.

But let's not pretend for a second this is a customer friendly move, or in some way trying to "manage inventory" better. This is 100% them realizing they did bad estimates and found out that people are not going to spend their points at a 1.25 valuation on the portal and will find other means to use them - whether that was transfer partners or the Edit. And I think the Edit credit plus the 2X points boost did actually hypercharge demand to the least desirable (for Chase) form of consumption. Even "filthy casuals" that are not credit card maxxers likely rushed to use the Edit credit and do the points boost to pay the residual. The assumptions that underpinned the spreadsheet math "broke" and they want to stem the losses.

At 1.65 cpm, we're back to about 1.3-1.4 cents per point (assuming the 20-25% margin take) which Chase is comfortable with. It's as simple as that. They are likely "penalizing" the most booked properties that are driving the most loss, and keep the less booked properties at 2 cpp to incent booking those to "balance the books" and make sure the hotel portfolio looks successful from the perspective of the hotels - a predictable demand flow. Yes, it might have auxilary room management benefits, but that's a consequence of the strategy, not the end goal.

The right way to handle this would have been to say, oops, we're not going to be as profitable as we thought. But we need to keep this benefit in place - as advertised - for long enough that people don't feel like it's bait and switch, and then announce it as part of some sort of "annual refresh" (e.g., announce in June, take effect in October). Yes, it would have cost them money (and made people rush to use them accelerating losses even more), but I really believe this is going to do some meaningful brand damage to them.

I could be wrong though. Maybe people don't care, or people won't notice when they do the math.

Honestly, beyond the bait and switch anger, my biggest frustration is that this is just ANOTHER way this card is hard to use. On every booking now I need to do the quick mental math to see "is this a 2 cpp valuation, or a 1.65 cpp valuation?". It makes the portal booking process painful.

Agree with all that’s said. It was too generous (10x earning on Chase Travel, then 2 cpp is effectively 20% rebate).

So it’s not surprising that it’s getting devalued but disappointed that it happened without notice.

Long term brand damage is unlikely. Just look at Delta SkyMiles. People will continue to get Chase cards since it’s one of the biggest issuers and how else would you earn Hyatt points at the bonused multiples.

Official responses from Chase:

Source: https://old.reddit.com/r/ChaseSapphi...p_too/nulnw4y/

Source: https://frequentmiler.com/re-rethink...er-guaranteed/

The only way to read this is that Chase always knew they were going to bait and switch since the beginning. Absolutely insane!

Maybe it doesn't enter the zeitgeist, but this is different than a typical devaluation that is common in frequent flyer programs and (to a slightly lesser extent) credit card programs.

This is Chase marketing something as a marquee feature of a credit card and then less than half a year later secretly removed a marquee benefit without notice.

Every devaluation I've ever seen from Amex or Delta has been messaged extensively with months of lead time, often times more than a year. And I can't remember a marquee thing that was marketed as a core product feature that was then devalued less than half a year after launch.

A customer may get frustrated by a devaluation. But nothing frustrates a customer like a brand misleading them entirely - it violates trust in a way that pre-announced devaluations don't.

Will it end the CSR as a popular travel credit card? Of course not. Will it hurt Chase's brand reputation in a meaningful way for a subset of customers? Almost certainly.

Are we talking about the same Delta program? It feels like we are not.

Actually I think it’s the opposite. The refresh has made CSR no longer the no brainer travel/dining card for almost everyone.

However the Edit program is hardly a selling point. Yes I think a small group discovered the tremendous value in using it towards high end hotels but I don’t think it’s a huge number.

A small subset of customers will always feel hurt by no notice devaluation. But ultimately the realization is that you can’t really trust any big companies. You gotta factor devaluation as a risk in any points accumulation.

When did Delta last do a no-notice devaluation of a major product feature that was launched fewer than 6 months ago? This is the equivalent of Delta doing a pretty substantial unfavorable adjustment to the Choice Benefits for a Medallion year halfway through the year after people already made airline spend decisions.

I mean, obviously anyone posting on a forum like this or on Reddit complaining about a change is not an average card member. But if you go back into the media ecosystem after launch, many of the "card bros" cited The Edit as the key offset to the the 1.5 -> 1.25cpp broader portal devaluation. It was certainly a material factor for me - it was one guaranteed (albeit imperfect) higher return option for Chase points.

The fact that they are changing it actually tells me that more people than they thought were relying on it. They are changing it because they saw higher demand than expected and realized greater loss than expected. That is the opposite of the "small group" problem.

My point is that this is especially egregious. Devaluations happen. Devaluations like this, so soon after a feature launch with the feature itself being the key savior of another devaluation? That's a pretty unique circumstance that makes this stand out in the history of devaluations.

Delta has devalued so many times without notice that it's hard to pinpoint one specific egregious example anymore.

Just a few examples from over the years. Do you see the themes in the headlines? No notice and massive devaluation. I'm not here to defend Chase. I think I'm the first to report the Edit devaluation on FF and I'm certainly disappointed. But what Chase has done is nowhere near how egregious Delta has been over the decades.

Pathetic: Another No-Notice Delta SkyMiles Devaluation On Redemption Side - Live and Let's Fly
Delta Air Lines: Looks like yet another SkyMiles devaluation
Massive Delta SkyMiles Partner Award Devaluation - View from the Wing
Delta SkyMiles Raises Award Costs (Again) Without Notice (Again) - One Mile at a Time
Delta's Latest Devaluation is Even Worse Than I Thought - View from the Wing

Going to have to agree to disagree here. Yes, the shift from award chart to dynamic pricing without notice is the closest parallel. I distinctly remember that one and it burned a bit, especially since it radically uprooted the model. All that said, Delta had been edging to that moment over the years with increasing award chart tiers - folks knew it was coming, although the lack of notice was egregious.

But where the Delta parallel falls short is that it wasn't the pillar of a new marketing campaign. The 2X points on the Edit was a concrete and often-cited benefit and indeed pushed to the credit card blogosphere as a "balancing effect" for the overall change in the redemption scheme.

It would be like Delta doing a massive restructure of their rewards program, advertising a key feature of that program ("Guaranteed 2 cents per point on Delta One and Premium Select redemptions for Diamond medallions") and then changing it less than six months into the Medallion year with no notice.

It's okay to change. It's not great to make a material change with no notice. It's downright terrible to advertise a key feature as part of a new program launch to acquire customers (or retain customers who would have left if not for that benefit) and then change it less than 6 months in without notice or real explanation.

Let's agree to disagree then.

But let's be clear 2x point boost was never the central pillar of the refresh marketing as you claimed.

Since you asserted this, I went back to look through all the marketing materials I received for my CSR and CSR Business. The Edit was promoted but there was no mention of points value. The section on Points Boost highlighted in bold that points are worth up to 2x on thousands of top hotels and flights.

People have discussed here and elsewhere that 2x redemption on Edit is a great value (and yes, Chase did print that on their website) but it was not heavily marketed as a reason to get the CSR.

Quite enjoyed my 2 nights at Cordis Auckland, $300.04 through EDIT. Price was the same as the rack rate Langham was charging, member rate 5% lower. I would have been happy to pay this rate for what I got even with no CSR credit. Even got a legitimate upgrade from cheapest room to premier tower room which has the nicer bathroom with separate tub and shower. Honestly, preferred the hotel to the standard suite we had at the Park Hyatt for 5 nights because the street noise over there was just dreadful.

$50 after credit. Solid. Already have plans to get 2 nights in Singapore combining the EDIT + IHG credits come January. So far, these credits are working well for me.

Also, for my situation, redeeming points at 2c is just not a factor for me because that's giving up 8x points earn on the spend. I took that 8x to send to Hyatt instead.

No one even knows what the IHG credit is yet…but you are already depending on it? Minimum stay? Combinable with Edits? Any IHG hotel? Given how horrible CSR has become I can’t imagine IHG credit will be so easy to use. The Edits is utter trash and i am mystified that a few continue to defend it. AMEX platinum went from far behind chase CSR to so far ahead overnight. I hold both but will certainly get rid of Chase this year…fortunately they gave me this year free when I had the annual fee hit in September, so am not paying to pretend these benefits are great

The details of the one time 2026 credit are already known, it was reported by several blogs including TPG which is basically a mouthpiece for banks. Also, "depending on it"? If, for some reason, it didn't work out as planned, then I would just come up with a different plan. I'm baffled that this was your takeaway from my post.

New CSR is working great for me. 4x on all cash hotel spend has been a huge win. Sorry it doesn't work for you. Don't assume that means it doesn't work for anyone. I even managed to use the $150 StubHub credit a couple days ago, which I thought for SURE was a total write off for me because I don't tend to go to such events. But there was a ticket to an orchestra performance in Japan that I'd quite like to see at the end of the month, for $152. Sure feels like a win to me. Probably won't get to use it again though, but not all the benefits need to pay out for it to be a net win overall.

FWIW, I never even noticed the unqualified 2x points boost for Edit properties. My focus has been on the $250 x 2 statement credits, which for me is turning out to be worth darn near $500.

I do not see on the TPG post where it says you’ll be able to use both the IHG and Edits credit together…but sure.

I think Chase lost me with the marking up of hotel rooms to give me a credit. Many have said this is because you get Edits benefits, but even with IHG they are charging $150 more for the hotel I am looking at in Vanuatu then I can book directly, and in that case I will not get IHG benefits. So yes, still a savings, but to market it as a $250 dollar savings is crazy and I think many are fooling themselves into thinking this is a good deal…though I think many (based on posts here) get it!

To me the people that have the best chance of making this work are people who would naturally dine at The Tables restaurants because those aren’t marked up…and the $300 travel credit is still a good deal. So if you can do that you get $600 of the $795 back. I’d value The Edits credits each at about $100. But I’d rather just use AMEX to get me platinum benefits and basically otherwise get out of the coupon game.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/new-an...reserve-cards/

Here it is.

I still have not seen a reproducible example of difference from rack rate in this thread and have debunked several purported examples. I always check for my own bookings though, just in case.

My stay at Cordis Auckland was rack rate, same as the Langham site, the member rate discount would only have saved 5% = 15 USD on a 300 USD total stay. Can you provide some example dates for this property in Vanuatu? For me, IC Singapore is $646 via EDIT for my dates in early Sept. Member rate direct via IHG is 791.65 SGD = 610 USD, which is ~5.5% discount, exactly as one would expect from the member rate. Rack rate from IHG is 642 USD. It's the same, there's just currency fluctuations.

Anyway, sounds like the new CSR is not the card for you.