Big changes are hitting Chase Ultimate Rewards, especially for Sapphire Reserve and Preferred cardholders! The reliable 1.5 cents per point redemption on the Sapphire Reserve is going away in late October 2025. Instead, Chase is rolling out "Points Boost," which could give you up to 2 cents per point via the Chase Travel Portal, but it's not guaranteed across all travel. Sapphire Preferred and Ink cards get similar boosts, potentially up to 1.75 cents, on select travel.

Here's the deal: If you have a Sapphire Reserve or Preferred card before June 22, 2025, any points you had before October 26, 2025, will retain their original 1.5x (Reserve) or 1.25x (Preferred) value for two years, until October 2027. Plus, you also get access to Points Boost during that time! So, transfer your points to your Sapphire Reserve ASAP to lock in that 1.5x value for as long as possible! But if you transfer points between accounts, it may take up to a billing cycle for them to be moved into the eligible points bucket.

One more thing: Chase will automatically use your oldest points first, regardless of whether they have the 1.5x boost. This means if you transfer 100k points without the boost to Hyatt, then you transfer another 100k points with the boost, then redeem 100k points to Hyatt, you will no longer have any points with the 1.5 redemption ability anymore. Knowing all of this lets you maximize your redemptions!