As you are probably aware by now, Amex, Chase and Citi all either launched or relaunched premium credit cards. I went through the new Amex Platinum credits in detail a few weeks ago, but Chase and Citi also had new or refreshed premium cards.

Chase launched the Sapphire Reserve for Business which has similar but not exactly duplicative benefits as the refreshed Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Citi also launched the brand-new Citi Strata Elite to try and compete with their Chase and Amex brethren. Note that Chase and Amex portal bookings utilizing premium card hotel credits will still usually earn elite qualifying nights and allow you to use status benefits with Hyatt, Marriott, Hilton and IHG. Citi Strata Elite portal bookings will not earn any elite status qualifying nights or utilize hotel status benefits.

All of these cards now offer some sort of hotel credit, either annual or semi-annual. Beyond these cards, the Delta Amex cards all also offer an annual credit to be used on the Delta Stays portal. The amount varies by card. The Chase Sapphire Preferred also offers an annual $50 hotel credit.

In order to track and attempt to use all of these hotel credits, I’ve put them in a spreadsheet and will be tracking them as I book and complete hotel stays. All of these credits are based on the calendar year which at least makes it easier to track the expiry dates.

I thought it would be helpful to break all of these down and talk about the pros and cons of each. I’ll also reveal whether or not I think I’ll be able to use them in 2025 and 2026. Keep in mind that my wife just had ankle surgery so our travel is quite limited for the rest of 2025. The hardest thing about using these credits for me is that I need to earn my Hyatt Globalist status with stays at Hyatt properties whenever I can, but these hotel credits often either don’t make sense to use or are not available at Hyatt properties.

Amex: Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR)/The Hotel Collection (THC) credits

We only have one Amex Platinum card in our household right now and the card previously offered an annual $200 credit that could be redeemed through the Amex travel portal. The credit is not always easy to use for a few reasons: 1) There are a limited number of properties that you can use the credit, mostly in large cities or popular tourist destinations; 2) FHR properties only require a one-night stay, but THC properties require a minimum two-night stay; 3) prices tend to run a bit (or sometimes a lot) higher than booking direct.

Starting with the Amex Platinum benefits refresh in September 2025, Amex now offers a semi-annual $300 FHR/THC credit that must be used January-June and then again July-December. Amex was generous in that if you had already used the prior $200 credit for 2025, you still got the new semi-annual $300 credit to use this year.

I already redeemed the $200 credit earlier this year when I booked a one-night stay in Las Vegas in December 2025 as part of a trip to attend ZorkFest. By making this credit a semi-annual $300 credit, Amex has tripled the potential value. As of now, I cannot see a use for this $300 credit in 2025 unless I book ahead for 2026. This could change, but for now, I think any use will be fairly speculative and I could end up losing the credit if I cancel. As for 2026, I’m hopeful that I will be able to use the credits perhaps on one of our trips to DC to visit our daughter and/or on a weekend trip to Florida or New York.

Chase Sapphire Reserve: The Edit credits

My wife currently has both a Chase Sapphire Reserve and a Chase Sapphire Reserve Business card. I expect I will probably close or downgrade the business card at the one-year mark as the benefits of the cards are fairly duplicative. Chase has a portfolio of hotels on their travel portal called The Edit (a terrible name by the way) where you can use a new hotel credit. A two-night minimum stay is required for all The Edit bookings. The number of available hotels is growing, but still appears to be smaller than Amex’s FHR/THC portfolio. One advantage for Chase here is that you can use a combo of the credit along with Ultimate Rewards points to book these hotels, thus saving you any actual out of pocket expense.

For now, we have several The Edit credits to use. For 2025, there is a $250 credit on each card to use by the end of the year. Next year, we can use up to $500 on two stays without the Amex limitations on using it every six months. In other words, I could use two $250 credits on a four-night stay or make two two-night bookings without worrying about the timing within 2026. This makes it a bit more flexible, but it’s still going to be a bit difficult to use. Many of the same limitations as Amex apply to the Chase portal in terms of pricing and locations of available properties. At this point, I’m resigned to not being able to use these credits in 2025, but I may book them for 2026 stays speculatively. As for the 2026 credits, I may use them for one of our Marco Island trips as the JW Marriott is definitely available in the Chase portal or perhaps for a DC trip.

Citi Strata Elite: Hotel credits

The Citi Strata Elite hotel credit has a few differences from Chase and Amex. On the negative side, you can’t earn hotel elite qualifying nights or use your elite status for these bookings. On the positive side, there are many more properties where you can use this credit. It’s not a subset of the properties on the portal like with the Chase and Amex premium cards, but just about any hotel is eligible. A two-night minimum is required, but these are annual $300 credits that can be used at any time throughout the year.

We each recently got a Citi Strata Elite and because of the calendar year nature of the credit, we’ll be able to use it twice in the first cardmember year. With a $595 annual fee, these credits alone will wipe out the annual fee before we get into the other credits (which I plan to write about in another post).

So far, I have used my Citi Strata Elite 2025 hotel credit for two nights at the M Resort in Las Vegas, the host hotel for Zorkfest in December. I had originally booked a cash rate through the conference, but realized it made much more sense to use one of these credits as the total price of the two nights was around $400. As for my wife’s 2025 credit, I may book something in 2026 that I am fairly sure we will not cancel. Another plus for the Citi credit is that it can be transferred. I can book for anyone and the credit will still apply as long as I pay for the stay with the Citi Strata Elite. I expect we will have very little trouble using these credits in 2026 for us or our kids.

Amex Delta: Delta Stays credits

We have a few Amex Delta cards in the family and all of them have various Delta Stays portal credits. This credit is similar to the Citi credit in that stays can be booked for others. On top of that, you can also use these credits for rental cars, which I have done in the past when Delta offers MQD bonuses for bookings which help with my Delta status qualification. I don’t foresee any issues using these credits each year as they are very flexible. It’s just a matter of tracking and remembering which cards have which credits and whether we have used them each year.

Chase Sapphire Preferred: Hotel credit

I picked up a CSP recently when there was an elevated sign-up bonus, but I expect I will downgrade it when I hit the one-year mark early next year. This card comes with a $50 hotel credit that can apply to any hotel booked via the Chase portal. Of course, I never book any hotel that costs $50 or less so there will have to be some cash outlay with this booking. If I use this credit, so be it. If not, that’s OK.

In summary, we have a bunch of hotel credits to use this year and beyond on our Amex/Chase/Citi cards. Hopefully, I’ll be able to use all or most of them and save money on hotel stays (and also offset these hefty annual fees). I’ll re-evaluate these cards next year and see if I got value from these hotel credits.

If you have questions about this post, let me know in the comments or send me an email at emptynestermiles@gmail.com. If you are thinking about opening a new credit card, please use one of my links.