NEW Chase Sapphire Lounge Now Open + NEW 5% Cash Back on THIS Card

In this video, we have the 5% cash back categories for Discover it cashback cards for January 2026, and they are a pretty good set of categories. Then, we have a transfer bonus from Chase to IHG hotels. And finally, a brand new Chase Sapphire Lounge just opened today at Las Vegas airport, and we have all the details and some images for you. Hey, credit warriors, welcome to the show. My name is Ben Hedges aka the credit shifu. And on this channel, I cover US credit cards, personal finance, and luxury travel. If you like the sound of that, please subscribe. But let's get into it. All right, so first up, let's take a look at the 5% categories on Discover cards. The Discover it cashback card is one of those cards that do 5% on certain categories on about $500 in spending per month. Other examples are the City Custom Cash and the Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cards. The City Custom Cash is 5% on $500 in spend per month in your top spending category each month. And the Chase Freedom as well as the Discover it limit that 5% to $1,500 spending per quarter, which is $500 a month if you spend evenly across the quarter. And they have rotating categories which change each quarter. Chase announces its categories around the 15th of the final month of the previous quarter. So, we'll get those Chase categories for January 2026 later this month. But Discover announces its categories at the beginning of the last month of each quarter, just a couple of weeks before Chase. I don't know if they're trying to do a little get in there first kind of thing there, but whatever. So, we now have the Discover It Cashback categories for quarter 1 of 2026. And they are grocery stores, wholesale clubs, and select streaming services. Now, these are useful categories actually. Grocery stores is always good, and wholesale clubs is a rare category to have, too. Normally people have grocery stores as a category and then they go to a wholesale club and they forget that it's not a grocery store and they're like, "Dang it, my my cash back or my points didn't code didn't post my account. I just got 1%." Uh, and you know, I'm a Sam's Club member, so I would definitely use this if I had the Discover it card. Unfortunately, I don't. And then for the streaming services, if you do want to use it for those, normally I wouldn't recommend that since I personally can max it out with grocery and wholesale, and it's kind of annoying to change your payment method. normally, you know, you you add it as a payment method and then you forget and you're back down to 1% after 3 months. That's what they count on, I think. But if you want to use it for streaming, the services that count are Amazon Music, Amazon Prime Video, AMC Plus, Apple Music, Apple TV, Audible, Direct TV Stream, Fandango At Home, Google Play Music and Video, Max, iHeart Radio, MLB TV, Netflix, Pandora, Paramount Plus, Peacock Sirius XM, Sling TV, Spotify, YouTube Music, YouTube Premium, and YouTube TV. What a list, huh? My phone went off in the middle of that, but I'm not doing it again. Then it goes on to say that other popular streaming services may be included. Like what? They couldn't be bothered to write them all down. I don't know. Or is it just that if they code with certain merchant codes, they count? I'm not sure. But anyway, those are the most common ones, but there may be more. So, if you are a Discover it card holder, you can now log in to activate those and they will be live on your card from January 1st. All right, let's now move on to our second story of the day. a Chase transfer bonus to a certain hotel chain. All right, so Chase right now is running a transfer bonus to IHG. IHG, of course, is the hotel chain that owns Intercontinental and a load of other brands. I stayed at the Intercontinental London Park Lane and at both of the Intercontinentals in DC, and they were great hotels. At the low end, they also own Holiday Inn if you're looking for something on the lower end. Now, Chase is currently offering a 70% transfer bonus to IHG, which means that for every,000 Chase points that you transfer over, you get 1,700 IHG points. The only thing about this that's slightly negative is that IHG points are only valued at about half a cent a point to start with. So, if you transfer with this bonus, you still don't even get 1 cent in value per point on average, right? The average value would then be 0.85 85 for your original Chase points that you transferred over. Now, that may not be the case with the high-end intercontinental hotels. All right, you do tend to get better value on the high-end. So, it's worth checking the value with a dummy booking with cash or booking through the travel portal. All right, you may find that you still get more value through the Chase travel portal depending on which card you have and if you're able to get points boost for that IHD hotel that you want to book. All right, remember Chase brought in the new points boost feature a few months ago. So, this might be useful, guys, but treat it with caution. All right, it's very likely you will get better value for your Chase points through the travel portal, even with this bonus. I'm not sure exactly when it ends off the top of my head, but I will put that end date on screen so that you know. All right, let's move on to our final story, the new Chase Sapphire Lounge. But first, if you are into credit cards, especially premium credit cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the MX Platinum, it is essential that you get as much value from them as possible to offset those annual fees, which are only getting higher. And that's why I've partnered with Max Rewards. It is the credit card management app that the pros use. Not only does it give you all of your transactions, bounces, points, and rewards, balances, upcoming bills, etc. in one place even when your cards are from different issuers. But it also tracks credits so you don't miss out on value. This is essential for those cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve and MX Platinum. In addition, AMX card holders will find the premium version of Max Rewards, Max Rewards Gold, especially useful because it activates all of your MX offers for you so that you never miss a deal. I've come home on several occasions to an email saying that I use an offer without even knowing it and save money. When you activate all of your MX offers, new MX offers that you never knew existed appear in your account, and Max Rewards activates them, too. You can get a 7-day free trial of Max Rewards and then a 3month discount after the trial ends if you want to continue with my code, hedges 25. You can also just download the app and check out the free features. Link for that is down below. Now, I love visiting Las Vegas, and last time I missed out on the Centurion Lounge at Las Vegas airport because it was COVID time, and I thought that it was closed, but it was actually the first day that it had reopened. Okay, it's like Murphy's law, but now it's open normally. And you know what? The line is probably super long. Okay, cuz that has been a big criticism of the Centurion Lounge at Las Vegas airport. But now we have another option at Las Vegas. Okay, so this might ease some of the crowding in Centurion and give people another option if they don't want to wait in that big line. Yesterday, Chase posted this video on their Instagram because today is December 3rd, opening day for their brand new Centurion Lounge at Las Vegas airport. Let's take a look at the press release together. Located post security in Terminal 1 Concourse C, the two-story 4590 ft lounge is designed to reflect the lively spirit of Las Vegas. Blending bold, shimmering finishes inspired by the city's nightlife with desert themed accents that pay homage to the region's unique landscape. The space showcases artwork thoughtfully curated by the JP Morgan Chase art collection from emerging artists with a unique connection to the area alongside distinctive decor celebrating Nevada's iconic scenery. The lounge debuts Chase's firstofits-kind champagne parlor where travelers can enjoy sparkling selections by bar cart service, including glasses of champagne, mimosas, and seasonal spritz cocktails, as well as past bites to their seat. Guests will also enjoy complimentary food and beverages, dedicated quiet zones with flexible seating and movable laptop tables, and a comfortable environment for productivity and relaxation. Now, that sounds all good except for the size. It is really on the small side. All right, 10,000 square ft is kind of like the standard size for a reasonably sized airport lounge. So, being under 5,000 or just under 5,000, it is really small. And I hear it accommodates 87 people. All right, up to 87 people. So, uh I'm guessing there might be a line for this one. But let's now hear about the food. The lounge's dining options offer guests a fresh seasonal menu featuring curated dishes by acclaimed restaurant group Momu Fuku. I've actually heard of them. Founded by chef David Chung in 2004 and part of the Sapphire Reserve exclusive tables program, including a spicy cucumber salad, crispy nori potatoes. Nori means seaweed in Japanese by the way, and Mom Fuku's famous pork bun. Guests also enjoy locally roasted coffee from Nevada- based Dark Moon Coffee Roasters, a curated wine list from Parcel, and signature and locally inspired cocktails. Now, for some reason, Chase didn't release any photos with the press release, but there are already a few journalists who went to a first look event, which I assume was yesterday. So, let's just take a look at a few articles um and we'll show you some photos from them, and I'll paste the links to all these articles below if you want to go and have a longer look at the originals. Right. So, let's have a look at upgraded points first. They have loads of pictures. You see some of the seating areas, and they really got lots of photos of the food, which actually I'm getting hungry just looking at these. There's also some cool looking cocktails. And then we have the shot of an area with a fireplace that looks pretty cozy. Nerd Wallet also has some photos. We can see more of the seating areas and also the bar. And our old friend, the points guy, also has some good photos, too. I guess this here must be the champagne parlor that they talked about in the press release, which has that little cart that serves champagne and cocktails. Now, if you want to visit this lounge yourself, it is located near gate C23 in terminal 1, and that is actually the terminal where most of the domestic flights leave from. And you cannot go between terminals post security at Las Vegas. So, this probably isn't going to be an option for international travelers, okay? It be domestic only. It's open from 4:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. And how do you get in? Well, if you have the Sapphire Reserve, the business version of that card, the JP Morgan Reserve, or the Ritz Carlton card from Chase, you get unlimited access. But if you have a Priority Pass card from any other credit card like the MX Platinum, Capital 1 Venture X, or if you just bought Priority Pass, which no one really does that, but you know, um you might get the odd person who does. With Priority Pass, you get one visit free to the Sapphire Lounge per year. All right. I guess they would just want to get you to try it and get hooked on it. So, you open a Chase card. And actually, on Priority Pass, you can also purchase additional visits if you want. All right. So, you're not limited to one visit. You just have to pay for additional visits. And if you want to bring in guests, you have to pay for them, too. And the cost for that is $75 each. All right, guys. That is the video for today. Don't forget to get a free trial of Max Rewards and then a 3month discount on the annual plan if you choose to continue with my link below and code hedges25. Do check out all those articles. They got some really good photos of the lounge. I put them down in a pin comment down below. Please subscribe to the channel if you're new and we'll see you next time.