The $500 a year for hotel stays is a big "selling point" of the reserve for me to offset the $800 fee. Otherwise, there is just not enough value out of it.
I have tried, over and over, to use it - I literally cannot. Every hotel is substantially more expensive on The Edit, to the point it's a waste.
I booked a weekend in NYC - direct with hotel was $1200 for 2 nights. On edit? Same hotel was $2200. So I booked direct.
Same thing happened in Denver, Seattle, Orlando, Austin.
For international, tried booking a weekend in Tokyo for a layover. Looked at 2 hotels on Edit - The Strings IHG and Bellustar for 2 nights.
The Strings? $841 direct. $1200 on Chase
Bellustar? $1071 direct, including breakfast, a large premier room, and cancel up until the day before.
...and on Chase? Fucking $2300 for the same rooms, same dates.
I am really fucking angry at this bait and switch. I went along with the fee hike thinking I could at least offset it, but I am done with Chase. I am switching over to Platinum Amex like everyone else - at least their hotel credits are useful.