SBI Card is cutting the Priority Pass benefit on the SBI Elite Credit Card from 6 visits per quarter to 2 visits per quarter starting June 2026, which reduces annual lounge access from 24 visits to 8 visits. At the same time, the Trident Privilege membership benefit is being removed. The annual fee remains ₹4,999 and the ₹5,000 milestone benefit on ₹10 lakh annual spend stays in place, but the travel and hotel value of the card is clearly weaker after the revision.
This change affects both existing cardholders and future applicants once the new terms apply. The reduction is substantial: a cardholder who previously relied on 6 quarterly lounge visits will now get only 2, meaning two-thirds of the lounge benefit disappears. The removal of Trident Privilege membership also strips out a hotel-linked privilege that some users may have valued more than the raw reward structure. Since the annual fee does not change, the value-for-money equation becomes less favorable unless the user is already extracting full value from the ₹5,000 milestone benefit.
Compared with alternatives such as Axis Atlas, Axis Magnus, and HDFC Infinia, SBI Elite now looks less attractive for frequent travelers who want a robust lounge and hotel package. The unchanged ₹4,999 fee is easier to justify only if the cardholder consistently spends ₹10 lakh a year and uses the milestone benefit. For casual users, the new lounge limit is modest and may not be enough to keep the card competitive. In short, this is a net negative for most cardholders, especially those who chose SBI Elite for premium travel access rather than for milestone rewards.
No enrollment or opt-out step is mentioned; the revised terms simply take effect in June 2026. Cardholders should review their travel schedule before that date and compare the card against other premium options if lounge access is a primary reason for holding it. The fine print to watch is whether the quarterly lounge limit resets on a calendar quarter basis and whether any other Priority Pass usage rules change alongside the reduced visit count. If you are close to the ₹10 lakh annual spend mark, the milestone benefit still matters, but it no longer offsets the weaker travel package on its own.