The Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) is a luxury credit card for travelers which offers many perks. It’s also an integral part of the “Chase Trifecta” rewards strategy, which significantly boosts earnings. The Sapphire Reserve excels in the travel and dining categories, and has some of the best travel insurance protections on any card.
FEATURES AT A GLANCE
- $550 annual fee
- No foreign transaction fees
- 10x points on hotels and car rentals (booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards)
- 10x points on Chase Dining prepaid reservations (through Chase Ultimate Rewards)
- 5x points on flights (booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards)
- 3x points on dining
- 3x points on travel
- 1x points on everything else
- $300 annual travel credit
- $100 credit towards Global Entry or TSA PreCheck (once every 4 years)
- Chase Offers
SIGN UP BONUS
As of June 2023, the Reserve offers 60,000 points after spending $4,000+ in your first 3 months of holding the card. This is worth a minimum of $600, although the points can be redeemed for $900 or more, for a 22.5% Return on Spend (RoS) not including the annual fee or various credits/perks.
The sign-up bonus (SUB) for this card tends to fluctuate between 50,000 points and 80,000 points, and 60,000 is the most common offer. Chase also sometimes has in-branch sign-up bonuses that aren’t available when applying online. 80,000 points are worth $1,200 at $0.015 per point.
It’s unlikely that the original 100,000 point launch sign-up bonus will return. If you see a 50,000 point SUB, it’s best to wait until any higher bonus is available.
OTHER BENEFITS OF THE SAPPHIRE RESERVE CARD
- Visa Infinite benefits, including:
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- Emergency medical and dental coverage (up to $2,500, with a $50 deductible; classified as secondary insurance)
- Some purchase protections
- Various trip insurance protections
- 24/7 Visa Infinite Concierge
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- Car rental insurance (primary coverage) plus perks with Silvercar, National Car Rental, Avis, and The Parking Spot
- Priority Pass Select membership and free access to Chase Lounges (currently available in two cities—more to come)
- Roadside assistance in the USA and Canada with up to $200 in annual credits
- 10x points with Lyft (until March 2025) and free Lyft Pink All Access membership (normally $199) for up to 2 years, then 50% off a 3rd year (activate by December 2024) which includes free Grubhub+ membership for 1 year (Grubhub+ is also free for 1-2 years for Amazon Prime members)
- 10x points on Peloton equipment and accessories (temporary, until March 2025)
- $60 Doordash credit (as $5 per month, stacking up to $15 per quarter) and free Dashpass (normally $96 per year) for up to 2 years (temporary, until December 2024)
- $120 GoPuff credit (as $10 per month) (temporary, until December 2023)
- $180 Instacart credit (as $15 per month) and free Instacart+ (normally $99 per year) for up to 12 months (temporary, until July 2024)
- Hotel perks with Relais & Châteaux, The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection, and SBE Hotels
- Access to events and experiences through Reserved By Sapphire (including “partner benefits” with Five Iron Golf, Alterra, Ennismore, and The Seaport)
- Authorized user annual fee: $75 each
- Metal card
Chase claims that the Chase Sapphire Reserve has over $1,200 in benefits. Keep an eye out on what’s available, because many perks are temporary, and subject to changes or replacements. For example, in 2022, this card had a $120 Peloton credit in 2022 that could be used to get free virtual classes (normally $13 per month), and a free 6-month Sanctifly membership (total value about $50-60 including the 125 free points they gave with it). The CSR’s overall value fluctuates.
RESTRICTIONS AND CREDIT SCORE
Recommended credit score: 740+
To apply for Visa Infinite credit cards, regardless of the bank, you’ll need to be eligible for a credit line of at least $10,000.
Chase Bank has what’s known as the 5/24 rule. If you’ve applied for 5 or more credit cards in the past 24 months, you’ll automatically get denied when applying for a new Chase card. People just starting out with the credit card reward game thus typically start with Chase cards, because other issuers don’t have this exact restriction.
Chase classifies “travel” as: airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges/highways, parking lots/garages, etc. They exclude some categories like: in-flight goods/services, on-board cruise line goods/services, sightseeing activities, excursions, tourist attractions, RV/boat rentals, merchants within hotels/airports, etc.
MAXIMIZING REWARDS WITH THE SAPPHIRE CARD
Points can be redeemed against certain expenses (Pay Yourself Back, 1.25 cpp) or toward travel purchases (1.5 cpp) or transferred to travel partners. Only a few partners are worthwhile: Singapore Airlines, World of Hyatt, Iberia Plus, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airlines, United Airlines. For any other transfer partner, you’re better off booking through Chase’s website for cash (or redeeming points at $0.015 each). Unless you want elite status at a particular hotel chain, since portals rarely help there.
Important note: travel expenses don’t earn points on your first $300 spent each year. After you’ve earned the $300 travel credit, then the points-earning kicks in. For this reason, you want to avoid spending money through Chase’s website (5x or 10x point categories). If you’re going to spend cash on travel, keep it in the 3x category. 3x on $300 is $9 of points ($13.50 toward travel or PYB) versus $15 of points at 5x ($22.50 value) or $30 of points at 10x ($45 value). It’s not the biggest difference, but it’s still a difference that can add up over time. The Frequent Miler also discusses how the $300 credit isn’t a true $300 value. Its “real” worth is $285 or less.
Priority Pass Select depends on how often you actually use airport lounges. Getting Priority Pass separately has an annual cost of $299 for 10 “free” lounge visits, or $429 for unlimited lounge visits. The value also varies a lot by location. Some lounges don’t offer enough benefits to assign a significant cash value. On the other hand, Priority Pass restaurants can be a fair deal, with a $28-30 discount per visit (up to $60-120 with a guest or two). There are 20 U.S. airports (and 19 non-U.S. airports) with this benefit as of October 2021. American Express cards don’t have this option.
The travel insurance benefits, purchase protections, and roadside assistance are cumulatively worth around $100-200 a year, compared to buying these benefits separately.
The card can pay for itself when redeeming 50,000+ points per year at 1.5 CPP. If you use travel partners for even greater value through transfers, this amount decreases. You can also get additional value by opening other Chase-branded cards, then transferring their points to the Sapphire Reserve. Read about the Chase Trifecta for more information and strategies.
Points are unlimited and don’t expire as long as your account remains open.
The Instacart credit is most valuable when you choose pickup (no delivery fees or service fees) at a grocery store that doesn’t increase its prices for Instacart shoppers (select “in-store prices” for a list of eligible locations in your area). Instacart+ also gives you 5% cash back on each order, as a credit toward future orders; so even though CSR gets 1x points on grocery purchases, your Instacart purchases work out to 6-7% cash back total. And even though Instacart+ is limited to 12 free months via CSR, you can extend your “free trial” by adding Chase Freedom cards to your Instacart account. Each Freedom card gets you another 3 months of Instacart+ and up to $40 in credits. See our review of the Chase Instacart Mastercard for more details.
Example value calculation:
$550 annual fee
– $300: travel credit, Global Entry credit, and free Priority Pass
– $60: Doordash credit with free Dashpass (choose pickup instead of delivery, to maximize the credit)
– $180: Instacart credit with free Instacart+ (choose pickup instead of delivery, to maximize the credit)
– $50: travel insurance, purchase protections, roadside assistance, etc.
This alone is worth $590 and brings the annual fee down to $-40. Not even including the points you earn. And if you use more of the perks (such as GoPuff, which isn’t available in most areas) or elevated car rental status, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is an unbeatable value.
ALTERNATIVES TO THE CHASE SAPPHIRE RESERVE
The American Express Platinum and US Bank Altitude Reserve are the closest alternatives. They have similar benefits, annual fees, and travel focus. Other options include the Citi Prestige, UBS Visa Infinite, CNB Crystal, and newer Capital One Venture X.
One downgrade option for the Reserve is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Generally, though, the Sapphire Reserve is more valuable than the Preferred.
For anyone who just wants extra points on travel and dining, preferring to avoid annual fees, we have plenty of options. This includes:
- US Bank Altitude Go
- Chase Freedom Flex
- Navy Federal Credit Union More Rewards
- Penfed Pathfinder Rewards
- Citi Custom Cash
Trip insurance, while potentially helpful, is rarely needed. It can be purchased separately through insurance companies. Roadside assistance is commonly done through AAA. Some people might want to get these separately and pair them with a no-annual-fee credit card. This may save money for lower spenders.
SAPPHIRE PREFERRED OR SAPPHIRE RESERVE?
Both cards have similarities, with the biggest perk being the ability to use transfer partners for increased value from points. See below for a quick comparison table:
Chart last updated in October 2021
The Sapphire Reserve tends to have better benefits and increased flexibility. It earns more points for travel/dining, has a variety of credits, and includes travel perks like Global Entry and Priority Pass. Reserve also has some of the best travel insurance and purchase protections on any credit card. Whether that’s worth the increased annual fee depends on your preferences. The Reserve’s effective annual fee is actually not that much higher than the Sapphire Preferred, once all the credits/reimbursements are taken into account.
CONCLUSION
The Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) is one of the best credit cards for travelers. Although the card isn’t for everyone, the annual fee can be offset by the perks. The fee basically becomes $0 taking into account the annual $300 travel credit, travel/roadside insurances, Priority Pass, Global Entry, and other benefits. This card is easy to use and tough to beat in terms of value. Even non-travelers should consider it due to the Chase Trifecta strategy, where you can earn up to 20% cash back on purchases with smart point redemptions. If the annual fee works for you, this is a card worth considering.
Other than the annual fee, the downside is that benefits and perks keep changing. CSR has a lot of benefits/credits, but they’re often only around for a year or two at a time. There isn’t any guarantee of things sticking around. Lyft Pink for example was free for one year, then the benefit was discontinued, then the benefit was reinstated in November 2022. The $300 travel credit always remains, though, and the Doordash benefits have been extended ever since their introduction in 2020.
Overall, the Sapphire Reserve has the best travel insurance protections in the credit card industry. If you’ll use enough credits and/or redeem enough points, it pays for itself. You just have to run some numbers and see if makes sense to hold this card beyond a year or two.
We rate the Sapphire Reserve card 5 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Note: This review was last updated in July 2023. Details may have changed since then. Please do your own research where applicable, to ensure you’re getting the best deal. Or contact us directly for personalized consulting services!