Chase Sapphire Reserve® Review

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® was crowned the king of the Chase rewards travel cards immediately at launch, but has it lost its crown since? Is the Sapphire Reserve still the card that stole the spotlight and cost Chase between 200 and 300 million dollars in initial welcome offers? The short answer is: no. Other banks and cards have caught up to the Reserve over the last 5 years. The crazy thing is the card hasn't really devalued along the way either.  In this Chase Sapphire Reserve® review, we will look at the welcome offer, earning structure, card perks and share our overall thoughts.

Current Sapphire Reserve Welcome Offer

The current welcome offer for the Chase Sapphire Reserve is as follows:

• Earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• The $795 annual fee is not waived.
  • There is a $195 fee for each authorized user

The is the largest offer we have ever seen on the card, but it does come with a new higher annual fee. There are also a lot of new perks to be aware of explained below.

 

Chase Application Rules

Like other Chase cards, you will not qualify for this card if you have opened more than 5 credit cards with any bank in the last 24 months. Here are the other offer terms displayed on the application page as well:

This credit card is unavailable to you if you currently have this card open. The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if you previously held this card or received a new cardmember bonus for this card. We may also consider the number of cards you have opened and closed in determining your bonus eligibility.

For more details on all of the offer terms for this card be sure to check our complete guide on the new Chase application rules.

Chase Sapphire Reserve® Review: Earning Rate

The earning rate for the Chase Sapphire Reserve is as follows:

• 8x on Chase travel bookings
• 5x on Lyft rides (through 9/30/27)
• 4x on hotels & flights booked directly
• 3x on dining
• 1x on everything else

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Benefits

The Chase Sapphire Reserve comes with a ton of benefits, travel and otherwise. Here are some of the notable ones:

Yearly Credits

Here are the yearly credits you get with the Sapphire Reserve. Notice how some are by cardmember year, calendar year or are broken into 6 month chunks.

• Up To $300 annual travel credit
  • Works for pretty much any travel charge on your credit card
  • Based on your cardmember year
  • You will not earn points on your first $300 in travel purchases each year because of this
• Up To $120 credit every 4 years for either
  • Global Entry
  • TSA Precheck
  • Nexus
• Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables $300 dining credit
  • Get up to $150 in credits every 6 months
    • January through June
    • July through December
  • This appears to only be available in select cities at this point
• $500 annual Edit Credit
  • Get up to $250 in statement credits for each prepaid booking, up to $500 annually
  • There is a 2 night minimum required
  • Bookings include perks like:
    • $100 property credit
    • Daily breakfast for two
    • Room upgrades (if available)
    • And more
• $250 annual Chase Travel hotels credit
  • Get up to $250 in statement credits on stays at select prepaid hotels through Chase Travel
    • Eligible hotels include: IHG Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts
• $300 credit at StubHub or Viagogo
  • Get up to $150 every 6 months
    • January – June
    • July – December

Monthly Credits

Here are the monthly credits you can earn with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.

• DashPass+ Membership
  • Get a 12 month membership for free (must activate by 12/31/27)
• DoorDash Credits
  • $5 monthly towards a restaurant order
  • $10 x2 monthly for non-restaurant orders
• Lyft Credits
  • $10 monthly discounts on rides
• Apple TV+ & Apple Music subscription
  • Get complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music through June 22, 2027, a value of $288 annually.
• Peleton Credit
  • Up to $10 per month back on following apps or memberships through 12/31/27
    • Peloton All-Access Membership
    • Rental
    • App+
    • Guide
    • App One
    • Strength+

Spending Perks

Here are some perks that can be earned by via hitting the required spend in a calendar year with the Sapphire Reserve card:

• Customers who spend $75,000+ per year get the following perks
  • $500 Southwest credit, but must be booked through Chase Travel
  • IHG Diamond Elite Status
  • Southwest Airlines A-List status
  • $250 to spend at The Shops at Chase

Travel & Other Cardmember Perks

Here are some of the travel benefits and other cardmember perks you can take advantage of with the Sapphire Reserve:

• Primary car rental insurance
  • New York Residents, inside the United States coverage is primary unless you have personal automobile insurance in which case it is excess. (HT DoC)
    • The way we read this (and this is not legal advice) is that anyone without insurance, like a NYC resident without a car, still gets primary coverage. If you have car insurance though, that will take the primary role.
• Trip delay insurance
  • You can be reimbursed for up to $500 in expenses when travel on a common carrier is delayed by 6 hours or more.
    • Reimbursable expenses include meals, lodging, toiletries and medication.
• Priority Pass Select membership for primary cardholder (does not include restaurant access)
  • Authorized users get a membership too but there is a $195 fee per user
  • Can bring in up to 2 guests (primary cardholder and authorized user cards)
• Points boost program for portal bookings.
  • Select options will be worth up to 2 cents per point, similar to their recent portal promo.
• Chase Sapphire Lounge Access
  • Can bring up to two guests with you
  • Authorized users receive access too but there is a $195 fee per user
• Air Canada Lounge Access
  • Access to Air Canada’s network of Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés across participating locations in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, when departing on a Star Alliance member airline flight.
    • Air Canada Signature Suites and all lounges located in Montréal (YUL) are excluded.
  • Accompanying guests require a fee
  • Authorized users receive access too but there is a $195 fee per user
• IHG Rewards Platinum Status
  • Cardmembers receive complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status through 12/31/27.

ToP Analysis

There's lots to like and dislike about the Chase Sapphire Reserve, so let's dig into the details a bit.

Travel Insurance

In ToP's opinion, the CSR has the best travel insurance among credit cards. Trip insurance activates by paying only the taxes on a one-way (or roundtrip) flight and kicks in at only 6 hours of delay. The card's CDW insurance is primary insurance and is second-to-none. It is why we recommend this or the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card all your travel insurance booking needs.

Priority Pass Access

The loss of Priority Pass restaurant access with the Sapphire Reserve was a big loss. While Priority Pass lounges can be hit or miss overall, they are still a valuable addition to your travel toolbelt.

The Ease Of Use For The Travel Credit Is Nice

The Chase Sapphire Reserve‘s $795 annual fee is high, even for a premium card. But the annual travel credit is one of the easiest credit card perks to use. If a charge codes as travel for Chase, you'll be reimbursed. No tips, tricks or gimmicks required (we're looking at you Amex).

Chase Travel Portal Bonuses Are Fool's Gold

But it is not all good, that's for sure. Earning 8x on travel booked through the Chase travel portal sounds great. But remember: travel portals have been nothing but trouble since before COVID-19. As we cautioned many times, we do not recommend booking through travel portals when paying cash, even with these elevated earnings. When something goes wrong, it's much easier to deal directly with the airline or hotel itself, rather than an online travel agency.

Earning Structure Is A Mixed Bag

While we would have loved to see 4x earning all travel that wasn't the case when they refreshed the Sapphire Reserve. You instead get 4x on airlines and hotels booked directly. It would have been nice if Chase had at least left 3x earning for other travel purchases like car rentals, tolls and cruises etc. Overall, the loss of those options may be bigger for some than the bump in 1x earning for the high spend areas of hotels and flights.

The rest of the earning structure was revolutionary when the card launched, but feels a bit stale now. It is obvious Chase is trying to encourage people to make all of their travel bookings through Chase Travel. Getting 8x on all of those bookings can be tempting, but it adds another entity to the booking process. You have to decide if the potential headache juice is worth the squeeze.

Chase Sapphire Reserve® Review: Final Thoughts

Normally, unless you are desperate for Priority Pass Select membership, or you are eligible for annual fee waivers due to being active military, Guard or Reserve, we think a similar welcome offer for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card makes more sense for most folks. When the offers differ, and the Sapphire Reserve's offer is far superior, then that could change things.

While 3x earnings on dining and 4x on select travel is not industry-leading, the Chase Sapphire Reserve can still be an interesting option for many. Especially if they are able to maximize all of the credits that card membership offers. Throw in the best credit card insurance and you still have a card that some frequent travelers will find useful.

What are your thoughts on the Chase Sapphire Reserve? Come over to our  ToP Facebook group and let us know!