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 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. 
• The $550 annual fee is not waived.

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. You also can not receive the welcome offer on this card if you have earned one on ANY Sapphire product in the past 48 months. You also can not be carrying another Sapphire product at the time of your application. This includes the Chase Sapphire® Preferred and the no fee Sapphire product that is only available via downgrade.

Chase Sapphire Reserve® Review: Earning Rate

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

• 10x on car rentals and hotels booked through the Chase Travel Portal
• 10x on Lyft rides (through March 31, 2025)
• 5x on flights booked through the Chase Travel Portal
• 3x on
  • Dining
  • Travel
• 1x on all other eligible purchases

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:

• $300 travel credit each cardmember year (which is a liberal definition of travel and not an airline incidental credit)
  • You will not earn points on your first $300 in travel purchases each year because of this
• 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 $75 fee per user
• $100 credit every 4 years for Global Entry or TSA Precheck
• Access to the The Luxury Hotel Collection
  • Perks include free breakfast for two and a $100 credit that varies by property.

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 $550 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 5x on flights and 10x on hotels, rental cars and dining experiences booked through the Chase travel portal sounds great. But remember: travel portals have been nothing but trouble since before COVID-19 was a word in our vocabulary. 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 Has Been Left Behind

The 3x UR earning on travel and dining was top-of-the-class when the CSR launched in 2016. Since then, many other cards introduced better or comparable earning rates.  Other cards have stepped up their game and offer 5x on flights and many offer 4x or 5x on restaurants or dining. The 3x rate just isn't as great as it was 5+ years ago. Heck, even the Sapphire Reserve's sibling card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 3x on dining now and a slew of other categories. We would love to see Chase refresh the multipliers and add a 4x category at some point.

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 employment or military service, we think the same welcome offer for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card makes more sense for most folks. While 3x earnings on dining and travel is no longer industry-leading, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is still very good for a card with a net annual fee of $250. Throw in the best credit card insurance and you still have a top-tier rewards card that doesn't require tricks or gimmicks to use the credits and benefits.

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