The Chase Sapphire Reserve is one of the most popular premium travel cards available. It offers a great return across the categories of travel and dining while offer a bunch of travel perks such as a points value boost on Chase Travel Portal redemptions, Priority Pass Select membership, Lyft benefits, and even a $300 annual travel credit. It's a great fit for anyone that frequently travels and it is often the better choice over the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card due to the value the card can easily offer.
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Bonus Categories
The Chase Sapphire Reserve has two bonus categories which are travel and dining. The card also features Lyft as a temporary bonus category until March 2022 as part of the Chase-Lyft partnership. There is no limit to the amount of bonus points you can earn spending across these three categories and no limit to the amount of points you can earn with the Chase Sapphire Reserve overall.
- 10x Lyft
- This is the highest return you can earn on Lyft spend.
- All other Chase Ultimate Rewards and cash back credit cards earn either 5x Ultimate Rewards Points or 5% cash back.
- 3x Travel
- Chase considers travel to be:
- Airlines
- Hotels, Motels, Timeshares
- Car Rental Agencies, Taxis, Buses, Trains, Limousines
- Cruise Lines
- Travel Agencies, Travel Sites
- Ferries, Toll Bridges, Highways
- Parking Lots, Garages
- Anything else that codes as travel
- Chase considers travel to be:
- 3x Dining
- Chase considers the following to be dining:
- Restaurants
- Fast Food
- Fine Dining
- Diners
- Coffee Shops (i.e. Starbucks)
- Vending Machines
- Bars
- Cafés
- Food Delivery Services
- Chase considers the following to be dining:
- 1x Non-Category
Perks & Benefits
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a bunch of elite travel perks and benefits. This includes an annual travel credit, point value boosts, and lounge access to name a few.
- Annual $300 Travel Credit
- Based on your account anniversary.
- Triggers on any purchase that Chase considers to be travel.
- Very easy to use if you travel.
- 50% Point Value Boost
- You'll receive a 50% point boost when you redeem points on the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal.
- Bumps the value of Ultimate Rewards Points up to 1.5 cents for portal redemptions.
- A smaller 25% point boost is offered on the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Business Preferred.
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
- Global Entry is for speeding through customs when re-entering the states; also grants TSA PreCheck if approved.
- TSA PreCheck is for expedited screening through TSA checkpoints.
- This credit only applies to the primary cardholder.
- Priority Pass Select Membership
- Lyft Pink Membership
- One year complimentary membership which offers:
- 15% off unlimited car rides
- Priority airport pickups
- 3 cancel fees waived per month if re-booked within 15 minutes
- Waived lost and found fees
- 3 free 30-min. bike or scooter rides per month
- Seasonal discounts and exclusive savings/offers
- Membership is normally $19.99 per month which equals $240 in cash value.
- One year complimentary membership which offers:
- DoorDash DashPass Membership
- Two years of complimentary membership which offers:
- $0 delivery fees from participating restaurants
- Reduced service fees
- DashPass normally costs $9.99 per month which equals $120 in cash value.
- Two years of complimentary membership which offers:
- Annual $60 DoorDash Credits
- Applies to 2020 and 2021.
- Luxury Hotel and Resort Collection
- Insurance and Purchase Protections
- Trip Cancellation Insurance
- Trip Interruption Insurance
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
- Lost Luggage Reimbursement
- Trip Delay Reimbursement
- Emergency Evacuation & Transportation
- Purchase Protection
- Return Protection
- Extended Warranty Protection
Sign Up Bonus
The standard sign up bonus for the Chase Sapphire Reserve is 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. The value of these points can range depending on how you plan on using them.
| Redemption | Value |
|---|---|
| Transfer To Partners | ~$720 to $1,200+ |
| Chase Travel Portal | $750 |
| Cash/Statement Credit | $600 |
| Most Other Redemption | $600 or less |
You can obtain the highest value by transferring your points to Chase's airline and hotel partners. Redeeming your points on the Chase Travel Portal can also give you a solid value of 1.5 cents per point which is a great option if you can't find a good transfer option. All other redemptions will typically give you 1 cent or lower in value.
Fees
Annual Fee
The annual fee for the Chase Sapphire Reserve is $550. Since the card offers $300 of your money back in the form of an annual travel credit that's easy to use, you're looking at an actual fee of $250. The benefits on this card far exceeds $250 if you make use of them. For example, this card offers several membership.
- Priority Pass Select - Normally costs $429 for unlimited access
- DoorDash DashPass Membership - Normally costs $9.99 per month ($120 per year)
- Lyft Pink Membership - Normally costs $19.99 per month ($240 per year)
Of course... if you don't use these membership then they are worth $0, so you'll need to determine the value of these memberships.
Another thing that adds value to this card is the travel and purchase insurance. If you don't have any cards that offer some of these great insurances, such as Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption, then you'll want to factor that in.
Lastly, the card earns triple points on travel and dining. This is equal to a 4.5% return on your spend in these categories if you redeem your points on the Chase Travel Portal and an even higher return if you can transfer your points and redeem them for more than 1.5 cents in value. If you spend heavy in travel or dining, you should easily be able to make up for the left over $250 fee.
Authorized User Fee
The authorizes user fee for the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card is $75 per additional user. Outside of the ability to earn points running spend through the card, authorized users will have access to the following:
- DoorDash Subscription
- Priority Pass Membership
- Travel & Purchase Insurance
The listed benefits are worth more than $75 if your authorized user(s) plan on using them. If you're looking strictly from a point perspective, it will depend on the value you get out of your points. If you redeem your points for 1 cent each, you'll need 7,500 points to wipe out a $75 fee whereas if you redeem your points for 1.5 cents each you'll need 5,000 points to wipe out a $75 fee, so on and so forth.
Generally, if your authorized users are going to run a decent amount of spend through the card and they plan on using at least one or more of the card benefits, adding them will be worth it.
Foreign Transaction Fee
The foreign transaction fee for the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card is 0%. This makes it one of the best credit cards for those who want to earn rewards spending worldwide without penalty. If you frequently travel internationally and you want a card that earns a great return and has great acceptance (VISA) then this is card to consider.
Rewards Calculator
You can use the rewards calculator to calculate how many points, miles, or cash back you can earn based on your spend per category. This calculator will also give you the dollar value of the card based on the value of the rewards earned and how much each benefit is worth to you, minus the annual fees. You can click the Compare A Card button to compare this card side by side any other card featured on the site within the same calculator.
Note! All category spend entered in the primary card's column (first column when comparing cards) will carry over to all credit card calculators on the site. This means you will not have to re-enter the same information again and again when browsing during the session.
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