Charles H. Miller
The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card is the best “enjoy life” card that will reward users with 3x points on travel and dining purchases, and 1x point on everything else. It comes with a generous sign-up bonus of 100,000 points (worth $1,500), $300 Annual Travel Credit for purchases such as airfare and hotels, up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®, and perhaps most important – the Priority Pass™ Select membership with access to 900+ airport lounges worldwide. There is no foreign transaction fee, but there is a ton of shopping and travel benefits included. The annual fee is $450. Here are the details…
Highlights
- 100,000 points sign-up bonus, worth $1,500 in travel services
- $300 Annual Travel Credit for purchases such as airfare and hotels
- Up to $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Earn 3x points on travel and dining at restaurants, 1x point on other purchases.
- Priority Pass™ Select membership with access to 900+ airport lounges worldwide
- No foreign transaction fee
- $450 annual fee
How It Works?
Sign-up bonus: New cardmembers get 100,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months. These points, according to Chase, are worth $1,500 when redeeming for travel services through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. That’s an equivalent of more than 3 annual fees just for signing up. Also, you could get even more value if you transfer Chase points to, say, United miles or Hyatt points.
Annual bonus: $300 credit for different kinds of travel purchases. These could include “regular” categories such as airfare, car rentals and hotels (including Airbnb), as well as motels, timeshares, campgrounds, cruise lines, travel agencies, trains, buses, taxis (including Uber and Lyft), limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages. This feat alone, without the sign-up bonus, effectively drops the annual fee to $150 per year. And to make for a seamless experience, Chase will automatically credit your account $300 when you use the card to make eligible purchases.
$100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credit: You should, naturally, go with Global Entry, which includes enrolment in the TSA PreCheck expedited security program. As part of the deal, you get a $100 statement credit every fourth year of the card membership (yet Global Entry and TSA PreCheck memberships last for 5 years).
Earn points: Get 3 points per dollar spent on all travel and dining purchases worldwide, and 1 point per dollar spent on everything else. The good thing is that Chase’s travel and dining categories are far reaching, and even include such things ridesharing services, food delivery, fast food restaurants, and much, much more.
Redeem points: With Chase Sapphire Reserve, you get 1.5 cents per Ultimate Rewards point when redeeming for travel on the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. And while doing so, you will also be earning points and miles. Plus, you can get even more value if you transfer to points/miles from Chase’s 11 travel partners, such as British Airways, Hyatt and United.
Priority Pass Select membership: This feat gets you access to more than 900 airport lounges around the world, including the SkyTeam Lounge at London-Heathrow, Air France Lounge at JFK and the Virgin America Loft at LAX. Moreover, authorized users are invited to join the party as well, though they have to pay $75 per year. Unfortunately though, access to Delta Sky Clubs and Admirals Clubs is not part of this plan (though that’s where the included $300 travel credit could kick in).
Visa Infinite benefits: These go beyond the standard suite of travel and shopping benefits — that are also included with the Chase Sapphire Reserve — to include premium benefits such as the mentioned $100 Global Entry fee credit, as well as primary rental car insurance, trip cancellation and delay coverage, lost luggage reimbursement, a concierge service and access to the Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection. Also, cardmembers get accelerated access to Club 5C status with Relais & Châteaux — it is required that you stay two nights at qualifying properties during a one-year period. The Club 5C benefits include room upgrades, invitations to exclusive events and complimentary access to each property’s special experiences. In addition, you get upgrades, discounts and special deals when you enroll in the rewards programs from Avis, National and Silvercar and book your car rental with the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card.
Other perks: Price protection, extended warranty, no foreign transaction fee — if some other card has it, the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers the same feature as well. This is the premium card that delivers premium service.
APR: It’s variable, anywhere between 16.24% and 23.24%, based on your creditworthiness.
Annual fee: $450 and it’s easy to justify by every frequent traveler.
Costs
- 16.24% – 23.24% Variable APR
- 5% Balance Transfer Fee
- 0% Foreign Transaction Fee
- $450 Annual Fee
Pros
- Huge sign-up bonus of 100,000 points that is worth $1,500 when redeeming through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.
- Premium benefits for premium price, including the Priority Pass™ Select membership with access to 900+ airport lounges, $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®, as well as a number of shopping and travel perks that come included with Visa Infinite cards.
- Rewards the good life by offering 3x points on travel and dining purchases, with Chase accepting an array of services for the two categories. Also, at 1.5 cents per point vs 1.25 cents per point, the points you earn with Chase Sapphire Reserve are worth more than those Chase Sapphire Preferred offers.
- This is the ultimate “enjoy life” card that, in our opinion, beats out competing products such as Citi Prestige and Amex Platinum.
Cons
- Sign-up bonus is not available for those upgrading from the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. You will still get all of the other perks, though. You can get a NEW account to get the sign-up bonus.
- Doesn’t include major airline lounge access, but you do get to access more than 900 lounges around the world. And you can use the included $300 travel credit for individual entrances to the lounges not included with the card.
Is This The Card For You?
If you travel often, the answer is definitely YES. The $450 annual fee is well worth the money, so we haven’t included it in the Cons list. We think that all of the perks justify the price, and that this is probably the best travel card, ever. In addition to the generous sign-up bonus of 100,000 points (worth $1,500), you will also be earning additional points with Chase awarding you 3x points on every travel and dining purchase and 1x point on all other purchases. Moreover, those approved for the card will get a $300 travel credit every year along with $100 application fee credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® every fourth year. And let’s not forget shopping and travel perks that are included with all of the top Chase cards, plus the Visa Infinite benefits.
