The Chase Sapphire Reserve Review (Updated 2024)

Posted: 3/4/24 | March 4th, 2024

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The upgraded model of the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the card_name is my one in every of my favourite premium playing cards. It presents quite a lot of improbable perks for avid vacationers.

While The Platinum Card® from American Express will get all of the fanfare when it comes to luxurious rewards playing cards, I personally desire the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It comes with higher points-earning bonus classes; extra sensible, on a regular basis perks (which I’ll get into under); and extra complete journey insurance coverage.

Today, I need to share a bit extra about this card so you possibly can decide whether or not it’s the correct card for you.

What is the Chase Sapphire Reserve?

The card_name (also known as CSR) is a journey rewards card issued by Chase. The card comes with a $550 USD annual price and a number of advantages like lounge entry, journey insurance coverage, and an array of assertion credit. When used proper, these advantages will be price rather more than the annual price.

One of these advantages is a $300 USD annual journey credit score that could be very straightforward to get, successfully lowering the annual price to a extra cheap $250 USD. You don’t have to do something excessive to obtain this profit both; the primary $300 USD per 12 months that you just spend on journey is just erased out of your assertion.

Chase additionally has a really broad definition of what it classifies as journey, making it straightforward to make the most of this credit score (even parking garages rely in the direction of it). According to Chase, they classify journey purchases as together with:

“airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, campgrounds and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages.”

So, the primary $300 USD of purchases you make in any of those classes will likely be eliminated out of your assertion, and after that, you’ll earn 3x factors on these purchases.

And that’s only one advantage of the cardboard. When you join this card, you’ll get:

• 60,000 factors (after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months)
• $300 annual journey credit score
• 3x factors on journey (earned after incomes your $300 annual journey credit score)
• 3x factors on eating, together with eligible supply companies and takeout
• 5x factors on flights when booked by means of Chase
• 10x factors on motels and rental automobiles when booked by means of Chase
• 10x factors on Lyft + 2-year Lyft Pink membership
• Priority Pass Membership and entry to Sapphire Lounges by The Club
• $100 credit score towards Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check each 4 years
• 1 12 months of complimentary Instacart+ membership (contains as much as $15 in assertion credit every month by means of July 2024)
• Complimentary SprintPass membership (contains $5 in DoorDash credit every month)
• Travel insurance coverage together with emergency medical and dental protection, emergency evacuation insurance coverage, journey delay protection, major automotive rental insurance coverage, misplaced baggage reimbursement, and journey cancellation insurance coverage
• No international transaction charges

Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Insurance

The card_name additionally presents probably the most complete journey insurance coverage out of any bank card and is without doubt one of the solely ones to incorporate any type of medical insurance coverage. It’s my high decide because the finest bank card for journey insurance coverage.

As a Visa Infinite® card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s journey insurance coverage contains the next:

• Primary automotive rental insurance coverage as much as $75,000 USD
• Travel accident insurance coverage as much as $1,000,000 USD
• Trip cancelation/interruption protection as much as $10,000 USD per individual and $20,000 USD per journey
• Trip delay protection of $500 USD after delays of six hours or extra
• Lost baggage protection as much as $3,000 USD
• $100 per day for as much as 5 days in case your baggage is delayed
• Emergency medical and dental protection as much as $2,500 USD for therapy (minus a $50 USD deductible)
• Emergency evacuation insurance coverage as much as $100,000 USD

While I all the time advocate buying a separate journey insurance coverage coverage, having protection by means of your bank card is an additional advantage that you just get at no extra price.

Using Your Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points

With this card, you’ll earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® factors. You can use these factors such as you would some other rewards program: to get money again, ebook journey instantly, or switch them to journey companions. You may redeem them for Amazon or Apple purchases, however these are unhealthy redemption values and I might not advocate utilizing factors this manner.

The best possibility is to redeem your factors for journey within the Chase Travel portal, which works like reserving by means of Expedia or some other on-line journey company. When you do that, you’re principally utilizing your factors as money, at a price of 1.5 cents per level. So, for instance, if in case you have 50,000 factors, they’ll be price 75,000 factors when redeemed by means of the portal. This is a greater worth than should you merely redeem your factors instantly as money, as you’ll solely get a price of 1 cent per level that manner.

Using your factors within the Chase Travel portal could be very simple, making it a sexy possibility for factors and miles newbies. If that is the one manner that you just’ll use your factors, then utilizing them is healthier than letting them sit round!

Just know that there are professionals and cons to utilizing the journey portal. Namely, you possibly can normally get extra in your factors whenever you switch them to Chase’s 14 switch companions (which is what you ought to be doing along with your factors).

Taking Advantage of Chase’s Transfer Partners

The skill to switch to its companions is what makes Chase Ultimate Rewards® factors so precious. You can normally discover airline and resort redemptions the place you will get rather more than 1.5 cents per level. While the precise worth you will get varies significantly primarily based on flight or resort, a very good benchmark is The Points Guy’s month-to-month valuation chart, which values Chase Ultimate Rewards® factors at over 2 cents per level when used as transferable factors.

To give a real-life instance, the 50,000 factors from the instance above may very well be an off-peak, round-trip financial system fare from New York to Paris when redeemed by means of the portal. But should you switch factors to one in every of Chase’s accomplice airways, you possibly can make the most of flash offers and saver house, probably discovering the identical fare for as much as 50% much less factors. Unless it’s an excellent low cost flight or resort room (lower than $150 USD), I all the time switch factors to their journey companions, particularly when reserving enterprise class flights or fancy resort rooms. You simply get extra bang in your buck.

Transferring to airline and resort companions is a little more work than utilizing the portal, however there are extra instruments than ever that can assist you maximize your factors. For instance, you should use level.me for locating flights with factors and Awayz for locating award resort stays.

Chase’s present switch companions are:

Airline Transfer Partners:

• Aer Lingus, AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards®
• Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
• United MileagePlus®
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotel Travel Partners:

• IHG® Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy®
• World of Hyatt®

Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Chase Sapphire Preferred

By this level, you could be questioning what makes this card totally different from its sibling, the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Both playing cards presently have the identical welcome provide: 60,000 factors after you spend $4,000 within the first 3 months of account opening. Both additionally earn 3x factors on eating. You additionally get journey insurance coverage with each playing cards, although the insurance coverage supplied with the Reserve is rather more complete.

Given all that, is the Reserve actually definitely worth the greater annual price?

Ultimately, that’s as much as you to determine primarily based in your spending, journey habits, and whether or not you worth the Reserve’s additional perks and advantages. But remember that the actual distinction in price between these two playing cards is just $155 USD per 12 months. Sure, that’s contemplating the $300 USD annual journey credit score on the Reserve, however I’m guessing that anybody considering of getting a journey rewards card spends not less than $300 USD on journey per 12 months. And should you do, you’re prone to come out forward with the Chase Sapphire Reserve as a result of skill to earn factors sooner, use assertion credit, and make the most of luxurious perks like airport lounge entry.

Here’s a fast cheat sheet of the principle variations:

Pros of the Chase Sapphire Reserve

• Great rewards-earning charges
• Large welcome provide
• $300 USD journey credit score
• 14 improbable switch companions
• Excellent journey insurance coverage
• Statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Precheck (each 4 years)
• Airport lounge entry by means of Priority Pass membership and entry to Sapphire lounges
• Complimentary memberships (together with Lyft Pink, SprintPass, InstaCart)
• No international transaction charges

Cons of the Chase Sapphire Reserve

Who Is the Chase Sapphire Reserve For?

This card is finest for frequent vacationers. If you get this card, you’ll need to give you the chance make the most of the cardboard’s accelerated incomes charges on journey and eating, journey assertion credit, and different travel-specific advantages. You’ll get much more out of this card should you worth perks like airport lounge entry and expediting your airport expertise by means of Global Entry/TSA Precheck, and can switch your factors to one in every of Chase’s switch companions.

If you’re solely a semi-regular traveler, you could be higher served by the Chase Sapphire Preferred. This complete assessment has the whole lot it’s essential to learn about that card.

The card_name is without doubt one of the finest journey rewards playing cards on the market. It comes with a excessive welcome provide, a number of perks, and sturdy points-earning capabilities so to shortly stack up precious Chase Ultimate Rewards factors. You get a ton of worth with this card. I feel it’s price a spot within the pockets of any frequent traveler.

Nomadic Matt has partnered with CardScores for our protection of bank card merchandise. Nomadic Matt and CardScores could obtain a fee from card issuers.