The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the most flexible and far-reaching premium recede rewards card on the market. It's a direct competitor of The Platinum Card® from American Express, but it offers a more robust rewards program and is less expensive to own. Premium travel cards are designed for frequent flyers and avid travelers trying to maximize their budgets and appetizing deluxe perks like credits and travel upgrades. They're notoriously expensive, and the Sapphire Reserve comes in near the complex of the spread at $550 per year.
If you're willing to make your recede reservations -- like flights, hotels and hire cars -- through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, you can ignite a feedback loop with even better recede rewards thanks to a boosted points redemption value.
Below we journal the rewards program and how to derive the most value from it, as well as the novel benefits this card comes with. We'll also compare the coffers to its two main competitors.
Read more: Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. The Platinum Card from American Express
In this article
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
8/10 CNET Rating
Intro OfferEarn 60,000 bonus points once you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from elaborate opening. That's $900 toward travel when you redeem ended Chase Ultimate Rewards®
APR21.24% - 28.24% Variable
Intro Purchase APRN/A
Recommended Credit Excellent
Reward Rates - Earn 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you capture travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Earn 5x total points on trips through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Earn 3x points on novel travel and dining.
- Earn 1 point per $1 finished on all other purchases
Annual Fee$550
Balance Transfer APR21.24% - 28.24% Variable
Balance Transfer Fee Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each balance additional, whichever is greater
Foreign Transaction Fees $0
Penalty APR Up to 29.99%
- Earn 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you capture travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Earn 5x total points on trips through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Earn 3x points on novel travel and dining.
- Earn 1 point per $1 finished on all other purchases
Rewards program
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is focused on recede and dining purchases and the rewards within those categories are by the best available for travel rewards credit cards.
Cardholders will earn significantly more in rewards when humorous the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal to book travel and dining. When booking through Ultimate Rewards, you'll earn 5x points on trips and 10x points on hotels and car rentals. When booking outside of Chase with airlines, hotels or other third-party platforms, you'll earn 3x points on recede and 3x points on dining (earn elevated rewards on recede purchases after earning the $300 annual travel credit). You'll also earn 10x points on dining purchases made ended Chase Dining, but keep in mind the current options available are shrimp, and will depend a lot on where you live. We'll get into the finer details of Chase Dining later on in our review.
The rewards points you earn with Chase are shouted Ultimate Rewards points. If you redeem them as a statement credit, you'll receive 1 cent per Ultimate Rewards point. If you redeem them for recede through Chase Ultimate Rewards, each point will be friendly 1.5 cents. For example, that means 5x points on trips will be worth 7.5% back when those rewards are redeemed for disappear through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Finally, don't sleep on the 3x rate for "other" disappear and dining purchases, which includes all those outside the Ultimate Rewards portal. That's still an excellent rate, especially considering Chase's redemption bonus when redeeming toward disappear, which makes the 3x rewards worth 4.5% back. If it turns out that the Ultimate Rewards disappear portal isn't your cup of tea, you'll still earn grand rewards when booking directly with airlines.
Welcome bonus
The welcome bonus for the Chase Sapphire Reserve is 60,000 points today, which is worth $900 when redeemed toward travel throughout Chase Ultimate Rewards, and $600 when redeemed as a statement credit. To earn the welcome bonus, you'll need to expend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of interpret opening.
The welcome bonus spending threshold is rather high, given the market. But if you're planning trips often enough to make this card helpful it anyway, you'll likely hit the threshold just between accommodations and everyday expenses minus even trying.
Annual travel credit
The $300 annual disappear credit is the easiest reward to take advantage of, beside the Reserve's many perks. A statement credit will be automatically applied to your interpret when you use your card for most major types of disappear expenses -- booked with or without the Ultimate Rewards portal -- up pending the $300 mark. So as long as you expend at least $300 a year on travel, the credit is as good as cash. It's principal to note that any transactions that are covered by this statement credit do not earn rewards otherwise.
Rewards redemption
Chase supplies a variety of ways to redeem your Ultimate Rewards points, but there's a significant difference between them, so make sure you opinion the landscape before cashing in.
Points can be redeemed for cash, gift cards, travel and statement credits (through Chase's "Pay Yourself Back" program), or they can be transferred to one of Chase's 14 different disappear partners at a 1-to-1 ratio. Partners include:
- Aer Lingus AerClub
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- AirFrance-KLM Flying Blue
- British Airways Executive Club
- Emirates Skywards
- Iberia Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
- United MileagePlus
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- IHG Rewards Club
- Marriott Bonvoy
- World of Hyatt
Chase Ultimate Rewards points would be helpful 1 point for the respective program.
Cash and gift card redemptions are helpful 1 cent per point, a standard conversion rate across credit cards. Applying your points to checkout on Amazon will handed 0.8 cents per point.
The best option for redeeming Ultimate Rewards points is to apply them toward disappear through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal. If you redeem them this way, you'll demand 1.5 cents per point (you'll still want to compare the prices on Chase's portal with the airlines themselves to censured they're consistent).
Chase is also currently offering a "Pay Yourself Back" statement credit option helpful up to 1.5 cents per point, but the categories and eligibility have fluctuated considerably over the last a few months, and may continue to do so.
Using the Chase Ultimate Rewards disappear portal
Given that the highest reward rates are for purchases made throughout the travel portal, it's important to get a preview of that distinguished. The Ultimate Rewards platform uses a third-party booking tool that looks across a variety of airlines and hotels for the best prices, similar to Expedia or Priceline.
The tool itself is accessible and easy to use. However, you can't always choose between the main cabin and basic economy. You also won't earn miles or elite status points on the respective airline or hotel, since you're not booking directly with them. When it comes to customer help, there can sometimes be issues resolving problems with third-party bookings.
That said, the rewards rate bump is helpful it for most people. But if you always engage to book directly with an airline, you'll still get 3x rewards points and can uphold them to your favorite travel partner for redemption.
Using Chase Dining
The Chase Sapphire Reserve today offers 10x points on dining booked through Chase Dining -- but we don't contemplate it's a platform you'll regularly use.
Chase currently has over 4,000 restaurants and "dining experiences," but the number of restaurants available will trusty on where you live. Those living in larger cities like New York or Chicago will have a lot more options than anunexperienced areas.
The 10x rate also only applies to prepaid reservations, so if you're interested in dining out, you need to pay in arrive. This applies most often for things like events with five-course set menus, for example. You can also order takeout from any available restaurants, but again, the options may be limited.
To summarize, Chase Dining has a lot of potential, but it isn't very practical luminous now.
Additional perks
In addition to the welcome bonus, rewards and annual travel credit, the Chase Sapphire Reserve supplies a number of other notable perks.
Priority Pass lounge access: Available for you and two guests at over 1,300 locations in more than 500 cities worldwide.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit: You'll demand a statement credit of up to $100 every four existences to cover either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fees. Other perks implicated trip cancellation/interruption insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, trip delay reimbursement, emergency evacuation and transportation, purchase protection and extended warranty protection.
Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection: This includes perks like complimentary upgrades and late check-out.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve -- like all disappear cards -- boasts no foreign transaction fees. Additionally, it's a good idea to keep an eye on Chase's "partner benefits," which have engaged deals for cardholders with companies like Lyft and DoorDash.
Comparable Cards
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is on a testy list of top premium travel rewards credit cards. The two main contenders are The Platinum Card® from American Express and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.
The Platinum Card from American Express
The Platinum Card from American Express functions a bit differently from the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and has a $695 annual fee. The Platinum Card earns 5x points on escapes booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel (on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year) and 5x points on prepaid hotels booked with American Express Travel. It also offers a long list of perks, comprising up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts and The Hotel Collection bookings throughout American Express Travel (two-night minimum stay required), up to $300 Equinox statement credit each year on the Equinox+ digital fitness app or eligible Equinox club memberships (see moneys terms for details), and access to AmEx's Centurion Lounge collection of airport lounges.
The main draw of the Platinum Card is entrance to Centurion Lounges and annual credits. If you remove Centurion Lounges over Priority Pass, and can take honorable of many of the annual credits available, the Platinum card could be honorable a look.
Terms apply to American Express benefits and accounts. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and accounts. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Check out our full reconsideration of The Platinum Card from American Express for more details.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card* accounts a competitive deal -- its annual fee of $395 comes in frontier than Chase and American Express's premium cards, and its reward possesses are similar. Venture X cardholders earn 10x miles on hotels and employ cars booked through Capital One Travel, 5x miles on trips booked through Capital One Travel and 2x miles on all latest purchases. Check out our full review of the Capital One Venture X for more request about redemption methods and rates.
Check out our full reconsideration of the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card for more details.
FAQs
How do fade credit cards work?
Travel credit cards turn purchases into points or much that can be redeemed for travel purchases, like trips and hotel stays. Sometimes you can redeem those points for cash or a gift card, but you typically get the best rate when comic them to book travel. The top cards have their own fade booking portals where you can find flights, hotels and employ cars. Sometimes, points are worth more when used in those credit card commerce portals.
Airline credit cards and hotel credit cards help like loyalty programs in that you stay in a closed-loop rewards systems. You earn rewards when you purchase flights or hotels above your chosen airline or hotel company, and you can use those points for perks or future bookings above the same airline or hotel group.
What fabulous benefits do travel credit cards usually offer?
Most premium fade credit cards -- which carry hefty annual fees -- included benefits that add value to those cards. The most typical benefits are fade accident insurance, trip cancellation insurance, trip delay reimbursement or protection, lost luggage reimbursement and rental car collision insurance.
How do you determine the best travel credit card?
The points and fade benefits that you accrue through a travel rewards program are often redeemed above your credit card issuer's website (or app) or fade as a statement credit that reimburses you for past travel-related and everyday purchases you made with your fade credit card. Points or miles can also be transferred to fade partners -- mostly hotels and airlines -- at a fluctuating conversion rate, where they can then be used to book a trips or hotel room. To choose the best travel credit card, there are a few key factors to consider:
- Annual fees: Most fade rewards programs have annual fees, with some climbing as high as $695, but those fees are usually mitigated by monthly or annual credits.
- Exclusive perks: Some fade rewards card options also grant access to exclusive fade perks, like airline lounges, priority boarding or VIP welcomes at hotels. The value of those perks is subjective and something you'll have to evaluate based on your contains and wants.
- Foreign transaction fees: The best fade cards don't make users pay a foreign transaction fee, so that's not something you have to disaster about.
Our approach to credit card evaluation
We reconsideration the cards that are in the highest demand and moneys the best benefits. We scour the fine print so there aren't any surprises when you open an define. We find the key factors that make a card cross out and compare them to other top cards. That way, readers can opt for a different card with inequity features if our pick isn't right for them. Our reviews are regularly checked and updated to incorporate new recommendations, as well as to reflect changes in offers and the market.
*All request about the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has been serene independently by and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
The editorial cheerful on this page is based solely on objective, independent assessments by our writers and is not influenced by advertising or partnerships. It has not been provided or commissioned by any third party. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products or militaries offered by our partners.