Chase Sapphire Reserve® Review: The Best Chase Has To Offer

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is an incredible travel rewards credit card that any frequent traveler should have in their wallet.

Here's a quick overview of what the Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers:

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• An easy to use, annual, $300 travel credit
• Priority Pass lounge access
• 5X points on air travel and 10X on hotels and rental cars when purchased through Chase Travel℠ after the first $300 spent on travel purchases annually.
• 3X on other travel and dining and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.
• 50% more value when you redeem through Chase Travel℠
• TSA Pre-Check/Global Entry statement credit, up to $120 once every four years
• Comprehensive Travel Insurance coverage
• $550 annual fee

Chase Sapphire Reserve® Features

Annual fee

Since the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is a top-tier travel rewards card, it does have a steep annual fee of $550. That paired with the extra $75 for each authorized user does mean that this card isn’t for those who want no annual fee, or even a low one.

Rewards

If the annual fee scares you a little bit, you may be relieved to hear that the rewards offered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve® may make up for it.

With the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you’ll earn 5X points on air travel and 10X on hotels and rental cars when purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards® after the first $300 spent on travel purchases annually. And earn 3X on other travel and dining and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases you make. 

Sign-up bonus

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® doesn’t just have a one-time-only sign-up bonus. They offer $300 in travel statement credits every year on your account anniversary.

But, that’s not all. The Chase Reserve’s current bonus at the time of writing allows you to Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Great additional travel benefits

Chase doesn’t just offer great rewards, but they also offer a handful of other travel benefits that make the Chase Sapphire Reserve® a great card for frequent travelers. Those benefits include:

• No blackout dates or travel restrictions on your points when used through the Chase travel portal
• If you redeem through Chase’s travel portal, you get 50% more value than if redeemed in other ways
• 1:1 point transfers between airlines and hotels, meaning 500 Chase points equals 500 points with their partner businesses.
• Travel insurance, including: purchase protection, return protection, lost luggage and trip delay reimbursement, and more.

Luxury travel

Traveling is great, it’s getting through the frustration at the airport that's the hard part. With the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can enroll in a service that grants you access to over 1,000 VIP lounges in over 500 cities worldwide. Hanging out in a VIP lounge is bound to make anyone’s trip a little better.

In addition, if you’re a Global Entry customer, Chase offers a statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application (as long as you use your Chase card).

Others agree that the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the best of the best

Don’t just take it from us that the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is an amazing travel rewards card, MONEY® Magazine also named it the "Best Premium Travel Credit Card" in 2023.

That paired with customer reviews, proves that we are not the only ones that love the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

Redemption option #1—Book travel

As you can tell, we highly recommend using the Chase Sapphire Reserve® as one of your main travel rewards credit card. As mentioned above, if you book travel through Chase's portal, you get 1.5 cents per point in value.

If you book through Chase Sapphire Reserve®, your points can go towards:

• Flights
• Hotel stays
• Car rentals
• Vacation rentals
• Cruises

Chase Travel℠ makes it easy to find flights and lodging, and they’ll tell you next to each flight/hotel/etc. how many points equals a free flight/stay.

You can transfer points to the following partners:

• British Airways Avios
• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• World Of Hyatt
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Rewards
• Emirates
• Flying Blue
• Iberia Plus

Redemption option #2—Amazon

If you’re a frequent Amazon shopper, you can use your rewards through Amazon. All you have to do is link your Chase card to Amazon and you can use your points at checkout.

Your points can even count towards shipping and tax. 

Redemption option #3—Shop through Chase

If you shop through Chase, you can get bonus points at more than 200 popular retailers online.

Why you should use the Chase Sapphire Reserve® credit card

If you’re looking for the perfect travel rewards credit card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the answer to everything you've been looking for.

With a generous rewards program and an annual $300 bonus, this card has more than you could ask for from other travel credit cards.

Use your points through the Chase Sapphire Reserve® portal and you can get even more rewards for your everyday spending.