Chase Sapphire Reserve® Review
Bonus Offer: Earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $4,000 in 3 months
Bonus Offer: Earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $4,000 in 3 months
★ This card earns bonus points for spend in the following bonus categories:
Best for:
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is one of the best credit cards for frequent travelers.
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Card Features and Benefits:
- 10X total points on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Ultimate Rewards
- 10X Ultimate Rewards points on Lyft rides through March 2025
- 5X total points on air travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards
- 3X Ultimate Rewards points on travel and dining
- 10x total points on Chase Dining purchases through Ultimate Rewards (This is powered by Tock Dining and is only in select markets)
- 1X points on all other purchases
- 12 free months of Instacart Express
- $15/month in statement credits
- 2 years of complimentary Lyft Pink All Access including:
- Free Priority Pickup upgrades to get picked up faster
- Member-exclusive pricing including 10% off all Lux rides
- Cancellation forgiveness, cancel up to 3 times per month for free
- In-app roadside assistance for your own car, free up to 4 times a year
- Free SIXT car rental upgrades
- Free, unlimited 45-min classic bike rides
- Free unlimited ebike and scooter unlocks
- Discounted ebike and scooter rates
- 3 bike or scooter guest passes per year
- A 50% discount off their 3rd year of Lyft Pink All Access membership
- Earn 10X Ultimate Rewards points on Lyft rides
- Get a one-time complimentary Lyft Pink subscription (15% Lyft discounts, free bike/scooter rentals each month, and better cancellation rules). This is a $240 value.
- Aer Lingus AerClub (instant transfer)
- Air Canada (instant transfer)
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue (instant transfer)
- British Airways Avios (instant transfer)
- Iberia Plus (instant transfer)
- JetBlue TrueBlue (instant transfer)
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (1-2 days)
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards (instant transfer)
- United Airlines MileagePlus (instant transfer)
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (instant transfer)
- Hyatt Hotels (instant transfer)
The card that re-revolutionized points-earning credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is a high-end travel rewards card that unlocks transfers from this and any linked Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning card to airline and hotel partners and offers rich benefits for a frequent traveler, such as airport lounge access.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Points Earning Rate:
Important Note on the 5X multiplier for airfare and 10X multiplier for hotels and car rentals: You will only receive these bonus multipliers if you book your travel via the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel portal (using cash). Hotels booked via the portal are prepaid will not earn hotel points or provide hotel loyalty program benefits. If you book travel directly with a provider, you will earn 3X instead of 5X or 10X.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Review and Benefits:
It comes with excellent built-in trip delay insurance which applies even when the trip is booked with points either through the Chase travel portal or if the card pays for taxes and fees associated with an award.
Primary Car Rental Coverage with the Sapphire Reserve Card
The Reserve includes primary car rental CDW coverage for rental cars.
Very few cards include primary car rental insurance. When that coverage is secondary, as it normally is, any damage claims need to first go through your own insurance carrier - potentially raising your rates. Since the Chase Sapphire Reserve card's coverage is primary, it takes care of any damage without involving your own insurance company.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Airport Lounge Access
Priority Pass Select airport lounge access is included for the cardholder and up to two guests. This means that every time you visit a Priority Pass airport lounge, the cost of entry is included. More info on Priority Pass.
Access to Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club airport lounges will also be included as they open. (Future benefit).
Global Entry or TSA Pre ® or NEXUS fee credit
You can also receive up to a $100 credit for enrollment in Global Entry or PreCheck once every 5 years.
Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card DoorDash Benefits
You'll get free access to DashPass which gives you $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
Also receive $5 monthly DoorDash Credits through December 31, 2024.
Instacart Benefits
Lyft Benefits
Peloton Benefits
10x total points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $250 through March 2025, with a max earn of 50,000 points.
Additional CSR Benefits
Of course, there are no foreign transaction fees.
While it comes with a hefty annual fee upfront, you get $300 back each year, automatically, as you spend on any travel. This includes airfare, hotels, Ubers/Lyfts, parking meters, and much more. For many heavy travelers, this rebate will kick in very quickly each year leaving the net-effective annual fee at $250.
Chase Will Let you “Pay Yourself Back”
Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmembers can always use their points to book travel via the travel portal where they get 1.5 cents per point.
Now, you can redeem in the same manner for select categories.
Instead of using a “portal” to make the purchases, you just pay as you normally would and then go into the Chase website to “pay” for that purchase with points. You will get the same 1.5 cents per point in value as you get booking travel. The feature is branded “Pay Yourself BackSM“.
The only requirement is that the merchant category be in one of the specified categories and you must “Pay yourself back” within 90 days of purchase.
As an example, if you spend $150 at a restaurant and you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve. you could spend 10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to erase that purchase within 90 days.
Chase Sapphire Reserve / Lyft Benefits
Chase Sapphire Reserve Airline and Hotel Transfer Partners:
Aside from transfers to airline and hotel partners, you can also redeem your points for travel at the rate of 1.5 cents in value per Ultimate Rewards point. (i.e. $750 in travel for 50,000 points).
Singapore Suites - Bookable with Ultimate Rewards points
Best Chase Reserve Card Combos:
Many people pair this card with a Chase Freedom Unlimited (which earns 1.5x points on everything) and a Chase Freedom (which earns 5x points on quarterly rotating categories).
More Advice from MilesTalk
Chase Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred: Which is right for you?
Chase Ultimate Rewards: How to Earn and Redeem with Transfer Partners
Note: You will only be approved for a Chase credit card if you have applied for fewer than 5 personal credit cards within the last 24 months from any issuer. (Business cards do not count against the total, except for Capital One and Discover, but are subject to the policy). Learn more about the 5/24 rule here.
You also cannot be approved for a Sapphire Preferred if you currently have this card or a Sapphire Reserve card and/or if you have received a bonus on this card in the past 48 months.
Also See: Credit Cards That Earn Chase Ultimate Rewards Points
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Offer: Earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $4,000 in 3 months
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Dave’s spent the last 15 years traveling the world in first class using his miles and points. After analyzing the unique credit card spending habits of thousands of MilesTalk readers over the years, he developed YourBestCreditCards.com.
