Chase Sapphire Reserve® Review: A Premier Travel Credit Card

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is good for frequent travelers who want a high-end rewards card. It has lots of useful perks, including airport lounge access, and easy-to-use travel rewards. The Chase Ultimate Rewards program is packed with airline and hotel partners, and you can always get good value using your points for Chase Travel bookings.

Find out if this is the credit card for you in our Chase Sapphire Reserve® review.

Is the Chase Sapphire Reserve worth it?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is worth it if you travel often and you like Chase's travel rewards program. With a $550 annual fee, it's one of the more expensive travel credit cards, so it won't be right for everyone. But it has enough benefits to make up for the cost, provided you're able to use them.

Author's personal experience

I had the Chase Sapphire Reserve® for over seven years. It's an excellent travel card, and I love the Ultimate Rewards program -- I still have several Chase credit cards for that reason. I eventually decided to downgrade it because I wasn't using as many of the perks as before and didn't want to keep paying the annual fee. Even after so many years of paying that fee, I still came out well ahead with this card. It regularly helped me save thousands on air travel, and I loved having the option to redeem points for 50% more value through Chase Travel.

What everyone else is saying

This is a popular card, and practically everyone has an opinion on it. Here's what other review sites and credit card enthusiasts on social media think.

What our competitors think

Average competitor rating: 4.7 / 5 stars

Professional reviews are very high on the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Descriptions include "one of the best travel credit cards," "elite," and even "one of the best rewards credit cards of all time." Reviewers talk about this Chase card like football fans talk about Tom Brady.

The highlights most often mentioned are the $300 annual travel credit, airport lounge access, and Chase's travel rewards program. While there aren't any major criticisms, many reviews mention the expensive annual fee and that you need a high credit score to get this card.

One review also mentioned that the welcome offer isn't as much as it used to be. While you can still earn 60,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 in the first 3 months, Chase has offered 75,000 bonus points in the past.

Social media consensus

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® gets a lot of praise on social media, but also its fair share of contrarian takes. Some have referred to it as a "bad deal" and even "the worst travel card." They say it's hard to recoup the annual fee through this card's spending credits and that you can earn just as many points or more with other credit cards.

It's worth pointing out that many of the people who discuss credit cards on social media are optimizers. They don't mind devoting large amounts of time to complicated rewards strategies, and they're open to carrying half a dozen cards to squeeze out more points on their spending.

Professional credit card reviews focus more on how a card would work in a vacuum for a typical consumer. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® does well in that regard, if you're a frequent traveler who wants one premium travel card. Plenty of social media users recognize that and appreciate the Chase Sapphire Reserve® -- it's still well-liked there. It's mainly optimizers who aren't always as fond of it.

Ideal for frequent flyers with premium travel perks

If you're the jetsetter type, this Chase card is a fantastic travel companion. It gets you and up to two guests into over 1,300 airport lounges around the world with a Priority Pass Select membership.

You'll also get free access to Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club locations. There aren't many Chase Sapphire Lounges yet, but the ones that have opened are getting good reviews.

Airport lounge access makes spending time at the airport much more enjoyable. This card can also speed up the process of getting through airport security. It includes a Global Entry, TSA PreCheck®, or NEXUS membership fee credit. I recommend Global Entry, since it includes TSA PreCheck® benefits. These programs speed up the security process at airports where they're available.

Big savings opportunities headlined by a $300 annual travel credit

While this card has a $550 annual fee, you probably won't have any trouble getting some of that back. It offers $300 in statement credits per year for travel purchases. This covers anything Chase classifies as travel, which is a long list.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® also offers several partner offers that could save you some money, if you can use them. These include:

• Lyft Pink membership: Get two complimentary years of Lyft Pink All Access (a value of $199 per year) when you activate by Dec. 31, 2024.
• DoorDash DashPass subscription: Get complimentary access to DashPass (a value of $120 for 12 months) for a minimum of 12 months when you activate by Dec. 31, 2024.
• Monthly DoorDash credit: Get $5 in DoorDash credits each month through Dec. 31, 2024, redeemed at checkout.
• Instacart membership: Get one year of complimentary Instacart+ (a value of $99 per year) when you activate by July 31, 2024. Membership auto-renews unless you cancel.
• Monthly Instacart credit: Instacart+ members earn up to $15 in statement credits each month through July 2024.
• Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection: Book through The Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection℠ for complimentary daily breakfast for two, complimentary wifi, room upgrades if available, early check-in and late checkout if available, and a special benefit worth up to $100.

Flexible travel rewards with plenty of high-value redemption options

In The Ascent's 2024 Credit Card Awards, we chose Chase Ultimate Rewards as the best credit card rewards program. While there are other excellent programs out there, this one is special for a few reasons.

Chase has an outstanding selection of over a dozen airline and hotel partners. By transferring your Chase points, you can get incredible value on what would be expensive travel bookings. Here are a few examples:

• Want to book a luxury hotel stay? Hyatt is perfect for this, and Chase is the only card issuer that has it as a transfer partner. I've transferred Chase points to Hyatt and paid entirely in points for a hotel stay that would've cost over $5,000.
• Hoping to fly business class next time you travel abroad? Chase has several international airline partners, including Air Canada, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Iberia, and Virgin Atlantic.
• Trying to save on domestic flights to visit family? Chase is also partnered with United and Southwest, so you could transfer your points to either of those airlines. Or, just use your points through Chase Travel, an online travel booking portal.

Transfers aren't the only good way to use your points. You get 50% more value ($0.015 per point) on Chase Travel bookings. For example, 100,000 points are worth $1,500. This is a convenient way to redeem your points, as you can book many different types of travel with Chase Travel, including flights, hotels, car rentals, and activities.

A solid welcome offer and bonus points on travel and dining

This Chase credit card has a welcome offer of 60,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. I'd consider this good, but not great. While it's valuable, there have been times when Chase has offered more points.

Here's how much you'll earn on purchases with this card:

• 10x points per $1 hotels and car rentals through Chase Travel after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually
• 5x points per $1 air travel through Chase Travel after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually
• 10x points on Lyft rides through March 2025
• 10x points on Chase Dining purchases made through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3x points per $1 on other travel and other dining
• 1x points per $1 other purchases

A full suite of complimentary travel protections and purchase coverages

Complimentary travel and purchase insurance are a strong suit for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Lots of credit cards have rental car insurance for damage and theft, to give you one example. But if you actually need to use it, you'll normally find that it's secondary insurance on U.S. rentals. That means you need to file a claim with your primary auto insurance first.

This Chase card has primary rental car insurance as one of its travel insurance benefits. You can file with it right away after a covered incident, so you won't need to use your regular car insurance and risk a rate hike.

That's just one of many protections this card has on eligible purchases. It also offers:

• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement, and travel accident insurance
• Lost luggage reimbursement and baggage delay insurance
• Purchase protection, return protection, and extended warranty protection

Some benefits won't work for everyone -- and many are ending soon

Like many high-priced cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has quite a few features that will only work for select cardholders. DoorDash and Instacart benefits are great, if you use those apps regularly. Ditto for Lyft Pink All Access. If not, you may find that the $550 fee is too steep for what you're getting.

If those benefits fit your lifestyle, then you'll probably love this card. I saw tons of positive comments online from cardholders who live in major metropolitan areas, including New York and Chicago. They enjoy the savings on food deliveries and the Lyft Pink All Access perks, such as getting unlimited 45-minute classic bike rides.

It's also worth noting that several benefits are limited-time offers ending this year or early in 2025. Chase may extend them or add new ones to replace them. If not, that will mean a big hit to this card's value.

Chase Sapphire Reserve credit score

A FICO® Score of 670 or higher is recommended to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Another important factor when applying for Chase cards is an unofficial rule it has, known as the Chase 5/24 rule. If you've opened five or more credit cards within the last 24 months, Chase will most likely deny your application.

Pre-approval process

Chase has a pre-approval tool on its website, but it's not always available. When it is, you can enter some basic information to check if you're pre-approved for Chase credit cards. It will show you any pre-approval offers you have with Chase, which may or may not include the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

Regular APR

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a 22.49%-29.49% Variable APR. It's best to pay off your balance in full every month to avoid interest charges.

Fees

Here are the fees for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®:

• Annual fee: $550
• Each authorized user: $75 per year
• Balance transfer fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
• Cash advance fee: Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.
• Foreign transaction fee: None
• Returned payment fee: Up to $40

Credit limit

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a minimum starting credit limit of $10,000, based on the pricing and terms. Your credit limit is based primarily on your income and credit history, so it's possible to be approved for a much larger amount. On the high end, there are cardholders that have reported credit limits of $50,000 or more.

If you want a more affordable annual fee: The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card only costs $95 per year. It's also part of the Chase Ultimate Rewards program and has some similar benefits, including a big welcome offer, bonus points in multiple spending categories, and lots of ways to redeem points for travel.

If you want even more premium perks: The Platinum Card® from American Express is one of the most popular luxury rewards cards. It offers over $1,500 in spending credits per year and provides access to even more types of airport lounges, including American Express® Centurion Lounges. Terms apply.

Go with the Chase Sapphire Reserve® if you want a feature-packed travel card and don't mind the annual fee. If you like to travel, it won't be hard to save money with this card.

Our credit card methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate credit cards on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). Our rating criteria includes rewards rates, welcome bonuses, fees, and perks like travel credits and 0% intro APR offers to evaluate our ratings.

We combine these factors with an evaluation of brand reputation and customer satisfaction to ensure you're getting the best card recommendations. Learn more about how The Ascent rates credit cards.