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Chase Sapphire Reserve® Full Review
The new Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, and increased earn rates. It also comes with a new $795 annual fee, a litany of credits, 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct, 3x dining, and lounge access with 2 guests. But recent updates have made this card very attractive to get now. I currently hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, but my interest in the CSR is piqued now that Chase has updated their eligibility requirements and added in a special credits for 2026. I think this is one of the best times to add this card to your wallet if you’ve been considering it.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the grandaddy of all Chase cards. It’s a super premium card that comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, increased earn rates, and points worth up to 2c in Chase Travel℠ when using PointsBoost.
Welcome Offer
Earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$795
Points Earned
Transferrable Ultimate Rewards
- Annual Fee of $795
- Authorized Users are $195
Credits
- $300 Annual Travel Credit
- $500 annual The Edit℠ credit
- Chase Travel℠ collection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts
- Receive a statement credit of up to $250 for each prepaid booking with The Edit—our handpicked collection of hotels and resorts, up to $500 annually. You receive two credits for calendar year.
- Two-night minimum
- Purchases that qualify will not earn points
- $250 annual credit at Chase Travel℠
- Get up to $250 in statement credits on stays at select hotels booked through Chase Travel℠.
- No activation required. Just use your card to book stays at select hotels through Chase Travel.
- When booking your hotel via Chase Travel, select the pre-paid, “Pay Now” option using your Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
- Get up to $250 in statement credits from January 1 through December 31, 2026.
- Minimum 2-night stay required.
- Select eligible hotels are IHG Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts.
- Purchases that qualify for the $250 credit will not earn points.
- Get up to $300 annual dining credit and primetime reservations at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive
- Tables, available for booking on OpenTable
- Split into 2 $150 credits every 6 months
- Get Up to $250 annual value through complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music
- Get up to $300 annual StubHub credit on concert and event
- Get up to $120 application fee credit every four years for
- Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck(R).
- Get up to $120 Peloton credit
- $10 monthly credit
- Get up to $120 Lyft credits
- $10 monthly credit
Earning + Benefits
- 8x points on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
- 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct
- 3x on dining
- 1x on everywhere
- Redeem points via Chase Travel℠ and new program Points Boost where members may get up to 2x
- IHG One Rewards Platinum Status
- Lounge
- Enjoy complimentary access to every Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club with up to two guests,
- Access to 1,300+ Priority PassTM airport lounges worldwide.
- Also get access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in the U.S., Canada and Europe with an eligible boarding pass
- No Fx fees
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
Spend over $75k annually
- IHG One Rewards Diamond status
- Southwest Airlines A-List status
- $500 Southwest credits
- redeemable within Chase Travel℠
When the Chase Sapphire Reserve® first hit the market in 2016 it had a 100k offer, but the highest in recent years has been 80k after $4k spend in 3 months.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The new Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, and increased earn rates. It also comes with a new $795 annual fee, a litany of credits, 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct, 3x dining, lounge access with 2 guests
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners.
Personally, I think the Chase Sapphire Preferred® may offer more value for the annual fee, and if you want the super premium benefits, take a look at the Capital One Venture X to pair with it.
What are the Chase Sapphire Reserve® details?
Annual Fee
- Annual Fee of $795
- Authorized Users are $195
Credits
- $300 Annual Travel Credit
- $500 annual The Edit℠ credit
- Chase Travel℠ collection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts
- Receive a statement credit of up to $250 for each prepaid booking with The Edit—our handpicked collection of hotels and resorts, up to $500 annually. You receive two credits for calendar year.
- Two-night minimum
- Purchases that qualify will not earn points
- $250 annual credit at Chase Travel℠
- Get up to $250 in statement credits on stays at select hotels booked through Chase Travel℠.
- No activation required. Just use your card to book stays at select hotels through Chase Travel.
- When booking your hotel via Chase Travel, select the pre-paid, “Pay Now” option using your Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
- Get up to $250 in statement credits from January 1 through December 31, 2026.
- Minimum 2-night stay required.
- Select eligible hotels are IHG Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts.
- Purchases that qualify for the $250 credit will not earn points.
- Get up to $300 annual dining credit and primetime reservations at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive
- Tables, available for booking on OpenTable
- Split into 2 $150 credits every 6 months
- Get Up to $250 annual value through complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music
- Get up to $300 annual StubHub credit on concert and event
- Get up to $120 application fee credit every four years for
- Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck(R).
- Get up to $120 Peloton credit
- $10 monthly credit
- Get up to $120 Lyft credits
- $10 monthly credit
Earning + Benefits
- 8x points on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
- 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct
- 3x on dining
- 1x on everywhere
- Redeem points via Chase Travel℠ and new program Points Boost where members may get up to 2x
- IHG One Rewards Platinum Status
- Lounge
- Enjoy complimentary access to every Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club with up to two guests,
- Access to 1,300+ Priority PassTM airport lounges worldwide.
- Also get access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in the U.S., Canada and Europe with an eligible boarding pass
- No Fx fees
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
Spend over $75k annually
- IHG One Rewards Diamond status
- Southwest Airlines A-List status
- $500 Southwest credits
- redeemable within Chase Travel℠
I use Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points to transfer to Hyatt to stay at incredible places like the Alila Villas Uluwatu in Bali
Why 2026 makes a ton of sense to add it to your wallet – $1050 in travel credits
- $300 Annual Travel Credit
- $500 annual The Edit℠ credit
- $250 annual credit at Chase Travel℠
These 3 credits alone easily offset the annual fee of $795. The $300 annual travel credit is very easy to use since most travel purchases will trigger it. The Edit credits are split into 2, $250 credits, that cannot be combined on a single booking, but can be used throughout out the year and can be combined with the new $250 Chase Travel credit on select hotels.
In theory, if you booked one stay you could trigger the $300 Annual Travel Credit, one of the $250 The Edit credits, and one of the $250 select hotel credits for 2026. One single stay could offset the annual fee. That’s pretty awesome when you look at all the other perks and benefits the card comes with and the welcome bonus.
Do you qualify for the new Chase Sapphire Reserve® ?
First things first…Chase has quite stringent sign up rules for their Sapphire Products in general which includes their flagship Sapphire Reserve Let’s break those down.
What kind of credit score do you need for New Chase Sapphire Reserve®?
It’s our opinion that you should be good to go as long as you’re over 720 – nothing is published on this though.
What are the sign up rules for the New Chase Sapphire Reserve®?
So these rules are quite convoluted and I’ll try my best to make them clear.
5/24
- Almost all of Chase’s cards are a part of their 5/24 rule. This means that you can not sign up if you have opened more than 5 credit cards in the last 24 months.
You can get the card, but you won’t get a bonus if:
- If you’ve received a Sapphire Reserve bonus in the past
You can get the card and get the bonus
- You’ve never received a welcome bonus on the Sapphire Reserve
Can I get the bonus if I have the Sapphire Preferred?
Yes, as long as you haven’t received a Sapphire Reserve bonus in the past, you’re eligible.
Chase is basically saying that you can get a bonus once in a lifetime on the Sapphire Reserve and the Sapphire Preferred, once per card.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the grandaddy of all Chase cards. It’s a super premium card that comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, increased earn rates, and points worth up to 2c in Chase Travel℠ when using PointsBoost.
Welcome Offer
Earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$795
Points Earned
Transferrable Ultimate Rewards
- Annual Fee of $795
- Authorized Users are $195
Credits
- $300 Annual Travel Credit
- $500 annual The Edit℠ credit
- Chase Travel℠ collection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts
- Receive a statement credit of up to $250 for each prepaid booking with The Edit—our handpicked collection of hotels and resorts, up to $500 annually. You receive two credits for calendar year.
- Two-night minimum
- Purchases that qualify will not earn points
- $250 annual credit at Chase Travel℠
- Get up to $250 in statement credits on stays at select hotels booked through Chase Travel℠.
- No activation required. Just use your card to book stays at select hotels through Chase Travel.
- When booking your hotel via Chase Travel, select the pre-paid, “Pay Now” option using your Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
- Get up to $250 in statement credits from January 1 through December 31, 2026.
- Minimum 2-night stay required.
- Select eligible hotels are IHG Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts.
- Purchases that qualify for the $250 credit will not earn points.
- Get up to $300 annual dining credit and primetime reservations at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive
- Tables, available for booking on OpenTable
- Split into 2 $150 credits every 6 months
- Get Up to $250 annual value through complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music
- Get up to $300 annual StubHub credit on concert and event
- Get up to $120 application fee credit every four years for
- Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck(R).
- Get up to $120 Peloton credit
- $10 monthly credit
- Get up to $120 Lyft credits
- $10 monthly credit
Earning + Benefits
- 8x points on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
- 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct
- 3x on dining
- 1x on everywhere
- Redeem points via Chase Travel℠ and new program Points Boost where members may get up to 2x
- IHG One Rewards Platinum Status
- Lounge
- Enjoy complimentary access to every Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club with up to two guests,
- Access to 1,300+ Priority PassTM airport lounges worldwide.
- Also get access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in the U.S., Canada and Europe with an eligible boarding pass
- No Fx fees
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
Spend over $75k annually
- IHG One Rewards Diamond status
- Southwest Airlines A-List status
- $500 Southwest credits
- redeemable within Chase Travel℠
When the Chase Sapphire Reserve® first hit the market in 2016 it had a 100k offer, but the highest in recent years has been 80k after $4k spend in 3 months.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The new Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, and increased earn rates. It also comes with a new $795 annual fee, a litany of credits, 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct, 3x dining, lounge access with 2 guests
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners.
Personally, I think the Chase Sapphire Preferred® may offer more value for the annual fee, and if you want the super premium benefits, take a look at the Capital One Venture X to pair with it.
Is this the best offer we’ve offer seen?
See our best offer spreadsheet for more data
What is the Annual fee?
The annual fee is $795 and is not waived for the first year.
$300 Annual Travel Credit
This an annual travel credit that is issued per anniversary year is credited toward any travel purchase you make on the card. This differs from other card issuers who stipulate that purchases must be in a portal. The Sapphire Reserve does not. Here is how Chase defines travel
Merchants in the travel category include 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
Rent a Tesla and use your Sapphire Reserve …you’ll trigger your $300 travel credit
$500 Annual “The Edit℠” Credit
- $500 annual The Edit℠ credit
- Chase Travel℠’s collection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts
- Split into 2 credits every 6 months of $250
- Must be a 2 night stay
Chase Sapphire Reserve® Earn Rates
1x Everywhere
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® earns 1x on every single purchase, but earns increased earn rates on select categories:
4x Hotels and Airfare booked direct
As long as you book direct with the airline or hotel, you’ll trigger 4x points. This is a big deal on airlines like British Airways, which is a transfer partner, since they charge high taxes and fees even when you book with points. I’d earn 4x points on those fees which is great!
Chase Travel℠ earns 8x
When you book travel via the travel portal you will earn at the following rate
- 8x across the board
Redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Chase has implemented a new program called Points Boost where Select travel will be redeemable at a 2c per point valuation in Chase Travel(SM) – all other travel will be a penny per point.
Transferring points
Chase offers some of the richest points in the business with a great list of both domestic and international partners. With partners like Hyatt, United, Southwest, Marriott, and IHG I believe they have some of the easiest to redeem points.
I have used Chase Ultimate Rewards to fly in some of the world’s best first class products as well as stay in incredible 5 star hotels via transferring points like Emirates First Class
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the grandaddy of all Chase cards. It’s a super premium card that comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, increased earn rates, and points worth up to 2c in Chase Travel℠ when using PointsBoost.
Welcome Offer
Earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$795
Points Earned
Transferrable Ultimate Rewards
- Annual Fee of $795
- Authorized Users are $195
Credits
- $300 Annual Travel Credit
- $500 annual The Edit℠ credit
- Chase Travel℠ collection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts
- Receive a statement credit of up to $250 for each prepaid booking with The Edit—our handpicked collection of hotels and resorts, up to $500 annually. You receive two credits for calendar year.
- Two-night minimum
- Purchases that qualify will not earn points
- $250 annual credit at Chase Travel℠
- Get up to $250 in statement credits on stays at select hotels booked through Chase Travel℠.
- No activation required. Just use your card to book stays at select hotels through Chase Travel.
- When booking your hotel via Chase Travel, select the pre-paid, “Pay Now” option using your Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
- Get up to $250 in statement credits from January 1 through December 31, 2026.
- Minimum 2-night stay required.
- Select eligible hotels are IHG Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels, and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts.
- Purchases that qualify for the $250 credit will not earn points.
- Get up to $300 annual dining credit and primetime reservations at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive
- Tables, available for booking on OpenTable
- Split into 2 $150 credits every 6 months
- Get Up to $250 annual value through complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music
- Get up to $300 annual StubHub credit on concert and event
- Get up to $120 application fee credit every four years for
- Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck(R).
- Get up to $120 Peloton credit
- $10 monthly credit
- Get up to $120 Lyft credits
- $10 monthly credit
Earning + Benefits
- 8x points on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
- 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct
- 3x on dining
- 1x on everywhere
- Redeem points via Chase Travel℠ and new program Points Boost where members may get up to 2x
- IHG One Rewards Platinum Status
- Lounge
- Enjoy complimentary access to every Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club with up to two guests,
- Access to 1,300+ Priority PassTM airport lounges worldwide.
- Also get access to select Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Air Canada Cafés in the U.S., Canada and Europe with an eligible boarding pass
- No Fx fees
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
Spend over $75k annually
- IHG One Rewards Diamond status
- Southwest Airlines A-List status
- $500 Southwest credits
- redeemable within Chase Travel℠
When the Chase Sapphire Reserve® first hit the market in 2016 it had a 100k offer, but the highest in recent years has been 80k after $4k spend in 3 months.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The new Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a bevy of benefits, travel credits, and increased earn rates. It also comes with a new $795 annual fee, a litany of credits, 4x on hotels and airfare booked direct, 3x dining, lounge access with 2 guests
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners.
Personally, I think the Chase Sapphire Preferred® may offer more value for the annual fee, and if you want the super premium benefits, take a look at the Capital One Venture X to pair with it.
Lounge Access – Chase Sapphire Lounge® by The Club + Priority Pass
Access
- Chase Sapphire Reserve, J.P. Morgan Reserve and The Ritz-CarltonTM Credit Card primary cardmembers and authorized users have lounge access with their complimentary Priority PassTM membership.
- Sapphire Reserve and J.P. Morgan Reserve cardmembers may bring up to two guests per visit for free, and additional guests for $27.
- There’s no additional charge for children under two.
- Ritz-Carlton cardmembers may bring unlimited guests at no charge.
- Access is based on lounge capacity
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Overall
The Sapphire Reserve is a super premium card that comes with an incredible amount of benefits and when you factor in this new increased welcome offer, I think you can justify getting it over the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card for at least the first year.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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