Earn 5 points on flights and 10 total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3 points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
$550
N/A
20.24% – 28.74% Variable
Earn 60,000 bonus points
Good to Excellent
If you’re new to rewards credit cards you may want to start elsewhere, but if you know you want to earn Chase points and you spend a lot on travel and dining, the Sapphire Reserve is one of the most rewarding options.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® card is one of my favorite credit cards of all time.
It comes with some of the best travel insurance coverage I’ve ever had, and offers a slew of benefits I use on almost every trip I take.
Here’s what I love about this card, and why I still recommend it to friends and family members in 2025.
In my opinion, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is one of the best travel rewards credit cards because it’s perfect for foodies who value luxury or adventure. It’s a fantastic companion for people who hop on a plane at least three times a year, especially if one of those trips requires a passport.
I love using the card’s complimentary airport lounge access privileges to visit Priority Pass™ lounges and Chase Sapphire Lounges worldwide, and I never fail to use my $300 annual travel credit each year.
This card’s annual fee is costly and may not be the best choice for everyone. But I’ve had mine for over six years for several reasons I’ll discuss below.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points, which are some of the most valuable credit card rewards in the points and miles ecosystem. According to Business Insider’s points valuations, Ultimate Rewards® have an average value of 1.8 cents apiece.
I have half a dozen Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards® points, but my Chase Sapphire Reserve is the “one card to rule them all.”
I funnel points earned from my other cards to the Chase Sapphire Reserve for additional value, either by sending them to Chase Ultimate Rewards® point transfer partners or by redeeming them through Chase Travel℠ for 1.5 cents apiece.
Earning a welcome bonus is the quickest way to jump-start or boost your stash of points.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® currently offers a welcome bonus of 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. By our valuations, this bonus is worth $1,080 in travel when you transfer points to airline and hotel partners.
I personally think this bonus is just average in the world of credit card welcome offers. While some credit cards are worth opening for the welcome bonus alone, I can typically earn this many points on my card each year just by using my Chase Sapphire Reserve for all dining and travel expenses.
Pro tip: The Sapphire credit cards have some of the strictest restrictions within the Chase family. If you already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you can’t also get a Chase Sapphire Reserve (or vice versa); you’ll need to downgrade or cancel the card you already have. You also won’t be eligible for a new welcome bonus if you got your last Sapphire card within the past 48 months (four years).
I can transfer points from my Chase Sapphire Reserve and other Chase cards to more than a dozen of the world’s best-known airlines and hotels:
I regularly transfer points to Air Canada, Southwest, United, and Hyatt, and semi-occasionally use Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic. In my six years as a Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholder, the only partners I haven’t utilized have been Aer Lingus and Iberia.
Despite the high annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a lot to offer.
The “best” perk is also the most technical benefit to discuss. Nobody gets excited about insurance, but it’s a true blessing in the unlucky event that you need it.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers some of the best travel insurance coverage you’ll find from any credit card, making this my first choice for payment when booking flights and other transportation.
I highly value the coverage benefits that come with this credit card. In fact, a single claim in 2018 saved me more than $1,800 out of pocket on a chaotic three-week trip to Italy.
I’ve reviewed a number of travel insurance plans and providers throughout my career and have even purchased annual policies in the past. However, the travel insurance from the Chase Sapphire Reserve has covered 95% of my needs.
This card offers primary rental car insurance when I use the card to pay for a rental car. Primary coverage means that I don’t need to file claims for damage, loss, or collisions through my personal auto insurance policy, as long as I’ve paid for the rental car with my Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Liability insurance isn’t included in this benefit, so you may still want to purchase liability coverage through the rental car company.
Pro tip: As of October 2024, New York state residents with auto insurance policies are no longer eligible for primary coverage on rental cars although you’ll still have secondary coverage. If you live in New York but don’t have a car insurance policy, you still qualify for primary rental car protection.
If you’ve paid for an eligible trip with the card and it’s cut short or canceled for a covered reason such as illness or severe weather, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses.
I used this benefit to help me rebook travel from Chicago to Venice in 2018, when my original flight was canceled altogether. Although United helped me get a new flight to Rome, I lost my original flight from Rome to Venice in the shuffle. The insurance from my Chase Sapphire Reserve covered the cost of booking a new flight.
If you pay for travel with this card, your trip delay insurance benefit can reimburse you up to $500 per ticket for hotel rooms, food, toiletries, clothes, or other reasonable expenses when your flight is delayed overnight or by six hours or more.
It also helped me pay for new train tickets and a hotel in Florence when a train strike derailed my itinerary halfway through the trip.
If you pay for your trip with the card and your bags are delayed for six hours or more, you could be reimbursed for essential purchases (like clothing and toiletries) up to $100 per day for up to five days.
This benefit helped me replace several hundred dollars of lost clothing during the Italy trip when my bags were stranded on a different plane due to summer thunderstorms. It took six days for my luggage to reach me, during which I maxed out the $500 allowance.
If the airline damages or loses your bags, you and your immediate family members could be covered for up to $3,000 per passenger if you’ve paid for your tickets with the card.
This clause of the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s travel insurance benefits has helped me replace two separate suitcases at different times: once for a cracked shell, and once for a broken telescoping handle.
I’ve never had to use any of the following benefits (knock on wood). But they’re always great to know about, just in case:
Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders get special privileges on Avis, National, Hertz, and Audi on Demand car rentals, including complimentary elite status. Benefits vary across the companies but typically include a car class upgrade, easy pick-up/drop-off, discounts, savings on luxury and premium cars, and special promotions.
I don’t use these benefits often, but my friends with kids or specific rental vehicle requirements tell me that the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s rental car benefits are very valuable for them.
Every year, the Chase Sapphire Reserve gives me a travel credit that applies to the first $300 I spend on subways, taxis, ridesharing, and parking, as well as hotels, airfare, and cruises. The statement credit automatically appears next to any eligible transaction I pay with this card.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers cardholders complimentary DashPass membership for waived delivery fees on qualifying orders. I’ll have this benefit through December 31, 2027, and I had to enroll through my Chase account dashboard to receive this benefit.
My card includes a $5 monthly DoorDash credit that works on restaurant orders. These credits expire every three months, so I can accumulate up to $15 in credit before I redeem them (or they expire).
I also get two monthly $10 DoorDash credits for grocery or convenience store orders that can’t be used at restaurants. In most cases, the added cost of delivery and service fees negates the $10 savings, but I’ve occasionally ordered green juice for pickup from my local 7-Eleven to use up the credit.
As of April 2025, I can earn 5 Chase points per dollar on Lyft purchases through September 2027. I also get up to $120 in rideshare credit each year (up to $10 a month). Credits expire at the end of each month and do not roll over if they aren’t used.
I can also get discounted Lyft rides if I link my complimentary DashPass account to my Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
Having access to airport lounges is one of my favorite perks of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Lounges are comfortable, relaxing, and exclusive areas where you can enjoy comfortable seats, an internet connection, food and drinks — often complimentary — and other amenities on occasion.
Cardholders get access to two sets of airport lounge networks: Priority Pass™ and Chase Sapphire Lounges.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the original card that helped me get Priority Pass™ for free. My Priority Pass membership allows me to bring two guests to any lounge — a fringe benefit that’s fantastic for families or couples.
This benefit is far less useful than when I first got the card years ago because I now have three credit cards that come with Priority Pass access. While I still find the Chase Sapphire Reserve very valuable, it feels extravagant to triple-pay for a pricy benefit I can only use once at a time.
In 2022, Chase began launching a proprietary portfolio of Chase Sapphire Lounges in airports worldwide that are available to Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders and all Priority Pass members.
Chase has lounges in some of my favorite U.S. airports. In my opinion, the best locations are in San Diego and La Guardia, where you can get complimentary facials and enjoy custom cocktails and gourmet meals.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a statement credit of up to $120 for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck®, or NEXUS enrollment.
This benefit is available once every four years, and membership in any of these programs is valid for up to five years — so if you keep this card open, you’ll always have a credit available when you need to renew your membership.
Thanks to this credit card, I have both TSA Precheck and Global Entry, which includes TSA PreCheck enrollment.
Award travel aficionados have mixed reviews when it comes to booking travel through your credit card company. In many cases, I get the best rates and customer service by booking travel directly through the airline or hotel chain. But from time to time, I use the Chase Travel℠ portal when I don’t want to spend any money out of pocket.
Chase Travel℠ works just like any other online travel agency (OTA) — and when I pay with my Chase Sapphire Reserve but use points at checkout, I get a 50% bonus, where each point is worth 1.5 cents instead of the standard 1 point apiece. I typically book travel through Chase Travel℠ when I need to book a direct domestic flight in cash, but don’t want to pay for it out of pocket.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve has an annual fee of $550 and does not charge foreign transaction fees on international purchases, so it’s a great option to pack when I travel.
Like most credit cards, it charges fees for late payments, balance transfers, cash advances, and returned payments.
While the Chase Sapphire Reserve is an amazing card for serious travelers, it isn’t the only good option by a long shot. Here are three other cards with comparable benefits I also recommend for consideration.
The Capital One Venture X is a relatively new premium card that offers airport lounge access at a significantly lower annual fee compared to the Chase Sapphire Reserve: just $395 a year.
Cardholders get access to both Priority Pass and Capital One Lounges, which are a new and growing network of airport lounges that hold their own against Amex and Chase offerings. Best yet, cardholders can add up to four authorized users to their card account at no additional cost — and each authorized user receives the same complimentary access to these airport lounges.
Capital One Venture X cardholders also receive a slew of other benefits, including a $300 annual credit toward travel booked through Capital One Travel. However, this credit isn’t as versatile as that of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, since it only applies to eligible purchases made through Capital One.
Our Capital One Venture X vs. the Chase Sapphire Reserve card comparison guide goes into more detail. You can also learn more about this card itself in our Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card review.
The Platinum Card® from American Express is most commonly compared to the Chase Sapphire Reserve as one of the best-known premium credit cards available for consumers.
Cardholders pay the highest annual fee across all of the high-end cards with airport lounge access: $695 a year. But they also get more than $1,000 in annual credits for many different retailers and services including Uber and Saks Fifth Avenue (enrollment required). And the American Express Membership Rewards roster of transfer partners is different from Chase, with Delta as a major U.S. carrier.
Read our full Amex Platinum vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve comparison for more details, or read our review of the card itself here: American Express Platinum card review.
I’ve been writing about credit cards for over a decade, and have had premium and entry-level credit cards for many years before that.
I reviewed the Chase Sapphire Reserve® by comparing it against similar premium credit cards, and assessed its merits based on the following factors:
See our guide to how we rate credit cards at Business Insider for more details on our methodology.
You’ll typically need a credit score of at least 670 to get the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Most people who are approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve have a credit score in the good to excellent range, meaning a FICO score of at least 670. You need a credit score above 700 to open most travel credit cards.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is worth it if you’re a frequent traveler who will maximize the card’s credits and benefits. A frequent traveler can easily save $1,000 per year with the card. But if you don’t think you’ll be able to use these benefits, you’ll likely do better with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is good for frequent travelers who can make the most of its benefits, especially the annual travel credit and airport lounge access. If you won’t book paid travel through Chase and don’t travel through airports with Priority Pass lounges, you might want to consider a different, less expensive, travel card.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is only hard to get if you meet the following criteria: You have opened five or more cards in the past 24 months from any bank (excluding most small-business credit cards), known as the Chase 5/24 rule; you currently hold any flavor of Chase Sapphire card; or your credit score is below 670. You won’t be eligible for its bonus if you’ve received a Sapphire bonus within the past 48 months.
You can add an authorized user to your Chase Sapphire Reserve through your online account. There’s a $75 fee for each authorized user, but they’ll get their own Priority Pass Select membership and get access to travel insurance and other benefits when they use their card.
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