Chase Sapphire Reserve

Yesterday I shared about Chase Sapphire Reserve's new big brother, or maybe we should say cousin since one is a personal card and one is a business card; the new Chase Sapphire Reserve Business. I can understand why that card isn't for a lot of people with such a high minimum spend AND high annual fee; but I do think the CSR is worth considering for a personal card if you don't currently have a Sapphire.

Today I'm going to break down the CSR and it's benefits.

It's also worth noting that Chase changed the Sapphire rules in Q4 2025; you can now hold the Sapphire Preferred AND the Sapphire Reserve at the same time!

Chase Sapphire Reserve

Annual Fee: $795 (I know, this is super high, I'll speak to this below!)

Current Elevated Offer (elevated, meaning it's a limited time higher offer than the standard offer worth taking advantage of!): Spend $6,000 in 3 months, earn 150,000 points

Note as of fall 2025, the standard offer is: Spend $5,000 in 3 months to earn 100,000 points

Referral Link Thank you for supporting my small business! This is free to you, but provides me points in exchange for the knowledge I share.

5/24: This is a personal card and therefore WILL take up one spot in your Chase 5/24 count. (What's Chase 5/24? Read Rule 2 in This beginner post)

Why I'd Get This Card

Chase is the easiest bank to figure out credit card points and how you transfer them to partners to book free travel. Chase is the only bank that you can direct transfer points to Southwest AND United (no other banks directly transfer to either! Although there are creative ways to book United flights with other banks, through partner airlines (like Air Canada who is in the same air alliance)

You also need to hold a Chase "premium" card, in order to have the ability to transfer your points to travel partners. A "premium" card for Chase is basically a Chase card that has an annual fee. So having some type of Sapphire card is a must!

Off-Setting the Annual Fee

$795 annual fee IS high! And it's worth noting that the annual fee is typically charged within a month of you opening the card. It does not count towards the minimum spend for the sign up bonus.

But there's one benefit that is SO easy to use, I automatically take this off of the $795 annual fee because I know we'll use this and that's the:

• $300 ANNUAL travel credit: this doesn't have to be utilized in Chase travel portal; just charge anything travel related to your card and you'll get a credit on your next statement. (This benefit renews annually)

So with that, $300 we likely would have spend on travel anyways, that takes the annual fee "net cost" to $495. Here are additional benefits that help you get more value out of Sapphire Reserve card:

• Global Entry/TSA Precheck: $120 credit every 4 years; charge this card for your application and receive a statement credit
• Airport Lounge access for Sapphire Lounges and Priority Pass (good for you and 2 guests to get in free; you can pay for additional guests)
• Free Apple TV and Apple Music ($250 value if you use these)
• Doordash benefits: honestly these are kind of annoying to use; but you can get DashPass, which gives you $0 deliveries and get 2 -$10 non-restaurant credits per month
• 2 - $250 Edit Credits annually: book select hotels in Chase Portal and receive benefits like free breakfast, hotel credit, early check in and late checkout
• 1 - $250 Select Hotel Credit: book select hotels in Chase Portal and receive $250 off! This can be paired with the Edit Credit!! (and is great for IHG hotels like Kimpton)
• $300 in Stubhub credits annually; $150 every 6mo
• Earn 3x points on restaurants
• Earn 4x points on direct book hotels and flights

Long Term Plan

Honestly - I would take advantage of getting this card with it's elevated sign up offer now  and use the above benefits to offset the annual fee the first year.

Then, after you've had the card for 12 months and the next $795 annual fee is coming, you can decide if it's worth keeping the card and utilizing the benefits OR once you've hit your year mark with the Sapphire Reserve, you can call the bank and request to downgrade from the Sapphire Reserve to the Preferred (read here about downgrading and closing cards). 

The Preferred only has a $95 Annual Fee and still allows you to keep your points and credit history, as well as allows you to transfer your points to travel partners. If you're charged the annual fee with Chase (like next summer), you have 30-40 days to call and downgrade and they'll refund you the fee!

Summary

If you can't accommodate a $795 fee right now, then I would go ahead and apply for the little sister card, which is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I have several posts about why CSP is a great beginner card. Read here! 

You can use the same link to apply for either card! As always, I appreciate your support and utilizing my referral links! Be sure if you're viewing this in a Meta app, to open a new external web browser to complete your application, which protects your data and gives me credit!

If you're unsure, fill out my next card recommendation form, and I'll give you my two cents!

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> Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

> Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!