Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Full Review [2023]

Recently, the Chase Sapphire Reserve, one of the most popular premium travel cards on the market, had a handful of new benefits added to the card. But with those benefits comes an increase of $100 to the annual fee – placing the new fee at $550.

In this post we will outline the benefits of the card, along with the new changes, to help you determine if the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is still worth it or not.

Chase Sapphire Reserve Earn Rates

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card earns 3x Ultimate Reward points per $1 on all travel and dining purchases, and Chase will continue to offer the most lenient travel category in the business including: airlines, hotels (including Airbnb), motels, timeshares, campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways and parking lots and garages.

Further, it now earns 10x Ultimate Reward points per $1 on all Lyft rides, 10x points per $1 on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, and 10x points per $1 on Chase Dining purchases with Ultimate Rewards.

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Benefits

Doordash Benefits – Sapphire Reserve cardholders will now receive a Dashpass membership (valued at $9.99 per month) which offers free delivery on orders over $12 – though this doesn’t seem to be all that valuable as most restaurants already offered this in my experience. However, you will also receive a $60 Doordash credit in both 2020 and 2021. I’m really not thrilled about the “Dashpass”, but the $60 food credit is solid, and I’m glad they didn’t opt to make it annoying to use like the Uber credit on the Amex Platinum card.

Lyft Pink Benefits – Cardholders will now receive a free year of Lyft Pink (valued at $19.99 per month), which offers a 15% discount on all rides, priority airport pickups, 3 free cancellations (if you rebook withing 15 minutes) per month, 3 free 30-minute bike or scooter rides per month, waived lost and found fees, and “surprise offers”.  These are certainly not benefits that I would have forked over $19.99 a month for, but for my needs, the 15% off all rides should add up to some solid savings – especially when coupled with the 10x Ultimate Reward points per $1 I’ll earn from paying with the Reserve.

All things considered, Lyft was already my preferred rideshare thanks to their partnerships with Hilton (3x Hilton points per $1), Delta (2x Delta miles for airport rides & 1x for all others), and Rakuten (where I can earn extra Amex Membership Reward points instead of cash-back).

Annual Travel Credit –  The Sapphire Reserve will continue to offer the $300 annual travel credit that can be used to offset ANY travel purchase(s) falling within the Chase travel category. You could use this credit for a $300 flight, a few nights in a hotel, or even $300 Lyft purchases. Being that this credit is incredibly easy to use, it brings the effective annual fee of the card down to just $250.

Priority Pass Lounge Access – While my favorite lounges to visit are business and first class lounges, as well as the American Express Centurion lounges, the lounges I visit most often are priority pass lounges simply because there are so many! The Priority Pass network has over 1300 airport lounges across 130 countries, and with the Sapphire Reserve card, you get access to all of them! As if that’s not good enough, you can bring in anyone flying with you(friends, family, colleagues, etc.) for free too!

The Priority Pass membership you receive with the Sapphire Reserve card also included access to Priority Pass restaurants, a benefit that was removed from the Amex Platinum card last year.

Application Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck – If you’ve ever stood in a long line at airport security I’m sure you’ve seen the (much) shorter line that only a select number of people get to go through. You’ve been standing there for 40 minutes, and they breeze through security in a matter of minutes while you’re still waiting for the guy in front of you to get his shoes untied…such is the power of those with TSA PreCheck & Global Entry.

In order to enroll in the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck program you have to apply and pay your application fee, pass a background check, and an in-person interview to ensure that you’re not a criminal nor do you plan to do any criminal things with this new power.

There is an $85 fee to apply for TSA PreCheck and $100 for Global Entry, however, a Global Entry membership included TSA PreCheck so I highly suggest you opt for that. Naturally, when you pay the fee with the Sapphire Reserve, the cost of the application fee is reimbursed to you!

Visa Infinite Perks – the Sapphire Reserve is a Visa Infinite card, you’ll have access to a selection of the perks that come along with the program. Which includes primary rental car insurance, trip cancellation and delay coverage, lost luggage reimbursement, no foreign transaction fees, a concierge service and access to the Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection.

Chase Sapphire Reserve Redemption Options

No changes have been made to the redemption options for your Ultimate Reward points. Cardholders will continue to have the option of redeeming their points through the Chase Travel Portal at a rate of 1.5 cents per point, or take advantage of one of their travel transfer partners like Hyatt or Southwest.

Using your points with transfer partners are almost always where you’re going to get the best value. But there are times where a portal redemption can come in handy as well, especially for cheap domestic flights.

As an example of the higher value you can get from using transfer partners, I’ve used 60,000 Ultimate Reward points to book a business class flight in United’s Polaris business class, from Barcelona to Washington D.C., a ticket that would have cost me over $6,000.  This gave me a value of 10 cents a point for my Ultimate Reward points! Or my 4 night stay at the Hyatt Zilara Rose Hall which saved me over $3,800! So always look to see what sort of value you can get through transfer partners before booking through the portal.

Chase Sapphire Reserve Card – Is It Worth it?

I would argue that the card is very much worth it and still one of the best all-around travel rewards cards.

I’ll definitely be keeping my Reserve card, and will happily pay the new annual fee, as I feel the card still offers the best:

• Point earning on general travel purchases (Flights, Hotels, Airbnbs, public transit, etc.)
• Point earning on rideshares (10x on Lyft and Lyft Pink benefits, 3x with Uber)
• Travel insurance protections
• Travel portal redemptions at 1.5 cents per point
• Priority Pass Membership (still includes restaurants)

But everyone’s situation is different, so make sure to crunch your own numbers to be certain the card will offer, or continue to offer more value to you each year than the $550 annual fee.

Keep in mind that the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is not available to those over Chase’s 5/24 rule, and the welcome offer is not available to those who have had the Chase Sapphire Preferred in the last 48 months.

Not sure which travel rewards card is the best fit for you? I offer credit card consultations designed to help you determine just that.