Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See rates and fees)

The relaunched Chase Sapphire Reserve has an incredible offer that Chase now says is ending soon but I don’t have the exact date and time that it will be pulled.

• Right now you can earn 100,000 bonus points + $500 travel portal credit after $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

• If a Chase point is worth 1.8 cents, then this bonus offer could be worth $2,300.

• Chase promotes “more than $2,700 in annual value” from the card itself.”

• So combined that totals an incredible $5,000.

Basics Of The New Sapphire Reserve Card

Here are the costs and benefits to the new Chase Sapphire Reserve Card:

• Initial bonus offer: earn 100,000 bonus points + $500 travel portal credit after $5,000 in purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

• Annual fee: $795

• Earning: 8x on Chase travel portal purchases; 4x points on flights and hotels booked direct; 3x points on dining; 1x on all other purchases. The card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed through Chase’s travel portal (either at 1 cent per point, or on Points Boost airline itineraries and eligible hotels for up to 2 cents per point) or transferred to a number of airline and hotel partners.

  

  • Star Alliance: United MileagePlus, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Air Canada Aeroplan
    
  • oneworld: British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus
    
  • SkyTeam: Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
    
  • Non-alliance: Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, Aer Lingus AerClub, Emirates Skywards
  • Hotels: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards

  

• Airport lounge access: Priority Pass Select and access to Chase Sapphire Lounges plus two guests (generally requires same day boarding pass, within 3 hours of scheduled departure).

  

• Statement credits: $300 annual Travel Credit (no change); $500 Edit hotel credit ($250 twice semi-annually, applies to two-night minimum stays); Global Entry / TSA PreCheck / NEXUS credit (no change); $300 Annual Dining Credit ($150 twice semi-annually for “Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables”); $250 combined Apple TV+ & Apple Music subscription; $300 StubHub/viagogo ticket credit ($150 twice annually); $120 Lyft credits (no change, $10 monthly, plus 5x earn on Lyft through September 30, 2027); $300 DoorDash credits and one year of DashPass (up to $25 monthly between delivery and grocery credits); $120 Peloton Membership credit (no change, $10 monthly).

• Additional benefits: IHG Platinum through December 31, 2027 and travel protections like trip delay and cancellation and primary collision damage waiver on car rentals.

  

• Unlocked after $75,000 in annual spend: Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards A-List status (first checked bag free, priority check-in and boarding; when Southwest moves to assigned seating, A-List members get preferred seats at booking and extra-legroom seats within 48 hours of travel); $500 Southwest credit on bookings made via Chase’s travel portal; IHG One Rewards Diamond status (top tier, 100% bonus on base points earned at IHG properties, complimentary upgrades up to suites if available, free breakfast); $250 Shops at Chase credit.

  

Is The New Sapphire Reserve Card Worth It?

Let’s leave aside the changes at the margin and ask whether the card is ‘worth it’ overall?

• There’s no question that this card should be worth acquiring the first year. I don’t believe I’ve seen a 100,000 point offer since launch in 2016, and this offer is even bigger than that by $500 in additional value. Plus, while I would discount the ‘$2,700’ that Chase marks the value of their credits at, given the $300 travel credit and a bit of effort to use $500 in Edit hotels, $300 in dining, et all the annual fee shouldn’t be too hard to pay for.

• On an ongoing basis, I think whether or not you value the card is going to depend a lot on how much you value their lounge network, or whether you’re exactly the customer these benefits hit a sweet spot for – a traveler who books premium hotels and eats out at the sort of restaurants that are part of the dining benefit.

Eligibility For Sapphire Reserve And Its Big Bonus Offer

A 100,000 points plus $500 in travel portal credit for meeting required spend is an incredible offer that makes applying for this card a no-brainer if you’re eligible, I think. You’ll just need to pay attention to get the most out of the credits that come with the card.

Chase used to deny card applications from those who had 5 or more new cards in the past 24 months (‘5/24’) already. Sapphire products have transitioned to a new system where they will warn you if you are ineligible for a bonus offer before proceeding – but will potentially approve you even if you exceeded 5/24.

They also used to deny you the card if you had it within the last 48 months. That’s because approving you for the card meant allowing you to earn the bonus. Now they’ve moved to a once in a lifetime bonus rule, so past cardmembers can still be approved for the card but without the bonus. They’ll also now allow you to hold both a Sapphire Preferred and Reserve as well as Sapphire Reserve for Business, but won’t give a bonus to a current Sapphire product cardmember.

However if you have held a Sapphire card in the past and are applying for a different Sapphire product you’ve never had before then you would be eligible for the bonus offer.

On net this is a negative for folks who would have gotten multiple bonuses in the past, but positive for someone who genuinely just wants to get approved for the card but couldn’t in the past because they weren’t eligible for the bonus. I tend more towards the first camp, but there are some in the second.

Chase Sapphire Reserve®