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Chase Sapphire Reserve® (See rates and fees)
Chase’s bonus offer to launch the refreshed Sapphire Reserve product has ended. I assumed we’d see fewer points on offer now, but that’s not what happened!
Instead the new offer lets you earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s the most points that have ever been offered for a Sapphire card, period.
The launch offer was 100,000 and a $500 travel portal credit after $5,000 in spend. This new offer is 25,000 more points, doesn’t include the travel credit, and requires $1,000 more spend to earn.
Some of you will do the math and say the launch offer was bigger. However,
- It’s no longer available
- The travel credit required you to book through the portal, the points you can bank and use whenever you wish in the future
Bottom-line is that there’s an amazing offer now for this card. Which I guess shouldn’t surprise because it’s a $795 annual fee card (that packs a lot of value), and the ‘premium card wars’ are in full swing.
- Citi just launched Citi Strata EliteSM Card (See rates and fees.)
- Since American Express is expected to refresh the The Platinum Card® from American Express with a higher annual fee – and a lot of cardmembers will be rushing to apply before that happens.
- And since Capital One Venture X competes with a much lower $395 price point and their lounges have the best food.
The relaunched Chase Sapphire Reserve bonus offer is now worth $2,250:
- Right now you can earn 125,000 bonus points after $6,000 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 $2,250.
- Chase promotes “more than $2,700 in annual value” from the card itself.”
- So combined that totals nearly $5,000.
Basics Of The New Sapphire Reserve Card
Here are the costs and benefits to the new Chase Sapphire Reserve Card:
- 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
- Hotels: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards
- Star Alliance: United MileagePlus, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Air Canada Aeroplan
- 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?
There’s no question that this card should be worth acquiring the first year. There has never been a 125,000 point offer for this card before. 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 al 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 125,000 point offer for meeting required spend is an incredible value 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. They’ll also now allow you to hold both a Sapphire Preferred and Reserve as well as Sapphire Reserve for Business, though you may get a pop up telling you that you won’t receive a new cardmember a bonus as a current Sapphire product cardmember (and so you have the option to stop the application).
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 should certainly consider this bonus offer.
For rates and fees of The Platinum Card® from American Express, click here.
Is this available on the Business card?
I’d rather have the points than the travel credit, the Chase travel portal is trash. Not all airfares are available, they have worse refund policies than booking direct (they keep any extra credit if you rebook), they charge worse change fees/fare differences, and the customer service when you call is poor, and you can’t even do simple stuff like book one segment at a time.
And with the loss of the 1.5x bonus, 3x points on restaurant spend isn’t cutting it when more and more restaurants are charging 3% fees for using a credit card.
This is a blogger math PHD course post. Anyone who can’t get the card….if you give me $3k I’ll give you all $4900 of the benefits.
If you respond in the next 60m you’ll get not one, but TWO thigh masters.
Am I the only one who things this blog has turned into “The Points Guy”? Every single damn credit card is the Best Thing Ever (!!!!).
You can’t afford to NOT have this card !!!
Tired of hearing how I should spend hours each week making sure I switch around the default card on my apps so that I can use the 8 different individual door dash $10 credits or dunkin or lyft or etc.
If you’ve never had the personal Chase Sapphire Reserve, it’s a great time go for this (for many years, before all the changes, it was just a 50K bonus); however, for many of us, we’ve had it before, so, with the new ‘once per lifetime’ terms, we’re sadly out of luck here. It is nice at least that Chase is allowing us to hold both the CSR and CSP at the same time, I guess. My only gripe, other than the increased annual fee and coupon credits, is that the general 3x Travel is becoming 1x for things like rental cars, cruises, etc. if not booked through the Chase portal. Eh.
They are twisting and turning it every way possible. Tomorrow he will add that $6000 spending requirement to the card “value” and say benefits are worth $8700. Just wait.
People don’t want portal credits and the new card offer recognizes what their relaunched card (with all of its credits) does not.
As this post recognizes it’s a whole new world out there and Amex hasn’t even made its move yet. The real question is whether the increased annual fee will lead folks to downgrade/dump the CSR, and if so, what Chase’s retention offers will be.
Isn’t refining for travel on reserve used to be 1:1.5c and preferred 1:1.25c?
it is now 1:1c on reserve 125,000, so it’s hardly “best ever”.
@Gr- but with points boost your transaction through a portal nobody wants to use can on a random Tuesday and with two connections be worth 2.0c! It’s an upgrade!
100% agree with Shaun & Joe. This constant pushing for a card with significantly higher annual fee and loss of perhaps their best perk (3% for all travel) is getting tiring.
Of course Chase is willing to spend $1000 on acquiring anew customer for this card, because many current customers no longer see the value.
I really wish one travel blogger would be honest about CSR 2.0 and admit it’s an expensive downgrade for most people. But then again, who doesn’t love super limied hotel & restaurant coupons you can use 2x/year?
It’s amazing how many of the above commenters have trouble reading. There’s nothing in the article about this card being great, wonderful, best thing ever, etc. It just states the facts. Don’t get the card if you don’t want it – who do you think cares?
@ Joe Mitsubitchi — Couldn’t agree more. It is obvious that lyft wants to make the monthly AMEX credits hard to use since they won’t allow you to name your cards and since AMEX last 4 digits are far from unique. I absolutely despise the card switching required to utilize all of our monthly rideshare credits. This bs results in me placing little to no value on these credits when deciding other or not to keep a card with the AF comes due.
@Joe Mitsubitchi @Gene — The primary difference between VFTW and TPG is that Gary actually allows comments and discourse, unlike those cowardly shills over at TPG who couldn’t handle the heat. Besides, while Gary did include an inflated valuation, TPG would have exaggerated ever further, probably ‘$10,000’!
I applied for this offer, I never had this card before. I had a sapphire preferred in the past and was denied for this current bonus. I called in and was told it was a once in a lifetime offer for any bonus on any sapphire product. So the bonus I received 5 years ago on my preferred card was my bonus for this card as well. I did downgrade my preferred card prior to applying for this card as well. No success. Anyone have a similar experience?
If I have the Sapphire (but not Reserve) am I ineligible for the bonus? If so, any suggestions?
Don’t get seduced by the nominal numbers; this is a hard pass.
Just get a good no-annual-fee cash-back card instead.
@1990 – A more apt comparison would be VFTW and DD, both incredible sensationalist pumpers. Did u see the latest… “I Hit Apply On Citi’s Strata Elite—Instant Approval, And The First-Year Value FlOORED Me” Too much, but when i think of their targeted audience it makes sense from a $$$ point of View. lol
New CSR “packs” very little value for me, so I downgraded it and even got my A/F refunded in part. More than I was counting on. Old CSR customers must feel like hit by the train. No SUB, no 1.5X to redeem, no 3 points for $ 1.00 spent on travel? $4500 in value is very illusive for new customers as well.