Card Review: Chase Sapphire Reserve

I’m going to defy general posting norms, and give you the summary of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card first: Get. This. Card. This card offers incredible value, rewards, and benefits, and is hard to beat. Don’t let the $450 Annual Fee fool you, it pays for itself. It is by far my favorite card in my wallet.

Disclosure: If you click this link, you will receive the same offer Chase offers new card members (50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months), and I will get a few points for referring you. Apply Here for the Chase Sapphire Reserve

So here are the basics of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card:

• Annual fee is $450
• Rewards Structure
  • 3x Ultimate Rewards Points on Travel Expenses (Flights, Hotels, Car Rentals, Lyft/Uber)
  • 3x Ultimate Rewards Points at Restaurants (cafes, bars, fine dining, etc.)
  • 1x Ultimate Rewards Point on everything else
• $300 Annual Travel Credit
• Application Fee Credit for Global Entry or TSA Precheck (get Global Entry, it’s a better program and include free Precheck)
• Priority Pass Select Lounge Membership
• 50% Bonus on Ultimate Reward Value when booking travel through Chase

The annual fee may seem high, but it really isn’t. The $300 annual travel credit is incredibly easy to use. Put a hotel stay on your card (no need to book through Chase) and *bam* the charges are instantly offset via statement credit on your account. Works the same for Lyft and Uber rides. Essentially, your first $300 of travel expenses are free every year. Based on this, the annual fee is basically $150 a year.

The next big perks of the card are the Global Entry fee credit and Priority Pass Select membership. For Global Entry, simply sign up for the program online and use your Reserve Card to pay the $100 application fee, and you’ll receive a statement credit for it. As a note, this benefit can be used once every 4 years, but Global Entry lasts 5. The process of getting Global Entry (and by extension, TSA Precheck) involves applying online, undergoing a thorough background check and an interview at the airport with the feds. Once you do that, assuming you pass, you can use TSA Precheck lines for the next 5 years. For Priority Pass select, you simply request your PP card, and it shows up in the mail. Priority Pass is a much larger program abroad, but you can generally find a lounge at most major airports (e.g. The Club at ATL in the international terminal). Your membership will generally get you free entry into the lounge, and whatever libations your heart desires. I value this perk at at least $30 per lounge visit, and $50 if you have more than a drink or two while there.

Ultimate Rewards are an incredibly valuable “point” currency. Chase has 7 airline transfer partners, and 4 hotel partners, including Southwest Airlines, KLM/Air France, and Virgin Atlantic (and by extension, Delta), IHG, and Marriott (which can transfer to SPG). With these partners, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards Points into their respective points or miles and use them towards award travel. The points are also even more flexible because you can use them to book air travel or hotels with nearly every airline or hotel chain in the world using the Chase Travel Portal, and if you hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, your points are worth 50% more than paying cash!

With a program as generous and as easy to use as Ultimate Rewards, you will not find a better card in rewards per dollar spent. Other cards like the Platinum Card from American Express offer 5x points on airfare, but only 1x on restaurant purchases, which is many folks’ largest spending category per year (myself included). The 3x Ultimate Rewards bonus at restaurants has no cap, so your rewards potential is endless. The travel category is also very beneficial because you don’t need to book through Chase to qualify, which means you can also earn Hotel rewards points (like Marriott Rewards or SPG Starpoints) by booking through the hotel itself.

In my my first three months of card ownership, excluding my sign up bonus, I earned 19,000 Ultimate Rewards points (8,000 of which was thanks to the 3x multiplier on restaurants and travel expenses). Those points alone offset my $150 remaining annual fee, and then some. And that was just 3 months!

If you want the best credit card on the market, look no further and apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve today. You won’t regret it.