Updated January 10th, 2024

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Have you hopped on the travel hacking bandwagon yet? If not you are seriously missing out. Travel hacking, if you don’t know already, is the art of earning free flights, hotels, tickets and more. I have always been an advocate of using credit cards with good rewards programs. I’m not saying you should go into debt. What I am encouraging you to do is buy what you are going to buy anyway using the best credit card possible and then earn as much free stuff as you can! This can all be done from the comfort of your own home.

How do you do that you ask? You’ll want to begin by learning the basics of credit card travel hacking. One of the best cards to start with is the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. I have been using it for the past few years and meticulously keeping track of what I gain and lose financially from using the card. In this Chase credit card review I will show you why it is one of the best travel credit cards out there. I will give you the pros and cons of using the card and the details on how the point and rewards system really works.

This was my experience using the Chase Sapphire Reserve the first year and what I gained in dollars and points. Even as a newbie I gained a lot from the card. Now as a more experienced travel hacker I have continued to use the card for the last few years and maximized earnings. Find out for yourself, is the Chase Sapphire Reserve worth it for you?

Sign up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve today!

Is the Chase Sapphire Reserve Worth it?

Chase Sapphire Reserve Annual Fee

Are you someone who sees an annual fee on a credit card and immediately passes it up? I used to be that person too. I mean why should we have to pay to spend money?

Most people ask is the Chase Sapphire Reserve worth it because of the annual fee. The $450 fee is a steep one too (now it has went up to $550). It turns many people away, but those that stay are rewarded. Although I started out in the hole, as I explain below you earn rewards quickly so you easily make up what you lose initially and more.

Lost $450, Net -$450

Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Credit

The first $300 you spend using the card for travel purchases you get refunded automatically. You don’t need to do anything to receive the travel credit. Your purchases will all show up on your statement. If they qualify for the travel credit you will be refunded that amount back immediately. Almost anything travel related counts towards the travel credit.

While you have a full year to use your travel credit, it took less than two weeks for me to make qualifying purchases. To be fair, I travel full-time so the majority of my purchases are travel related. A kayaking day tour, bus tickets, and an AirBnB apartment stay were some of the things I purchased that counted towards my credit.

Gained $300, Net -$150

Earning Points with Chase Sapphire Reserve

Credit Card Purchases

Ultimate Reward points (UR points) are earned on any purchase you make with your credit card. You earn:

10 points for every $1 you spend on Chase dining, hotels, and car rentals.

5 points for every $1 you spend on flights through Chase travel.

3 points for every $1 you spend on travel related and dining purchases.

1 point for every $1 you spend on other purchases.

Sign Up Bonus

Just for opening a new account and spending the required amount within the specific time, you receive a large amount of bonus points. The offer varies. When I signed up I needed to spend $4,000 within the first three months to receive 80,000 bonus points. That translates into at least $1,200 once you redeem it on travel!

Redeeming Points with Chase Sapphire Reserve

There are many different ways to redeem your points through the online Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal. Not all redemptions are equal! This chart shows an example of how 10,000 points can give you vastly different amounts. Each way is described in detail below.

Cash Back

Points translate into dollar amount rewards and cash back is the simplest way to receive your rewards.

100 points are worth $1

1,000 points are worth $10

10,000 points are worth $100

You can redeem your points for cash back on your future credit card bills. It’s a set rate so you’ll know what you are getting, but you won’t be maximizing your points.

Gift Cards/Shopping

Typically when you make a purchase through Amazon or Apple or buy a gift card the usual formula of 100 points =$1 applies. If you buy a $100 gift card you will need to use 10,000 points. Of course you are still getting a $100 gift card and saving that $100. It’s not as advantageous as using your points for travel though.

The only exception is when there are discounts. Perhaps, a Macy’s gift card is on sale for 10% off. You can then get a $100 gift card for 9,000 points instead of 10,000. It’s still not quite as good as the travel discount, but you are getting a better deal than buying the same gift card in the store.

I gained a $20 gift card for a discount rate in my first year.

Gained $20, Net -$130

Ultimate Reward Travel Bookings

You can redeem your points for Chase Ultimate Rewards travel (flights, hotels, cruises & experiences around the world).  When you redeem for travel the points are worth 50% more. For example:

100 points are worth $1.50

1,000 points are worth $15

10,000 points are worth $150

Here’s an example. I bought tickets to a show in Branson for $174 total. To be able to buy these tickets with points I would need to spend 17,400. Because points are worth more for travel purchases I only needed to use 11,600 points. Therefore I saved 5,800 points or $58. I still bought the $174 tickets, but I could redeem that extra $58 for something else.

What you need to remember is that anytime you are using your points to buy travel rewards, the same amount of points go much further than they do if you redeem for cash, shopping, or gift card purchases.

The amount below is what I personally gained my first year by cashing in my travel rewards in this method. This did not include the stash of leftover points that I decided not to use my first year. The amount obviously depends on how much you earn and decide to spend versus save.

Gained $594.60, Net $464.60

Transferring Points to Travel Partners

One of the best uses of your UR points is to transfer them to airline and hotel partners. Hotel partners include IHG, Marriott, and Hyatt. There are 11 airline partners: Aer Lingus, AirCanada, Air France/KLM, British Airways, Emirates, Iberia, JetBlue, Singapore, Southwest, United, and Virgin Airlines.

Points typically transfer at a 1:1 ratio. So if you transfer 1,000 UR points to Marriott, that means you’ll have 1,000 points transferred to your Marriott account. There are often bonus point offers where you get 20% more. For example if you transfer 1000 points you would actually get 1200 points in your account.

This can be one of the best uses of your points as it isn’t a set rate. It’s usually best to wait to transfer points until you have a specific hotel stay or flight you want to book.

It also gets more confusing, but if you’re willing to run the numbers it can be very advantageous! Here’s an example. If Hyatt has a bonus to transfer for 20% more you could transfer 10,000 points, but actually get 12,000 points in your Hyatt account. Hyatt category 4 hotels are 12,000 points a night. Doing a quick search for 12,000 point hotel nights and their cash values I am finding a Hyatt House in Austin for $254, a Grand Hyatt in San Diego for $279, and an Andaz Mexico City for $310. So as I showed in the table above your 10,000 points could pay for a $310 a night luxury stay!

Hopefully you’ll see that your 10,000 points can go a lot of different ways!

Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Benefits

The Chase sapphire reserve perks include more than redeeming points. If you are wondering, is the Chase Sapphire Reserve really worth it, then you need to consider the other benefits in addition to redeeming points!

There are many benefits that come with the card that can save you money if you were already going to purchase them. Several of them I wouldn’t have purchased otherwise, but I enjoyed having them without having to pay anything.

Chase Offers

While Chase Offers has nothing to do with points, they are another way to save money. After activating (clicking a button) a deal for an individual business and making a purchase through the business with your card you receive the designated percentage back. The offers are always changing, but some that I have seen include 10% back from Starbucks, 5% back from AirBnB and 15% back from Westin Hotels. Most offers last for 20 – 30 days. Whenever I check my account online I activate any of the available offers just in case I make a purchase with one of them. Then I receive the discount back on my account automatically.

Gained $45.92, Net $510.52

DoorDash & Cavier

One deal I am really loving is with DoorDash, a food delivery service. A complimentary DashPass subscription is available. The $9.99 monthly fee is waived and you receive free delivery and lower fees on all orders.

Originally $60 in credits was also available. In case we are not clear, that meant the first $60 of food ordered online was free! That perk is still included, sort of. You can receive $60 in credits per year, but only $5 per month. The credits only roll over two months (up to $15).

A complimentary membership to Cavier, another food delivery service, is also available. As they are owned by the same company and typically have the same restaurants, I just stick to DoorDash.

Gained $79.98, Net $590.50

Lyft

Another offer I really make use of is the complimentary Lyft Pink All Access. Lyft was already my favorite ride service app. When I received the benefit it was for the free yearly $239.88 Lyft Pink membership. It included 15% off all my taxi rides as well as other perks such as priority pick-ups at airports. As an extra perk you also receive 10x the points on Lyft rides.

New cardholders will receive two years of Lyft Pink All Access membership, a value of $199/year. Benefits include priority pickup upgrades, relaxed ride cancellations, free Grubhub+ for a year, and other discounts.

As the cost of membership is included with the Chase Sapphire Reserve the lower annual cost doesn’t matter. The perks are less (no more 15% off rides), so it honestly isn’t as good of a deal and savings as what I had my first year. It still pays to activate the offer though.

Gained $239.88, Net $830.38

Priority Pass

With the card you can sign up for a free priority pass membership. The standard lounge access membership is valued at $99 a year plus $35 for each lounge visit. After you sign up you can use your membership at Priority Pass’s 1300+ airport lounges around the world. Once you get lounge access, you won’t want to go back! Instead of flying days being a hassle and me showing up at the airport at the last minute, I actually enjoy them now and get to the airport early to eat the free food. Airport food is usually expensive so this is a huge benefit to me!

Not even considering the cost of a regular membership, I saved at least $10 every-time I used the pass because I didn’t have to buy anything to eat.

Gained $30, Net $860.38

TSA Pre-Check and Global Entry

You can receive a $100 credit for global entry, TSA PreCheck, or Nexus. I’m not including the credit below as I didn’t take advantage of this offer in my first year.

Instacart

A free year-long Instacart+ membership is included. The membership includes several benefits such as free delivery and lower service fares. You’ll also receive $15 in statement credits each month. I used this benefit during my second year of the card. I’m not a fan of grocery delivery, but for some this is a huge time and cost saver.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Foreign transaction fees can add up quickly when you are traveling abroad. You don’t need to worry about that with this card. You don’t even need to contact Chase to let them know you are traveling. I have never had a problem using this card abroad. It’s hard to put a monetary value on the savings of this benefit, but it is an important advantage of the card.

Contactless Pay

Many credit cards in the US are not contactless, that means you can’t tap them on a machine to pay. The Chase sapphire is one of the few cards that has this capability. When I was in Portland, instead of having to pay for a bus card and add money to it, I could just tap my credit card on the turnstile and go.

Other Benefits

The Chase Sapphire Reserve card also comes with trip cancellation, delay, and interruption insurance. If your baggage is delayed for more than 6 hours you can be reimbursed for essentials. Travel accident insurance, emergency assistance, emergency evacuation & transportation and emergency medical & dental is included.

The card provides car rental privileges and auto rental collision insurance. This can save you a lot of money because you are able to decline the car rental company’s insurance. You are also covered for roadside assistance up to $50 four times a year.

I personally have not used any of these benefits, but they are important to consider if you are deciding if the Chase Sapphire Reserve is worth it or not.

Final Thoughts: Is the Chase Sapphire Reserve Worth it?

Not including the thousands of points I had leftover, you can see from just the $860.38 I gained the annual fee is worth it to me. In the years since my net gain continues to grow as I take advantage of better point redemptions.

There are so many different ways to earn and redeem points. Depending on how much you spend per year and how you decide to redeem points your earning potential can be way higher than mine.

Obviously if you don’t travel at all this isn’t the card for you.  But you probably wouldn’t have read this whole Chase Sapphire credit card review then either. Without a lot of traveling it will be slower to earn points and you will be missing out on the best way to redeem points. The other travel benefits won’t be useful to you either.

If you are still asking, is the Chase Sapphire Reserve worth it for the amount you travel, I urge you to give it a try for a year. With only one trip you can easily redeem back the $300 travel credit and an extra $250 to at least break even.

Let me know in the comments below if you think the Chase Sapphire Reserve is still worth it with the new higher annual fee. Also please let me know how you maximize your earnings with the card. 

Sign up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve today!

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