Do you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card and is it worth it?

Credit Cards
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Are you a high-volume spender who likes to travel in style?

Chase’s Sapphire Reserve credit card offers the lounge access you need to enjoy-- err, tolerate-- your stay at the airport. But it comes with a pretty hefty annual fee.

Clark considers it one of the best travel cards on the market. And it makes an appearance on a few our of “best of” credit card lists, include travel cards and welcome bonuses.

We know it’s a good card. But the big question on this one: Is the card worth handing over $550 to Chase every year for the privilege of carrying it?

I wrote a review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for Clark.com, and my takeaways for if it is “worth it” came down to this:

Chase Sapphire Reserve® Is Worth It to You If:

  • You travel often. With TSA and Global Entry benefits, as well as airport lounge access, there are great benefits for travelers. Also, the card includes a $300 Annual Travel Credit that could effectively knock your annual fee down from $550 to $250, so at minimum you’ll want to clear that in travel spending each year. However, you’ll likely need to be spending in the thousands per year on travel to make it worthwhile in the long run.
  • You like booking travel through Chase Travel. You get 50% more value by redeeming your points through Chase TravelSM to book travel. As an example, a point total that is worth $60 as a statement credit could be worth $90 in travel booked through Chase’s online portal.
  • You spend enough to earn the welcome offer. You’ll want to make sure you apply for the card during a time period that lines up with you spending enough money to earn the welcome offer. This can be worth more than your first year’s annual fee.

But I’m interested in hearing what the Clark Community thinks on this one.

For those of you who have the card:

  • Do you feel like you get your money’s worth on the annual fee?
  • What are your most-used benefits and perks?
  • How do you feel about the rewards multipliers?
  • What do you wish this card offers that it doesn’t?

And for those of you who don’t have it:

  • What’s the top reason you’ve decided to stay away?
  • Is there something Chase could offer with this card that would change your mind?
  • Which existing perk is most tempting to you?

Hopefully we can help people who are on the fence about this card decide if it is worth it in their lives.

Nick

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I’ve had it since it was launched.

Until 2 years ago, it was a no-brainer just for the Priority Pass lounge access. However, they just got rid of the restaurant benefit (my #1 connection airport is Denver, which has no PP lounge), and they’re so full that I get turned away quite a lot - even in Tokyo Narita, which has 4 lounges, I could only get into the lousy one with Cup Noodle and packets of Oreos for refreshments. I haven’t cancelled it yet, but I’m hoping something about this Priority Pass situation improves or else it’s questionably worth it.

I always use the Global Entry credit every 5 years, though I think that’s also covered by a few other cards with normal $95 fees as well.

The DoorDash Pass and $5/month credit (that you can accumulate up to 3 months, rolling) help. I’m not a big user of these overpriced services, maybe 6-8x a year. So it’s definitely useful.

I’m about to try the new $10 grocery credit (2 per month) in a week or so. I just don’t like that in my area, there aren’t any with pick-up options. I won’t go out of my way to use it except when traveling, which is usually once a month.

I do appreciate that whenever the card drops a benefit, they replace it with something similar.

As for earning, I really just use it for the 3x travel, which they extend to some pretty uncommon things like tolls and parking. And 10x for Lyft takes quite a bit of the sting out of paying for rides. I understand I get Lyft Pink, but I don’t see the point. For renting cars…I forget the wording, but it’s your first coverage not your second, so your own car insurance isn’t dinged for any mishaps.

On my wishlist for this card: Pulling Amtrak back into their transfer partner program at 1:1 would be awesome. So would adding American Airlines, but since AA isn’t really into playing with others, I won’t hold my breath. Same with Hyatt Globalist status. In fact, giving status with any of their partners would be a nice step. I would also like to see a more accurate transfer ratio for IHG, Marriott and Hilton programs, because 1:1 is really lousy value for those.