Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits guide

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is one of the most popular travel credit cards on the market — especially for people who travel frequently and are looking for an elite credit card that comes with top travel benefits.

If that’s you, then the Chase Sapphire Reserve might have the benefits you’ve been looking for. First, you’ll start off with a $300 annual travel credit, which can be redeemed for statement credits toward travel purchases charged to your Chase Sapphire Reserve.

After you’ve spent your first $300 on travel purchases, you’ll be able to earn 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on air travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, as well as 3X points on restaurant and general travel purchases.

You can also earn boosted rates in certain categories without first spending $300 on travel purchase. Those rewards rates include:

• 10X total points on hotels and rental cars booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel portal
• 10X total points on Chase Dining purchases through Ultimate Rewards
• 10X total points on Lyft rides through March 2025 (3X points from general travel and 7X additional points)
• 10X points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases of $150 or more (up to 50,000
• 1X points on everything else

The Chase Sapphire Reserve also offers a welcome bonus, also called a sign-up bonus, of 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points to qualifying cardholders who spend $4,000 in the first three months after opening their account. This welcome bonus can be worth as much as $900 when redeemed for travel through the Chase Travel℠ portal since your points are worth 1.5 cents each when redeemed this way.

However, these aren’t the only benefits that come with the Chase Sapphire Reserve. We’ve got a complete guide to the benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve to help you understand everything this card has to offer — and decide whether the card should be your newest travel companion.

Chase Sapphire Reserve travel benefits

In addition to earning high-level rewards with every purchase, Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders can take advantage of exceptional travel benefits, including the ability to transfer their Ultimate Rewards points to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs at a 1:1 point value.

Here’s a quick overview of the Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits you can receive on air travel, ground travel and hotels:

TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or NEXUS credit

Start with a statement credit of up to $100 to cover the application fee for TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or NEXUS. You’ll get this statement credit every four years.

Priority Pass Select membership

Then, add a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, which offers access to more than 1,300 airport lounges worldwide. The membership offered through Sapphire Reserve includes restaurant credits and non-lounge experiences as well.

Hotel benefits

Chase Sapphire Reserve hotel benefits also include access to The Edit, which was formerly known as the Luxury Hotel and Resort Collection. The Edit is a hand-selected group of over 1,000 hotels and resorts that offer special benefits for cardholders, such as:

• Complimentary room upgrades
• Daily breakfast for two people
• $100 property credits for activities like spas or dining experiences
• Early check-in and late check-out if available
• Complimentary Wi-Fi

Plus, you can transfer your points to several other leading hotel loyalty programs at a 1:1 value.

Lyft travel benefits

In addition, your Chase Sapphire Reserve travel benefits include a complimentary two-year Lyft Pink All Access membership (for cardholders who activate their membership before Dec. 31, 2024).

With Lyft Pink, you get:

• 5 percent off Standard and XL Lyft rides
• Free priority pickups
• Relaxed cancellation options
• More members-only savings

This membership has a minimum value of $199 per year, and the value only increases the more often you use Lyft.

Travel insurances and protections

The following travel insurance and protection options (among others included with the card) may come in handy if your travel is disrupted for any reason:

• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance: With trip cancellation and interruption insurance, you’ll get reimbursed for up to $10,000 per traveler (up to a maximum of $20,000 per trip) for any nonrefundable travel expenses.
• Emergency evacuation and transportation: Receive up to $100,000 worth of emergency medical evacuation expenses for yourself or an immediate family member.
• Primary car rental collision damage waiver: Get up to $75,000 worth of primary car rental insurance.
• Roadside assistance: Receive as much as $200 worth of roadside assistance protection ($50 per incident) within a year.
• Baggage delay insurance: Access as much as $500 worth of baggage delay insurance ($100 per day for essential purchases for up to five days) if your baggage is delayed more than six hours with a passenger carrier.
• Trip delay reimbursement: Receive up to $500 per ticket in lodging and food reimbursements if your travel is delayed more than six hours or to the extent that it requires an overnight stay.
• Travel accident insurance: In the event you die or lose a limb in a travel accident (plane, bus, cruise or train), you or your beneficiaries will be entitled to up to $1 million in insurance benefits.

Additional Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits

Beyond the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s exceptional travel perks, you’ll enjoy the following benefits with the card:

Dining benefits

Not only will you earn 3X points on general dining purchases, but you can take advantage of complimentary access to DoorDash’s subscription service, DashPass, for 1 year (when activated before Dec, 31, 2024). The DashPass subscription offers unlimited deliveries with no delivery fee as well as reduced service fees on orders over $12. Every month, you’ll also get $5 in DoorDash credits that you can redeem at checkout.

The Reserved by Sapphire program — available through Chase Dining — can also help you score reservations at top-rated restaurants, exclusively for Sapphire Reserve cardholders.

Instacart+ Membership

If you enjoy grocery delivery services, the Chase Sapphire Reserve can help you get it for less. Cardmembers get a free one-year membership to Instacart+. With your membership, you’ll receive access to all the Instacart+ membership benefits — including no delivery fees on orders over $35. Through July 2024, you can also earn up to $15 in monthly statement credits.

“Pay Over Time” feature

Chase’s buy now, pay later plan (formerly called “My Chase Plan”) lets you break purchases of $100 or more into a series of smaller, fixed payments. Once your plan is set up, your purchases won’t accrue interest, but you will pay a set monthly fee to access the program.

Chase Offers and Shop Through Chase

Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders can access shopping promotions through Chase Offers and Shop Through Chase that earn you extra points on your everyday purchases.

Purchase protection

Receive reimbursement for up to $10,000 per claim (maximum of $50,000 per year) for stolen or damaged new purchases within 120 days of purchase.

Return protection

Get reimbursed for up to $500 per item that a retailer won’t accept a return on within 90 days of your purchase, up to a maximum of $1,000 per year.

Extended warranty

Get an additional one-year extension of a manufacturer’s warranty of three years or less.

Visa Infinite Concierge

Receive help through Visa Infinite’s concierge hotline for booking reservations and event tickets, choosing restaurants and activities and gaining access to other personal services.

Maximizing your Chase Sapphire Reserve rewards

To maximize your rewards on this card, start by taking advantage of your welcome bonus. If you miss the opportunity to earn 60,000 bonus points as a new cardholder (by spending $4,000 in your first three months), you’re also missing the opportunity to redeem those points for $900 in travel bookings through the Chase Travel portal.

Prefer to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to a participating airline or hotel loyalty program? Check out Bankrate’s guide to Chase transfer partners to get the best value out of every transaction.

It’s also a smart move to combine your Chase Sapphire Reserve with another Chase credit card that earns Ultimate Rewards points. If you have multiple Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards, you can transfer the value of your rewards to your Chase Sapphire Reserve. Doing so can also increase the value of those rewards by 50 percent if you book travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal or redeem your rewards for statement credits through the Pay Yourself Back program.

If you really want to conquer pooling Chase Ultimate Rewards points, consider using the Chase trifecta — that is strategically combining cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Freedom Unlimited® and Ink Business Cash® Credit Card to take serious advantage of everything Chase Ultimate Rewards has to offer.

The bottom line

Interested in making use of the Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits? Ask yourself whether you travel often enough to enjoy all the perks of the card.

If you’re a frequent traveler who’s ready to make the most of your credit card rewards, you might find that the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel benefits more than outweigh the card’s $550 annual fee — especially when you consider the $300 annual travel credit, complimentary Lyft Pink membership and the opportunity to increase the value of your points by 50 percent when you redeem them for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

However, if the card’s $550 annual fee is making you nervous, take the time to evaluate whether the Chase Sapphire Reserve is worth it. In particular, compare it to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to see which best fits your lifestyle.