From time to time on this site, we have talked about travel rewards, ranging from airline and hotel loyalty programs to credit card perks. Today, I’d like to discuss the credit card that is my primary card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

For those who are into credit cards, this won’t be a new subject, since much has been written over the past year around the card and its new features and corresponding increased annual fee. But I’ve found that most of those articles really focus on people who spend considerably more money on their credit cards than I do, and who desire travel more on the luxury side (fancy resorts and first class airfare) than I can reasonably afford. So today, let’s talk about the Chase Sapphire Reserve and its role as the potential primary credit card for a fairly normal spender.

Before we begin, please note that there are NO affiliate links in this article. I don’t have any association with Chase – or any other credit card company – and will get zero compensation no matter what you choose to do. If you do decide this is a card you want, and this article made a difference for you, you can contact me using the contact form on the website and I would be happy to send a referral link to you that gets me a few thousand points. But no pressure on that point.

I have had the Chase Sapphire Reserve since its launch in August 2016, and during that time, the card has undergone a few different transformations. While it has always been classified as “ultra-premium” for its big annual fee, the early days of that fee being $450 are long gone, with increases first to $550 and most recently to a whopping $795. For those who have never paid for a credit card, that seems like a non-starter. But as of this writing in December 2025, I get considerably more than that in value. Might you? Well, it is going to depend on a few aspects in your life.

First, let’s talk about the perks that are useful to everyone, or just about everyone, who might consider using a major credit card. In every calendar year, the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers $300 in statement credits for travel purchases. So if you buy a plane ticket for $400 on the card, $300 will be wiped off. Basically if you travel at all, you will get your first $300 of that each year for free. To me, this effectively lowers the cost of the card to $495, as that $300 is just money in my pocket.

Now, assuming you travel at all, a few other perks have definite value, though the amount of value depends on how often you travel, and what you would otherwise spend. First, the Chase Sapphire Reserve will reimburse you once every four years for the cost of either TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. With fees at $125, and it lasting five years, that is an additional $25 off the “sticker” price of the card if you value those in an airport experience. (Global Entry is a bit more of a pain, but wow does it make a difference coming back into the country.) And if you fly, the card offers a Priority Pass membership that offers lounge access in many airports around the world. (It also offers access to the few-but-increasing Chase Sapphire Lounges and in some cases to Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges.) I find value in lounges, as they are quiet, and have free food and beverages, and make my airport experience better, although my “home” airport of Los Angeles is one of the poorer ones for the program.

There is also a considerable amount of travel-based insurance on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, from rental car insurance, trip protection, trip delay, and even medical coverage when abroad. I recently used the trip delay insurance when runway construction at Newark forced a delay on my return from St. Maarten, necessitating an overnight stay in Newark. The insurance covered my hotel and dinner, as well as breakfast and coffee the following morning. And while it is the only time in 10 years I have used the insurance portions of the card, at about $440 for those things (trip delay maxes at $500 per person), that goes a long way toward the decade of fees. And having these saves money to begin with, since I don’t need to purchase extra insurances in many cases.

Beyond that, the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers a “coupon book” of perks. Some of these you might find value in; others you might not. So let’s run through those, shall we? Simply by having the card, you can get a free subscription to Apple TV and Apple Music. If you use those already, that’s money in your pocket, $10 per month for each to be exact. Same goes for a $10 monthly Peloton membership. $10 monthly credits on Lyft are nice if you use that service, and DoorDash Dash Pass membership along with some monthly credits ($5 on a restaurant and two $10 credits on groceries) can be good if you use that. Twice a year (January through June and July through December) you’ll get a $150 statement credit for a purchase on StubHub. (I recently used this for two tickets to a Los Angeles Kings hockey game, with that $149.12 purchase being wiped off my bill.) If you go to concerts and sporting events, that is an easy one to use. If not, it’s probably not of much value.

A more complicated credit is $150 twice a year (in the same six month intervals as StubHub) for a new partnership between the card and OpenTable called Sapphire Tables. If you live in a major US metro area, there might be some participating restaurants. If not, it’s impossible to use regularly. I am lucky to live in LA where around 15 restaurants are currently part of this. New ones will add – I hope – but it’s not the simplest perk.

Other credits like $250 twice a year on Chase’s Edit hotel program are not ones I’ll use, since the hotels on that program are insanely expensive and the two night minimum means I’m basically always better off financially booking cheaper hotels on my own.

Spending on the Chase Sapphire Reserve earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points. While I won’t go too deeply into those, they can be used to purchase travel at between 1 and 2 cents a point, or transferred to numerous partners 1-1, like United Airlines. Spend earns 4 points per dollar on flights and hotels purchased directly with the airline or hotel, 3 on dining, and 1 on the rest.

Ok, that’s a lot. So let’s use me as an example for the valuation component. For those things that have a purely monetary value, my $795 fee gets me: $300 travel statement credit ($495 balance), $120 Apple TV ($375), Global Entry ($350), Lyft when I am in the US (so call it six times, $290), StubHub (now I’m in the PLUS at $10), OpenTable (plus $310). I don’t really use Apple Music, I don’t use Pelaton, and while I use a few of the DoorDash credits here and there it’s pretty negligible. But I am in the black before I even take into account the lounge access or the insurances, both of which I value pretty highly. And this is also not including the value of the points I earn.

Only you can decide if the Chase Sapphire Reserve is right for you. It might be that you can get as much or more value as I do. It might be that you won’t. But it goes to show that despite the daunting fee, there is an incredible amount to gain from an ultra premium card like this.