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 you might already know that the Chase Sapphire Reserve benefits deliver. 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 earn 5X total points on air travel booked through Ultimate Rewards, 10X total points on hotels and rental cars booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards and 3X points on general travel purchases. Additional rewards categories include 10X points on Lyft rides through March 2025, 10X total points on Chase Dining purchases through Ultimate Rewards, 3X points on restaurant purchases and 1X points on everything else.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve also offers 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 Chase Ultimate Rewards.

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 loyalty programs at a 1:1 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.

Priority Pass Select membership

Then, add a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, which offers access to more than 1,300 luxury airport lounges worldwide.

Hotel benefits

Chase Sapphire Reserve hotel benefits also include access to the Luxury Hotel and Resort Collection, a hand-selected group of hotels and resorts that offer special benefits such as complimentary room upgrades, Wi-Fi, early check-in, late check-out, daily breakfast for two and a special benefit at each resort worth up to $100.

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

Ground travel benefits

In addition, your Chase Sapphire Reserve travel benefits include a complimentary Lyft Pink membership (for cardholders who activate their membership before December 31, 2024).

With Lyft Pink, you get up to 15 percent off every Lyft ride, plus priority airport pickups, relaxed cancellation options and opportunities to take advantage of member-only savings. This membership has a minimum value of $119, and the value only increases the more often you use Lyft. Cardholders can also earn 10X points per dollar on all Lyft rides taken through March 2025.

Travel insurances and protections

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

• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance: Get reimbursed for up to $10,000 per traveler (up to a maximum of $20,000) for any nonrefundable travel expenses.
• Emergency evacuation and transportation: Receive up to $100,000 worth of medical and transportation 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).
• 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/sense in a travel accident (plane, bus, cruise or train), you or your beneficiaries will be entitled to up to $1,000,000 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 one year (when activated before March 31, 2024). The DashPass subscription offers unlimited deliveries with no delivery fee as well as reduced service fees on orders over $12.

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

My Chase Plan

Chase’s buy now pay later 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 up to $900 in travel bookings through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

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 the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Freedom Unlimited and Ink Business Preferred 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.