Chase Sapphire Reserve®

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👍 The Good Stuff

✅ Massive Earning: 8x on Chase Travel and 4x on direct travel bookings.
✅ Points Boost: Redeem points at 2 cents each for premium travel (replacing the old 1.5x).
✅ Credits Galore: $300 Dining, $300 StubHub, $500 Hotel, $250 Apple, $120 Peloton.
✅ Status: IHG Platinum Elite and Southwest A-List (with spend).

👎 The Bad Stuff

❌ $795 Annual Fee: Now one of the most expensive cards on the market.
❌ $195 AU Fee: Adding an authorized user (spouse/child) nearly tripled in price.
❌ Coupon Clipping: You have to track biannual and monthly credits to get value.

The Deep Dive

The Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) used to be the simple premium card. Now, it’s the heavyweight champion of “cards that look expensive but are actually cheap if you do the math.” The fee is a terrifying $795, but the benefits have expanded to match.

The Credit Situation (The New Math)

Is the $795 fee worth it? Only if you use the credits. Chase now offers a “coupon book” approach similar to Amex:

$300 Travel Credit: Automatically applied to travel purchases (The classic benefit).
$500 “The Edit” Credit: $250 semiannually for hotel bookings.
$300 Dining Credit: $150 semiannually for “Exclusive Tables” restaurants.
$300 StubHub Credit: $150 semiannually for concert/event tickets.
$250 Apple Credit: For Apple TV+ and Apple Music.
$120 Peloton Credit: $10/month statement credit.

New Earning Structure

Chase revamped how you earn points, rewarding portal usage more heavily:

8x Points: On all Chase Travel purchases (flights, hotels, cars).
4x Points: On travel booked directly (flights/hotels).
3x Points: On dining worldwide.

The “Points Boost” (2 Cents Per Point)

This is the biggest game-changer. Chase is replacing the old 1.5-cent redemption rate with a new 2 cents per point value on select premium flights and hotels booked via Chase Travel.

Note: If you had the card before June 2025, you still get the old 1.5-cent rate on everything until Oct 2027.

Who Should Get This Card?

You spend heavily on travel and entertainment ($795 fee is offset by $2,000+ in credits).
You want IHG Platinum status and Southwest perks.
You are comfortable booking through a travel portal to get 8x points.

Who should skip it?

If you want simplicity, this card is no longer for you. The complexity of tracking semiannual credits for StubHub, hotels, and dining can be exhausting. If you want a simple “pay one fee, get lounge access” card, look at the Capital One Venture X ($395 fee).