We get asked all the time what credit cards we use. What is our favorite travel card? What is the best card for ______? While the question of what credit cards to get and how best to go about traveling with points requires a bit more discussion…there is one card that stands above the rest for us.
This card is an absolute no-brainer if you plan on spending any more than $300 on travel this year. Whether its rental cars, flights, hotels, Uber…it all counts. If you plan on spending $300 traveling, which I’d be willing to bet a large majority of us spend at least that…then this card deserves a spot in your wallet.
Introducing: The chase Saphire reserve.
This card has literally changed the way we travel. In fact, it’s to the point now where I’m not quite sure how we traveled without it!
Now right off the bat, here’s what you need to know; the annual fee for this card is $450/year and will not be waived. But continue reading because we have gained well over $1k of benefits from this card in our first year of using it!
Chase Sapphire Reserve Benefits
1. $300 Annual Travel Credit
Boom. Right from the start, your annual fee basically gets knocked down to $150, because the first $300 you spend on travel (any item that codes as travel. This includes: Uber, Lyft, hotels, airlines, rental cars etc.) automatically comes off your statement! That’s right, you get $300 of travel credited to your account every year!
2. $100 Global Entry Credit
The folks behind the chase sapphire reserve card, will fully cover the fee for you to get global entry. GE costs $100 for 5 years and lets you expedite the customs process when coming back into the USA. But wait, It ALSO includes TSA pre-check! This means even when you’re traveling domestically, you get to jump in the short line and not take off your shoes! So if you’re keeping track…this $400 annual fee is already down to $130 ($300 travel credit + $100 GE Fee every 5 years which breaks down to the equivalent of $20/year). Let’s keep going, shall we?!
3. Priority Pass Lounge Membership
How does unlimited lounge access to over 1,300 airport lounges across the world sound? Maybe you’re like me and had never even been into a lounge. Let me be the first to tell you, you don’t know what you’re missing. Even being able to grab a free snack and drink and grab a bottle of water to go before your flight saves you like $20 from having to go to a dang airport convenience store!
Not only do you get lounge access…but a little known fact is you ALSO get access to a network of restaurants that have something really special worked out for priority pass members…a $28 per person meal credit at over 25 restaurants across US airports. When my wife and I travel, we literally get $56 off of our check at any participating restaurants! No strings attached…just free food for owning this card…we have used it almost 10 times this year, so you’re talking over $500 in free food!
4. Trip Cancellation / interruption insurance
Is your airline delaying your flight for more than 6 hours? Guess what? You’re covered for up to $500 per person! Grab a hotel and grab some grub! We used to dread delays, now we just cross our fingers and hope they at least hit 6 hours!
Now if your trip is canceled or cut short due to sickness, severe weather or other covered situations, direct from chase:
You can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.
5. Lost/delayed baggage insurance
This is a big one! Recently on a trip to Italy, we barely made our flight leaving out of JFK. Thankfully we made it on the plane but our bags weren’t so fortunate. We had to spend 24 hours in Rome without our bags. Thankfully with the baggage delay insurance, we were able to receive $100 per day, per passenger to cover any essentials that we needed to purchase! The benefit will cover $100/day per passenger for up to 5 days. And get this, the coverage kicks in at just 6 hours!
Also, in addition to being covered for delays. If your checked or carry-on bag is damaged or lost, you’re covered for up to $3,000 per passenger!
6. Auto rental collision damage waiver
You know that annoying but necessary extra $13 a day for insurance when renting a car? Well, you can forget about it because the sapphire reserve covers that as well! Don’t worry about paying for a CDW on a rental ever again!
7. Roadside assistance
This is another little known benefit, but the reserve card includes a roadside assistance benefit! Need a tow, or a jumpstart? You’re covered for up to $50 per incident, 4x per year!
8. Status with multiple brands
Being a chase sapphire reserve cardholder means that you also get extra perks and privileges from partnering companies like:
National rental car
Avis rent a car
Silver car
Luxury hotel & resort collection
Relais & Chateaux luxury properties
9. Emergency medical/dental
Chase says: If you are 100 miles or further from home on a trip, you can be reimbursed up to $2,500 for medical expenses if you or your immediate family member become sick or injured!
10. Increased earning / redemption value
With this card you earn:
3X points on travel & dining
1x points on all other purchases
Also, simply by owning this card, your Chase points are worth 50% more! The typical redemptions value for chase points is 1 cent per point, but with the reserve card, all points are now worth 1.5 cents. This means that a 50,000 point sign-up bonus is worth $750 towards travel instead of only $500! Crazy right?!
If you’re not sold yet, feel free to reach out if you have any questions at all! If the $450 fee is still a bit too much for you to swallow, check out the sapphire preferred card with a $95 annual fee. It has a very similar, but not quite a comprehensive set of benefits.
Happy travels!