I’m Happy to Pay $550 a Year for This Credit Card. Here’s How I Get Thousands of Dollars in Value From It

When people find out that I’m an expert in credit cards and travel rewards, I’m often asked, “What’s the best credit card?” I used to offer the standard reply that the best card depends on who you are and how you’re going to use it. But that’s such a boring answer. So now I tell them what I really think is the best card -- the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. 

The Sapphire Reserve has a high $550 annual fee, but I’ve always been willing to pay it in exchange for its valuable rewards and benefits. And if you’re an avid traveler, you might too.

What the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers

This card’s most valuable features are its welcome offer, numerous cardholder benefits and the strength of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program. 

New applicants can earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within three months of account opening. Chase advertises that this is worth $1,125 toward travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, but these points can be worth much more when transferred to airline and hotel partners.

This card also offers 10x points on hotels and car rentals booked through Chase Travel, and 5x points on flights booked through Chase Travel immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. You also earn 3x points on travel and dining, including takeout and delivery services. 

These points can be redeemed for 1.5 cents each toward travel reservations booked through Chase Travel thanks to its 50% point redemption bonus when redeeming for travel through Chase. But you can also transfer these points to miles with 11 airlines or points with three hotel chains. 

When you can redeem these rewards for business or first-class airline tickets, or luxury hotel stays, it’s often possible to get a per-point value above 2 cents.

For example, airline partners like United, Air France/KLM and British Airways can offer transatlantic business class award tickets, worth over $4,000, for around 150,000 miles round trip. I’ve transferred 12,000 Chase points to Hyatt to redeem an award night that would’ve cost $300. That’s 2.5 cents per point.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve perks that make it worth it

Regarding benefits, this card is far ahead of its competitors. Like The Platinum Card®️ from American Express and the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card*, it offers a Priority Pass membership. But unlike those two, Chase’s Priority Pass benefit includes credits at participating airport restaurants. There are over three dozen airport restaurants worldwide that will offer you up to two $28 credits per visit, $54 total, according to The Points Guy. 

Luckily, there are two of these restaurants at my home airport of Denver International, and I receive hundreds of dollars in value from this benefit alone. Sapphire Reserve cardholders also receive access to three new Sapphire Lounges, at Boston Logan, New York LaGuardia and New York’s JFK airports.

And when it comes to travel insurance and purchase protection benefits, this card is in a class of its own. When shopping, you receive purchase protection, which covers your new purchases against damage and theft for up to 90 days and return protection coverage, which can reimburse you if you’re unable to return an item to a retailer. 

When traveling, you’ll get trip cancellation and trip interruption insurance, travel delay reimbursement, lost and delayed baggage coverage, roadside assistance and rental car insurance. There are even emergency medical and dental benefits as well as evacuation and transportation coverage if you’re injured on a trip and need special transport for care back home.  

This card also features an automatic annual travel credit of up to $300, as well as up to a $100 credit toward the application fee for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

But what about the Chase Sapphire Preferred?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a less expensive version of the Sapphire Reserve. However, along with its smaller price tag, it also provides a lower rewards rate and fewer card perks. Its annual fee is $95 compared to $550 for the Reserve.

The Reserve’s fee certainly is more intimidating, but if you can get more value from it, it might be a better fit for your wallet.

For example, the Reserve doubles the redemption bonus for redeeming rewards for travel through Chase Travel when compared to the Preferred. It also comes with restaurant credits (which have saved me hundreds of dollars) and airport lounge access -- a must-have for avid travelers.

There’s also the Reserve’s annual travel credit to consider. The card’s $300 travel credit essentially knocks its $550 annual fee to a much more reasonable $250, especially considering the value you can get from its rewards and perks. 

And while that’s still $155 more than what the Preferred charges, if you’re intentional about your rewards, you could save the difference -- and then some -- each year.

Using the Sapphire Reserve as part of a Chase combo or even a trifecta

The best way to think about Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program isn’t as a single card, but as a veritable ecosystem of rewards that includes:

• The Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• The Chase Freedom Flex℠
• The Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card 
• The Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
• The Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

In fact, you can transfer (or combine, as Chase calls it), points from all of these cards with each other. 

For example, I’ll earn 1.5x points per dollar spent on my Chase Freedom Unlimited, on purchases that wouldn’t qualify for a bonus from my Sapphire Reserve. 

Next, I’ll combine those points with those earned by my Sapphire Reserve, in order to redeem them for 1.5 cents each toward Chase Travel reservations in the Chase travel portal or transfer them to airline and hotel partners. Add a Chase Ink Cash or Ink Unlimited, and you have the much heralded Chase Trifecta, as it’s known by true award travel nerds.

*All information about the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.