By Liam Chase recently announced a host of new changes to their popular Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit card. The annual fee has gone up from an already steep $550 to an astronomical $795. The change had me, and a lot of other cardholders, wondering if it’s still worth it to hold on to the CSR. The annual fee is not the only change, though, and Chase has offered cardholders additional benefits to keep them around. While the number of benefits a cardholder will be able to take advantage of will vary, I’ve done the math so you don’t necessarily have to.
There is also a 100,000 point sign up bonus and $500 Chase Travel credit for new applicants that might be quite attractive. In any case, we’ll cover the specific changes made to the Chase Sapphire Reserve and discuss the benefits in detail.
Chase Sapphire Reserve: Main Changes
The biggest change to the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the $795 annual fee, up from $550. This comes into effect on October 26, 2025, so if your cardmember anniversary is before that date you won’t be charged $795 until next year.
Also, flights booked directly with airlines and hotels will earn you four points per dollar spent starting October 26. Dining points will remain the same, at three points per dollar spent. Meanwhile, all purchases made through Chase Travel will earn cardmembers eight points per dollar. An unfortunate change is that general travel, like subway tickets, rental cars and parking fees will only be one point per dollar instead of three.
Chase also introduced the Point Boost feature into Chase Travel, meaning one point is worth up to two dollars on top hotels and certain premium airfares. Another unfortunate change is that points will no longer be worth the default 1.5 cents apiece on the travel portal starting October 26, unless there are special offers on specific hotels/flights.
Still, any points earned before that date can be redeemed at 1.5 cents apiece until October 25, 2027. Regardless, you can still transfer points at a one to one ratio with travel partners like World of Hyatt, JetBlue and United.
Chase Sapphire Reserve New Benefits
There are plenty of new benefits to compensate for the Chase Sapphire Reserve fee hike. Here are the main ones:
- $500 The Edit (Chase’s collection of 1100 handpicked hotels and resorts) credit
- Complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music ($250 value per year)
- $300 annual StubHub or Viagogo credit on concert and event tickets
- $300 annual dining credit at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables
- Complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite Status
Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmembers will get a $250 credit for bookings of 2+ nights at “The Edit” hotels every six months. The credit will start on October 26th and will renew in January and July from there on out. You’ll also receive a $100 property credit, free breakfast for two and a potential room upgrade.
If you’d be paying for Apple TV+ and Apple Music anyway the new benefit is quite a good one. The subscriptions are $9.99 and $10.99 per month, respectively.
StubHub has plenty of event options ranging from sports, music, comedy, theater and more. So, it shouldn’t be too hard to use the $150 StubHub/Viagogo credit every six months.
The annual dining credit ($150 every six months) shouldn’t be too difficult to use, either. There are 26 major cities in the US which have restaurants in the Exclusive Tables program, along with four in Mexico and Canada each. It should be sufficient to use your Chase Sapphire Reserve card at the participating restaurants to receive the credit, you don’t necessarily have to book a reservation.
With IHG One Platinum Rewards Platinum Elite Status you’ll get a few solid benefits. It comes with a 60% bonus on IHG points earned, complimentary room upgrades, early check in and late check out both subject to availability, and a welcome gift.
Premium Benefits: Unlocked With $75,000 Yearly Spend
Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmembers can now earn additional benefits and credits after spending $75,000 on their card each in a calendar year. I will never personally access these benefits. I suspect most Vacation Vulture readers are budget conscious and won’t reach a $75k spend either.
Just in case, here’s what you’ll get if you manage to spend $75,000 in a calendar year:
- IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite status
- Southwest Airlines A-List status and a $500 Southwest credit through Chase Travel
- $250 credit to The Shops at Chase
With IHG One Diamond Elite status, you’ll get all of the same benefits as Platinum Elite. You’ll also receive President’s Circle status at Hertz, a 100% bonus on IHG points earned and potential free breakfast as a welcome gift.
With Southwest A-List status, you’ll get a free checked bag and priority boarding. You’ll also earn 25% bonus points, get access to same day standby and the Priority/Express lanes at check in. The $500 credit can only be used through Chase Travel but is a nice benefit.
The Shops at Chase is a curated selection of brands. You can use your Chase Sapphire Reserve card or Ultimate Rewards points to purchase these products. The brands include: Baccarat, Bang & Olufsen, Breitling, Callaway, CALPAK, Cuisinart, Dyson, Ray-Ban, Samsonite, SMEG, Solo Stove, SONY, Therabody, Tory Burch and TUMI. After spending $75,000 on the CSR, you’ll get a $250 credit to use on a product from one of the brands.
Doing the Math: Should You Downgrade to the Sapphire Preferred?
With a mix of the new and old benefits, we’ll calculate if the Chase Sapphire Reserve is still worth it for budget conscious travelers. Recall that these are some of the popular continued benefits that cardmembers receive:
- $300 travel credit which renews on cardmember anniversary
- $120 in annual Lyft in-app credits, up to $10 monthly, plus 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides
- $300 annually in monthly DoorDash promos and complimentary DashPass membership worth $120 annually
- 10x points on eligible Peloton purchases and up to $120 in annual statement credits toward Peloton memberships
- $120 Global Entry/TSA PreCheck or Nexus credit every four years
- Complimentary Priority Pass Select Membership and access to Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club
Showing the Work
Every Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmember should be able to use the $300 travel credit.
As for “The Edit”, only those who stay in luxury hotels will be able to take advantage of this one. Even with the credit, you’d still be on the hook for at least a few hundred dollars during each stay. So, I don’t think most people will get value from this.
However, the Apple Music and TV subscriptions provide good value. I use both products and can now get both for free, so it’s worth $250 per year to me.
I also won’t have any problem using the $300 StubHub credit to go to concerts, even down in Mexico City. The dining credit also includes some restaurants in Mexico City as well so that’s another $300 in value. With these benefits alone, it’s clear that the Chase Sapphire Reserve is still worth it.
For those who spend most of their time abroad, like myself, the Lyft credit won’t be of too much use. However, when I was living in Chicago, the Divvy Bike program was connected to Lyft. So, it would have been easy to spend $10 on electric bikes each month. I also took full advantage of the DoorDash benefits when I was living in the US.
I use the Priority Pass at least a couple of times per year and it gets me two free guests with each visit. I’d say I get at least $75 in value from it each year. Meanwhile, the Global Entry credit is great but only relevant every five years, when it’s time to renew. So I value it at $24 per year.
The Final Result
Even ignoring benefits like Lyft and DoorDash that I can’t use abroad, I’ll be getting at least $1249 in value from the Chase Sapphire Reserve each year. That more than offsets the $795 fee. Plus, I’ll still be earning points on all my purchases that I can redeem for travel. Even if points are getting devalued with the advent of the “Points Boost”, they’ll still be worth at least one cent per point.
If you’re living in the US most of the time and/or a big spender, the Sapphire Reserve could be worth more than $2000 per year in benefits. Even if you only use the travel, StubHub, Lyft and DoorDash credits, you’re coming out ahead.
So, I wouldn’t downgrade to the Chase Sapphire Preferred just yet.