Official Review: Chase Sapphire Reserve

Last week I reviewed the Top 3 No-Brainer Credit Cards Everyone Must Have in Their Wallet. For those travelers who enjoy the hotel life, Uber everywhere, and want to join the mile high club, I have added a new card to that list: the all new Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

For the longest time, the Chase Sapphire Preferred was the best travel credit card out there. When I heard about the Chase Sapphire Reserve, I thought it was too good to be true. You get 100,000 (now 50,000) points after you spend $4000 in the first 3 months (worth $2100 with Chase Ultimate Rewards®), $300 annual travel credit automatically applied to your account after each travel expense, $100 reimbursement for your Global Entry or TSA Pre✓® application, access to 900+ airport lounges worldwide, and 3X points on Hotels, Flights, Taxis (Ubers, Lyfts), Restaurants, and any other travel related expenses.

The card does have a $450 annual fee, but the $300 travel credit alone brings that cost down to $150 a year, assuming you don’t take advantage of the $100 Global Entry or TSA Pre✓® reimbursement. As always, there are no foreign transaction fees, no blackout dates, no travel restrictions. I’ve booked numerous hotels and flights through Chase Ultimate Rewards and have never had a problem.

I use the Reserve card to buy my flights, book hotels, pay for food, and is my default card on Uber and Lyft. Bonus points if you link your Uber account to your SPG account as well! I’d been a loyal fan of the Chase Sapphire Preferred for many years, but the Chase has hit it out of the ballpark with the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Whether you’re a traveler or not, the Chase Sapphire Reserve‘s signup bonus alone more than pays for the card, and is a no-brainer card to have in your wallet!

You can check out a great review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card at ThePointsGuy.com.

UPDATE: There have been some recent updates to the Chase Sapphire Reserve with the removal of certain benefits. You can check out the full details on the devalued benefits over at our friends at Lend EDU.