There’s a lot to discuss here but as always, we’ll try to keep it simple but you’re gonna have to make a big decision. You definitely need a Chase Sapphire card but you have to decide which one you are going to get as there are two: Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve. We’ll discuss this decision and the pro’s and con’s of both so you can make the best decision. Regardless of which one you choose, you’ll be turbocharging your points game.
The Sapphire products are the key that opens the door to full power of the Ultimate Rewards program. Without them, your points are stuck with Chase and you are limited in what you can do with them. With either Sapphire, you can then transfer all of your Ultimate Rewards points, regardless of which card earned them, to a variety of partners. This is where thing are really going to change for you. It’ll open the door to many possibilities. It’ll require a whole other post to get into everything but imagine booking a vacation with Hyatt hotels and flying there using United Airlines and then staying at a Marriott hotel next time and flying Jet Blue to get there? You can’t do that with just airline miles.
This ability to transfer your points to other programs allows you to create entire vacations for free. It also allows you get get much better value than 1 cent per point. Remember, the name of the game is getting the most points back when we spend money and then getting the highest redemption possible when it’s time to cash them in. Whereas the average person is getting 1 or 2cents per dollar spent on their credit cards, travel hackers are getting 5 to 10 cents on average.
Getting back to this big decision, you have to decide which card is right for you. The Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee whereas the Sapphire Reserve has a $550 annual fee. For many of you, the decision has probably already been made. $550 for a credit card!! That’s crazy! Well I wouldn’t call it crazy as that’s not the right way to look at it but if you’re just starting out the Sapphire Preferred might be a better card for you. If you travel a lot, then it might be worth it to go with the Reserve. Let’s break this down.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve is so much more than just a credit card
Why would anyone pay so much for a credit card? Well the secret is in the benefits. See, travel hacking at its core is about earning and redeeming points but it actually goes beyond that. Travel hackers want to optimize their entire travel experience. They see the big picture and they do the math to see if something makes sense. The Sapphire Reserve is no different and they don’t get scared off by high annual fees especially because the math works out for many of them.
The first thing to know is the the Sapphire Reserve gives you a $300 travel credit each year. It applies to all sorts of things, planes, hotels, rental cars, etc. So if you take one trip and you use this card to pay for it, you’ll get $300 of that back. Since you’re spending that anyway you really need to deduct that from the annual fee. Now you can think of it as a $250 annual fee. Still more than $95 of course but a little more approachable.
You also get Priority Pass which allows you to access over 1,000 airport lounges and restaurants across the world. Are they in every airport? No. Can you get into every single one of them? No, sometimes they do fill up. Are they all amazing with great food? Not exactly. But it’s a hell of a lot better than sitting out in the airport with everyone else and there are some lounges that are really nice. Airport food is very expensive so if this saves you from spending $30 at the airport, you have to subtract that value from the annual fee. I get over $500 in value per year from Priority Pass so this alone pays for the card.
You’ll also get TSA PreCheck, Global Entry or NEXUS credit worth up to $100. Really worth it if you haven’t signed up for one of those programs. Of course, you don’t have to do that every year so it’s not worth $100 for each annual fee. There’s also trip delay reimbursement and trip cancellation insurance. That’s a complex issue but there’s plenty of information about that on the Chase website. There’s also free membership to Lyft Pink which is nice.
So is the Sapphire Reserve right for you? I think a lot depends on how often you travel. If you travel at least several times a year, I think you’ll get value out of it. If you’re more of the travel once or twice a year type, than the Sapphire Preferred is right for you. But why not have both? Unfortunately, you can’t have both.
You have to choose which card you want
You can only have one Sapphire product at a time. So if you have the Preferred and then decide you also want to Reserve, you can’t do it. Same works the other way around. You could close or product change (we suggest you product change usually) to the original Chase Freedom card since it’s a no fee card. You can then apply for the other card that you want. However, you are not eligible for a sign up bonus until 48 months after your last one. So while you technically can open up a Sapphire Preferred today and then product change that in six months so that you can open up the Sapphire Reserve card, you won’t get the sign up bonus. That’s another reason why it’s important to decide which card to get.
Regardless of which card you choose, there are many similarities between the two. As we’ve already discussed, you can transfer your points to a travel partner with either card. Each card will come with a sign up bonus which varies depending on how and when you apply. Sometimes one is higher than the other, sometimes they are the same. Regardless of how many points you will earn, the spending requirement is usually $4,000 in 3 months. For some, that could be tough which is again why you need to plan all this out. Since the clock will start when the application is approved and not when the card is received, you may have even less than 3 months. If you’re not sure when that date is, you can always call Chase and they’ll tell you.
The spending bonuses vary a little. Non-bonus categories for each are 1x so I would only use these cards for bonus categories. I’m not going to discuss the Chase portal as that’s a very controversial topic that will require a separate post. For the Sapphire Reserve, it’s pretty easy to remember – 3x on travel and 3x on dining. You also get 10x on Lyft at the moment. Outside of those categories, there’s no reason to use this card on a daily basis.
The Sapphire Preferred card is great for beginners
The Sapphire Preferred card is a little different. You get 3x for certain streaming services (check the updated list on Chase’s website), 3x for online grocery which does not include Target, Walmart or wholesale clubs) and only 2x on travel. So again, this card has limited use. I would use it for travel, online grocery if you do that and the streaming services. Other benefits include $50 credit for hotel stays each year and bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made. So if you get this card, immediately update all of your streaming services to this card. It’s very approachable due to the low annual fee.
Regardless of which card you get, you need one of them. A lot will depend on how much you travel and how much you think you’ll use the benefits of the Sapphire Reserve. I personally think that the Sapphire Reserve is one of the best cards out there for everything it offers but I can understand if you think it’s too complex at the moment.
To apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, click here. You’ll not only get one of the best sign up bonuses available, you’ll also be supporting this website. If you’d rather apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, click here. Either way, you’ll be getting the best sign up bonuses available. In order to entice people to refer cards to others, they give out the best sign up bonuses through these referral links. As always, we appreciate your support!