Chase Sapphire Reserve 60,000-Point Offer: Worth $900+ in Travel

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Crystal Cox

• The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has launched an elevated welcome bonus offer.
• New cardholders can earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
• This bonus is worth $900 in travel booked through Chase, and potentially more when you transfer points to airline and hotel partners.
• Read Insider’s guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.

Pricey premium credit cards with upscale benefits aren’t for everyone. But if you’re a frequent traveler who can use valuable perks like airport lounge access, statement credits, and top-notch travel protections, they can be worth much more than their annual fees.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is one of the most rewarding premium cards on the market, and it’s now offering an elevated bonus of 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s 10,000 more points than the standard offer, and worth at least $900 in travel, depending on how you redeem your rewards.

Based on Insider’s valuations, Chase Ultimate Rewards® points are worth an average of 1.8 cents apiece when you transfer them to Chase’s airline and hotel partners, making this bonus worth around $1,080 in travel.

Keep in mind the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a $550 annual fee, so it’s not for the average traveler. Here’s what to consider if you’re thinking of applying.

We’re focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won’t be worth it if you’re paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it’s important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Chase Sapphire Reserve 60,000-point bonus offer

When the Chase Sapphire Reserve® was first launched in 2016, it came with a (then-unheard-of) 100,000-point bonus offer. That deal was eventually replaced by a standard bonus offer of 50,000 points after meeting spending requirements, but we’ve occasionally seen a boost to the current 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

However, the card’s less-expensive sibling, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, also has a welcome bonus of 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. It charges a $95 annual fee, so for casual travelers, it’s a much better deal.

You may wonder why you’d spend over 5x more annually for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. For some customers, splurging on a premium card actually makes more sense if you can maximize its benefits and better earning rates.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve’s annual fee is effectively $250

Off the bat, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with $300 in travel statement credits per cardholder year —effectively reducing your net cost to $250 annually ($550 annual fee – $300 travel statement credit).

Chase’s definition of travel is very broad, and includes:

• Airlines (including airfare, baggage fees, taxes and fees on award tickets, and most other incidental fees)
• Hotels (including room rate, resort fees, and taxes and fees on award stays — and in practice, some vacation rentals, like Airbnb, will trigger the credit too)
• Motels
• Timeshares
• Car rental agencies (including third-party sites such as Autoslash)
• Cruise lines
• Travel agencies (including online travel agencies like the Chase Travel Portal, Orbitz, and Expedia)
• Discount travel sites (like Hotwire)
• Campgrounds
• Passenger trains (including subways)
• Buses (including local transit)
• Taxis (including ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft)
• Limousines
• Ferries
• Toll bridges and highways (including prepaid tolls like E-Zpass and SunPass)
• Parking lots and garages

To take advantage of the travel credit, just use your card to pay for eligible travel purchases. You’ll receive a statement credit within a couple of days of the transaction, up to a yearly maximum of $300.  

Sapphire Reserve cardholders get airport lounge access

Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders receive a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, which gets them access to more than 1,300 airport lounges worldwide. This benefit is priceless if you’re a frequent flyer, especially if your home airport has Priority Pass lounges. 

Having a comfortable, quieter place to relax before or between flights can make your travel experience much more bearable, and save you from having to spend a lot of cash on expensive airport food and drink. You’re also allowed up bring up to two guests with you at no charge.

Cardholders will also soon get access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, which are slated to open later this year and 2023 at several airports, including:

• New York-LaGuardia — Terminal B
• Boston — Terminal B to C connector
• Hong Kong — Terminal 1
• San Diego (SAN) — Terminal 2 West
• Phoenix (PHX) — Terminal 4 South 1
• Las Vegas (LAS) — Terminal 1 C Gates

You’ll earn up to 10x points on your spending

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is ideal if you spend a lot in certain categories, especially travel. The card earns up to 10x points on eligible travel purchases, which very few other cards even approach. Cardholders earn:

• 10x points on Lyft rides through March 2025
• 10x points on Chase Dining purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 10x points on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 5x points on air travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3x points on other travel (after earning the $300 travel credit) and dining
• 1 point per dollar on everything else

However, if your typical expenses don’t line up with these categories, you might want to look at other options. You can find comparisons to other popular premium cards in our Chase Sapphire Reserve review.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve increases the value of your Chase points

If you already have other Chase cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, including no-annual-fee cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Chase Freedom Unlimited®, you can combine your points into your Chase Sapphire Reserve® account and unlock better redemption options.

Points in your Chase Sapphire Reserve® are worth 1.5 cents apiece when you redeem them for travel booked through Chase or for eligible purchases through Pay Yourself Back. To compare, you’d only get a value of 1.25 cents per point for the same redemptions with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

The Reserve’s travel and purchase protections are hard to beat

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has some of the best travel insurance and purchase coverage of any card out there, premium or otherwise. When you use your card to pay, you’ll receive protections that include:

Hopefully, you’ll never have to use any of these benefits, but if you do, they could end up saving you a tremendous amount of money. 

That said, the Sapphire Preferred’s travel insurance includes many of the same features, albeit sometimes with lower coverage limits. If you’re trying to decide which Sapphire card is better for you, have a look at our comparison of the Sapphire Reserve and Preferred for a closer look at the differences.

Chase Sapphire Reserve application restrictions

Like other Chase cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is subject to application restrictions, most notably the Chase 5/24 rule. If you’ve opened more than five new credit cards in the past 24 months — from any bank, except for some small-business cards — you won’t be approved.

There are also rules specific to Chase Sapphire cards:

• You can only have one Sapphire card at a time — so if you’ve already got the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or  Chase Sapphire Reserve® open, you’re not eligible for this offer
• If you’ve earned a bonus from either of these cards in the past 48 months (even if the card is now closed), you’re also out of luck

There are plenty of other excellent travel credit card offers to consider if you don’t qualify for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, including some with elevated welcome bonuses.

If you’re looking to earn flexible points, the Citi Premier® Card with its intro bonus of 80,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening is worth considering, and if you’re looking for a premium card, it’s hard to beat the current offer to earn 100,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 in your first 6 months of card membership with The Platinum Card® from American Express
. 

Jasmin Baron, CEPF

Editor