$800 a year. I can’t think of many things that I would pay $800 a year for. Now imagine it’s $800 a year for the privilege of using a credit card. Why would anyone do that?
When we first started in the points and miles game in 2003, the only real way to accrue travel credits without actually traveling was on an airline credit card. So we accrued a large amount of points on two major airline cards while doing a home renovation project. This was a great way to build up a cache of points for future travel. We have had some breathtaking experiences using the points from our home reno treasure chest, like flying our family to Europe and twice to Hawaii. We've also jetted off to Ireland and Japan in our retirement.
Nowadays, our primary credit card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which we’ve had for nearly two years. When we first got it, the annual fee was $495, but since then, it’s gone up to $795 a year. So, in honor of the 10th Anniversary of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, we thought we would tell you why the card is worth it for us even at the nearly $800 annual fee.
Before we get started, remember these things- travel credit cards are NOT for spending beyond your means. Carrying a balance on these cards can lower your credit score and negate the savings these cards can bring you. Additionally, amassing a large amount of points without using them can have a downside as points can be devalued at any time. The primary benefit of the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the ability to accrue and transfer the very valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards Points to a whole host of travel partners, not just airlines. However, $795 is a lot of money to us. We want cash back in our hands to offset the investment we made. We don’t like leaving money on the table.
Some of the benefits we will talk about are statement credits. You pay for something on the credit card, and the bank gives you a credit toward that purchase. Others benefits are discounts or credits on transactions, meaning you order something and the price is reduced for the transaction, such as money off a food delivery order or a ride-share ride. Points and miles people call these “coupons.” They can be harder to redeem and so can be less of a benefit.
Let’s start with statement credits, like the $300 travel credit. You purchase an airline ticket, a hotel, pay for parking or transit, Chase takes it right off your statement until you’ve gotten your $300 back. Zero effort on your part.
The StubHub statement credit is great, especially once you realize you can use it with their international affiliate, ViaGogo. We used our $150 twice a year credits to buy Broadway show tickets and London concert tickets.
The Chase Select Hotel credit requires you to book your hotel stay thru the Chase Travel Portal, but it saved us $250 when booking an IHG Hotel. It’s a little like double dipping because you can also accrue hotel points as long as your membership number is on the reservation in the Chase portal. The credit can be used at a variety of hotels, but IHG points power almost all of our travel so we love any opportunity to bank some more.
As Apple TV users, we were very excited to see the Apple credits, and since I’m not really particular about my music service choice, I was fine with dropping my Spotify account and accepting $324 in Apple TV and Music credits from Chase. I simply connected my Apple account to Chase through the app to activate the credit and pay with the card.
The Exclusive Table statement credit has been tough for us to use, because it is limited to restaurants usually in major cities and often at a premium price. However, we’ve recently found a restaurant in New York City that has a price fix meal that fits around a Broadway show schedule for dining. This restaurant came out to almost exactly $150 for two, so we’ve found a way to spend this twice a year benefit.
The Global Entry/TSA Pre statement credit is only available every 4 years, but if it’s time for you to renew your access, this is worth $120. Just pay for it with the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
The coupons get a bit more complicated. We don’t use ride share that much, but we need the occasional take a Lyft to the train station on travel days or when attending an event in New York City. By connecting our Lyft account to the card, we’ve used the $10 Lyft credit about 5 times this year. That amount is taken right off the cost of the ride.
Some of the credits are just not of value to us. For example, the Edit Credit, which is a $250 credit twice yearly for 2 night luxury hotel stays booked thru Chase, is just not our style of travel. Even with a $250 discount, we would still be paying far more than we would ever pay for a two night stay, so it’s not worth it for us.
There are other credits to explore that don’t fit our lifestyle, such as Peloton and DoorDash, but they might be of value to you.
And don’t forget- these cash benefits are in addition to a minimum 1x points per dollar that we can use for hotels and airfare with a large network of travel partners. Chase also includes insurance and purchase protection for a variety of needs, including:
Travel cancellation, interruption, and delay insurance;
Baggage delay and loss insurance;
Emergency evacuation coverage;
Rental car insurance coverage;
Roadside assistance coverage; and
Extended warranty and purchase protections.
When you look at all the credits we’ve redeemed above, keep in mind that these are all offsetting expenses we already had. We are very careful not to spend money to get to a benefit. That’s not how we do it.
So if you’ve been keeping track, after paying $795 dollars for the privilege of using the card, we wring $1,594 in credits out of the card before we talk about points, miles, and transfers. For us, this has been not only a card worth having but a card that’s putting an additional $844 in our pockets for travel.
We know that this ‘hobby’ may not be for everyone, but for us, we’ve been happy to find a way to help us travel more efficiently and safely.
