Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Review: Big Annual Fee, Bigger Benefits

Sure, get the welcome offer. But, it's not a keeper. Chase continues to devalue this card and it's ecosystem.

As they say , "there is a fool giving away his money" in fees .

Absolutely garbage benefits - $10 monthly D.Dash grocery & retail? What are you supposed to do? Order 6 eggs and 2 light bulbs every month to come out even (before tips)?

I just downgraded mine to a Preferred. Almost $1000 in annual fees and no more 3X points on travel made it an easy decision.

It's not the fees per se. It's the coupons. As Trey (above) notes. The Amex Platinum also has fees but the coupons are far easier to use.

Most of those coupons are meh. I actually don't agree that credits are 'as good as cash' as would you still go out to eat that day without them? The chase lounges usually have a wait so unless you have a long layover it is not a useful lounge.

So to me the value prop is for the annual fee you get 150,000 points which is nice. But meh too many cards.

It's a terrible card, full stop.

AmEx Plat for the win.

Having just returned from the UK and France where Amex was not accepted in many restaurants and businesses, so much so that I stopped trying to pay with it, unless you are American, which I am not, Amex is essentially useless.

In this new episode of Extreme Couponing: the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Chase Sapphire Reserve 2.0, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love The Coupon Book.

For as much as the increased fees on this or any card are 'no-fun,' if you use the $300 Travel (not 3x everything anymore, boo), the 2 The Edit $250, the $250 IHG/Pendry, the $300 via Stubhub, the $300 via OpenTable (it's pretty restrictive though), and a few Chase lounge visits a year, yeah, you get the value back. Oh, Apple TV is actually decent, but, we'll see how long that subscription lasts as an inclusion. And, sheesh, forget the DoorDash stuff. It's tedious.

Yes, Amex Platinum is still a better product and travel platform. Sure, the devaluation of the CSR travel category kinda makes Capital One Venture X a real contender, if you can get approved. And, fine, BILT Palladium is ok, too, but, we'll see how long they last after AFs in Feb '27. I'm glad Citi brought back a premium card, but Strata Elite is similarly coupon-booked (at least it's got those 6x Citi Nights... bah!)

@Peter, I look forward to your analysis.

You have to factor in the time and effort required to get back value for something you pay upfront. In that regard, the CSR is the worst of the lot.

Big benefits, bigger fee

Have to include the time and the effort to get the value back of the huge annual fee that is paid upfront. Not worth it, if you value your time.

My analysis is that Chase invited me to an "exclusive" "live streamed" performance of music from the musicals next Tuesday, May 12. So very 2020 of them and really meeting the desires of their exclusive cardmember base.

My sense is that they were not getting many new takers for the card, so they nerfed the card to extract more value from their existing subscribers. The HNWIs that bank with Chase already don't care about paying an extra couple hundred bucks. Other folks are cancelling, and Chase is basically saying to the non-hobbyists who cancelled and don't know what a P2 is: "I'd love to have you back, but I'm not going to give you the bonus for signing up again, so if you want, you can have P2 apply and you can both share a nice 150k bonus".

Chase lounges are still very nice and have generous guest policies. The coupons are not easy to use, but you can cover the annual fee with some work. That said, if you are a solo traveler in NYC, no reason to stick with Chase. Get an Amex Plat and a C1VX. C1 now has the newest lounges in the exact same terminals (LGA TB and JFK T4) as Chase and Amex.

Can yoy product change from the Sapphire Reserve directly to one of the no annual fee Chase credit cards (Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited)?

Personally, the Preferred welcome bonus is better for me, but I might go for the Reserve just for the extra bonus, but only if I can product change it down directly to a no annual fee card.

@ JB -- While you'll always have to contact Chase to see what's available to you, it is generally possible to product change from the Sapphire Reserve to a Freedom product.

At least you got an invite! Bah! Oh yeah, P2 has made the rounds. And yes, now working on C1VX. (Waiting to get down to 0/24, basically.)

I hold both the AMEX Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), each with an authorized user. The CSR has absorbed the spending I previously routed through my AMEX Delta Reserve, which I'll be downgrading to a Blue card after stepping away completely from Delta last year. I now fly United (Yes, I have the Club Card for UA spending and Club access) and I split spending between the two premium cards and consistently hit the $75K threshold on the CSR.

It also bears to note that the $75K threshold with CSR also triggers World of Hyatt Explorist status. Mid-tier status, granted, but it’s better than nothing.
I no longer find meaningful value in AMEX Centurion Lounges — quality has declined noticeably over the past decade. That said, the Priority Pass membership included with both cards offers solid alternatives if you know which locations to target.

To those dismissing these products as "coupon books": that's fair, but you get out of them what you put in. With deliberate use, the CSR in particular, has delivered substantial value.
Here's how the economics work out in my case from 2025, with annual fees inclusive of an authorized user:

AMEX Platinum
• Fees: $1,090
• Realized benefits: $5,094
• Return: 367%

Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Fees: $990
• Realized benefits: $7,155
• Return: 623%

Virtually no one will benefit from all the goodies offered. You don’t. I don’t. Ben doesn’t. If it doesn’t work for you, you know what to do. I’m retired but still very active with a fairly robust discretionary travel regimen, with my wife. We carefully analyze it annually, but CSR still works for us.

This card has become a joke for most people. Edit hotels are often massively overpriced on the portal, negating the $250 credit. Yes they just added price match, but who wants to hassle with that risk? No more 3x on travel category. Dining choices for the credit are super limited. Few Chase lounges, and clustered on the east coast. Cancelling airfare through the portal is a drag and you sometimes even lose part of your credit. I've had this card from the beginning but there's no point to it anymore.

And here I am still waiting on Dr. Strangelove: The Musical!

Book of Mormon theater was in flame today. End times?

I was a CSR customer for years but the latest “enhancements” sent me heading for a zero fee, lower level card. The benefits don’t align with my lifestyle or loyalties anymore. So many of them seem super-niche and oriented to Chase’s growth needs.

Chase lounge PHL

What a joke. My first visit was 11:30 am and no food was available because “it was between service”, difficult to get a drink at the bar unless you interrupted the bartender conversations, and so many staff with not much to do.

My second visit at 6:30 pm and the food selection was sparse, zero main entrees available, tables not bused, and the wait to get a drink at the bar was long and again so many staff with not much to do.

Yet Chase has the stones to charge a $795.00 fee. Lucky for my renewal period, I get nearly 1 year free before the new fee kicks in. Lots of time to try out the new “benefits”. Time to ditch it I think.