Is Chase Sapphire Reserve Still Worth It? I Did the Math!

I’ve had a Chase Sapphire Reserve card ever since it debuted with a $450 annual fee in 2016. My job at the time required a lot of travel, so this card was a good way to rack up a lot of points.

The travel benefits provided on the card were useful, too. So when they increased the fee to $550 (and I also decided to quit my job), I felt it was still worth keeping despite my mild rage.

Well, my blood pressure had to be tested again, because Chase has revamped the card for 2025, and in the process, increased the annual fee to $795.

Rage boiling again, I figured it was time to assess whether it made sense to switch or if the fancy new benefits justify staying with the devil you know.

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Changes to the Chase Sapphire Reserve

It started with a fancy-looking email from Chase detailing changes to their popular card, the Sapphire Reserve.

Along with a hike to the annual fee (now $795, plus $195 now for each authorized user), the card came with benefits of “over $2,700 in annual value.”

Here’s what they’re selling us:

The bonus for using their travel portal is changing from 10x points on hotels/car rentals and 5x flights to 8x points on everything.
Flights and hotels booked directly on their websites increase from 3x points to 4x points.
If you choose to spend $2,000/night at one of the overpriced hotels they have available through The Edit, Chase will give you $500 annually in the form of two $250 credits every six months.
The $300 per year travel credit remains, like an old-growth forest, untouched.
Priority Pass access, which you still mostly can’t use unless you’re overseas, also isn’t affected.

Other annual benefits, listed as “Curated Lifestyle benefits,” were:

Subscriptions to Apple TV and Apple Music
$300 in statement credits for the ticket extortionist company Stubhub
$120 for Peloton membership access
$120 for Lyft in the form of $10/month credits
$420 for DoorDash for those who like to pay $30 for burritos

Then, in a long way to say “we’re doing away with the 1.5x multiplier if you use your Ultimate Rewards on our special portal,” they introduce a new “Points Boost” feature.

The feature makes you “offers” when you use Chase travel and will be “worth up to 2x” points.

Fun fact: I don’t know what that means, either, but I think it’s a negative overall.

This list was long enough to nearly make you forget what they said at the beginning, which was that the annual fee was increasing by $245!

Still annoyed, I focused on what was important: creating a spreadsheet to make sense of it all.

What do the numbers say?

Montage now playing in the background, I prepared for the thankless task of a pros vs. cons board disguised behind Excel formatting.

I won’t bore you with my totally made-up yet scientifically accurate method, but just know all the care was applied. All biases were rendered as a control, or whatever they said in stats class.

Getting into that level of detail came up with a clear answer for our household: It made sense to keep the Chase Sapphire Reserve, at least for now.

Note: This isn’t the point of this post, but I do have a referral code if you’re not scared of what I’m about to get into next.

Con: The annual fee is now $795.

*Two thumbs down*

If your decision rests on the fee hike, I don’t blame you. I did make these spreadsheets, though, so let’s get into why the heck I’d still keep this card after seeing that figure.

Pro: The annual travel credit remains unchanged.

In an act of mercy, Chase didn’t change the generous $300 annual credit you get for your travel purchases. This is the easiest benefit to reach every year for us. That makes the net annual fee now $495.

Pro: You get an Apple TV/Apple Music credit.

New for 2025, the card will get you Apple TV and Apple Music subscriptions for one Apple ID. This is not a credit I’d imagine everyone will use, but we pay for both of these already, so this credit will save us $232 annually.

The net annual fee is now $263.

Pro: You get a new $300 annual dining credit.

Chase is providing $300 via two $150 credits every six months to a select group of restaurants. These are mostly in major U.S. cities for now, but hopefully that improves.

This is a benefit we will use at least once per year, so that brings the card down to $113.

Pro: You get 4x the points for hotels/flights direct and 8x for travel booked on their portal.

An extra point on hotels and flights is worth about $150 per year for us, but we actually lose about $50 for the switch to the 8x bonus. Overall, it’s a positive change of about $100.

The fee is down to $13.

Fun fact: For comparison’s sake, the Chase Sapphire Preferred has a lower annual fee ($95) and offers 2x on all travel and 3x on dining. That’s not bad, and may make sense for you if you’re not taking advantage of everything else the Reserve offers.

Pro: You get a Lyft credit.

Also included now are monthly Lyft credits of $10, adding up to $120 annually. This will save us at least $20 per year.

It’s been 20 years since I’ve been in that statistics class, but by my count, that is fully offsetting the annual fee. If you want, you can stop there, as I’ve proved my point, and this is worth it for every single person in the world, right?

What? You don’t use all those benefits, you say?

Fair point. Maybe Severance is what you think Professor Snape’s first name was in Harry Potter, and not the Apple TV show. I get it, they don’t advertise much.

If those aren’t useful for you, maybe others like the DoorDash credit or Peloton credit will help to offset the cost. Also, if you aren’t asleep yet, I have some other reasons why this card is worth keeping.

Better Cash Back Earnings

In terms of cash back cards, there are a few good ones that get a flat 2% back on everything. Those are what I’d consider a benchmark, so I always like to see what I can get above that to justify keeping the cards I have.

Note: While 2% is what I benchmark against, you can do better with such programs as Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program if you have $100k to park with them.

We use this card for a lot of travel and restaurants, and the 5x/10x multiplier on the Chase travel portal has helped us average 3.7% cash back on average the past year.

That extra 1.7% is an extra $500 per year in cash back vs. a flat 2% card, though.

Auto Rental Coverage

This benefit provides primary coverage up to $75,000 for theft/collision damage to your rental car. We rent cars maybe once per month, and this would be very helpful as my personal insurance only covers liability and not damage to the rental vehicle.

Trip Cancellation Insurance

This benefit provides $10,000 per traveler/ $20,000 per trip that is cancelled for covered reasons. We recently were able to use this benefit, as a family emergency caused us to cancel a trip back in April.

The non-refundable hotel bill was reimbursed, saving us $1,000.

Lounge access is useful…sometimes.

Lounge access can be hit or miss, and for us, when traveling in the U.S., it’s been mostly a miss.

Either you’re at one of the Chase Sapphire lounges at 3pm when the hours are only good for 9:00am-9:47am on the third Wednursfriday, or they’re not accepting Priority Pass.

In Europe, we have gotten to use it several times, though, including for a trip to Italy, where I could even impress my mother-in-law. We’ve used this benefit at least four times already this year.

They also have the following benefits that I am too lazy to go over in detail, but are helpful for frequent travelers:

Baggage Delay/Lost Luggage Reimbursement
Emergency Medical and Dental
Extended Warranty Protection
Purchase Protection
Return Protection
Roadside Assistance
Travel Accident Insurance
Travel and Emergency Assistance
Trip Delay Reimbursement

Should I keep the Chase Sapphire Reserve?

I am…for now. I’ve found enough reasons to swallow my rage for this year, but there’s no judgment if you saw that price hike and said “Nope!”

There are tons of travel credit cards that offer excellent benefits, cash back, and travel perks without an annual fee that get shockingly close to five figures. The Capital One Venture X Rewards is one.

With your annual fee of $395, you’ll earn 10x on hotels and rental cars and 5x on flights booked through Capital One Travel. You’ll get a $300 annual travel credit, too, and priority access at select lounges.

If you’re sold on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, use our referral code to give us the gift of some miles upon approval. We’d really appreciate it!

Another price hike, though, and I don’t think any spreadsheet will save you, Chase.

More travel tips to keep things stress-free:

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