After Australia, we realized we needed to invest in a credit card that would benefit our international travel. With so many options, all varying on what would fit our day-to-day needs, we landed on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and here’s why.If you know anything about this card, it’s probably the hefty annual fee. I know what you’re thinking, why? Why would you spend that much on a credit card when there are so many other options with a cheaper or even no annual fee? The short story is, there is no other card that fits our lifestyle better. First the Annual Fee: So, this card has a $450 annual fee. Yes, at first glance, that's insane BUT the Reserve card offers a $300 travel credit. Meaning, if you plan on spending $300 during the year on flights, hotels, Airbnb’s, Uber/Lyft, cabs, metro passes, etc., you will get reimbursed up to $300. That drops the annual fee to $150 a year. If you’ve looked at cards that have an easier to swallow $95 annual fee, The Sapphire Reserve is only $55 more and has a ton more perks! No Foreign Transaction Fees: The main reason we begin looking for a new credit card was because we needed one with no international transaction fees. We each had one credit card, a Visa (not through Chase Bank) and a Discover. Half the time, Discover wouldn't be accepted and while the Visa was, it came with a 3% foreign transaction fee on every purchase. Now, a lot of travel cards offer no foreign transaction fees, it's usually pretty basic. Moving along... The 3x points system: Besides the incredible 100,000 points we earned for signing up (this has changed since 2017, it’s now 50,000 for signing up) they also offer 3x the points (points for dollar style) on travel and dining. For travel, same rules apply as above, mentioned in travel credit portion. And dining is pretty self-explanatory... fancy or casual, 3x the points. All other purchases are 1:1 ratio, and its 2:1 (or 2x the points) on dining and travel if you use the Chase Ultimate Rewards Program. The Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal: Here is where your points can go the furthest. The rewards portal is where you can book airfare, lodging, car rentals, even cruise packages for 50% more per point. So 50,000 points (hello, bonus points for signing up) are worth $750 for booking. If you aren't a big dining out person, all your other purchases (gas, groceries, movie tickets, etc) that got dollar-for-dollar points are now an extra 50%. You do have to use the Chase Rewards Portal for this bonus and it can have different prices than some of the popular travel websites. But last year, we booked 4 round trip tickets through the portal, all at the same price that Kayak was offering. We got the flights we wanted and our points were worth 50% more because we have the Reserve card. Pretty awesome perk! Airport Perks: With this card, we received a Priority Pass lounge card which gets us into about a thousand airport lounges around the world. We were also reimbursed the hundred dollars it costs to apply for global entry, you can also opt to apply for TSA Pre-Check instead (Global runs $100 and includes TSA Pre-Check, TSA Pre-Check a la cart is $85). Global Entry lasts for 5 years so this isn't something you have to do every year, Chase Bank just assumes you'll be flying a lot with this card and offers an amazing benefit to card holders. Pre-Check is wonderful for domestic flying and we've only used global entry once internationally but it was a quick and easy process to go through customs. Insurances: They have an incredible travel insurance option for damaged or stolen things, unexpected delays or cancelations, and even lost baggage. However, our favorite insurance through the Sapphire Reserve card is the car rental insurance! I mean, majority of the cost of renting a car is the ridiculous insurance fees you get charged with. Plus, you feel like a fool if you don’t get the insurance. So CSR offers primary auto insurance for up to $75,000. As long as you put the car rental on the card, you’re covered! We’ve rented more vehicles since we had this card because we feel safe declining the renter’s insurance. And, the amount we've saved passing on the car company's insurance policy probably makes up the remaining $150 for the annual fee. 24/7 Concierge: Recently, we had some hiccups while trying to book reservations in Japan, mainly because we’re not staying in a hotel. Without a concierge who speaks Japanese, we found ourselves second guessing our decision to stay in Airbnbs, that was until I remembered that CSR offers a concierge service. A quick call got us a Japanese concierge that will be making all of our restaurant reservations with no 40% booking fee (yes, that’s what Japanese services charge non-Japanese speakers per reservation!). Having a concierge service wasn't something we thought we'd need, now we're incredibly grateful for it. If we haven’t sold you on Chase Sapphire Reserve, feel free to check out this article on reviews.com, They have a lot of incredible information about travel cards and they break down each one of their 7 contenders (they started with 29, and spoiler, Chase Sapphire Reserve doesn't win). They did, however, say this about the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, “And for the biggest spenders and most frequent travelers, we recommend the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which offsets its massive $450 annual fee with hands-down the best travel rewards available. It’s offering bonuses and rewards far beyond any of the other travel cards out there." More on that article here: We do want to say that most of these cards are bad options if you're not going to pay off the overall balance every month. The card we have, as well as the cards mentioned in the Reviews.com article, are for individuals looking to get the most perks out of a card they can maintain month to month. Happy Card hunting!
Until Next Time, C + D
4 Comments
4/18/2018 06:43:38 am
Thanks for sharing! It will really help users to figure out best tips for them to use. Keep Sharing and helping the community.
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Dani
4/18/2018 01:28:55 pm
Thanks so much for the comment! We‘ve definitely had our share of missed opportunities while traveling so we strive to help others get the most from the beginning.
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Dani
9/12/2019 09:34:39 am
Thank you. This just happens to be a huge topic with the traveling world and so many are discussing credit cards right now. So glad you found our article and enjoyed!
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