Please note The Traveling Professor receives NO compensation for his opinions on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) card. In this blog, you will find an unbiased opinion of why every traveler needs to get the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.
This is why The Traveling Professor likes the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for travelers:
Sign Up Bonus: When I got my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I received a 100,000 point bonus. It is more common to received a 50,000 point bonus now, but it is still worth it.
What Can You Do With Those Points: For instance, 50,000 points gets $750 in travel dollars. Yes, this is true. No gimmick. I have personally redeemed these points for travel benefits like flights, car rentals, and hotels. The only restriction is that most travel needs to be booked through the Chase Sapphire Reserve booking site (driven by Expedia), so sometimes, but not all times, travel costs are slightly, but not significantly, higher.
Travel Insurance: This is a great benefit of the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card. When booking travel on the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, the traveler is protected with trip cancellation, trip delay, health insurance and most importantly, emergency evacuation insurance. On two occasions my flight has been delayed due to weather forcing me to depart the next day. The Chase Sapphire Reserve travel insurance picked up my overnight hotel stay and meals at 100% of their costs. They really did! Think about it this way: it might cost you $200-$300 for travel insurance for a trip. But travel insurance is all covered using the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. One of The Traveling Professor's travel clients on a small group tour even paid for part of his travel with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card and the entire trip was covered. But please, check with Chase Sapphire Reserve to ensure what benefits are in place and how to qualify for those benefits before booking.
Lounge Access: Travelers get the Priority Pass which permits the travel (plus up to 2 companions) to use over 1,200 lounges around the world. In my opinion, this benefit is only "OK" since the lounges are of varying quality and availability. I have had some very positive experiences in the lounges and some just OK experiences. But for travelers, it's a nice benefit to have. Think of it this way, if you did not have a lounge to wait in, you would probably spend $15-$25 per person in food. In the lounge, that's all free plus internet, comfortable seating, and clean bathrooms.
$300 Travel Credit: That right! No gimmick here either. If you book any travel, including a trip with The Traveling Professor's small group tours, you get a $300 credit each and every year.
What Does the Card Cost? The card costs a significant $450 each and every year. This is probably the biggest reason why people don't get the card. But when you look at the $300 travel credit right off the bat, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card travel insurance benefit, the 50,000 point sign up bonus, and the Priority Pass, how is it not a good deal? Also consider that you could probably ditch the card you have now (and it's annual fee), the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card makes even more sense.
The card has many more benefits, but the ones listed above I think are the best for travelers.