Chase Sapphire Reserve is Chase’s premium travel rewards card, offering tons of perks and benefits that make it a go-to for many travelers. In addition to a $300 annual travel credit, the card also features elevated earning rates across a wide variety of purchases, extensive travel protections and numerous valuable redemption options.
However, the card can also add more luxury to your trips — thanks to benefits like Priority Pass lounge access, the Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection and Sapphire Private Dining, a series of exclusive dining events held around the country in some of the nation’s most popular and exciting restaurants.
And it also just launched an offer of 80,000 bonus points for new cardmembers.
I had the opportunity to put the card to the test on a recent trip to Seattle, where I booked my flights and rental car through Chase Travel and my hotel through the Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection. I enjoyed an enhanced airport experience and also attended an exclusive, private dining event at Tomo Seattle hosted by Chase and The Infatuation, the latest dinner in a new series called The Hit List.
In fact, the card helped me maximize my entire trip.
Here’s what my 48 hours with Chase Sapphire Reserve were like — and why you should consider adding the card to your wallet today.
Chase Sapphire Reserve perks
Before I jump into my trip and dining experience, here’s a quick refresher of the perks offered on Chase Sapphire Reserve.
- $300 annual travel credit.
- 10 points per dollar on hotels and rental cars purchased through Chase.
- 10 points per dollar on dining purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, including prepaid reservations, events and purveyor boxes.
- 10 points per dollar on Lyft purchases (through March 2025).
- 5 points per dollar on flights purchased through Chase.
- 3 points per dollar on all other travel and dining purchases worldwide.
- Priority Pass Select membership, offering unlimited access to over 1,300 airport lounges along with credit at select airport restaurants.
- Built-in travel protections, including trip delay reimbursement, trip cancellation/interruption insurance and auto rental collision damage waiver.
- Complimentary DoorDash DashPass subscription, including $5 in monthly credit (through Dec. 2024).
- Up to $100 in statement credits for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or Nexus.
You can redeem your points for travel by transferring to one of over a dozen travel partners including Southwest, United Airlines and Hyatt. Or, you can redeem them for 1.5 cents per point through Chase’s rewards portal. Alternatively, you can also redeem your points on Chase Dining purchases, including takeout.
Travel reservations through Chase Travel
I booked round-trip, nonstop flights out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) on Alaska Airlines through Chase Travel. The total cost of the itinerary was $301.21, and since this qualified as a travel purchase, it was eligible for the $300 travel credit. In fact, it posted to my account as a statement credit the day after the flight was booked — meaning I effectively paid $1.21 for my flights.
I’d never been to Seattle before, so I knew I’d want a car to get around instead of relying on rideshare apps. As a result, I booked a rental car through Chase Travel as well. By charging the $120.65 purchase to my Sapphire Reserve, I earned 10 points per dollar spent — a return of 20% based on TPG’s valuations. I look forward to putting those rewards toward an upcoming trip.
Using my Sapphire Reserve for the rental car had another benefit: It automatically triggered the card’s primary car rental coverage. Thankfully, nothing went wrong with my rental, but had I experienced any collision damage or theft of the vehicle, I would’ve been able to file a claim to cover those unexpected costs — without needing to report it to my personal car insurance provider.
Finally, I could’ve booked my hotel through the portal as well, but I wanted to take advantage of the included benefits of booking a Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection property instead. (More on that in a bit.)
Priority Pass lounge (and restaurant) access
My trip got off to a great start courtesy of Sapphire Reserve and the enhanced airport experience it offers. I used the card to pay the fee for Global Entry and received a $100 credit to cover the five-year membership. And since this includes TSA PreCheck, I breezed through security — which gave me some time to kill before boarding.
Thankfully, the card offers complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, granting cardholders unlimited access to over 1,300 lounges around the world. Just note that you must activate this perk through the card benefits section of your online account.
In San Francisco, Sapphire Reserve cardholders have the option of visiting the Air France-KLM Lounge or the British Airways Lounge prior to their flights. Both are in International Terminal A, which is a short walk from Terminal 2 (where my flight was departing from). It’s worth noting that the British Airways Lounge is only available until 11:30 a.m. for Priority Pass members, but I was able to pop in quickly to get some work done.
One of the great things about Sapphire Reserve’s Priority Pass membership is that it also includes credit for select airport restaurants — something that’s not offered on all premium cards. By showing your Priority Pass card, you can get up to $28 off your bill at over two-dozen restaurants in airports across the country (plus another $28 if you’re dining with a travel companion).
I utilized this perk at one of my favorite restaurants, Lark Creek Grill in Terminal 2, before boarding my flight to Seattle.
My stay at The Edgewater Hotel
As noted earlier, I booked my stay through Chase’s Luxury Hotel and Resort Collection. This group features over 1,000 luxury properties around the globe, and access to the booking site and its perks is limited to select Chase cardholders — including Chase Sapphire Reserve. When you book through the site, you’ll not only enjoy a luxurious stay; you’ll also receive a number of added perks, including a resort credit worth up to $100, daily breakfast for two, space available upgrades and more.
For this trip, I booked a two-night stay at The Edgewater Hotel, Seattle’s only over-water hotel. A Noble House Hotel, the property offers both city view and waterfront rooms, a gas fireplace in each guestroom and a fantastic restaurant available for breakfast and dinner. But the inviting room and stunning views weren’t the only reasons I stayed here.
Because I booked my room through LHRC, I received a $30-per-day credit for breakfast, which I could use either in the restaurant or for room service. I also enjoyed a $100 resort credit, which was perfect for dinner on the first night of my stay.
It’s even within walking distance to the Bell Street Cruise Terminal at Pier 66, used by Norwegian, Celebrity and Oceania cruise lines for their Alaska cruises.
The hotel was great and I highly recommend a stay. But I went to Seattle specifically to attend a Chase Dining event co-hosted by The Infatuation at Tomo Seattle as part of their recently launched dinner series called The Hit List.
Hit List Dinner at Tomo Seattle
James Beard Award-winning Chef Brady Ishiwata Williams leads the year-old Tomo Seattle, where he serves a nightly five-course meal designed around the season’s availability of fresh food. On the night I visited, each dish was paired with featured wines originating from Eastern Europe.
This event was exclusively available to Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmembers, and it was the fifth dinner that took place this year across the country. Eeven if you can’t make one of the events, reservations at participating restaurants are held and made available for you afterward. More events are on the way, with Austin and Miami slated to host upcoming Hit List dinners.
You can check out the full calendar here — or better yet, download the Infatuation app or sign up for emails tailored to restaurants in a specific city.
I’ve never utilized a cardmember-exclusive perk like this before, and now I won’t plan a trip without seeing how else I can use my cards to make the most of my time and experience, as I did with Chase Sapphire Reserve.
New limited-time offer of 80,000 points
If this sounds like your kind of trip, now could be a terrific time to add Sapphire Reserve to your wallet. The card is currently offering new applicants 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. This bonus is worth a whopping $1,600 based on TPG’s valuations — and with the holidays right around the corner, the various perks can help make your upcoming trips more rewarding and luxurious.
Bottom line
I spent 48 hours pushing Chase Sapphire Reserve to the max on a recent trip to Seattle, and it was a fantastic couple of days.
I took advantage of the card’s many benefits to plan my trip, including booking my airfare and car rental through the Chase Travel Portal and utilizing Luxury Hotels & Resorts Collection for an outstanding two-night stay at The Edgewater Hotel. I also enjoyed an upgraded airport experience thanks to priority security and Priority Pass perks, and with all of the built-in travel protections, I knew I was covered if things went wrong.
While I was in Seattle, I also attended a private dining event hosted by Chase and The Infatuation at Tomo Seattle. The small and intimate dinner was available exclusively to Sapphire Reserve cardholders as a part of The Hit List, a select group of renowned restaurants around the country that host events like the one I attended in Seattle.
Sapphire Reserve is more than a travel card – it unlocked an experience that I would have otherwise never known about, and I can’t wait to put its benefits to good use again.
And the best part? You can replicate all of this — by applying for Sapphire Reserve today.
