Chase Sapphire Reserve® (CSR) Review (2025.9 Update: 125k Offer; Small Improvements)

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2025.9 Update: Currently the $500 The Edit Hotel Credit is given semi-annually, and starting from 2026 it’s changed to: two $250 credits which can be used anytime throughout the year. This is a nice small improvement. Also, there’s another one time benefit for 2026 only: Get up to $250 on prepaid Chase Travel hotel bookings of two nights or more for IHG Hotels & Resorts, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Pendry Hotels & Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Virgin Hotels, Minor Hotels and Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts. HT: VFTW.

2025.8 Update: The 100k+$500 offer is expired. The new welcome offer is 125k, which is still quite nice.

2025.6 Update: The benefits are completely refreshed. The new welcome offer is 100k+$500, the best ever offer on this card!

Offer Link

Benefits

1. 125k offer: earn 125,000 Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. The recent best offer is 100k+$500.
2. We estimate that Ultimate Rewards (UR) points are worth about 1.6 cents/point, see below for a brief introduction. So the 125k welcome offer is worth about $2,000!
3. If you have this card, you can transfer your UR points to partner airlines miles and hotel points.
4. [New] Earn 8x UR points on purchases through Chase Travel; earn 4x UR points on flights and hotels booked direct; earn 3x UR points on dining; and earn 1x UR points on everything else.
5. [New] “Points Boost”: you can redeem your UR points on Chase Travel, with value up to 2.0 cents/point for some flights and hotels. (The default value is 1.0 cent/point.) This feature replaced the old 1.5 cents/point fixed value redemption feature.
6. “Pay Yourself Back”: you can redeem UR points for statement credits against existing purchases in select, rotating categories. The redemption rate used to be 1.5 cents/point on 2020/2021, but then it became 1.25 cents/point afterwards.
7. [New] This card offers varies credits to cover some expenses, see details in the next section.
8. Complimentary access to Chase Sapphire Lounges; Complimentary Priority Pass Select (PPS) card for the primary cardholder and authorized users. You can bring up to 2 guests for free.
9. Credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre application fee.
10. Visa Infinite benefits, including: Visa Infinite Hotel Collection, Visa Infinite Hotel Privileges, Visa Infinite Car Rental Privileges. But note that the $100 air discount benefit is NOT included.
11. Primary car rental insurance.
12. No foreign transaction fee.
13. Refer a friend. You can earn 10,000 bonus UR points for every approved account you refer, up to a maximum of 10 approved referrals (100,000 UR points) per calendar year.

Varies Credits

You get the following credits by holding this card:

• $300 Travel Credit: Each year (account anniversary year), automatically receive up to $300 in statement credits as reimbursement for travel purchases such as airfare and hotels charged to your card. All travel expenses count, so it is super easy to get this one, completely different from the credits below.
• $500 The Edit Hotel Credit: Up to $250 in statement credits from January through June and again from July through December for prepaid bookings made with The Edit. [Update] Starting from 2026, it’s changed to: two $250 credits which can be used anytime throughout the year. Two-night minimum required. “The Edit” is a luxury subset of hotels on Chase Travel.
• $300 Sapphire Reserve Tables Dining Credit: Get up to $150 in statement credits from January through June and again from July through December for a maximum of $300 annually for dining at restaurants that are part of our Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables.
• $300 StubHub Credit: Get up to $150 in statement credits from January through June and again from July through December for a maximum of $300 annually for StubHub and viagogo purchases through 12/31/2027. Activation required.
• $250 Apple TV+ and Apple Music Credit: Get complimentary Apple TV+, the exclusive streaming home of Apple Originals. Plus Apple Music – all the music you love, across all your devices. Subscriptions run through 6/22/2027 – a value of $250 annually.
• $300 DoorDash Credit: You will get Complimentary DashPass membership. In addition, DashPass members get up to $25 each month to spend on DoorDash, which includes a $5 monthly promo to spend on restaurant orders and two $10 promos each month to save on groceries, retail orders, and more. Available through 12/31/2027.
• $120 Lyft Credit: Get up to $10 in monthly in-app credits to use on rides through 9/30/2027.* Plus, earn 5x total points on Lyft rides through 9/30/2027.
• $120 Peloton Credit: Get $10 in statement credits per month on eligible Peloton memberships through 12/31/2027, for a maximum of $120 annually. Activation required. Plus, earn 10x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through 12/31/2027.

You get the following if spending $75,000 in a calendar year:

• $250 Credit for The Shops at Chase
• $500 Southwest Airlines Chase Travel credit
• IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite Status
• Southwest Airlines A-list status

Disadvantages

1. [New] Annual fee $795, NOT waived first year. $195 annual fee for each authorized user. Note that the annual fee does not count towards the minimum spending requirement (and this is true for all credit cards)!
2. The lowest credit limit is $10k, so it requires good income and credit history.

Introduction to UR Points

• You can earn UR points with Chase Freedom Student, Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Unlimited (CFU), Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP), Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), Chase Ink Cash (Business), Chase Ink Unlimited (Business), Chase Ink Preferred (Business), etc.
• You can move your UR points from one UR card to another at any time.
• UR points never expire. You will lose the UR points on one card if you close the account, but you can prevent losing your UR points by moving the points to another UR card beforehand.
• If you have Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP), Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), or Chase Ink Preferred (Business), UR points can be transferred to some hotel points. One of the best way to use UR points is to 1:1 transfer to Hyatt points. UR points can also be transferred to some airline miles. One of the most common and best way to use UR points is to 1:1 transfer them to United Airlines (UA) miles (Star Alliance), and combine them with the UA miles earned from the UA card. Other good options are: Southwest (WN) (Non-alliance), British Airways (BA) (Oneworld), Virgin Atlantic (VS) (Non-alliance), etc. If you use UR points in this way, the value is about 1.6 cents/point.
• If you have Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), you can redeem your UR points for up to 2.0 cents/point towards air tickets or hotels on Chase Travel with the “Points Boost” feature; if you have Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) or Chase Ink Preferred (Business), the value is up to 1.5 cpp (or 1.75 cpp for premium cabin).
• If you have any of the UR cards, you can redeem your UR points at a fixed rate 1 cent/point towards cash.
• In summary, we estimate that UR points are worth about 1.6 cents/point.
• For more information about UR points, see Maximize the Credit Card Points Values (overview), and Introduction to UR: How to Earn and Introduction to UR: How to Use (very detailed).

Recommended Application Time

1. [5/24 Rule] If you have 5 or more new accounts opened in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your application on this card, no matter how high your credit score is. The number of new accounts includes all credit card accounts, not only Chase accounts. See this post for details about how to possibly bypass this rule.
2. [New] Chase introduced a once-per-lifetime rule: The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if (1) you currently have any other personal Sapphire cards open, (2) previously held this card, (3) or received a new cardmember bonus for this card. This rule replaced the old 48 month rule and same family rule for the Sapphire cards.
3. [New] Chase introduced a pop up jail mechanism: They may consider the number of cards you have opened and closed, as well as other factors in determining your bonus eligibility.
4. Don’t apply for more than 2 Chase credit cards within 30 days, it’s highly likely that you will get rejected.
5. We recommend that you apply for this card after you have had other Chase credit cards for at least 3 months, or after you have had a credit history for more than a year.

Summary

This card may not be cost-effective to hold long-term, but the massive sign-up bonus of 100k points + $500 is definitely worth going for.

After the 2025 revamp, the annual fee for this card has risen to a whopping $795, effectively turning it into a coupon book. The numerous credits are overwhelming and headache-inducing; in reality, the only benefit that most people can consistently maximize is the $300 travel credit. Many of the other perks require spending specifically to trigger the credits, which may not be worthwhile just for the sake of “gaming the system.” The Edit Hotel Credit has a very high amount of $500, but The Edit has only a few hotels and they are all overpriced, so its value should be significantly discounted from its face value.

With the 2025 revamp, this card has lost its 1.5 cpp (cents per point) minimum redemption value for UR points. In its place is the new Points Boost feature with variable redemption rates. While the upper limit of redemption value is now higher, the loss of the minimum redemption rate still diminishes the appeal of UR points. That said, if you want to redeem UR points in ways other than transferring to partners, you’ll still need to have this CSR card. If you don’t plan to hold it long-term, you could consider accumulating points with other UR cards first, then apply for or upgrade to the CSR when you’re ready to redeem, and downgrade the card after redeeming.

Related Credit Cards

Recommended Downgrade Options

• Chase Freedom. Even if you already have a Freedom, you are still able to downgrade your CSP to have a second Freedom.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited (CFU).
• Chase Sapphire. If you are not able to downgrade your card to the above good cards, you can downgrade it to this card and try to product change in the future.

After Applying

• Call 800-436-7927 to check Chase application status. This is an automated telephone line, and the information has the following meanings: Receive decision in 2 weeks means your application is probably approved; Receive decision in 7-10 days means your application is probably rejected; Receive decision in 30 days simply means your application requires further review and there’s nothing to tell you for now.
• Chase reconsideration backdoor number: 888-270-2127 or 888-609-7805. Call it if you didn’t get approve immediately. Your personal information will be acquired and they will then review it. You seldom answer questions, instead, just enjoy the music and then you get approved or rejected, or further information is needed to be hand in to the branch or faxed.

Historical Offers Chart

Offer Link

Editorial disclosure: Opinions express here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.

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