Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa Infinite & J.P. Morgan Reserve Visa Infinite Review (Old Review NOT being Updated)
Please see our updated review here.
Updated March 28, 2021. For the temporary benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, please see our featured review.
The Facts
In August 2016, Chase brought Sapphire Reserve Visa Infinite to the already competitive high-end credit card market, while at the same time introducing J.P. Morgan Reserve Visa Infinite to replace J.P. Morgan Palladium Visa Signature for its affluent Private Bank clients.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
J.P. Morgan Reserve
The Math
After taking advantage of the $300 annual travel credits, the effective annual fee on this card becomes $250. With that, it offers Priority Pass Select membership, hotel and car rental privileges, primary rental car collision coverage, premium roadside assistance, waived foreign transaction fees, Global Entry application credit, Lyft and DoorDash perks, etc. If you ever make use of some of these perks, you may have already come out ahead. Then you will enjoy 3x points on travel & dining for free. The other way of looking at this is that if you value UR points at 1.5 cents a piece as we do, you need to spend $10K per year in travel & dining to beat the $250 effective annual fee and 2% cashback offered by our benchmark cards such as Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Visa. Then you will enjoy the aforementioned perks for free. In addition, Sapphire Reserve offers the best consumer and travel protection among all credit cards. In our opinion, no other card offers such strong performances in rewards, perks, and protection all at the same time.
Sapphire Reserve vs. Sapphire Preferred ($95): After considering the $300 annual travel credit, the Sapphire Reserve is $155 more than Sapphire Preferred. For that, you receive 1x additional points on travel & dining, amazing travel privileges (airport, hotels, car rentals), and better consumer and travel protection. If you value UR points at 1.5 cents a piece, you need to spend $10,333 per year in travel & dining to beat the $155 difference; then you will enjoy the extra perks and protection from Sapphire Reserve for free. Note that before the 2020 annual fee increase, it was much easier to justify choosing the more expensive Sapphire Reserve; however, now you really have to do your own math and especially weigh the extra perks and protection to make your decision between the two.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Citi Prestige: Since January 2020, the effective annual fees are about the same ($250 on Chase and $245 on Citi). With that, both cards offer incredible rewards and perks. (1) Similarity - both offer Priority Pass Select, waived foreign transaction fees, concierge service, and Global Entry application credit; their hotel privileges are also similar: Citi has 4th Night Free twice a year and MasterCard Luxury Hotel Collection, while Chase offers Relais & Chateaux privileges, LHRC, and Visa Infinite Hotels; our current valuation of both ThankYou and Ultimate Rewards points are the same at 1.5 cents per point. (2) Citi's advantages - Prestige offers 2x additional points on airfare, travel agencies, and dining. (3) Chase's advantage - the rental car collision coverage is primary on Chase but secondary on Citi; even though 1.5 cents per point valuation for both currencies are based on frequent traveler miles/points transfer, Chase does offer better value for fixed value travel redemption (1.5 cents vs. 1 cent per point); finally, after Citi's drastic protection devaluation in September 2019, Chase's travel & consumer protection is way better. (4) Bottom Line - with similar effective annual fees, Citi Prestige is clearly a better rewards card. However, if you cannot achieve 1.5 cent value with miles/points transfer features and rely on fixed value travel redemption, or if you care more about travel & consumer protection, Sapphire Reserve is still a great alternative.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Gold Card: After considering the easy-to-use $300 annual travel credits on Sapphire Reserve, the annual fees are effectively the same at $250 on both cards. Currently we have similar valuation for Amex MR and Chase UR points at 1.5 cents per point. The differences are as the following. (1) Amex Gold has grocery & dining as the 4x categories and airfare as the 3x category, while Sapphire Reserve has dining & travel as the 3x categories. Amex Gold beats Sapphire Reserve in grocery and dining while losing out in non-air travel. Most consumers will find Amex Gold a better rewards card, at least on paper. However, your preference in how to redeem the points may change the equation: Amex has Air Canada, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Hawaiian, etc. as the transfer partners, while Chase has United, Southwest, Hyatt, etc.; in addition, Chase's fixed value travel redemption at 1.5 cent per point is better than Amex's 1 cent per point value. (2) In terms of perks, Sapphire Reserve offers Priority Pass Select, hotel privileges through Visa Signature/Infinite Hotel Collection, Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection, and at Relais & Chateaux, primary rental car insurance, and rental car elite status, etc., while Amex Gold offers $10 monthly Uber Cash and $10 monthly dining credits for select partners, but less lucrative hotel privileges. (3) Sapphire Reserve offers much better travel protection coverage. Summing up, both cards are fantastic in their own ways; Amex Gold is stronger in rewards, while Chase Sapphire Reserve offers more flexibility in redemption and bette protection.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Green Card: They offer exactly the same rewards: 3x travel & dining, and 1x everywhere else, and Amex MR points and Chase UR points are worth the same at 1.5 cents a piece based on our current valuation. They do have the following differences: (1) After considering the easy-to-use $300 travel credits on Sapphire Reserve, Amex Green is effectively $100 cheaper in annual fees; (2) Amex offers $100 CLEAR credit and $100 LoungeBuddy credit, and the valuation is totally up to individuals; (3) Chase offers Priority Pass Select membership, hotel privileges through Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection and Chase Luxury Hotels and Resorts, primary rental car insurance, and other high-end travel perks; (4) Chase's travel and consumer protection is much better than Amex's; (5) there are some different transfer partners, e.g., United, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt for Chase, and Air Canada, ANA, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Delta for Amex; (6) in addition to the miles transfer features to achieve 1.5 cents per point redemption value, Chase also offer a fixed 1.5 cents redemption option for most airfare purchased through them, much better than Amex's similar option at 1 cent per point. In general, while the two cards offer similar rewards, they have very different redemption options, travel perks, and consumer protection - it is up to individual to decide which is better.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. US Bank Altitude Reserve: There is no doubt that U.S. Bank designed its Altitude Reserve to challenge the increasingly popular Sapphire Reserve. Let's see how they compare. (1) After considering their annual travel credits, Altitude Reserve is $175 cheaper in annual fees than Sapphire Reserve. (2) Both have a 3-1 rewards structure and their bonus categories are slightly different - Sapphire Reserve has travel and dining, while Altitude Reserve has travel and mobile wallet spending. While dining is probably easier for most consumers, mobile wallet spending definitely has a huge potential. (3) Both offer similar travel perks with a few differences, such as four free Priority Pass Select visits provided by Altitude Reserve vs. unlimited free access provided by Sapphire Reserve, and GoGo inflight WiFi passes which are available on Altitude Reserve but not on Sapphire Reserve. (4) Even though when redeemed for travel at fixed value, points in both programs are worth 1.5 cents a piece, Sapphire Reserve does offer a lot of flexibility and potentially more lucrative value when you transfer points into frequent traveler miles/points. (5) The last thing to note is that Sapphire Reserve offers a higher level of travel and consumer protection in general.
To see how Chase Sapphire Reserve competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex Marriott Brilliant, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United MP Club, Citi Prestige, Citi AA Executive, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
The Conclusion
Chase Sapphire Reserve has been the most existing product Chase has introduced in the past decade and is still arguably the best Chase card you can have today. Scoring incredibly high in all of the four areas we evaluate: signup bonus (top 30), rewards (#7), perks (#7) and protection (#1), no wonder Sapphire Reserve reigned our Best Credit Card List most of the time since its introduction.
© 2011-2021 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.
Updated March 28, 2021. For the temporary benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic, please see our featured review.
The Facts
In August 2016, Chase brought Sapphire Reserve Visa Infinite to the already competitive high-end credit card market, while at the same time introducing J.P. Morgan Reserve Visa Infinite to replace J.P. Morgan Palladium Visa Signature for its affluent Private Bank clients.
Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Annual Fee: $550 for the primary cardholder, $75 for each authorized user.
- Signup Bonus: 60,000 points (=$900 in travel rewards via Chase, or 60K miles/points of United, Singapore, British, Flying Blue, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt, etc.) after you spend $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening. This bonus is not available if you currently have a Sapphire card (Sapphire, Sapphire Preferred, or Sapphire Reserve) or have received signup bonus from any Sapphire card in the past 48 months. Based on anecdotal reports, this card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (you won't be approved for this card if you have opened 5 or more new accounts within the past 24 months; any new account with any issuer will count, not just with Chase; new accounts include most credit cards and charge cards but exclude non-Chase business cards and store charge cards). Historical best bonus of this card: 100,000 points when introduced in August 2016; 60,000 points in 2021.
- Application Lading Page
- Rewards: 3x points on dining and travel, 1x everywhere else. In addition, through March 2022, earn 10x on Lyft purchases (7 additional points).
- Best Use of Ultimate Rewards (UR) points: The Ultimate Rewards is Chase's rewards program - normally the points can be redeemed for cash, merchandise, gift cards, or travel, at up to 1 cent per point (note: cash rewards have 1 cent value). However, Sapphire Reserve has two premium redemption options. One option is to redeem for travel through UR and get 50% bonus value, essentially making 1 point = 1.5 cents. Note that this is better than the 25% bonus on Sapphire Preferred or Ink Plus. The other option is to transfer points into miles or points of frequent traveler programs. Please see our review on Marriott vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. C1 vs. CR for detailed comparison of the five programs that allow miles/points transfer.
- Annual $300 travel credit each membership year: since its introduction, this has been the best annual travel credit provided by a high-end card, as it allows almost any travel expense to be reimbursed automatically. By comparison, Amex Platinum has been limiting the credit to airline incidentals only; Citi Prestige first allowed airfare and airline incidentals to be reimbursed but in 2019 followed Chase to allow any travel expense; US Bank copied Chase to allow any travel expense when introducing Altitude Reserve in 2017.
- Priority Pass Select membership which provides unlimited complimentary access to more than 900 airport lounges worldwide for you plus two guests. An authorized user also gets a Priority Pass Select membership. Please see our featured review to learn more about airport lounge access.
- Hotel Privileges: (1) Visa Infinite Privileges at Relais & Chateaux (a collection of 500+ high-end luxury boutique hotels worldwide): a VIP welcome at all hotels (unique to each property) and complimentary breakfasts at 120+ participating hotels. Visit relaischateaux.com/visainfinite-us for details. You will also be accelerated to its Club 5C status after staying 2 nights in a 12-month period. Relais & Chateaux's Club 5C is by-invitation only if you don't have a Visa Infinite and normally requires staying 15 nights per year; perks include room upgrades upon availability, and "Discovery Privilege" unique to each property. (2) Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection (LHRC), through Signature Travel Network, offering perks such as daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, early check-in and late check-out upon availability, and property specific amenities (such as a $100 spa/dining/hotel credit per stay), at over 900 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide. You may book a hotel on LHRCollection.com and the rates are mostly the same of the Best Available Rates (BAR, i.e., refundable flexible rates set by the hotel) and include taxes, resort fees, etc. This benefit is available on select Chase cards such as Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, United MP Club, and United MP Explorer. (3) Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection which offers perks including daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, late checkout upon availability, $25 food and beverage credit per stay, free room wi-fi, and VIP amenities, at over 900 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide. You may book a hotel on VisaSignatureHotels.com and the rates are the same as BAR. Note that the coverage and perks are different from LHRC's, but some hotels participate in both programs. (4) Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection which covers a subset (200+) of Visa Signature hotels but offers an extra property specific perk like a $75 food and beverage credit or a $100 spa/hotel/rate credit per stay. You may book a hotel a VisaInfiniteHotels.com, and the rates are the same as BAR. (5) Privileges at sbe hotels (daily complimentary breakfasts, room upgrades upon availability, 4th Night Free, $30 dining credit per stay, etc.)
- Other Visa Infinite Benefits: (1) Visa Infinite 24/7 Concierge Service. (2) Visa Infinite Car Rental Privileges at Avis, National, and SilverCar.
- Other Benefits: (1) Waived foreign transaction fees with an embedded EMV chip for foreign travel. (2) Primary rental car collision coverage - note while most credit cards provide rental car insurance, they are secondary, meaning your personal insurance's collision damage coverage kicks in before the credit card's. Please see our featured review on credit cards that come with primary rental car insurance for details. (3) While most credit card's Roadside Assistance service only dispatches a provider and you have to pay for the actual charges, Sapphire Reserve covers up to $50 per service and 4 times per year. (4) Reimbursement for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) application every four years. (5) Exclusive Events & Experiences such as a private dinner with a celebrity chef. (6) One year DoorDash's subscription service DashPass for free - activate before December 31, 2021. DashPass, normally $9.99 per month, offers $0 delivery fee and reduced service fees on food orders over $12 via DoorDash. In addition, you receive $60 statement credits for DoorDash purchases through December 2020 and another $60 through December 2021. (7) One year Lyft Pink membership - activate before March 31, 2022. Lyft Pink (valued at least $199 on paper) offers 15% off every car ride, priority airport pickups, relaxed cancellations, and exclusive savings, with Lyft mobile app. Effective October 2020, Lyft Pink members also receive GrubHub+ or Seamless+ membership for free. GrubHub+ or Seamless+, normally costing $9.99 per month, offers unlimited free delivery with orders over $12, exclusive member perks such as free food or discounts, and donation matching, with GrubHub or Seamless mobile app respectively. (8) Through December 31, 2021, receive $120 statement credits for Peloton membership fees (Peloton Digital $13 per month or Peloton All-Access $39 per month).
- Protection: Sapphire Reserve offers the highest level of consumer and travel protection among all credit cards.
- Other Facts: Currently, there are three Chase Sapphire cards - the entry level non-fee Chase Sapphire (not available to new applications), the premium Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95), and the high-end Chase Sapphire Reserve ($550). Sapphire Reserve has the same metal design as Sapphire Preferred's and weighs about 13 grams.
- History: After introduced and shocking the industry in 2016, Sapphire Reserve did not have any significant change in its rewards and benefits other than the Chase-wide consumer and travel protection changes, until January 2020 when Chase increased the annual fee from $450 to $550 and added a few temporary perks partnering with Lyft and DoorDash.
J.P. Morgan Reserve
- JPM Reserve has almost all features of Sapphire Reserve, including signup bonus. The only differences are the following: (1) JPM Reserve is made out of brass and plated with palladium just as JPM Palladium Card and weighs about 27 grams, twice as heavy as Sapphire Reserve; (2) JPM Reserve offers some unwritten benefits such as complimentary United Club membership with unlimited access to 50+ domestic lounges and 200+ international lounges for the primary cardholder and guests, and waived miscellaneous fees; (3) applying JPM Reserve requires a private banking relationship with J.P. Morgan, which currently requires at least $10,000,000 ($10M) in assets.
The Math
After taking advantage of the $300 annual travel credits, the effective annual fee on this card becomes $250. With that, it offers Priority Pass Select membership, hotel and car rental privileges, primary rental car collision coverage, premium roadside assistance, waived foreign transaction fees, Global Entry application credit, Lyft and DoorDash perks, etc. If you ever make use of some of these perks, you may have already come out ahead. Then you will enjoy 3x points on travel & dining for free. The other way of looking at this is that if you value UR points at 1.5 cents a piece as we do, you need to spend $10K per year in travel & dining to beat the $250 effective annual fee and 2% cashback offered by our benchmark cards such as Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Visa. Then you will enjoy the aforementioned perks for free. In addition, Sapphire Reserve offers the best consumer and travel protection among all credit cards. In our opinion, no other card offers such strong performances in rewards, perks, and protection all at the same time.
Sapphire Reserve vs. Sapphire Preferred ($95): After considering the $300 annual travel credit, the Sapphire Reserve is $155 more than Sapphire Preferred. For that, you receive 1x additional points on travel & dining, amazing travel privileges (airport, hotels, car rentals), and better consumer and travel protection. If you value UR points at 1.5 cents a piece, you need to spend $10,333 per year in travel & dining to beat the $155 difference; then you will enjoy the extra perks and protection from Sapphire Reserve for free. Note that before the 2020 annual fee increase, it was much easier to justify choosing the more expensive Sapphire Reserve; however, now you really have to do your own math and especially weigh the extra perks and protection to make your decision between the two.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Citi Prestige: Since January 2020, the effective annual fees are about the same ($250 on Chase and $245 on Citi). With that, both cards offer incredible rewards and perks. (1) Similarity - both offer Priority Pass Select, waived foreign transaction fees, concierge service, and Global Entry application credit; their hotel privileges are also similar: Citi has 4th Night Free twice a year and MasterCard Luxury Hotel Collection, while Chase offers Relais & Chateaux privileges, LHRC, and Visa Infinite Hotels; our current valuation of both ThankYou and Ultimate Rewards points are the same at 1.5 cents per point. (2) Citi's advantages - Prestige offers 2x additional points on airfare, travel agencies, and dining. (3) Chase's advantage - the rental car collision coverage is primary on Chase but secondary on Citi; even though 1.5 cents per point valuation for both currencies are based on frequent traveler miles/points transfer, Chase does offer better value for fixed value travel redemption (1.5 cents vs. 1 cent per point); finally, after Citi's drastic protection devaluation in September 2019, Chase's travel & consumer protection is way better. (4) Bottom Line - with similar effective annual fees, Citi Prestige is clearly a better rewards card. However, if you cannot achieve 1.5 cent value with miles/points transfer features and rely on fixed value travel redemption, or if you care more about travel & consumer protection, Sapphire Reserve is still a great alternative.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Gold Card: After considering the easy-to-use $300 annual travel credits on Sapphire Reserve, the annual fees are effectively the same at $250 on both cards. Currently we have similar valuation for Amex MR and Chase UR points at 1.5 cents per point. The differences are as the following. (1) Amex Gold has grocery & dining as the 4x categories and airfare as the 3x category, while Sapphire Reserve has dining & travel as the 3x categories. Amex Gold beats Sapphire Reserve in grocery and dining while losing out in non-air travel. Most consumers will find Amex Gold a better rewards card, at least on paper. However, your preference in how to redeem the points may change the equation: Amex has Air Canada, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Hawaiian, etc. as the transfer partners, while Chase has United, Southwest, Hyatt, etc.; in addition, Chase's fixed value travel redemption at 1.5 cent per point is better than Amex's 1 cent per point value. (2) In terms of perks, Sapphire Reserve offers Priority Pass Select, hotel privileges through Visa Signature/Infinite Hotel Collection, Chase Luxury Hotel & Resort Collection, and at Relais & Chateaux, primary rental car insurance, and rental car elite status, etc., while Amex Gold offers $10 monthly Uber Cash and $10 monthly dining credits for select partners, but less lucrative hotel privileges. (3) Sapphire Reserve offers much better travel protection coverage. Summing up, both cards are fantastic in their own ways; Amex Gold is stronger in rewards, while Chase Sapphire Reserve offers more flexibility in redemption and bette protection.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. Amex Green Card: They offer exactly the same rewards: 3x travel & dining, and 1x everywhere else, and Amex MR points and Chase UR points are worth the same at 1.5 cents a piece based on our current valuation. They do have the following differences: (1) After considering the easy-to-use $300 travel credits on Sapphire Reserve, Amex Green is effectively $100 cheaper in annual fees; (2) Amex offers $100 CLEAR credit and $100 LoungeBuddy credit, and the valuation is totally up to individuals; (3) Chase offers Priority Pass Select membership, hotel privileges through Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection and Chase Luxury Hotels and Resorts, primary rental car insurance, and other high-end travel perks; (4) Chase's travel and consumer protection is much better than Amex's; (5) there are some different transfer partners, e.g., United, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt for Chase, and Air Canada, ANA, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Delta for Amex; (6) in addition to the miles transfer features to achieve 1.5 cents per point redemption value, Chase also offer a fixed 1.5 cents redemption option for most airfare purchased through them, much better than Amex's similar option at 1 cent per point. In general, while the two cards offer similar rewards, they have very different redemption options, travel perks, and consumer protection - it is up to individual to decide which is better.
Chase Sapphire Reserve vs. US Bank Altitude Reserve: There is no doubt that U.S. Bank designed its Altitude Reserve to challenge the increasingly popular Sapphire Reserve. Let's see how they compare. (1) After considering their annual travel credits, Altitude Reserve is $175 cheaper in annual fees than Sapphire Reserve. (2) Both have a 3-1 rewards structure and their bonus categories are slightly different - Sapphire Reserve has travel and dining, while Altitude Reserve has travel and mobile wallet spending. While dining is probably easier for most consumers, mobile wallet spending definitely has a huge potential. (3) Both offer similar travel perks with a few differences, such as four free Priority Pass Select visits provided by Altitude Reserve vs. unlimited free access provided by Sapphire Reserve, and GoGo inflight WiFi passes which are available on Altitude Reserve but not on Sapphire Reserve. (4) Even though when redeemed for travel at fixed value, points in both programs are worth 1.5 cents a piece, Sapphire Reserve does offer a lot of flexibility and potentially more lucrative value when you transfer points into frequent traveler miles/points. (5) The last thing to note is that Sapphire Reserve offers a higher level of travel and consumer protection in general.
To see how Chase Sapphire Reserve competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex Marriott Brilliant, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United MP Club, Citi Prestige, Citi AA Executive, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
The Conclusion
Chase Sapphire Reserve has been the most existing product Chase has introduced in the past decade and is still arguably the best Chase card you can have today. Scoring incredibly high in all of the four areas we evaluate: signup bonus (top 30), rewards (#7), perks (#7) and protection (#1), no wonder Sapphire Reserve reigned our Best Credit Card List most of the time since its introduction.
© 2011-2021 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.