The New Chase Sapphire Reserve Is an Expensive Waste of Time. Here's Why I'm Skipping It

CNET

08-07-2025

Chase/CNET
The Chase Sapphire Reserve®* now includes new rewards, annual credits and memberships, like Apple Plus and Apple Music, valued at $250 a year (ends June 22, 2027). Chase updated the card earlier this month, and the updates sound good on paper (aside from the larger $795 annual fee), but there are some fine-print changes that aren't great.
The short version is this -- cardholders will now have to do more work to get enough value from the card to cover its cost. That likely means the average credit cardholder won't even want to consider this as an option. Which is fair -- the updates put me off from applying for the card, too.
I don't think you should have to redeem dozens of credits, sign up for several complimentary subscriptions, only book flights and hotels when your points are boosted, or feel like you have to buy a Peloton to make sure you're getting enough value to justify a card's annual fee.
There are some important changes to the card's rewards, too. It has a larger welcome offer and new rewards rates, and, less excitingly, Chase is changing how it values the card's points. The card issuer also changed who is eligible for the welcome offer on its Sapphire cards.
I'm sure some travel and credit card experts will disagree, and could easily get enough value to justify the higher cost of the card, but for credit cardholders like myself who would rather have a more automated, streamlined experience, it's not worth the extra effort.
Here's everything Chase changed with its Sapphire Reserve update.
What does the new Chase Sapphire Reserve look like?
Chase has changed the card's rewards and how much they're worth when it's time to redeem.
New and old rewards compared
New rewards Old rewards 8x points for all travel booked through Chase Travel 10x points for booking hotels and rental cars through Chase Travel 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly 5x points on flights booked through Chase 3x points on dining 3x points for all other travel 1x point for everything else 1x point for everything else
These changes are good. Dining rewards seem like a no-brainer on a travel card, and it's something I was surprised to not see on the card originally. Also, not needing to always book through Chase Travel opens more travel and earning opportunities.
The card also includes a higher welcome offer:
100,000 bonus points and a $500 Chase Travel℠ credit for spending $5,000 in the first three months from account opening.
Chase also changed some of the eligibility requirements for its Sapphire card's welcome offers. Whereas previously, you could earn a Sapphire welcome bonus (from either the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card* or Sapphire Reserve) once every 48 months, you can now only earn one bonus for either card per cardholder lifetime.
For example, since I have the Sapphire Preferred and have already earned its welcome offer, if I applied for the Reserve, I wouldn't be eligible to earn the new welcome offer. This unfortunate change doesn't do much to incentivize an upgrade.
Chase also changed the value of the rewards you earn with its new Points Boost program.
You used to be able to redeem your points for travel through Chase at a bonus value of 1.5 cents per point. Now, you'll earn 2 cents per point, but only with rotating boosted redemption flights and hotels. And if you redeem your points for any nonboosted flight or hotel, they'll only be worth 1 cent each. You can still transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio to Chase's travel partners.
This is clearly less flexible than the card's previous reward program, and will likely cause cardholders to miss out on value they would've otherwise secured. What if there are no boosted flights or hotels for when and where you're looking to travel?
You'll either need to wait or have less of your trip covered. Or, you could transfer your points where they could be worth more -- but again, that takes more work than simply redeeming through your card issuer's portal for a small bonus, as it was before. The Sapphire Preferred now uses the Points Boost program as well.
New annual credits
The card is also gaining a handful of new annual credits:
$500 The Edit℠ credit: The Edit is Chase's new collection of over 1,100 hotels. You get $250 from January to June, and the other $250 from July to December.
The Edit is Chase's new collection of over 1,100 hotels. You get $250 from January to June, and the other $250 from July to December. $300 dining credit: Again, split in half -- $150 for January through June, and the other $150 for July to December.
Again, split in half -- $150 for January through June, and the other $150 for July to December. $300 StubHub credit: $150 for January through June, $150 for July to December. Ends Dec. 31, 2027.
$150 for January through June, $150 for July to December. Ends Dec. 31, 2027. Apple Plus and Apple Music membership , worth $250 annually. Ends June 22, 2027.
, worth $250 annually. Ends June 22, 2027. $120 Peloton credit: You get $10 monthly statement credits for a Peloton membership through Dec. 31, 2027, for a maximum of $120 annually. Plus, you'll earn 10x rewards on Peloton equipment purchases.
Those are the new credits; there are a number of others, too. You can see them all on Chase's page. The issuer says the card offers more than $2,700 in value, but you'll really need to work to achieve that.
For those who spend $75,000 in travel on the card in a calendar year, you'll unlock a $500 Southwest travel credit plus A-list status, IHG Diamond Elite Status and $250 in statement credits for The Shop at Chase. That's a high spending threshold that only the most well-off traveller will likely be able to reach, and it doesn't seem like a great return on investment.
And a higher fee
Lastly, the card now costs $245 more than it did a month ago. The annual fee for the Chase Sapphire Reserve now sits at $795, one of the highest on the market. While the credits offered can surpass the price of the card, you'll need to do the work to use everything it has to offer.
That means buying and using a Peloton, checking the Points Boost program, ordering DoorDash, using Lyft and taking advantage of the new dining credit and two travel credits, and on and on. It's a lot of homework. If you don't use enough of the extra perks, you'll likely be on the hook for at least part of its annual fee.
Should you get this card?
In short, I think there are people who will find this card worth it, particularly those with higher-than-average travel budgets (and perhaps some sort of assistant to help them keep track of everything), but for the average traveler or credit cardholder, they are more likely to leave value on the table and be stuck with a high annual fee.
There's just so much offered here, which is great, but the change in how points are valued, how much additional work you, as the cardholder, have to do annually to make the card's $795 fee actually worth the cost, doesn't add up to me. But again, I probably view credit cards a bit differently than most card experts. I like the easy route, the one that guarantees value without any financial corrosion or work beyond my usual routine.
So I'll happily stick with my Sapphire Preferred, which offers way less, but only costs $95 each year.
I use it for my dining and travel expenses, redeem my points for trips home through Chase Travel and take advantage of its annual $50 hotel statement credit.
There may not be countless annual credits, memberships and subscriptions, but I barely need to do any additional work -- and definitely don't need to overspend -- to realize its value versus how much it costs me annually.
*All information about the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.