Got the new Sapphire Reserve card? Here’s what to do next…

August 27, 2025

The refreshed Chase Sapphire Reserve Card is packed with a complex array of benefits, discounts, and rebates. This post serves as a primer on maximizing the features of the consumer Sapphire Reserve Card.

Earn more points

Use your card to pay for flights and hotels

The Sapphire Reserve card offers 4 points per dollar for flights and hotels, or 8 points per dollar for any travel booked through Chase Travel℠. Be cautious when booking through Chase Travel, as prices are often higher than those found elsewhere.

The card also offers excellent travel protections when you use it to pay for your trip:

Primary car rental coverage (Note that this coverage is secondary on domestic rentals for New York residents with a primary insurance policy).
Roadside Assistance: Cardholders are covered up to $50 per incident, 4 times a year.
Trip Cancellation / Interruption Insurance
6 Hour Trip Delay Reimbursement
Lost Luggage Reimbursement
6 Hour Baggage Delay Insurance
Travel Accident Insurance
Emergency Evacuation & Transportation: Up to $100,000
Emergency Medical and Dental Benefit: You can be reimbursed up to $2,500 for medical expenses if you or your immediate family member becomes sick or injured while traveling.

Note: Sapphire Reserve cardholders who applied or otherwise obtained their card before June 23, 2025, will continue to earn 3x points for all travel through October 25, 2025. Starting October 26, 2025, they will earn 4x for flights and hotels, 8x for travel booked through Chase Travel℠, and 1x for all other travel purchases.

Use your card to pay for dining & food delivery

The Sapphire Reserve card offers 3 points per dollar at restaurants, coffee shops, and food delivery services. Since it has no foreign transaction fees, the card is an excellent choice for dining worldwide.

Refer family & friends

If you have family members or friends interested in applying for the Sapphire Reserve card or the Sapphire Preferred card, you can refer them from your Sapphire Reserve account. If they’re approved, you’ll earn 15,000 points (max 100,000 per year), and they’ll earn whatever welcome bonus is available at the time that they apply.

Apply for no-annual-fee Ultimate Rewards cards

Several Chase no-annual-fee cards earn Ultimate Rewards points, despite being advertised as cash-back cards. The trick is to earn “cash back” points with these cards and then move the points to your Sapphire Reserve card to make them more valuable. Once moved to your Sapphire Reserve card, you can redeem points through Chase Travel at enhanced value when a Points Boost is available, or you can transfer to select airline and hotel programs for even better value.

Here are some no-annual-fee “cash back” cards to consider:

Freedom Unlimited: Earn 3 points per dollar for dining and at drugstores, and 1.5 points per dollar everywhere else. Since the Sapphire Reserve card only earns 1 point per dollar outside of its bonus categories, the Freedom Unlimited is a great companion card. Use it wherever the Sapphire Reserve doesn’t offer a bonus.
Freedom Flex: This card earns 5 points per dollar (up to $1,500 per quarter) in rotating categories that change quarterly.
Ink Business Cash: This card always has a great welcome bonus. Additionally, it earns 5 points per dollar at office supply stores and cellular/landline/cable (on up to $25,000 in total purchases in 5x categories annually). If your internet, TV, and cell service providers accept credit cards, then this is an awesome way to automatically earn 5 points per dollar for all of that spend! If you’re not sure that you have a business or would like more information about applying for this card, see: How to apply for Chase Ink cards.

Earn more with Bilt Rewards

Bilt Rewards is a free-to-join rewards program. Bilt points are similar to Chase points in that they share many of the same transfer partners. With either Chase points or Bilt points, you can transfer points 1 to 1 to Hyatt, United, British Airways, Air France / KLM, Air Canada, and more.

Bilt offers an easy way to earn rewards for a wide range of purchases automatically. Simply add your Chase cards (or other credit cards) to your Bilt Wallet, and you can earn Bilt points in addition to your usual credit card rewards at the following merchants:

Participating restaurants
Participating fitness clubs
Lyft
Walgreens
More coming soon…

You can also pay your rent through Bilt using your Chase card. Bilt will charge you a 3% fee to do so, but you’ll earn 1 Bilt point for every $2. With the Sapphire Reserve card, you would earn 1.5 transferrable points per dollar (1 Chase point + 0.5 Bilt points) for that 3% fee. While I wouldn’t recommend that for ongoing rent payments, it could be an excellent option for quickly meeting the Sapphire Reserve card’s minimum spend requirement for its welcome bonus.

Helpful Links (Frequent Miler may earn a commission if you use our links):

Travel better

The Sapphire Reserve card offers a number of perks that can improve your travel experience:

Priority Pass Select Lounge Membership: This membership includes complimentary access to lounges for yourself and up to two guests.
Sapphire Lounge: Use your Sapphire Reserve Priority Pass card to access Sapphire Lounges for free. You may bring up to two guests per visit at no additional charge, and additional guests are $27 each. There’s no extra charge for children under two.
Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge: Use your Sapphire Reserve card to access select Air Canada Maple Leaf lounges for free. You must have a same-day boarding pass or ticket for a Star Alliance carrier. Access is available to cardholders and authorized users only.
Global Entry, NEXUS or TSA Pre® Fee Credit: Receive a statement credit of up to $120 every 4 years as reimbursement for the Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA Pre Check application fee charged to your card.
IHG Platinum status through 12/31/27 (starting 10/26/25 for cardholders who applied or otherwise obtained their card before June 23, 2025). IHG Platinum status isn’t particularly valuable, but it’s certainly better than having no status.
Car Rental Benefits:
- National Car Rental Executive status: Reserve a standard car and select any car in the Executive Aisle. Enroll here.
- Avis Preferred Plus Status & discounts: Details here.
- Hertz discounts & 2 hour grace period: Details here.

Save money

Get up to $300 each year for any travel purchases

When you use your card to pay for travel, you’ll automatically earn up to $300 in statement credits each membership year. Note that you will not earn rewards on the $300 in spend that is reimbursed.

Get up to $500 back each year for select hotel bookings

The Edit by Chase Travel℠ is Chase’s answer to Amex’s Fine Hotels + Resorts® (FHR). Just like FHR, The Edit offers elite-like hotel perks for a curated selection of hotels and resorts when you book through this program. With the new Sapphire Reserve card, you can get up to $250 in statement credits every 6 months (from January through June and again from July through December) for prepaid bookings made with The Edit. Two-night minimum. Note that you will not earn rewards on the $250 in spend that is reimbursed.