The Chase Sapphire Reserve card is offering a rarely seen 80,000-point bonus, worth at least $1,200 in travel

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• The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has launched an impressive elevated welcome bonus offer.
• New cardholders can earn Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
• This bonus is worth $1,200 in travel booked through Chase, and potentially more when you transfer points to airline and hotel partners.
• Read Insider's guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.

Premium credit cards with upscale benefits aren't for everyone. But if you're a frequent traveler who can use valuable perks like airport lounge access, statement credits, and top-notch travel protections, they can be worth much more than their high annual fees.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is one of the most rewarding premium cards on the market, and it's now offering an elevated bonus of Chase Sapphire Reserve®. We haven't seen a bonus this high since the card first launched — it's 30,000 more points than the standard offer, and worth at least $1,200 in travel, depending on how you redeem your rewards.

Chase Ultimate Rewards® points are worth an average of 1.8 cents apiece (based on Insider's valuations) when you transfer them to Chase's airline and hotel partners, making this bonus worth around Chase Sapphire Reserve® in travel.

Keep in mind the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a Chase Sapphire Reserve® annual fee, so it's not for the average traveler. But if you can take advantage of all of its benefits, it can be well worth it. Here's what to consider if you're thinking of applying.

We're focused here on the rewards and perks that come with each card. These cards won't be worth it if you're paying interest or late fees. When using a credit card, it's important to pay your balance in full each month, make payments on time, and only spend what you can afford to pay.

Chase Sapphire Reserve 80,000-point bonus offer

When the Chase Sapphire Reserve® was first launched in 2016, it came with a (then-unheard-of) 100,000-point bonus offer. That deal was eventually replaced by a standard bonus offer of 50,000 points after meeting spending requirements, but we've occasionally seen a boost to 60,000 points. It's very unusual to see the current Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

To compare, the card's less-expensive sibling, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, has a welcome bonus of Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. It charges a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card annual fee, so for casual travelers, it's a much better deal.

You may wonder why you'd spend over 5x more annually for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. For some customers, splurging on a premium card actually makes more sense if you can maximize its benefits and better earning rates.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve's annual fee is effectively $250

Off the bat, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with $300 in travel statement credits per cardholder year —effectively reducing your net cost to $250 annually ($550 annual fee minus the $300 travel statement credit).

Chase's definition of travel is very broad, and includes:

• Airlines (including airfare, baggage fees, taxes and fees on award tickets, and most other incidental fees)
• Hotels (including room rate, resort fees, and taxes and fees on award stays — and in practice, some vacation rentals, like Airbnb, will trigger the credit too)
• Motels
• Timeshares
• Car rental agencies (including third-party sites such as Autoslash)
• Cruise lines
• Travel agencies (including online travel agencies like the Chase Travel Portal, Orbitz, and Expedia)
• Discount travel sites (like Hotwire)
• Campgrounds
• Passenger trains (including subways)
• Buses (including local transit)
• Taxis (including ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft)
• Limousines
• Ferries
• Toll bridges and highways (including prepaid tolls like E-Zpass and SunPass)
• Parking lots and garages

To take advantage of the travel credit, just use your card to pay for eligible travel purchases. You'll receive a statement credit within a couple of days of the transaction, up to a yearly maximum of $300.  

Sapphire Reserve cardholders get airport lounge access

Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders receive a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership, which gets them access to more than 1,300 airport lounges worldwide. This benefit is priceless if you're a frequent flyer, especially if your home airport has Priority Pass lounges. 

Having a comfortable, quieter place to relax before or between flights can make your travel experience much more bearable, and save you from having to spend a lot of cash on expensive airport food and drink. You're also allowed up bring up to two guests with you at no charge.

Cardholders will also soon get access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, which are slated to open in late 2022 and 2023 at several airports, including:

• New York-LaGuardia (LGA) — Terminal B
• Boston (BOS) — Terminal B to C connector
• Hong Kong (HKG) — Terminal 1
• San Diego (SAN) — Terminal 2 West
• Phoenix (PHX) — Terminal 4 South 1
• Las Vegas (LAS) — Terminal 1 C Gates
• Washington Dulles (IAD) — Terminal A

You'll earn up to 10x points on your spending

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is ideal if you spend a lot in certain categories, especially travel. The card earns up to 10x points on eligible travel purchases, which very few other cards even approach. Cardholders earn:

• 10x points on Lyft rides through March 2025
• 10x points on Chase Dining purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 10x points on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 5x points on flights purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3x points on other travel (after earning the $300 travel credit) and dining
• 1 point per dollar on everything else

However, if your typical expenses don't line up with these categories, you might want to look at other options. You can find comparisons to other popular premium cards in our Chase Sapphire Reserve review.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve increases the value of your Chase points

If you already have other Chase cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, including no-annual-fee cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Chase Freedom Unlimited®, you can combine your points into your Chase Sapphire Reserve® account and unlock better redemption options.

Points in your Chase Sapphire Reserve® account are worth 1.5 cents apiece when you redeem them for travel booked through Chase or for eligible purchases through Pay Yourself Back. To compare, you'd only get a value of 1.25 cents per point for the same redemptions with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

The Reserve's travel and purchase protections are hard to beat

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has some of the best travel insurance and purchase coverage of any card out there, premium or otherwise. When you use your card to pay, you'll receive protections that include:

• Primary car rental insurance
• Trip interruption/cancellation insurance
• Trip delay insurance
• Baggage delay insurance
• Lost luggage reimbursement
• Extended warranty
• Purchase protection
• Travel and emergency assistance services
• Travel accident insurance
• Roadside assistance
• Emergency evacuation and transportation
• Emergency medical and dental benefit

Hopefully, you'll never have to use any of these benefits, but if you do, they could end up saving you a tremendous amount of money. 

That said, the Sapphire Preferred's travel insurance includes many of the same features, albeit sometimes with lower coverage limits. If you're trying to decide which Sapphire card is better for you, have a look at our comparison of the Sapphire Reserve and Preferred for a closer look at the differences.

Other credits and perks can help reduce your out-of-pocket cost

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® comes with a handful of other benefits that can save you money (and offset the annual fee):

• Cardholders can enroll for a complimentary DashPass membership for waived delivery fees on qualifying orders through December 31, 2024. In addition, you'll also receive a $5 monthly DoorDash in-app credit. These credits expire after three months, so you can accumulate up to $15 in credit before you redeem. Maximized, these credits are worth up to $60 per year.
• You can also activate a complimentary year of Instacart+ membership (free delivery on orders of $35+ and reduced service fees) and receive up to $15 per month in statement credits toward Instacart purchases (activation required). These credits are potentially worth up to $180 per year.
• Through December 31, 2023, cardholders can get $10 per month in Gopuff credit when they add their card as the default payment method in the Gopuff app and make a qualifying purchase. Gopuff is a rapid delivery service for essentials like snacks, drinks, and household items. To use the Gopuff credit, there's a minimum order of $10 and a $2.95 fee per delivery. If you use the credit every month, you can get a value of up to $120 per year.

Chase Sapphire Reserve application restrictions

Like other Chase cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is subject to application restrictions, most notably the Chase 5/24 rule. If you've opened more than five new credit cards in the past 24 months — from any bank, except for some small-business cards — you won't be approved.

There are also rules specific to Chase Sapphire cards:

• You can only have one Sapphire card at a time — so if you've already got the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or  Chase Sapphire Reserve® open, you're not eligible for this offer
• If you've earned a bonus from either of these cards in the past 48 months (even if the card is now closed), you're also out of luck

There are plenty of other excellent travel credit card offers to consider if you don't qualify for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, including some with elevated welcome bonuses.

If you're looking to earn flexible points, the Citi Premier® Card with its intro bonus of Citi Premier® Card is worth considering, and if you're looking for a premium card, it's hard to beat the current offer to earn The Platinum Card® from American Express with The Platinum Card® from American Express.