The big brother to my favorite beginner card just got a huge overhaul. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® now has revamped benefits, different eligibility requirements, and a hefty new annual fee to go along with it. Not only that, there’s a new Sapphire-family card on the market, the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business℠.

There’s a lot to digest with all of these changes and new card offerings, so let’s take a look at everything there is to know about these two cards.

<All information about the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ has been collected independently by The Traveling Hansens. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.>

Sapphire Reserve card details

The brand new welcome offer for the Sapphire Reserve is for 100,000 points plus a $500 Chase Travel credit when you spend $5,000 in the first three months from account opening. This is the highest offer we’ve ever seen for this card! This is worth at least $2,500 in travel.

The current welcome offer for the Sapphire Reserve for Business is a whopping 200,000 points when you spend $30,000 in the first six months from account opening. This is much better than similar premium business cards, which also have a spending requirement of $20,000 – $30,000, but only give you three months to do it.

These cards have huge annual fees of $795, formerly $550 for the Sapphire Reserve. This is now the highest annual fee on the market for any card. The fee is enormous, but may be worth considering when you look at the big welcome offers and the benefits. Want to learn more about how to decide if annual fees are worth it? Check out this post.

If you are a new applicant, you’ll pay the $795 annual fee during your first billing cycle.

If you’re an existing cardholder of the Sapphire Reserve, you’ll get the new perks added to your account starting October 26, 2025, and will pay the higher annual fee starting with your next card renewal date.

The Sapphire Reserve card will count against Chase’s 5/24 rule, but the Sapphire Reserve for Business will not, since it’s a business card.

Card benefits

Sapphire Reserve benefits:

• $300 annual travel credit: This credit is not changing and still applies broadly to any travel purchases with no new restrictions.
• $500 annual statement credit for The Edit: Split into two $250 biannual credits for stays at Chase’s curated collection of luxury hotels and resorts.
• $300 annual statement credit for StubHub or Viagogo purchases: Split into two $150 biannual credits for concert and event tickets (activation required).
• $300 annual dining credit and exclusive OpenTable reservations: Split into two $150 biannual credits automatically applied within the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program.
• $250 annual statement credit for Apple TV+ and Apple Music subscriptions: A one-time activation is required in your Chase account online or through the mobile app.
• $120 in annual statement credits toward Peloton memberships: $10 per month through Dec. 31, 2027.
• $120 in annual Lyft in-app credits: Up to $10 monthly through Sept. 30, 2027.
• $120 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or Nexus: Available once every four years.
• Airport lounge access: Includes Chase Sapphire Lounges by The Club, Priority Pass Select, and 20+ Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges and Cafés when flying Star Alliance. Two guests are included in this benefit.
• Complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite Status through Dec. 31, 2027
• Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance, and more.
• No foreign transaction fees.

Sapphire Reserve for Business benefits:

• $500 annual statement credit for The Edit: Split into two $250 biannual credits for stays at Chase’s curated collection of luxury hotels and resorts.
• $400 ZipRecruiter credit: Split into two statement credits of up to $200 each – one from January to June and one from July to December – for purchases made directly with ZipRecruiter.
• $200 Google Workspace credit: Annual statement credit for purchases made directly with Google Workspace, including AI business tools.
• $100 Giftcards.com credit: Split into two statement credits of up to $50 each – one from January to June and one from July to December – for purchases made directly with giftcards.com/reservebusiness.
• $300 annually in DoorDash benefits: Includes a 12-month DashPass membership (must be activated by Dec. 31, 2027).
• $25 in monthly DoorDash promos: Includes a $5 restaurant promo and two $10 promos toward groceries, beauty, electronics, and more; promos are applied at checkout and do not roll over month to month.
• $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or Nexus credit: Available once every four years.
• Complimentary lounge access for the primary cardholder and two guests: Includes Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club and Priority Pass lounges.
• Complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite Status through Dec. 31, 2027

Additionally, if you spend more than $120,000 in one calendar year, you receive Southwest A-List status and $500 flight credit when booking Southwest flights through Chase Travel.

As you can see, both cards have a ton of benefits that can help offset the annual fee. The thing is, it’s important that you actually use them.

My general philosophy is that the benefits don’t truly make up for the fee if they consist of things that you wouldn’t be spending money on anyway. If you don’t use Lyft, OpenTable, or ZipRecruiter, those benefits may not be particularly useful.

The flipside is that these huge new welcome offers may make the fee worth it for the first year! It’s important to decide what works best for you and your own specific situation.

Earning Rates

The earning rates for the Sapphire Reserve has been shaken up. Here’s the new breakdown:

• 10x points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases
• 8x points on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
• 5x points on Lyft rides
• 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly
• 3x points on all dining purchases worldwide
• 1x points on all other purchases

Here’s the breakdown for the Sapphire Reserve for Business:

• 8x on all Chase Travel℠ purchases
• 5x on eligible Lyft rides (through Sept. 30, 2027)
• 4x on flights and hotels booked directly
• 3x on advertising purchases made via social media sites and search engines
• 1x on all other purchases

Furthermore, redeeming your points for 1.5x through Chase Travel℠ is going away and being replaced by something called Points Boost. This allows you to receive 2x for your points on certain flight and hotel bookings made through Chase Travel℠.

Eligibility

Along with all of the other changes, eligiblity for the Sapphire family of cards has undergone an overhaul as well.

The thing is, we don’t know exactly how this will play out.

Here’s what we know direct from Chase, “Beginning June 23, 2025 you will be able to have both the Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Preferred cards. New account bonus offer eligibility for either card will be based on factors including previously earned bonus offers and the number of cards opened and closed, among others.“

They’ve also said, “Consumers applying through most channels will be notified during the application process if they are not eligible for a bonus offer and given the choice to continue the application or cancel the application with no impact to their credit score.“

This sounds similar to American Express’ “pop-up jail,” which is great because you know ahead of time whether to continue your application. In most cases, you won’t want to continue the application if you get the pop-up saying you’re ineligible for the bonus.

Furthermore, regarding the current 48-month eligibility rules, they’re quoted as saying, “We are transitioning away from the family of cards every 48 month eligibility to a same product premium eligibility. The timeframe will be longer than 48 months, but we aren’t able to share additional details.“

The fine print on the card application says, “This credit card is unavailable to you if you currently have one open. The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if you currently have any other personal Sapphire cards open, previously held this card or received a new cardmember bonus for this card. We may also consider the number of cards you have opened and closed, as well as other factors in determining your bonus eligibility.”

All that to say, we just don’t know yet exactly what eligibility will look like with this revamp.

Transfer partners

Nothing about cardholder access to Chase’s 11 airline partners and 3 hotel partners is changing. If you’re unfamiliar with transferring your Chase points, here’s a breakdown. All points transfer at a 1:1 ratio in increments of 1,000.

The transfer partners are:

• Aer Lingus
• Air Canada
• Air France-KLM
• British Airways
• Emirates
• Iberia
• JetBlue
• Singapore
• Southwest
• United
• Virgin Atlantic
• Hyatt
• IHG
• Marriott

How to transfer your points

Here are the steps for transferring your points from Chase to one of its transfer partners.

First, log on to your Chase account, choose your Sapphire card, then click on your Ultimate Rewards® and hit “redeem”.

Next, hover over “travel” at the top of the page and select “transfer points to partners”.

All of Chase’s travel partners will pop up, with any current transfer bonuses listed at the top. Choose the one you’d like to transfer to. In this case, we’ll choose Hyatt (of course).

After that, you’ll go through three steps. First, you’ll confirm your name and loyalty account information. If you haven’t set up a free loyalty account with the hotel or airline, make sure you do that first!

Next, enter how many points you’d like to transfer in increments of 1,000.

Finally, confirm the details and hit submit.

Generally, transfers are instant, although there can be unexpected delays. You may need to log out and log back into your hotel or airline account to see the points available.

One important note- do not transfer points until you have found the available flights or hotel nights! Once you’ve transferred your points, they’re stuck in that program. You wouldn’t want your points to be stuck with no way to use them as you intended.

Other ways to use your points

Transferring to travel partners is the main way that we use our points. However, there are a few other options.

• You can book flights, hotels, and more through Chase Travel℠.
• You can cash out your points to cover expenses.
• You can combine your points with one other family member in your same household. To do this, you will first need to call Chase to link your accounts. After that, you can easily combine them online.

Wrapping it up

These changes are a huge shake-up for the premium end of the Sapphire lineup. With major changes to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® – including new benefits, updated eligibility rules, and a higher annual fee – plus the debut of the brand-new Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business℠, there’s a lot to take in for both personal and business travelers.

Take a look at the cards and the benefits to decide if one (or both) might be right for you.