Sign-Up Now for 100,000 Points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve!

We devote thousands of hours of research to help you get Big Travel with Small Money. You support us by signing-up for credit cards through partner links which earn us a commission. Here’s our full Advertising Policy.

Update:   One or more card offers in this post are no longer available.  Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers. 

This is the highest public sign-up bonus I’ve ever seen on a card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points!

Chase Sapphire Reserve

You can earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after opening your account.  That’s worth $1,500 in travel when you redeem through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal.  And potentially worth even more if you transfer points to airline and hotel partners like Hyatt or Southwest.

I’ll explain why this is a terrific card for folks looking to earn Big Travel!

 Chase Sapphire Reserve Perks

Link:   Chase Sapphire Reserve

When you open the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you’ll earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.  You’ll also get:

• 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on travel & dining
• 1X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on all other purchases
• $300 annual credit for travel purchases such as airfare and hotels
• $100 statement credit for Global Entry
• Priority Pass Select for access to airport lounges
• No foreign transaction fees
• Visa Infinite benefits like $25 food and beverage credit at the Luxury Hotel Collection and complimentary car rental elite status with Silvercar

The card has a $450 annual fee, which is NOT waived for the first year.  But the annual travel credit and airport lounge access can more than offset the annual fee!

What Can You Do With 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points?

Just like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Plus, you’ll be able to transfer the Chase Ultimate Rewards points you earn with the Chase Sapphire Reserve to great travel partners at a 1:1 ratio.  There’s no fee for points transfers.  And they’re usually instant!  Chase Ultimate Rewards points are my favorite kind of points!

Plus, when you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can transfer the points you’ve earned with the Chase Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, or Chase Ink Cash to partner airlines and hotels like Flying Blue, Hyatt, Southwest, and United Airlines.

Earning flexible points is the easiest way to get Big Travel with Small Money.

Note:   Once you transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners, you can NOT transfer them back.

In the next few days, I’ll show you some terrific ways you can use the 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points sign-up bonus.  Because there are so many options!  For example you can get:

• $1,500+ worth of travel booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal
• $1,250+ worth of Southwest flights (or double if you have the Southwest Companion Pass)
• 2 Complimentary Nights at a Tier 3 Ritz-Carlton hotel like The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans
• 4 Free Nights at a Category 6 Hyatt hotel like the Andaz 5th Avenue in New York City
• 2 Round-Trip United Airlines coach award flights to Hawaii
• Discounted award flights to Europe with Flying Blue promo awards
• First Class Suites Award Ticket on Singapore Airlines

Chase Sapphire Reserve – Should You Get This Card?

I’m very excited about the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.  Especially given recent negative changes announced on other premium cards like the Citi Prestige.

Here are the major perks and drawbacks of the card to consider before applying.

$300 Annual Airline & Hotel Credit

The annual airline and hotel credit is a new perk that’s not currently offered on any of the cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can spend $300 on qualifying travel, like airline and hotel purchases, and get $300 back each calendar year.

This is fantastic because you can earn the $300 in 2016 and get the $300 credit again in early 2017.  So you can earn $600 in travel credit with just 1 annual fee.

Earn Points Faster

If you like to spend on travel and dining, like I do, you can easily earn more points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve for free travel.  That’s because you’ll earn 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points in these categories.

I also like the 3X travel bonus category is broadly defined as:

Airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges, and highways, and parking lots and garages

So you don’t just have to book airfare to earn the 3X bonus points!

High Annual Fee

The card has a $450 annual fee that’s NOT waived the first year.

But, you can easily offset the annual fee with credits and perks you’ll get like:

• $300 travel credit each calendar year for travel purchases such as airfare and hotels
• $100 statement credit for Global Entry
• Airport lounge access with Priority Pass Select

Large Sign-Up Bonus

The easiest way to earn miles and points for Big Travel with Small Money is from credit card sign–up bonuses. 

So the 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards point sign-up bonus can definitely go a long way towards Big Travel.  Especially if you transfer points to airline and hotel partners like Hyatt or Southwest.

The sign-up bonus is double what you get on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.  But the Chase Sapphire Preferred has no annual fee the first year, which is one of the reasons it’s my favorite card for beginners getting into miles and points!

50% Bonus for Travel Booked Through Chase Portal

You can use the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal to book flights, hotels, and rental cars for less using Chase Sapphire Reserve points.  That’s because they’re worth 1.50 cents each when redeemed for travel.

So you’ll get $1,500 worth of travel with the 100,000 points you earn with the Chase Sapphire Reserve.  And you can combine points from other cards like the Chase Freedom to still get the higher redemption value!

Plus, you don’t have to worry about blackout dates or finding award seats.  And you’ll still earn miles for your flight!  Just be sure to check the price on other sites so you’re getting the best deal!

Tougher Chase Application Rules

I was hopeful this card would NOT impacted by Chase’s tighter application rules.  That is, if you’ve applied for ~5+ cards from any bank (except these business cards) in the past 24 months, it’s unlikely you’ll be approved for most Chase cards.

Now, folks on Reddit report being having their Chase Sapphire Reserve application denied for having more than 5 new cards in the past 24 months.  But there’s no official word from Chase.

The other Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points like the Chase Freedom, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Chase Freedom Unlimited have also been harder to get since the new rules took effect.

But recently, folks with many new recent credit card accounts have been getting approved for the new Chase Ritz-Carlton card.

If you apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, please share your experience in the comments!

Chase Sapphire Reserve – Bottom Line

The new Chase Sapphire Reserve card is available and has an amazing sign-up bonus and perks.  You can earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after opening your account.  And use these points for Big Travel on airline and hotel transfer partners like Hyatt, Flying Blue, or Southwest.

You’ll also earn points faster with this card because you’ll get 3X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on travel & dining purchases.

Plus, you’ll get a $300 annual credit each calendar year for travel purchases, including hotel and airline spending.  This is a great perk to cancel out the card’s $450 annual fee.

Early reports suggest this card is included in Chase’s tighter application rules.  Please share your experience in the comments if you apply!