Chase/CNET
The Chase Sapphire Reserve®* was updated earlier this week and now includes a number of new annual credits and other features, including an Apple Plus and Apple Music membership, valued at $250 annually (ends June 22, 2027). Chase also upped the card's annual fee.
It now costs $795 annually, so you'll have to do more legwork to get enough value from the card to cover the cost. That likely means the average credit card user won't even want to consider this as an option. Which is fair.
In my opinion, you shouldn't need 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. The new credits and features sound great on paper, but to me, they just mean more work.
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. But we'll get to that.
I'm sure some travel experts and credit card aficionados will disagree and could easily get plenty of value from this card, but for credit cardholders like myself who would rather have a more automated, streamlined experience, it just doesn't seem worth the extra effort.
Here's everything new with the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
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
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