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The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card (review), is one of the most sought-after premium travel rewards credit card cards. The card has many great features, including a triple bonus on dining and travel, Priority Pass membership, Visa Infinite benefits, car rental and travel coverage, as well as a great welcome bonus.
This post will focus on Chase Sapphire Reserves $300 annual travel credits. It is the best perk of the card and earns you more than half your $550 annual fees each year. This means that you should only pay $250 per year for the card to be kept.
This perk is not easy to understand, as there are many cards that offer travel credits and some have many strings attached. The one on this card is very straightforward. Let's now look at the perk in detail.
What is the Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 Travel credit?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers $300 travel credit to cardmembers every year. The credit can be applied automatically to your purchases. You don't need to register. It can be used over as many purchases you wish until it is exhausted. This credit is in the form a statement credit, which you receive shortly after your purchase.
This credit will be even more flexible in 2021. The Chase Sapphire Reserve $300 travel credit automatically applies to grocery and gas station purchases.
What qualifies as Travel for the $300 Travel Credit?
Which purchases will be automatically credited as travel? Travel is defined by Chase Sapphire Reserve as the purchase of these items:
Travel merchants include hotels, motels and airlines as well as timeshares, cruise lines, car rental agencies and cruise lines. They also offer discount travel sites and campgrounds to operators of passenger trains, buses and taxis.
This is the exact definition Chase uses to define the categories that earn 3x points. You can see that it is not only traditional travel purchases that are eligible for reimbursement, but also Ubers, parking and trains, buses, and other items. The $300 credit can be used in your daily life.
Your $300 travel credit can be used to book a hotel room
What time do you get the $300 Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit?
You can immediately use the travel credit as soon as the Chase Sapphire Reserve is activated. There is no waiting period.
Your $300 travel credit will be valid for the next 12 months starting on your anniversary date.
How Fast Does The Sapphire Reserve $300 Travel Credit Post Work?
After a purchase has been made to your account, the credit should be posted almost immediately. Take, for example, the following transactions which were for Lyft ride. The travel credits were available almost immediately, as you can see. This benefit means that you don't have to wait several weeks for your credit to post or for anything to happen.
Is the $300 Travel Credit affecting Minimum Spend Requirements?
Many people who get Chase Sapphire Reserve try to meet the minimum spending requirements to qualify for the welcome bonus. What does the $300 travel reimbursement you receive play into this? The minimum spending requirement is met by the sum of all your expenditures, minus the annual fee. Even if you receive $300 travel credit reimbursement, $300 of your spending will still count towards the minimal spending requirement.
Your $300 travel credit can be used to book a flight
Are you eligible to earn triple points for reimbursed transactions?
The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers triple points for dining out and travel. If you spend $300 on travel you would normally earn 900 Ultimate Rewards Points. Unfortunately, you won't be earning triple points for the amount reimbursed.
What happens if you want to refund a transaction that was reimbursed?
The statement credit should be reversed if you are refunded for a purchase that was not reimbursed. This should be applied to a future travel transaction. Some people report that the statement credit is not reversed. This could be a case where your mileage may differ.
Your $300 travel credit can be used to rent a car
How can you track how much of the $300 credit you have used?
Log into Ultimate Rewards and go to the homepage. Click on the Your Dashboard section at the top of the page. You will see a section showing how much you have spent towards credit and when your anniversary year resets. This is when you receive your next credit.
Are Most People Using The Complete $300 Credit?
Although there isn't any data available, I would assume that most Chase Sapphire Reserve users are fully using the travel credit. This is why I believe it reduces the annual out-of-pocket on the card for most users by well over half.
I'll go one step further. If you don't use the $300 travel credit, this card is not for you. If you don't spend $300 per year on taxis or Ubers, subways and trains, hotels, airlines, or other transportation, there are better cards.
Your $300 travel credit can be used to book a train ticket
Why not lower the annual fee to $250 instead?
This is a reasonable question. This is a reasonable question. If people can use this credit so easily, why not lower the annual fee down to $250? That would likely make the card more popular. Two reasons exist for this:
Chase wants more wallet sharing Chase wants you use your card as often as possible. Card issuers know that if you are reimbursed for certain purchases, you will be more likely to use the card and keep it in your wallet.
Chase wants you use your card as often as possible. Card issuers also know that if you are reimbursing for purchases, you will be more likely to use the card. Chase has the Chase Sapphire Preferred card (review), which costs $95 annually and is extremely rewarding. Chase does not want to eliminate its card. Chase can target two consumers with different annual fees to make that happen.
What is the Amex Platinum Credit equivalent?
The Platinum Card (review), and The Business Platinum Card (review), both offer various credits. An annual $200 credit towards airline fees is one of the credits that they both offer. However, there are some things that make this credit less valuable.
Credit is available for $200 instead of $300
Credit is only available for airline fees and not all travel purchases. (Although airline fees have a very specific definition).
Registering is necessary. You must also designate the airline for which credit will be used.
The $200 credit for airline fees is a minor benefit of Amex Platinum, but it is not in any way comparable to other benefits.
Amexs airline credit has many restrictions
Bottom line
Chase Sapphire Reserves $550 annual fees deter many people. As I've said many times, the best thing about this card is its $550 annual fee. This card is great for those who don't usually have to pay such high annual fees.
This is because the card should cost most people $250 annually, once you add in the $300 travel credit. This credit is not a scam like some cards that require you to register and can only be reimbursed for specific transactions.
All travel codes purchases up to $300 per cardmember-year will be refunded instead. This amazing benefit is only available to cardholders who have the card.
A Priority Pass membership costs $250 and gives you triple points on dining and travel. You can also redeem 1.5 cents per point and more for just $250 per annum. This is what makes Chase Sapphire Reserve so special.
This post contains more information about the top Ultimate Rewards credit cards.
