Travel Party of 5 | Points & Miles for Family Travel

BONUS: Chase Sapphire Reserve + Reserve Business: What You Need to Know About the New $795 Annual Fee Cards

• Raya & Duane

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Chase has refreshed the Sapphire Reserve and launched a brand-new Sapphire Reserve for Business card, both with a hefty $795 annual fee and elevated welcome offers. The changes reflect Chase's push into the ultra-premium card space with enhanced credits and benefits, though the value proposition varies depending on your spending habits and travel patterns.

• Both cards offer $300 annual travel credits that automatically apply to eligible purchases
• Personal card offers 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points plus $500 Chase Travel credit after $5,000 spend
• Business card offers 200,000 points after $30,000 spend in six months
• $500 in annual credits for "the edit" hotel collection, split between first and second half of year
• Personal card includes exclusive $300 dining credit and $300 StubHub credit
• Business card includes ZipRecruiter, Google Workspace, and giftcards.com credits
• Both provide Chase Sapphire Lounge access for cardholder plus two guests
• Chase appears to be implementing new application rules similar to Amex's lifetime language
• Current Sapphire Preferred holders may not be eligible for the Reserve card
• For existing Reserve cardholders, the annual fee increase timing affects the value proposition

Follow us on Instagram @travelpartyof5 for updates on our application experiences and outcomes with these new Chase Sapphire offers.


Speaker 1:

Welcome to a special bonus episode where I'm diving into the big news of the week, which is the Chase Sapphire Reserve refreshed card, along with the shiny new Sapphire Reserve for business, which is a brand new card that just dropped today, June 23, 2025. We're going to dive into all the details of both cards and their refreshed and new offers, along with how we are thinking about them and whether or not we're going to apply. So listen in. Hi, I'm Raya and I'm Dwayne, and we are your hosts of the Travel Party of Five podcast, where we share how we travel as a family of five around the world. We will also share how we use points and miles to travel as affordably as possible and sometimes even completely free. So if you're wanting to travel more with your family, but you're not sure how, we'd love for you to listen in. So, welcome to our podcast, where we hope you learn a thing or two to get you closer to your next trip. Hi, friends, welcome back to what I think is maybe the first bonus episode we have ever done on this podcast. So hello, I will be solo today because I wanted to make sure to get this out as soon as possible. I found myself looking for a podcast episode about this to kind of listen to and think through this morning, and there wasn't one until shout out to MTM travel. I listened to that pretty much every week and they did post one this morning which I appreciated. So I kind of listened through it, read through a bunch of Reddit threads and other you know points and miles blog posts, and I'm going to link one in the show notes that has a really good recap from frequent miler. I thought that was kind of the easiest format to digest all of this information. But here's the deal. Essentially, Chase has released two I'm sorry, one new card and one updated card today with elevated offers on both. So there is the Chase Sapphire reserve card. This is an existing card that they are increasing the annual fee on and changing around some of the credits, and then the brand new card is the Chase Sapphire Reserve for business, and so we're going to talk about both of them. But they have a lot of similarities. So instead of kind of repeating the same thing twice, I'm going to talk about both cards and kind of where they overlap because there's a lot of similarities, Then we'll get into the differences and then at the end I'm going to share the strategy that I think we are going to go for for us personally.

Speaker 1:

Before we dive into any of the details, I do also want to let you know we do not have any credit card affiliate links for any of these offers. So this opinion is completely my own. Take that for what you will, but we are not incentivized in any way for you to apply for these cards. That being said, there may at some point be a referral link for these cards. They don't exist today and they may not exist for a week or two. Um, I did try to get a referral link because I currently hold the Chase Sapphire reserve, but I just keep getting an error. Sometimes Chase does not open up these elevated offers to referral links, or sometimes they do and it takes like a week or two. So, as of now, we have no referral links, no affiliate links, no nothing. I'm just going to talk to you about what I think about these cards and kind of go from there. If I do, if I am able to get a referral link, I'll link it in the show notes, but I don't have high hopes for that. Okay.

Speaker 1:

So the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Again, this is the card that already currently exists, but they are increasing the annual fee. Okay, and then again the Chase Sapphire Reserve for business. So both cards have, or will have, a $795 annual fee. Yes, both the personal and the business. They both also come with some credits that can potentially offset those annual fees if you're able to utilize them. So those credits are a $300 annual travel credit. This is the easiest travel credit to use in the industry because you just have to use your card and it has to code as travel and you'll automatically get the $300 statement credit. That travel credit is on both cards. The other credits that are going to help potentially offset that big annual fee is there is up to $500 towards the edit annually, and all of these annual credits, unless I say otherwise, are split up for January to June and then July to December. So, for example, it's $500 annually to the edit, but it's broken down into $250 in the first half of the year and $250 in the second half of the year. Almost all of their annual credits are set up that way and, yes, it is to make it harder for you to redeem them, Because if you don't redeem them, that's more money in the bank's pocket.

Speaker 1:

So the edit, if you don't know, is basically a collection of higher end hotels. This is Chase's answer to the Amex fine hotels and resorts collection. As of now, the edit has significantly fewer hotels than the Amex program. I'm not sure if they're planning to increase those or not, but as of now that's how it stands. So you get up to $500 towards the edit hotels. With up to $500 towards the edit hotels, there is a catch that you have to book a two-night minimum in order to utilize your $250 credit.

Speaker 1:

And again, it's $250 in the first half of the year and $250 in the second half of the year to equal $500. There's also a $300 dining credit through Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables. That is only on the personal card. Okay, that does not apply for the business card. And then you also do get a stub hub credit, again $300 annually 150 the first half of the year, 150 the second half of the year. That again is only on the personal card.

Speaker 1:

A couple of credits that are only on the personal card, A couple of credits that are only on the business card, are going to be $400 to ZipRecruiter, $200 to Google Workspace and $100 to giftcardscom. Again, all of those are split first half of the year second half of the year. Both cards give you lounge access to Chase Sapphire lounges for yourself plus two guests, as well as a priority pass membership. And then I'm not going to go into the rest of the credits, but there's a bunch of other you know credits. There's a door dash pass and all that fun stuff. Those exist currently on the Chase Sapphire Reserve and seems like they're just going to roll over into the new reserve and also be applicable to the reserve for business. Again, if you want to like deep dive into all of the credits, I'm going to link this frequent miler article in the show notes because, again, I thought it was pretty, pretty great how they laid it out. Now you might be thinking, okay, great, you know, for $795, they are probably going to have an amazing welcome offer, right, the signup bonus is going to be huge. So let's talk about it.

Speaker 1:

For the personal card, the elevated offer currently is 100,000 chase points plus a $500 chase travel promo credit. Essentially, you're getting 100,000 points and then you're getting a. Once you meet the minimum spend, which is $5,000 in three months, you're also going to get, in addition to those 100,000 chase points, you're going to get $500 credit to be used in the chase portal. Specifically, this is different from the $300 annual travel credit. So if you combine the two of those for the first year, you are essentially offsetting the annual fee and coming out $5 ahead, coming out $5 ahead.

Speaker 1:

The caveat to the $500 chase travel credit is that you have to use it all in one transaction. So if you were to charge, let's say, $400, you would be forfeiting that remaining $100. It cannot be used in multiple transactions. So you need to make sure that you have something you can reserve or pay for in the Chase Travel Portal that is $500 or more, in order to take full advantage of that credit. And that credit doesn't become available to you until you've met the minimum spend as a side note. So I mean for the first year, I guess that kind of makes sense.

Speaker 1:

100,000 chase points is it's okay. I honestly would have expected more for such a big annual fee and I would prefer like 130,000 points and no travel credit versus how they've structured it. And that's because I don't ever book through the Chase portal. I don't ever find good deals in there, and so I, in order to utilize this credit, I have to go kind of outside how I would normally book something for a trip, and I don't. I don't love that idea, so I don't know that this is the best card.

Speaker 1:

If you're brand new, if you've been kind of you know in the points and mile space for a bit, I do think that there's good justification for this card for the first year, if you're someone who isn't opposed to booking through the Chase portal and can definitely use that $500 travel credit Beyond that, like I would like. If you've never gotten a Chase card before, I would still go for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which also, I believe, has an elevated offer right now of 75,000 points. So it's not as good as the 100,000 points that it was a couple months ago, but it's still higher than the traditional regular offer of 60,000 points. So if you're brand new, this is not the card for you and you should look at the Chase Sapphire preferred card. If you've been around a couple of years, then I think this has potential and they're like. We may apply for this card. We'll have to see.

Speaker 1:

The other thing that you need to know is it appears Chase has relaxed some of the rules around the Sapphire family and TBD on if that is good or bad. Previously it was that you could get a bonus on a Chase Sapphire card, either preferred or reserve, but not both every 48 months. Now it appears Chase is moving towards more of a lifetime language similar to American Express, and Chase is also giving a pop up sometimes when you go to apply for these cards if you are not eligible for the welcome offer. And again, that is right out of the Amex playbook, it also would appear. I've been looking on Reddit for a bunch of data points of who is and is not getting approved for this card today and again today's June 23, when I'm recording this. So these offers were just released today, but it does appear that if you currently hold a Chase Sapphire preferred card, you are not eligible to get the Sapphire reserve personal card. I do think that there you can probably downgrade and maybe wait 30 days and try again and you may have a better chance. Tbd on that. Let me know Curious what happens.

Speaker 1:

So that is the offer on the personal card. So then you're thinking, okay, if that's the offer on the personal card, like the business card, right, must be a massive offer and it is a bigger offer, but it's still not great. So the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card the current offer is 200,000 Chase Points after 30k spend in the first six months, also with that $795 annual fee. So that is a good amount of Chase Points, but that is also a hefty amount of spend. I guess the bright side is that you do have six months to meet the spend, whereas Amex or Capital One you know their cards that have similar offers are three months, so you do have double the time to meet it. I do think 30k in spend is an incredible amount, though, and to offset this annual fee you do have the $300 travel credit that comes with the card every year.

Speaker 1:

But beyond that you really need to make sure that you can utilize either some of the edit credits or, you know, the gift cardcom credit. That's probably fairly easy to use. If you're a sole proprietor, like I, don't really have see any value in the zip recruiter credit or the Google workspace credit, Like for me specifically, I would never use those and I, like I can't use those as a way to justify getting the card, because that's like money I'm not spending. So here is what I am thinking for us personally. So just as kind of a. This is where we're at thing.

Speaker 1:

I currently hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. If you currently hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you need to check when your. Then you're going to be charged the new $795 fee. If it posts before that, then you're going to be charged the $550 annual fee and you're going to be able to take advantage of all these other credits for the next year. So you are winning in this situation. I am not winning because my annual fee is going to post December 1st, so I am going to December 1st have to pay the higher annual fee. I'm not going to have the $500 Chase travel credit because that's only if you're applying to the card new. So we are going to.

Speaker 1:

I am going to keep that card for the a membership plus two guests, and we have a Chase Sapphire Reserve Lounge in Phoenix, which is our home airport. So having access to that lounge for us is important Because it's in our home airport, right, Like if it was an airport we're going to fly through once or something that would be different, but this is our home airport, so we will use that. Something that would be different, but this is our home airport, so we will use that. The other credits that I'm going to have to use to take advantage of that are going to be. I mean probably the StubHub credit yes, Apple TV and Apple Music yes, we already pay for that, so getting a credit for that would be great. And then, like, I'm going to attempt to use the edit credits and see how that works out. I also do like the DoorDash credits and all that. I use those every month. Anyways, those are not new credits, so I do think I can still get close to offsetting the full fee. But I will have to reevaluate after having it for the first year to confirm that I am getting enough value out of it. So I'll report back on that.

Speaker 1:

But because I already have the card, you know I'm kind of like if you do I'm sorry, my brain is moving quicker than my mouth If you have the card, like me, and you don't want to pay the upgraded annual fee, you just need to call and downgrade it to like I would do a Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Flex and then potentially you could maybe apply you know, give it some time, but you could then maybe apply for the Chase Sapphire preferred card, depending on give it some time, but you could then maybe apply for the Chase Sapphire preferred card, depending on how long it's been since you've had the, since you got the bonus. Again, a lot of this is up in the air because Chase isn't coming out and telling us this is what's happening. Everyone is trying to figure it out as we go, since they've made so many changes. Okay, so that's the background where I already have the Sapphire Reserve card.

Speaker 1:

Dwayne had the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and a couple of months ago we downgraded it to a Chase Freedom Flex and that was because we didn't need two of the Sapphire cards and I wanted to take advantage of the bonus categories that change every quarter on the Freedom card. So he currently does not have a Sapphire product and he has never had a Sapphire reserve. So what I'm thinking is my first attempt is where I'm going to apply him for the Chase Sapphire reserve card. But I'm trying to wait until I have a referral link so that I can refer him, since I already have the card. I have Chase referral links for every other Chase card I have, but not the reserve, Like that's purposely gone. Thanks, Chase.

Speaker 1:

And again, we don't know when they're going to come out with it. It could be tomorrow, it could be next week, I don't know. But my plan is once I get the referral link, as long as it is the you know elevated offer of the 100,000 points plus $500 travel credit we are going. I am going to apply Dwayne for that and hope that he gets approved. I will report back on whether or not we're able to do that once that happens, probably likely on Instagram. So if you don't follow us on Instagram at travel party of five, that is where I will share in the stories. Stories are where I am able to share the most detail, so important to tune into those if you care about this at all.

Speaker 1:

As for the business card, so I am at 424 and Dwayne is at 324. If he's able to get approved for the Sapphire Reserve, that would put him at 424. And I might consider opening up one of the business cards in the next 30 days or so, because that will the six month period to meet. The sub will carry us us through Christmas, so we will have two vacations on their overseas vacations plus Christmas, like gifts and all that, and so I do think that there's a chance we could meet that 30k spend in six months.

Speaker 1:

You know, as long as Q4 is in the mix because you know it's, it's a higher spending time. If you're doing buying groups, it's also going to be a generally a more lucrative time. The buying groups that I'm used to using have been pretty slim pickings for the last three or four months. So I don't I haven't been doing that a ton, but generally I do find in kind of q4, things do pick up a bit. So that is kind of how I'm thinking it through. So I'm going to attempt to get the Chase Sapphire reserve personal card for Dwayne assuming my referral link comes available in the next week or two, and then evaluate getting the business card for one of us in the next 30 to 45 days and then that's probably it. We definitely cannot both do the business card because that would be $60,000 in spend and that's just literally never happening. So those are kind of my thoughts and where we stand on it and my kind of plan be is if he's not approved for the personal card, I'm going to try to apply him for another ink and I would kind of like to do that actually pretty soon in the hopes that maybe Chase has relaxed their approvals, just you know, while this promo is going on. So we will see.

Speaker 1:

Again, check out on Instagram. I will share all the details once we get to, once I'm able to apply Again. I hope this was helpful. Let me know what you're thinking, Reach out to me on Instagram and send me a message if you're planning on getting either of these cards. I do think overall it's a little disappointing. Like you know, I would have loved to see like maybe 150 on the personal and 250 on the reserve. That would be a much, much, much better offer in my opinion, especially for that big of an annual fee. So I don't know. Hope this was helpful. Let me know what you're thinking and stay tuned on Instagram and I'll keep you posted. Okay, bye.