Deciding whether to get the CSR

[ohgillian]

I'm considering getting the CSR (Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card). CSR people, have you found it worth it? I'm under 5/24 and we are planning a bunch of travel in the upcoming 2 years. wildrice sunshineandpinot

One thing I"m uncertain about is whether I"ll get enough value out of the UR points using the UR travel portal - I can't actually see the portal now, so I just feel unsettled about how that whole part works.

Opinions on this card?

ETA: If you have CSR is it your primary card for everything and if not, which types of transactions do you use this card for as your primary? Dining and travel only?

[just]

So, I haven't moved to the Reserve (we have the Preferred) even though it's considered the better card, because of the $75 authorized user fee for my DH - which brings the cost up to $225. Since we both travel separately, we both need the card. Also I'm not yet a citizen so I couldn't use the benefit of Global Entry easily. When I did the calculations last time it was best to keep the Preferred for us. I probably need to revisit that though.

I haven't had issues using or finding value in the UR points. We use it for everything except gas and whole foods because our Amazon card is better for that.

[ohgillian]

Aug 7, 2019 9:26:43 GMT -5 just said:

So, I haven't moved to the Reserve (we have the Preferred) even though it's considered the better card, because of the $75 authorized user fee for my DH - which brings the cost up to $225. Since we both travel separately, we both need the card. Also I'm not yet a citizen so I couldn't use the benefit of Global Entry easily. When I did the calculations last time it was best to keep the Preferred for us. I probably need to revisit that though.

I haven't had issues using or finding value in the UR points. We use it for everything except gas and whole foods because our Amazon card is better for that.

I'm kind of hung up on that too. When the CSR was launched with the 100k bonus, I think the CSR had a clear advantage. But I was over 5/24 at that point, and not travelling as much. Now that CSR is at 50k UR, maybe I would be just as fine with the CSP. 

[wildrice]

I love it! I originally assumed I would cancel after my first year, but I think I am about to go into my 3rd year with it and don't intend to cancel. With the $300 travel credit, it is essentially $150 a year and I do feel it is worth at least that.

I have found the chase portal very flexible. Not every flight or hotel is available there, but there are always lots of choices to pick from. I like that the points are converted into dollars - so when I log into the portal, it will say " you have 40k points, which is equal to $X toward travel". So it's very transparent. If I find a flight via Google flights with a price that I like, I can usually find it on Chase for the same or almost same price, so you know you are getting a good deal. I dislike credit cards that use miles because it's so hard to know how many miles you actually need for a flight.

The Chase portal also let's you do rental cars and activities (in some places) so that's pretty nice too. We had a lovely walking food tour in Costa Rica for free this way!

I use the card only for dining and travel. They are very generous with what counts for those...things like vending machines and parking, taxi and ride share apps are considered travel. So is public transit locally. I have a Chase freedom card that I use for everything else. This is because the CSR only gives 1 point per dollar on non- dining and travel purchases, but the Freedom gives you 1.5. You can transfer points between accounts, so they end up combined when I go to use them. This has worked well for me.

The priority pass lounge access is also nice, though limited at many airports. We have a small domestic lounge available to us at our local airport, which means we always eat and drink there for free before flying. They also have deals with some restaurants where you get $27 for the cardholder and their companions toward food and drinks. H and I have taken advantage of that a couple of times in Houston. If this perk is a "make or break" thing for you though I would check out a list of eligible airports first, though. I have been in multiple airports where there were no lounges at all that qualify so it really just depends on where you are.

The only other thing to be aware of is that the CSR charges $75 for an authorized user card. The Freedom does not charge anything. My H and I rarely dine out  and almost never travel separately so he does not have a CSR. I just always pay when we go out. I don't think it's worth another $75 unless you are both doing significant spending on that when alone.

[ohgillian]

Thanks for the feedback here, just and wildrice. I decided to go ahead with the CSR over the CSP, and after I was approved I called to get them shipped expedited. I knew Chase doesn't give immediate account numbers, but I tried to get them to anyway. LOL no, they wouldn't.

[sunnysally]

We have the CSR and it is worth it for us. DH is not an authorized user since we usually travel together. We use it mostly for dining and travel since we get better rewards on groceries, gas, and Amazon with other cards. We were recently in Amsterdam and the people in front of us were turned away from the lounge but we were admitted. I think the lounge access is a fairly high level. We have also received upgrades at a few hotels when using the card. I've booked flights once and had a good experience. The price was the same as other sites, and the booking experience was easy and transparent. I haven't had experience using the travel insurance but a coworker did and said the process was straightforward.

[just]

I should mention that there was some confusion on one of our hotel bookings in Bangkok. The hotel wanted us to pay, we’d used points. We called the number on the back of the card and within 15 minutes they had called the hotel, and clarified the issue. They also preemptively contacted our other Thai hotels booked with points to ensure that no other issues would arise.

[ny96]

We have the CSR and will likely continue to renew. Between the portal, the $300 credit, the 3x points on travel and dining, and global entry reimbursement it more than pays for itself and makes it worth it. The only benefit I don’t love is priority lounge. We’ve used it a couple times and it’s been fine, but there aren’t lounges at most of the airports we frequent and it was one of the benefits I was looking forward to the most.

[steamboat185]

I know this is a bit old and it sounds like you’ve gone ahead and gotten the card, but I wanted to add another it’s worth it voice. We recently had a trip and used trip delay, trip cancellation, lost luggage, and the car insurance benefits. The card has saved us thousands and gave us piece of mind as our vacation went sideways. I’m sure we could have bought an individual policy, but the I’d rather pay the annual fee and have everything in one place.

And using the portal we were able to get 4 tickets to Australia for just over 160k points. Had we booked using our frequent flyer miles it would have been 320k miles. (We bought during an airfare sale).