If you’re still looking for a great travel credit card to help maximize your summer travel spending, the new Chase Sapphire Reserve® welcome offer could help make up your mind.

For a limited time, you can earn up to 150,000 bonus points with this card when you spend $6,000 within the first three months.

This bonus is one of the best we’ve seen from the Sapphire Reserve — and worth over $1,500 in travel. Combined with this premium travel card’s benefits and rewards, it can help you gain major savings on an upcoming vacation.

Chase Sapphire Reserve details

Read our full review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve

How to maximize the 150,000-point Chase Sapphire Reserve bonus

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are flexible and can be redeemed in multiple ways toward future travel. You’ll typically get the best value when you redeem points through Chase Travel or transfer them to Chase’s travel partners.

At a redemption value of one cent per point, the 150,000-point welcome bonus is worth at least $1,500 for future travel.

But don’t forget about the extra points you’ll get while earning the bonus. You’ll need to spend $6,000 within the first three months to qualify for the limited-time bonus. Even if you only earn one point per dollar in non-bonus categories, that’s another 6,000 points you’ll have in addition to your bonus. In total, you could earn at least 156,000 points within the first three months of opening your Chase Sapphire Reserve. And if you meet the spending threshold by making purchases in the card’s bonus categories — like flight and hotel bookings (4x points) or dining (3x points) — you’ll earn even more.

Once you’ve earned the bonus points, here’s a closer look at how you can redeem them:

Chase Travel

Let’s say you have an upcoming wedding to attend this summer. You and your partner plan to travel from your home in the Chicago area to the wedding in Seattle for a long weekend, leaving Aug. 6 and returning Aug. 9.

You could book two round-trip flights through Chase Travel using 119,159 points, and still have a significant amount of points left to put toward your hotel stay for the trip. In cash, those nonstop flights are worth over $1,100.

However, this redemption doesn’t account for the extra value you can get when you redeem using a Points Boost deal through Chase Travel. With a Chase Sapphire Reserve, your points are worth up to 2x per dollar for select flight and hotel redemptions using Points Boost. When you book, make sure you look for Points Boost offers that can help you get more for each point you redeem.

Travel transfer partners

Another way to maximize value with your Chase Sapphire Reserve points is by transferring them 1:1 to travel partners.

These include airline programs like JetBlue TrueBlue, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus, Air Canada Aeroplan, and more. Hotel programs include IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, and World of Hyatt.

Let’s say you already have flights covered for the wedding you’re attending in August, and you want to use your points on a nice hotel in Seattle instead.

If you’re a World of Hyatt member, you could transfer your points to your account with the hotel loyalty program, and redeem a total 54,000 points for three nights at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Seattle.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer at a 1:1 ratio, so you’d only need to transfer 54,000 points for this stay — leaving you with 96,000 points from your welcome bonus to put toward a future trip.

Should you get the Chase Sapphire Reserve?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is a premium travel card that’s best suited for people who travel a lot and spend a significant amount of money on travel every year. The $795 annual fee is steep, so it’s important to make sure you’re getting enough value from your rewards and benefits to justify the fee.

Luckily, there are a few valuable benefits that can go a long way toward offsetting the cost. Each year, you’ll get $300 in statement credits toward travel purchases made with the card. You’ll also get complimentary airport lounge access, $250 in credits for select Chase Travel hotel stays, up to $500 for eligible prepaid bookings with The Edit hotels, up to $300 in annual dining credits, up to $25 per month in DoorDash promos, up to $10 per month toward Lyft rides, and much more.

If you already regularly spend money on these purchases, credits alone can more than offset the annual fee.

You’ll also get great rewards on travel spending. That includes 8x points on travel you book using Chase Travel and 4x points on flights and hotel stays booked directly with the airline or hotel. And while you’re at home or traveling, you’ll also earn 3x points on dining out at restaurants.

For travelers who book a combination of flights, hotels, rental cars, or tours multiple times per year, these bonus rewards can add up to solid savings when you’re ready to redeem — and if you can use Points Boost offers, you’ll get even more redemption value.

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