Chase Sapphire Reserve® for Business review: A perks powerhouse for business travelers

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® for Business card is Chase’s entry into the luxury business travel card category, and though it carries a heavy price tag compared to Chase’s comparable personal travel card, it’s a valuable addition to the business credit card market. This new rewards card offers solid rates and a ton of valuable perks that can prove useful for both travel and business spending.

If your business requires a lot of travel, the Sapphire Reserve for Business can a great pick, especially if you make the most of its perks. But, as is the case with costly business cards, this might not be the best pick for small businesses with minimal spending.

Why you might want the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business

You’ll want the Sapphire Reserve for Business if you travel often throughout the year and find value with the card’s expansive perks portfolio.

Valuable rewards for business and travel

This card’s rewards rates for general purchases, advertising and directly booked travel aren’t jumping off the page relative to other cards’ rates, but these rates on a Chase card are actually really incredible. Most people who travel can find value with the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal because Chase Ultimate Rewards are a relatively luxurious travel rewards currency.

Bankrate values Chase points at 2.0 cents per point, which is a fairly substantial valuation compared to other cards’ rewards. The Sapphire Reserve for Business earns Chase Ultimate Rewards, and business owners who use the card for purchases in its boosted rewards categories can accumulate a good chunk of valuable credit card rewards fairly quickly because of the card’s generous rates.

You might usually expect your travel card to cover your travel purchases with a generous rewards rate and that’s all. But this card goes a step further to include boosted rewards for advertising purchases on social media sites and search engines. That said, you won’t want this card if you only pay for advertising and expect to leverage those rewards into a travel redemption strategy, but it can be a great card on which to consolidate your advertising and travel purchases.

A welcome offer with real value for big spenders 

To determine if a card is right for you, always look at the welcome offer. It’s usually hard to know what’s reasonable when you can’t know what other cardholders are charging to the same card you’re considering, and average consumer spending analyses only reveal so much information about the consumers surveyed. A card’s welcome offer is almost like a benchmark the issuer provides for what they expect their target audience to spend with the card they’re issuing. In this case, Chase believes $30,000 in a 6 month period is a reasonable spending volume for the target audience of this card.

So, is $30,000 in 6 months reasonable to you? If so, this card might be a great fit for you. If you meet the spending requirement you’ll earn 200,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards, which Bankrate values at about $4,000. For the sake of comparison, this card’s welcome offer can be worth the same as the spending requirement on most premium personal rewards cards.

A $30,000 spending requirement is huge. You’ll need to spend an average of $5,000 per month to meet it, which indicates it might be realistic for business owners who fly business class at least twice each month.

Practical travel perks

It’s often that credit cards with long lists of perks are stacked with impractical “coupon” credits for things you won’t buy or use on a regular basis. This card is a little different; it packs in a lot of realistic perks and benefits that you can easily use. A $300 travel credit and $500 annual credit (awarded as $250 semi-annually) for The Edit (a collection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts) are enough to offset the card’s annual fee, but there also credits for Global Entry or TSA Precheck, Lyft and perks for lounge access. Here’s a full list:

• Up to $500 statement credits for The Edit – Chase Travel’s collection of over 1,100 hand-picked hotels and resorts ($250 semi-annually)
• Complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite Status (through December 31, 2027; not available for Employee Cardmembers)
• Up to $300 annual travel statement credit — one of the most flexible and easy-to-use travel credits available
• Up to $500 Southwest Airlines credit when booked through Chase Travel (if you spend $120,000 on your card in a calendar year)
• Airport lounge access for yourself and two guests, including Sapphire Lounges by the Club and Priority Pass Select membership (Employee cardmembers do not have their own access but they can access the lounges as guests of the Primary Cardmember; two guests may accompany the Primary Cardmember to the lounges free of charge)
• One of the most comprehensive travel protection and trip insurance packages available
• Up to $120 credit for Global Entry, TSA Precheck or Nexus application fees every four years
• Up to $10 monthly Lyft in-app credits (through September 30, 2027)
• Access to Chase Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables on OpenTable, in partnership with the Visa Dining Collection

You’ll struggle to find practical value comparable to what this card offers on many other cards. Other cards like the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express have lush perks that include credits, but there are often purchase requirements for products or services that might not match your current spending. The Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business includes perks that you can earn with your regular travel spending and small adjustments to your travel bookings, like choosing locations included in The Edit.

Generous business and spending perks

You’ll receive spending and business incentives along with your travel perks. These can go a long way in making the card worth it if you spend as much or less on travel than you do on business purchases, like software and services. Here are some of the business and spending perks you can expect:

• Up to $400 annual statement credits with ZipRecruiter ($200 semi-annually)
• Up to $200 annual statement credit for Google Workspace toward AI tools for business
• Up to $100 statement credits for Giftcards.com ($50 semi-annually), when purchasing gift cards on giftcards.com/reservebusiness
• Up to $500 credit to The Shops at Chase, a new exclusive online shopping outlet with rotating promotions and the ability to pay using Ultimate Rewards (if you spend $120,000 on your card in a calendar year)

Along with these you’ll also get purchase protection and no-cost employee cards. These perks are enough to offset your annual fee before accounting for any rewards earnings.

Why you might want a different card

Credit cards like this don’t come without their drawbacks, and for this one it’s the annual fee. You’ll pay nearly $800 just to hold this card, so the burden of offsetting that cost will fall on your shoulders.

High annual fee

You won’t start seeing real value from this card until you’ve spent a large chunk of money to offset the card’s annual fee. If you book all of your travel directly with airlines or hotels, you’ll earn 4X points.

If you assume a high redemption value of 2.0 cents per point, you’ll need to spend about $9,940 on directly booked travel to offset the card’s annual fee. If you travel business class this is a pretty reasonable ask, but if you aim to spend the minimum on travel you might struggle to earn enough value to offset the $795 annual fee.

Usability and travel limitations

Chase’s partnership with Southwest poses an obvious limitation for travelers who don’t fly often with Southwest, or who don’t live near a Southwest hub. People in the eastern half of the United States might not use Southwest as often as people from the west coast or the mid-west regions. Although Chase has other travel partners, there is a $500 statement credit for Southwest available on this card that you might not get to use if you don’t use that airline.

If you’re spending $795 to hold the card, you should make a priority of using every single perk the card offers. Any limitation on using those perks will make it harder to offset the card’s annual fee with your Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

How does the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business compare to other business cards?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business is a fairly competitive card with a coupon-book approach to offsetting its high annual fee. It’s a familiar formula we see on the Business Platinum Card from American Express, but one that might be appealing to Chase customers with big budgets and who travel frequently via Chase’s travel partners.

The Business Platinum Card® from American Express	Capital One Venture X Business	Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Rewards rate Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points for flights, prepaid hotels, and short-term rentals and prepaid flight + hotel packages booked at AmexTravel.com. Earn 1.5X points (that’s an extra half point per dollar) on each eligible purchase at US construction material, hardware suppliers, electronic goods retailers, and software & cloud system providers, and shipping providers, as well as on purchases of $5,000 or more, on up to $2 million per Card Account per calendar year. Purchases eligible for multiple additional point bonuses will only receive the highest eligible bonus. Earn 1X points on other eligible purchases.	Rewards rate 2 miles per dollar on every purchase 5 miles per dollar on flights and vacation rentals booked through Capital One's travel booking site 10 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One's travel booking site	Rewards rate Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases – with no limit to the amount you can earn
Welcome offer Limited Time Travel Offer: Earn 150,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $20,000 on eligible purchases on your Business Platinum Card® within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Plus, earn a $500 statement credit after you spend $2,500 on qualifying flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel with your Business Platinum Card® within the first 3 months of Card Membership. You can earn one or both of these offers. Offer ends 6/30/25.	Welcome offer Earn 150,000 bonus miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 3 months from account opening	Welcome offer Earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual fee $695	Annual fee $395	Annual fee $95
Other things to know Global entry or TSA PreCheck credit Airport lounge access Trip delay insurance Extended purchase warranty Credits for Adobe and Dell purchases	Other things to know Card must be paid in full at the end of each billing cycle $300 annual credit for bookings made through Capital One Travel Statement credit for Global Entry or TSA Precheck Access to Capital One lounges	Other things to know Points Boost when you redeem points for travel in Ultimate Rewards portal Free employee cards $600 cellphone protection ($100 deductible, 3X per year) Primary rental car insurance

Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business vs. The Business Platinum Card® from American Express 

A card like The Business Platinum Card® from American Express stands toe-to-toe with the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business because it has a comparable annual fee and offers a lush perks portfolio. The Business Platinum, however, is a slightly more rewarding card for directly booked travel. The Business Platinum’s most generous rewards rate is 5X points, which you’ll earn when you book travel directly or through AmexTravel.com. The Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business rewards you generously with 4X points for booking travel directly.

Although these cards have different rewards rates, both issuers’ rewards points have comparable value at about 2.0 cents per point. If you prefer to shop for flights and hotels directly from service providers you might prefer the Business Platinum because you’ll earn more American Express Membership Rewards this way. But if you fly often with Chase’s travel partners, particularly Southwest, and don’t mind booking directly through Chase’s travel portal, the Reserve for Business will be the more rewarding option.

Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business vs. Capital One Venture X Business Card 

The Capital One Venture X Business Card is a much more affordable option than the Reserve for Business, but it lacks the expansive perks of both the Reserve for Business and the Business Platinum card from Amex. However, its affordability is easier to offset with rewards because it offers 2X miles on every purchase, other than purchases made through Capital One’s travel booking site (which have boosted rates of either 5X or 10X points).

The only downside is Capital One Miles are not as valuable as Chase Ultimate Rewards. Bankrate values Capital One Miles at 1.7 cents per mile. This card’s 150,000-mile welcome offer has an estimated value of $2,550. It also has the same spending requirement as the Reserve for Business, but you get half the amount of time to earn it.

Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business vs. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

The Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card will be a great option if you’re not interested in the complex perks and rewards rates presented on the Reserve for Business or another business travel card. If you value simplicity over everything else and just want a credit card for business and travel purchases, the Business Preferred offers a generous rewards rate for travel and select business categories (on the first $150,000 spent each year) with a low $95 annual fee. It’s a great card to hold if you only want one business credit card for all of your business and travel purchases.

It also has a fairly generous welcome offer that’s easier to earn than most other business cards’ offers. You’ll only need to spend $8,000 in your first three months to earn 90,000 points. This offer is worth an estimated $1,800.

How to use Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business

• Spend $30,000 in your first 6 months with the card to earn its welcome offer.
• Stay at a hotel or resort included in The Edit semi-annually to earn up to $500 in credits.
• Use the card for travel purchases to earn the card’s $300 annual travel credit.
• Explore Sapphire Lounges when you travel.
• Apply for Global Entry, Nexus or TSA Precheck to earn up to a $120 credit every four years.
• Order a Lyft every month to earn a $10 credit.
• Purchase ZipRecruiter’s services to earn a $400 annual credit ($200 semi-annually)
• Purchase a $50 gift card on Giftcards.com semi-annually to earn up to $100 in annual credits.
• Spend $120,000 each year to earn a $500 Southwest Airlines credit (via Chase Travel) and a $500 credit to The Shops at Chase.
• Use the card for all your business and travel purchases to continue earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Is the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business right for you?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business is right for you if you can afford its annual fee and will use enough of the card’s perks to offset that cost without drastically changing anything about your spending habits or card strategy. If you’re going out of your way to use card perks and make the most of credits, you might be trying to justify the card in an unnatural way.

A card like this one is really only worth it if the perks work for you — they’re why the annual fee is so high. It has generous rewards, but you can find great rewards rates on most cards. A rate of 8X points on Chase travel or 4X points on directly-booked travel are ground-breaking. If you can do without the perks and you’re hoping to find a card that rewards you for your purchases you could get away with a strong flat-rate card or a simple, tiered business rewards card with much lower annual fees.