The new Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business surprises, but doesn’t delight

The time has finally arrived for Chase to field an entry in the ultra-premium business credit card market. Today, Chase has announced the all-new Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business. While similar in some ways to the consumer version of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, there are some distinct differences where this card may actually fall short of its consumer counterpart.

Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business quick comparison to Chase Sapphire Reserve (consumer version)

This chart provides a good quick-reference side-by-side comparison between the consumer version (you can read even more about that card here) and the business version of the card Sapphire Reserve card.

Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business annual fee and earning structure

The Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business will have an annual fee of $795. Employee cards cost $0, though note that the main benefit of employee cards is the opportunity for the business owner to earn rewards on employee purchases. Employee cards do not come with lounge access, although they do get access to make restaurant reservations through Chase Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables.

The Sapphire Reserve for Business offers the following return on spend:

• 8x points on Chase Travel purchases
• 5x on eligible Lyft rides through 9/30/27
• 4x points on flights and hotels booked direct
• 3x on social media and search engine advertising
• 1x everywhere else (including on travel not included in the bonus categories above)

Chase Sapphire Reserve coupon credits

As is the case with the consumer version of the card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business comes with a number of key coupon credits. However, this card’s coupon credits differ a bit from the consumer version:

• $300 annual travel credit. This works the same as the consumer version in that you book flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises, and more and you receive up to $300 in automatic statement credits. Note that purchases that qualify will not earn points.
• $120 Global Entry, TSA Precheck or Nexus credit every four years.
• $500 annual The Edit credit. The Edit is a curated list of high-end hotels and resorts similar to Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts. When you book through The Edit, you get benefits like $100 property credit, daily breakfast for two, room upgrades, etc. With the new Sapphire Reserve for Business card, you can get up to $250 in statement credits twice per year (up to $250 from January through June and up to $250 again from July through December) for prepaid bookings made with The Edit. Two-night minimum. Purchases that qualify will not earn points.
• $400 ZipRecruiter credit: Cardmembers can earn up to $200 in statement credits on purchases made directly with ZipRecruiter from January through June and again from July through December).
• $200 Google Workspace credit: Earn up to $200 in annual statement credits on purchases made directly on Google Workspace
• $100 Giftcards.com credit: Earn up to $50 in statement credits from January to June and again from July to December when purchasing gift cards from a curated collection of notable brands on giftcards.com/reservebusiness.
• DashPass + Monthly DoorDash benefits: Cardholders get complimentary DashPass membership for 12 months when activated by 12/31/27 and access to one monthly $5 restaurant promo and two $10 promos for non-restaurant orders. These coupons must be applied at checkout when placing an order and require using your Sapphire Reserve for Business card and that it is enrolled in DashPass. Monthly promos expire each month if unused.
• Lyft $10 discount per month: This works as a coupon in your Lyft account that offers $10 off a ride once per month when using your Sapphire Reserve for Business to pay for that ride.

Additional Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business benefits

The Sapphire Reserve for Business card comes with several other key benefits that are important to understand:

• Like the consumer version, the Sapphire Reserve for Business will have best-in-class travel protections, including primary CDW insurance (though note that Chase has made this coverage secondary for New York State residents), and trip cancellation/interruption protection.
• Points Boost: When booking qualifying travel through Chase Travel, you’ll get 1 cent per point value with most travel, or up to 2 cents per point value for travel with Points Boost offers. We’ve been told that all hotels available through The Edit will have 2x Points Boosts. Read more about Points Boosts in this comprehensive post.
• Complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite Status.
• Access to the Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club network of airport lounges and Priority Pass Select membership. The primary Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business cardmember can also bring two guests per visit. Note that employee cards do not get lounge access except as the qualifying guest of a primary cardholder.
• Access to Chase Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables on OpenTable for both primary and employee cards.
• Cardmembers can access two credit lines: a Pay in Full line, which requires the balance to be fully paid each month, and Flex for Business, which allows for payments over time with interest.

Big spend bonuses

After spending $120,000 each calendar year, Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business cardmembers will unlock the following benefits:

• IHG One Rewards Diamond Elite Status
• Southwest Airlines A-List Status and a $500 Southwest Airlines credit when booked through Chase Travel
• $500 credit to The Shops at Chase, a new online shopping experience designed exclusively for cardmembers allowing them to shop for brands including Dyson, Sony, Therabody and Tumi, with rotating promotions, using their ultimate rewards points or their card to pay.

My thoughts

The Sapphire Reserve for Business has a surprisingly narrow appeal. The card will be an OK fit for some, but I don’t expect that it will excite many small business owners.

On the surface, if you’ll easily use the $300 annual travel credit and the $500 credit for The Edit hotel bookings, it may be easy enough to justify the $795 annual fee with a view of the other benefits as being “icing on the cake”.

However, I find even that situation tenuous at best.

While I might actually be interested in a credit toward bookings through The Edit, triggering the credits isn’t so simple. To take full advantage of the statement credits for The Edit bookings, you need to make a minimum of two two-night bookings each year and one of those two-night bookings must occur between January and June and the other between July and December. I imagine that many business owners have a busy travel season and a less busy season, but they’ll need to take time and focus away from business to make sure that they’ve remembered to plan travel during separate six-month windows in order to use the credit. That increases hassle and decreases appeal.

Let me also re-emphasize a point that I’ve made before: “The Edit” is a silly name for a luxury hotel booking platform. It tells me nothing about what it is. Naming it “The Edit” only means that Amex gets free advertising every time I mention The Edit because in order to explain what The Edit is, I need to say that it is like Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts. I wish Chase would rename it “The Golden Key for Hotels” or “Chase Stays” or “Reserve Rooms” or one of like a million things other than The Edit. /rant

Moving beyond the two marquee benefits, things get a bit more niche yet.

I imagine that few small businesses are both hiring new people every six months and doing it by advertising specifically through ZipRecruiter, so the twice-annual credit for that seems like a once-in-a-while thing at best, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes entirely unused by many businesses. Google Workspace credit is probably useful for a lot of people, though you’ll need to be on the Business Plus or Enterprise plan to get the full $200 out of it. We don’t yet know which gift cards will be eligible for the twice-annual Giftcards.com credits, but since it is a “curated” list, there’s a good chance that the included brands will be ones that are frequently available at a discount elsewhere.

The big spend bonus benefits on this card require $45,000 more in annual spend than the consumer version of the card and the only incremental benefit is another $250 in credit toward The Shops, which is likely to have somewhat inflated prices versus what you could pay elsewhere, particularly when considering stacking opportunities like shopping portals and card-linked offers.

I just don’t see this card as offering a compelling value proposition for many folks. I’m pretty surprised that the card offers no dining bonus category, which makes this a tough choice as a single-card solution for any business that spends a ton on travel since most businesses that spend a lot of travel likely also spend a lot on dining.

I think this card could be fairly appealing for a business that books a lot of travel through Chase, particularly a lot of flights through Chase Travel since earning 8x on flights could make for a good return. That said, when things go wrong, you’ll need to manage things through Chase Travel rather than directly through the airline or hotel. Still, if you prefer to book directly, earning 4x on direct airline and hotel bookings is good. And some businesses spend a lot of money on social media / search engine advertising (I see the same businesses advertised again and again and again in my Facebook feed, which tells me that some businesses must spend a lot there).

But in order for this card to be better than other others in those categories, you’ll really need to make use of a lot of the coupon credits. Consider that, at least for now, the Chase Ink Business Preferred offers both 3x on all travel and 3x on advertising on social media sites (on up to $150K per year) and its annual fee is only $95. It would be hard to justify an additional $700 on the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business unless you can really make use of many of the coupon credits.

If you can do that, this card might pay for itself. Personally, I’d not find this one to be worth the effort on an ongoing basis. That said, with a strong enough welcome offer, I might be tempted to try it out for a year.

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