I’m Thinking About Canceling My Chase Sapphire Reserve And What I’ll Use Instead

Don’t get me wrong: The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is still fundamentally a great card. Its $300 travel credit effectively drops the annual fee to just $250 per year. That’s lower than many other premium travel cards and may be reason enough for me to keep the card.

That being said, these days I’m hardly ever using the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Instead of relying on it for my everyday purchases—or even most of my travel purchases—I’m using a combination of other cards to earn more rewards.

Here’s a breakdown of how the Chase Sapphire Reserve® earns rewards:

• 5 points per dollar on flights and 10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals when purchasing travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually
• 3 points per dollar on other travel and dining
• 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases

While the earnings are pretty solid if you’re only looking to hold one credit card, they can be outdone with a handful of other cards. That’s exactly what I’ve done.

First and foremost: I don’t like to book hotels or rental cars through a third party like Chase Travel℠, since in doing so I’ll lose the ability to earn elite credit or enjoy elite status benefits. That means I’ll never take advantage of the 10 points per dollar offering.

I’m also not going to use the card to book flights through Chase Travel. Instead, I use The Platinum Card® from American Express to do so since it earns 5 American Express Membership Rewards® on eligible flights (up to $500,000 per calendar year) and lets me book directly with the airline. This means I have more leverage if things go wrong with my ticket, since I won’t need to negotiate with a middleman to get things done.

And while the 3 points per $1 spent on dining isn’t a bad return, it doesn’t beat out the 4 Membership Rewards points (up to $50,000 per calendar year) I get with my American Express® Gold Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees), so I’m not pulling it out when I’m at a restaurant.

That leaves general travel, which would be useful if I weren’t putting my hotel stays on co-branded credit cards (such as the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express* and The World of Hyatt Credit Card*). Co-branded hotel credit cards earn more than the 3 points per dollar the Chase Sapphire Reserve is willing to give me.

It also leaves 1 point per dollar spent on everyday spending, which I’ve completely nixed by the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (rates & fees). It earns 2 Capital One miles on every purchase, with no limit, handily beating out the Chase Sapphire Reserve.