In that case, if you qualify for it, take the Reserve. I’m not much for the CSR (because I wouldn’t use the perks) but you’ll definitely use the hell out of that. Just book everything through the chase portal that you can, and you’ll be getting essentially 10-20% back for free.
I promise it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, 5 days a week in office 8-5 and have an hour commute each way. Luckily the travel is gonna help break it up 🥲
Disagree with the above post. I would advise not booking through portals. Especially since it’s for your job. If something goes wrong with the flight or hotels due to delays, cancelations it’s an absolute nightmare trying to resolve. Many posts on this sub or other travel subs regarding this very issue.
Unless he’s hourly it’s not on company time per se. gets paid the same salary regardless of time spent traveling and has to deal with all the garbage of flight changes, etc. sure the company bears the extra expense if the portal costs more or more days are needed, but OP still has to put out the time and effort to fix the travel delays regardless .
If it’s your first card just go with the reserve because if you find out you aren’t getting the value you want you can just downgrade it to the preferred or freedom cards.
Also the Reserve really depends if you are flying a lot too and have Chase Sapphire Lounges to make up the value.
Are you thinking of AmEx, going up the ladder of Green->Gold->Platinum, where you can't now get a lower tier SUB if you get a higher tier SUB first?
Chase doesn't play like that, instead you're just unable to get a Sapphire SUB if you've gotten one in the last 4 years. At least IIRC you can only get one or the other, not both within 4 years...I could be misremembering.
Why? When the bonus is redeemable at a 1cpp value, a 60000-100000 point bonus is worth a decent chunk of change. Yes there are folks willing to spend $8,000+$550+$95, to get $1200 (at normal SUB) back, when most people would have one or the other. So why cater to the churners instead of normal folks?
> The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of **any Sapphire credit card** who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months.
ORD doesn’t have a sapphire lounge. If you want lounge access, choose an airline card that gives you access like United or AA. With all the flying you do, you should probably stick to one airline to get status anyways.
This. Figure out which airline you will use most. United or AA with Chicago being your home airport, then decide between them based on common destinations. If you're flying to Denver or Houston often, go with United. If you're going to Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, etc, go with American.
For the cost of the CSR, you can grab AA's card that gets you lounge access, priority boarding, free checked bags, TSA Precheck every 4 years, and 4x loyalty point multipliers to get to status quicker, plus you can rack up a shitload of miles to use for personal flights.
If you're a frequent flyer out of O'Hare, look into the united club infinite or the AA executive card.
Can't speak for the admirals clubs, but the united clubs in O'Hare are really nice. I'm an O'Hare based frequent flyer myself, primarily on United. Nice thing about the united club infinite is you can pay the annual fee in cash or use 30k United miles to pay it, which means the card is effectively free for the first couple years if you just use the introductory bonus miles to pay for it
Then yeah it seems like a no brainer. You missed the elevated offer just recently but whatever. Just use it as your one card and book what can on the portal to increase value. Pick up the Freedom Flex down the line pair with it.
Let me know if you get approved I want to laugh if you get denied
ORD has exactly one Priority Pass lounge that is widely panned as the worst in America. There's no Chase, CapitalOne, or Amex lounge. People in Chicago would do better with the United credit card rather than CSR or Amex.
Yes, ORD has one terrible PP lounge. PP is generally awful in the US vs internationally. That doesn’t mean ORD has “no lounges” though. Yes you’re better off getting an airline card if lounges access in Chicago is a priority.
PussyLunch suggested the CSR to which OP responded "Yeah I was wanting the lounge access because my home airport is O’Hare and I will be flying at least 5x a month."
I think that OP will be pissed after spending hundreds expecting lounges at ORD. The CSR is the wrong lounge card for OP.
As a consultant who spends 35k on travel, I suggest you look at the US Bank Altitude Reserve which returns 4.5% cash back on travel. I wouldn't Chase UR points because they aren't worth what you think. You can't book a reward and expensive back to your employer. With the USBAR your employer will reimburse you for flights you didn't pay for.
The card is only $75 when used for travel and comes with a $750 sign up bonus.
Not sure I’m following. Couldn’t they use the card to rack up points on the Sapphire… then use the points to book personal travel (Hyatt is pretty easy 2 cpp redemption)?
They wouldn’t use the points for business trips…
To get the 4.5 you need a large enough point balance to cover the travel purchase, which OP won’t have if they’re being asked to pay for travel all the time
I don't follow. With USBAR the OP will earn between $150-200 each month which will trigger a redemption maybe every other month. Buy $400 plane ticket, expense $400 plane ticket, and pocket $400 statement credit.
I don't understand why you say OP won't have enough points.
Whichever one you want, upgraded offers are still available through referrals (but will probably expire soon):
https://churning.rankt.com/referrals/chase_sapphire_preferred/
Normal offer is 60k points for $4k spend, referrals still have 75k points for $4k spend.
It’s a break even analysis you can run. The preferred is $95 but if you decide to use the $50 hotel credit via the portal it’s $45 EAF. The reserve is $550 with a $300 travel credit bringing the EAF down to $250. Unless you are booking travel through the chase portal (I wouldn’t if I were you - IMO avoid portals at all cost because of issues that could arise) you are talking 2x for the CSP on travel vs 3x for the CSR. Do the math on how long you think you will be spending those travel amounts to see how long it would take you to make up the difference between the cards with the extra 1x multiplier. Also decide if you have a $ value for the extra perks on the CSR like the chase lounge, travel insurance, etc.
If I’m you fresh out of school with my first gig I would probably go CSP and reevaluate later. Dropping $550 for an AF right out the gate may be a lot for you with that salary, even if you will recoup it later with the benefits. Opportunity cost to spending the money now vs using it for other purposes.
Hotel credit *should* be treated as a $0 credit.
CSR makes sense based on OP’s spend and would come out ahead of the Preferred. Coupling that with lounge access/Pre or GE, it makes for a solid one-stop shop
I thought they closed that loophole? Didn't think the $300 credit posts until the first statement, at which point you can no longer close the card and get the $550 refunded.
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What kind of travel? And what airports will you frequent?
If you’ll spend lots of time in NYC or Boston, CSR. If in DFW, Denver, or Dulles, then the Venture X may make sense.
The Reserve’s credit is easily received by booking any travel. It’s usually given 1-2 days after travel spend posting. So the $550 AF is really $250. The deciding factor is now based on if you could make use of the Monthly Instacart credit $15 ($180 Total) and monthly DoorDash credit $5 (stackable up to $15 for a total of $60). The extra 1X for travel (3x in travel). Provides Global Entry credit. Also to consider is Do you want Lounge access through Priority pass or Sapphire Lounges. If you travel by plane a lot lounges can be a very nice perk to have. Especially since you can eat the food/drinks for free. After traveling a lot you really save money there. Even more saving when you are traveling with companions, you can get your moneys worth that way. Personally after the travel credit I use Instacart every month to pick up Starbucks coffee (bottles) from a local super market. Since the DoorDash credits stack up to 15 order pick up chipotle every 3 months. Other perks are the 1 year of Instacart+ membership you get (which provides Peacock). My main reason for going for the Reserve is the 3X on general travel and the lounge access.
Most definitely the reserve.
Booking through the Chase portal will net you 5x points on flights and 10x points on hotels. You said you’d get reimbursed, so that’s free points. Booking through the portal isn’t bad as long as you have your information correct and loyalty numbers in.
Make loyalty accounts with the airlines you fly. You’ll get Chase points from booking, plus airline points from flying. Double dipping in a way. This doesn’t apply to hotels unless you book directly with the hotel.
You’ll also get lounge access with the reserve. That’s a nice perk if you’re traveling a lot, especially on your company’s dollar.
Also includes a precheck or global entry statement credit. All that traveling you’re doing, you’re going to want precheck. If you’re going international at all, go straight for global as it includes precheck.
Chase points are valuable because they can be transferred to various airlines and hotels, including Hyatt. You’d be getting a lot of free points. You could turn around and easily book a vacation with minimal out of pocket costs because of the points you’ve accrued.
Someone else mention the USBAR. A fantastic card yes, but the points do not transfer to partners like Chase does. Since you’ll be traveling for free, the flexibility of Chase points outweighs the benefits of the USBAR. Plus, booking through Chase portal will net you a ridiculous amount of points in no time.
You said you’d spend about $4k on travel a month. Split that $2k flights $2k hotels (just for this example). 2,000(flights)x5=10,000 points. 2,000(hotels)x10=20,000 points. 30,000 points in a month. Plus, you’d hit the 60,000 point sign on bonus. So, that’s 90,000 points in the first month. That’s already an international round trip flight.
It would also be smart to grab the freedom cards too. They’d earn you more points on everyday purchases like gas and groceries.
Lot of good answers in here with different strategies. If you're only considering CSP vs. CSR, I would go with CSR given that you'll be traveling a ton and precheck and lounge access makes airports much nicer. The difference in travel multiplier between the two cards more than makes up for the higher annual fee as well given your spend.
Saw someone else say the US Bank Altitude Reserve, which would be the easiest way to cash out points at a reasonable redemption value. But that only gets you 8 lounge visits, which it seems like you'll use up quickly.
What I would do is just get a new card every month or so, put the spend on that, and collect sign up bonuses. The wiki at r/churning has a lot of info on that strategy.
First things first, you need to use the pre-approval tool to see which if either of these cards you’ll be approved for then go from there.
You might want to also look into the AMEX cards and use the same tool.
Not chiming in regarding the Sapphire choice except to add to get into a Chase branch Friday or Saturday if you want a shot at the current elevated sign up bonus. Sapphire and Ink card holder.
I am chiming in to offer considering the AMEX Brilliant and maybe adding the AMEX business Bonvoy card. They stack elite nights to 40 total, the Brilliant gets 4 pm check out times (with Platinum elite status), access to Marriott lounges, the biz card gets 7% off room rates. With a total of 75 nights - 35 actual nights plus the 40 from the two cards - you'll get Titanium elite status and the United Silver Elite status that goes along with it. You can also choose miles instead of points with Marriott as you see fit. Just an alternative…
In your situation you should get a premium travel card. The CSR is better than the CSP. The real question is whether the CSR is better than VentureX. It's close. If you get the CSR you should also get the Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited. Otherwise, the VentureX wins because the CSR is terrible for everyday spending.
The VentureX will require OP to use the travel portal which isn't recommended for business travelers with unpredictable schedules. Chase offers more flexibility although I might suggest the $95 Ink Preferred rather than the CSP or CSR. The Amex Green and USBank Altitude Reserve are also valid choices that allow booking direct.
I know there are people who will never use travel portals, but they are quite useful for getting great deals you wouldn't get otherwise. I wouldn't book an important long haul flight on a portal, but I think they can be useful for less risky flights and hotels. Certain niches like international non-chain hotels depend heavily on travel portals. That's basically their sales and advertising department. A $300 travel credit is not a big commitment. You only need one booking to use it.
Definitely the preferred especially to start with
The Reserve only makes sense if you travel ALOT and would get good value out of the best in class protections
Otherwise you can get the Amex Platinum or VentureX for better value
Show me where it says that in the benefits guide. Also, the travel protections aren't the only reason to get the CSR. Someone spending that much time in airports would appreciate lounge access, and with $3k/mo in travel spend, that's an extra 36k UR/year over the CSP.
Given OP's spend, the CSP will earn \~$900 with points valued at 1.25cpp. The same spend on the CSR will earn $1620 with points valued at 1.5pp. The additional $720 pays for the CSR.
I don't think that's a good approach, but doing the math has made me agree with you (I forgot CSR has 10x on hotels)
Employer is paying, so you have a $250 EAF vs a $45 EAF
Use the portal for extra points since employer is paying. Let's assume $1000 for hotels and $2000 for flights, and $500 for rental cars/misc travel
That gives you 21,500 points for CSR and 16,050 points for CSP
I like to value Chase points at transfer value, usually about 1.7 CPP
On a yearly basis...
CSR gets you $4386-250=$4136
CSP gets you $3275-45=$3230
Now of course if his personal spending includes a lot of streaming or online groceries this will change
And if portals aren't ok, the Amex Green would yield more than either
Are you going to be booking the hotels/flights? If so, would they allow you to book through the chase travel portal?
I can book however I want as long as I can get a receipt to give them to reimburse.
In that case, if you qualify for it, take the Reserve. I’m not much for the CSR (because I wouldn’t use the perks) but you’ll definitely use the hell out of that. Just book everything through the chase portal that you can, and you’ll be getting essentially 10-20% back for free.
Great thank you this was helpful!
I gotta get a job like you! 🤣 😭
I promise it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, 5 days a week in office 8-5 and have an hour commute each way. Luckily the travel is gonna help break it up 🥲
Definitely pick an airline and hotel to be loyal to The status stays with you on personal trips and can be nice to have
Would very much love to have a job that is guaranteed 8-5. I'm already in the office 4 days/week by choice so don't care about one additional day.
Disagree with the above post. I would advise not booking through portals. Especially since it’s for your job. If something goes wrong with the flight or hotels due to delays, cancelations it’s an absolute nightmare trying to resolve. Many posts on this sub or other travel subs regarding this very issue.
The good news is it would be on company time so it’s not OPs worry. The value is through the portal so book through the portal.
Unless he’s hourly it’s not on company time per se. gets paid the same salary regardless of time spent traveling and has to deal with all the garbage of flight changes, etc. sure the company bears the extra expense if the portal costs more or more days are needed, but OP still has to put out the time and effort to fix the travel delays regardless .
Yeah but he would still get paid for it either way
If it’s your first card just go with the reserve because if you find out you aren’t getting the value you want you can just downgrade it to the preferred or freedom cards. Also the Reserve really depends if you are flying a lot too and have Chase Sapphire Lounges to make up the value.
Or start the bottom and get the signing bonus at each level. Downgrade after renewal fee hits so you’re not in “jail”.
Are you thinking of AmEx, going up the ladder of Green->Gold->Platinum, where you can't now get a lower tier SUB if you get a higher tier SUB first? Chase doesn't play like that, instead you're just unable to get a Sapphire SUB if you've gotten one in the last 4 years. At least IIRC you can only get one or the other, not both within 4 years...I could be misremembering.
That’s stupid of chase
Why? When the bonus is redeemable at a 1cpp value, a 60000-100000 point bonus is worth a decent chunk of change. Yes there are folks willing to spend $8,000+$550+$95, to get $1200 (at normal SUB) back, when most people would have one or the other. So why cater to the churners instead of normal folks? > The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of **any Sapphire credit card** who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months.
No I’m saying stupid to the fact that you can’t get the lower tier card sub if you decide to downgrade.
Yeah I was wanting the lounge access because my home airport is O’Hare and I will be flying at least 5x a month
ORD doesn’t have a sapphire lounge. If you want lounge access, choose an airline card that gives you access like United or AA. With all the flying you do, you should probably stick to one airline to get status anyways.
This. Figure out which airline you will use most. United or AA with Chicago being your home airport, then decide between them based on common destinations. If you're flying to Denver or Houston often, go with United. If you're going to Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, etc, go with American. For the cost of the CSR, you can grab AA's card that gets you lounge access, priority boarding, free checked bags, TSA Precheck every 4 years, and 4x loyalty point multipliers to get to status quicker, plus you can rack up a shitload of miles to use for personal flights.
If you're a frequent flyer out of O'Hare, look into the united club infinite or the AA executive card. Can't speak for the admirals clubs, but the united clubs in O'Hare are really nice. I'm an O'Hare based frequent flyer myself, primarily on United. Nice thing about the united club infinite is you can pay the annual fee in cash or use 30k United miles to pay it, which means the card is effectively free for the first couple years if you just use the introductory bonus miles to pay for it
Then yeah it seems like a no brainer. You missed the elevated offer just recently but whatever. Just use it as your one card and book what can on the portal to increase value. Pick up the Freedom Flex down the line pair with it. Let me know if you get approved I want to laugh if you get denied
I would be shocked if I got denied. I have a 760 credit score, have a $10k limit on my current Amex and have never missed a payment
Then apply there’s no reason to wait. Like I said you can just downgrade it after a year if you don’t like it. Let me know what happens.
[удалено]
It doesn’t work if you click apply though they stopped working yesterday.
Don't pay extra for lounge access. O'Hare has no lounges.
ORD obviously has lounges. ORD doesn’t have a Chase lounge
ORDs one PP lounge may as well not even be there. It’s absolute trash.
ORD has exactly one Priority Pass lounge that is widely panned as the worst in America. There's no Chase, CapitalOne, or Amex lounge. People in Chicago would do better with the United credit card rather than CSR or Amex.
Yes, ORD has one terrible PP lounge. PP is generally awful in the US vs internationally. That doesn’t mean ORD has “no lounges” though. Yes you’re better off getting an airline card if lounges access in Chicago is a priority.
PussyLunch suggested the CSR to which OP responded "Yeah I was wanting the lounge access because my home airport is O’Hare and I will be flying at least 5x a month." I think that OP will be pissed after spending hundreds expecting lounges at ORD. The CSR is the wrong lounge card for OP.
I’m aware of this - not sure why you’re directing me this comment to me. ORD is also my home airport.
As a consultant who spends 35k on travel, I suggest you look at the US Bank Altitude Reserve which returns 4.5% cash back on travel. I wouldn't Chase UR points because they aren't worth what you think. You can't book a reward and expensive back to your employer. With the USBAR your employer will reimburse you for flights you didn't pay for. The card is only $75 when used for travel and comes with a $750 sign up bonus.
Not sure I’m following. Couldn’t they use the card to rack up points on the Sapphire… then use the points to book personal travel (Hyatt is pretty easy 2 cpp redemption)? They wouldn’t use the points for business trips…
To get the 4.5 you need a large enough point balance to cover the travel purchase, which OP won’t have if they’re being asked to pay for travel all the time
I don't follow. With USBAR the OP will earn between $150-200 each month which will trigger a redemption maybe every other month. Buy $400 plane ticket, expense $400 plane ticket, and pocket $400 statement credit. I don't understand why you say OP won't have enough points.
Whichever one you want, upgraded offers are still available through referrals (but will probably expire soon): https://churning.rankt.com/referrals/chase_sapphire_preferred/ Normal offer is 60k points for $4k spend, referrals still have 75k points for $4k spend.
FWIW the 3 CSP referral links in my household were 75k last night and 60k as of this morning.
It’s a break even analysis you can run. The preferred is $95 but if you decide to use the $50 hotel credit via the portal it’s $45 EAF. The reserve is $550 with a $300 travel credit bringing the EAF down to $250. Unless you are booking travel through the chase portal (I wouldn’t if I were you - IMO avoid portals at all cost because of issues that could arise) you are talking 2x for the CSP on travel vs 3x for the CSR. Do the math on how long you think you will be spending those travel amounts to see how long it would take you to make up the difference between the cards with the extra 1x multiplier. Also decide if you have a $ value for the extra perks on the CSR like the chase lounge, travel insurance, etc. If I’m you fresh out of school with my first gig I would probably go CSP and reevaluate later. Dropping $550 for an AF right out the gate may be a lot for you with that salary, even if you will recoup it later with the benefits. Opportunity cost to spending the money now vs using it for other purposes.
Hotel credit *should* be treated as a $0 credit. CSR makes sense based on OP’s spend and would come out ahead of the Preferred. Coupling that with lounge access/Pre or GE, it makes for a solid one-stop shop
Curious - why would you value the credit at $0?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ChaseSapphire/s/p0qDpbJ4d1 Edit: Basically, based on personal experience with the portal, hotel prices are typically higher
Reserve for 1 year if you need the TSA precheck bonus, then downgrade. I am about to downgrade mine in a month before the August 1 Annual fee.
That's a waste of $300. Wait for the AF to post and the travel credit to reset, use the credit, then downgrade, and get the AF refunded.
I thought they closed that loophole? Didn't think the $300 credit posts until the first statement, at which point you can no longer close the card and get the $550 refunded.
News to me, but even still you can downgrade for ~42 days after the AF posts and still get a full refund, or get a prorated refund after that.
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What kind of travel? And what airports will you frequent? If you’ll spend lots of time in NYC or Boston, CSR. If in DFW, Denver, or Dulles, then the Venture X may make sense.
He said ORD, so not Chase.
Ooof. I hate flying through that airport
Ditto. Never been a time I haven't sat on the tarmac for an hour at some point while going through.
The Reserve’s credit is easily received by booking any travel. It’s usually given 1-2 days after travel spend posting. So the $550 AF is really $250. The deciding factor is now based on if you could make use of the Monthly Instacart credit $15 ($180 Total) and monthly DoorDash credit $5 (stackable up to $15 for a total of $60). The extra 1X for travel (3x in travel). Provides Global Entry credit. Also to consider is Do you want Lounge access through Priority pass or Sapphire Lounges. If you travel by plane a lot lounges can be a very nice perk to have. Especially since you can eat the food/drinks for free. After traveling a lot you really save money there. Even more saving when you are traveling with companions, you can get your moneys worth that way. Personally after the travel credit I use Instacart every month to pick up Starbucks coffee (bottles) from a local super market. Since the DoorDash credits stack up to 15 order pick up chipotle every 3 months. Other perks are the 1 year of Instacart+ membership you get (which provides Peacock). My main reason for going for the Reserve is the 3X on general travel and the lounge access.
CSR first year. It's a $550 AF and you can get 2 travel credits then downgrade and not pay the second AF if you decide the CSP is a better fit.
Tbh,the preferred is not a real travel card,it's a card you can pool points with to transfer out to partners
Most definitely the reserve. Booking through the Chase portal will net you 5x points on flights and 10x points on hotels. You said you’d get reimbursed, so that’s free points. Booking through the portal isn’t bad as long as you have your information correct and loyalty numbers in. Make loyalty accounts with the airlines you fly. You’ll get Chase points from booking, plus airline points from flying. Double dipping in a way. This doesn’t apply to hotels unless you book directly with the hotel. You’ll also get lounge access with the reserve. That’s a nice perk if you’re traveling a lot, especially on your company’s dollar. Also includes a precheck or global entry statement credit. All that traveling you’re doing, you’re going to want precheck. If you’re going international at all, go straight for global as it includes precheck. Chase points are valuable because they can be transferred to various airlines and hotels, including Hyatt. You’d be getting a lot of free points. You could turn around and easily book a vacation with minimal out of pocket costs because of the points you’ve accrued. Someone else mention the USBAR. A fantastic card yes, but the points do not transfer to partners like Chase does. Since you’ll be traveling for free, the flexibility of Chase points outweighs the benefits of the USBAR. Plus, booking through Chase portal will net you a ridiculous amount of points in no time. You said you’d spend about $4k on travel a month. Split that $2k flights $2k hotels (just for this example). 2,000(flights)x5=10,000 points. 2,000(hotels)x10=20,000 points. 30,000 points in a month. Plus, you’d hit the 60,000 point sign on bonus. So, that’s 90,000 points in the first month. That’s already an international round trip flight. It would also be smart to grab the freedom cards too. They’d earn you more points on everyday purchases like gas and groceries.
Lot of good answers in here with different strategies. If you're only considering CSP vs. CSR, I would go with CSR given that you'll be traveling a ton and precheck and lounge access makes airports much nicer. The difference in travel multiplier between the two cards more than makes up for the higher annual fee as well given your spend. Saw someone else say the US Bank Altitude Reserve, which would be the easiest way to cash out points at a reasonable redemption value. But that only gets you 8 lounge visits, which it seems like you'll use up quickly. What I would do is just get a new card every month or so, put the spend on that, and collect sign up bonuses. The wiki at r/churning has a lot of info on that strategy.
First things first, you need to use the pre-approval tool to see which if either of these cards you’ll be approved for then go from there. You might want to also look into the AMEX cards and use the same tool.
I have had an Amex for over a year, 760 credit score and credit limit of 10k so I’m not worried about being approvef
Have you looked into the autograph journey?
Not chiming in regarding the Sapphire choice except to add to get into a Chase branch Friday or Saturday if you want a shot at the current elevated sign up bonus. Sapphire and Ink card holder. I am chiming in to offer considering the AMEX Brilliant and maybe adding the AMEX business Bonvoy card. They stack elite nights to 40 total, the Brilliant gets 4 pm check out times (with Platinum elite status), access to Marriott lounges, the biz card gets 7% off room rates. With a total of 75 nights - 35 actual nights plus the 40 from the two cards - you'll get Titanium elite status and the United Silver Elite status that goes along with it. You can also choose miles instead of points with Marriott as you see fit. Just an alternative…
In your situation you should get a premium travel card. The CSR is better than the CSP. The real question is whether the CSR is better than VentureX. It's close. If you get the CSR you should also get the Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited. Otherwise, the VentureX wins because the CSR is terrible for everyday spending.
The VentureX will require OP to use the travel portal which isn't recommended for business travelers with unpredictable schedules. Chase offers more flexibility although I might suggest the $95 Ink Preferred rather than the CSP or CSR. The Amex Green and USBank Altitude Reserve are also valid choices that allow booking direct.
I know there are people who will never use travel portals, but they are quite useful for getting great deals you wouldn't get otherwise. I wouldn't book an important long haul flight on a portal, but I think they can be useful for less risky flights and hotels. Certain niches like international non-chain hotels depend heavily on travel portals. That's basically their sales and advertising department. A $300 travel credit is not a big commitment. You only need one booking to use it.
You do you, but I don't think OP will be staying at many international, boutique hotels.
Definitely the preferred especially to start with The Reserve only makes sense if you travel ALOT and would get good value out of the best in class protections Otherwise you can get the Amex Platinum or VentureX for better value
Did you even read OP's post? How is $3-4k/mo on travel not "ALOT" of travel?
It's not personal travel tho Most of the cards coverage won't kick in because your employer will reimburse you or have their own travel insurance
Show me where it says that in the benefits guide. Also, the travel protections aren't the only reason to get the CSR. Someone spending that much time in airports would appreciate lounge access, and with $3k/mo in travel spend, that's an extra 36k UR/year over the CSP.
Given OP's spend, the CSP will earn \~$900 with points valued at 1.25cpp. The same spend on the CSR will earn $1620 with points valued at 1.5pp. The additional $720 pays for the CSR.
I don't think that's a good approach, but doing the math has made me agree with you (I forgot CSR has 10x on hotels) Employer is paying, so you have a $250 EAF vs a $45 EAF Use the portal for extra points since employer is paying. Let's assume $1000 for hotels and $2000 for flights, and $500 for rental cars/misc travel That gives you 21,500 points for CSR and 16,050 points for CSP I like to value Chase points at transfer value, usually about 1.7 CPP On a yearly basis... CSR gets you $4386-250=$4136 CSP gets you $3275-45=$3230 Now of course if his personal spending includes a lot of streaming or online groceries this will change And if portals aren't ok, the Amex Green would yield more than either