At the end of 2016, Chase took the travel world by storm by launching a brand new premium travel credit card called the *chase sapphire reserve* – building off of the success of one of the most popular travel cards out there – *chase sapphire preferred*.The Sapphire Reserve launched with a huge welcome offer bonus of 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (a bonus that Chase has said is unlikely to ever return) and a $450 annual fee – at the time cementing itself as the only real competitor to *amex platinum* who had long owned the premium travel card market.The card was an immediate hit, and it was so popular at launch that Chase actually ran out of the metal they were using to produce the physical cards. Chase later indicated that the launch of the Reservecost the bank hundreds of millions of dollars. So sure enough, just a few short years later in early 2020, Chase added a few new benefits to the card and hiked the annual fee on the Sapphire Reserve up to $550where it currently sits...
