recent Chase SapphireReserve® (See interest rates and fees) Refresh higher annual fees and tons of new benefits, including lifestyle credit, hotel elite identity and points boost.
However, one benefit you may not have heard of is the ability to book customized trips with the help of Chase Travel Designer without the added expenses. Also, if you ask them to book a trip through Chase Travel℠, you can take advantage of the bonus points and travel credits from Sapphire Reserve.
Let’s explore this little-known benefit so you can decide whether it’s worth booking your next trip by chasing a travel designer.
Related: Despite the price of $795, I still keep Chase Sapphire Reserve. This is the reason
How does the revitalization of travel designers work?
According to Chase’s website, “The Reserve Travel Designer Program is provided as a proprietary interest of Chase Sapphire Reserve Primary Cardembers and Chase Sapphire Reserve for business authorized officials.” If you hold both cards, you will not pay for any travel agency to use this service; you only have to pay for the travel fee.
To access this free service, log in to Chase Travel Portal and find the “Store Travel Designers” section. You can then use the contact information provided or the online chat feature.
Chase will connect with your travel designer, who is an expert at your destination.
According to Chase’s guidelines, “Storage Travel Designers are supported by advanced services and expertise from Valerie Wilson Travel, a travel agency that has accumulated over 40 years of experience before being acquired by JPMorganchase in 2022.
Your travel designer will take you through the process from start to finish. They will work with you to create a custom itinerary that suits your travel style and budget, then take care of almost everything and can be supported by every step of the trip.
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Because travel designers only work with reviewed brands, you can easily know that your trip will be great without filtering out hundreds of online reviews. Also, your travel designer may know a great local guide or a restaurant on the wall that you can’t find yourself.
Why use a travel designer?
I don’t have a travel designer service that specializes in Chase, but I’ve booked several trips and they are the best trips of my life.
For example, I travel to Machu Picchu in Peru and the Holy Valley in Peru in 2021.
I didn’t have much travel experience at the time, so planning a week-long trip felt very difficult, especially as Covid-19 restrictions in the country continued. I chose to splurge on the travel agency, worth every penny for Peruvian experts to hold my hand throughout the process.
Today, I usually like to book my own trip, especially when using points and miles.
However, there are certain types of travel that can be turned to experts – usually when I travel to a developing country or a remote destination, there is not much tourism infrastructure and English usually doesn’t speak.
For example, Madagascar requires tourists to hire professional drivers due to extreme road conditions, but most drivers are hardly present online. Last year, when I started planning my honeymoon in Madagascar, it was difficult to dig out driver contact information and user reviews were barely present.
That’s one of the reasons I decided to use a travel agency, which booked reviewed drivers and amazing local guides at every step of the journey. This made us feel assured to spend our honeymoon and browse this few tourist destination with ease.
In my experience, booking certain types of trips for travel planners is well worth it. However, if you hold Chatong Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business- (See Rates and Fees) You don’t have to pay extra to get the cheer of the travel designer who accesses the card – so there’s no reason not to try it.
Related: I booked a family trip in Japan with a travel agency; That’s why I’ll do it again
How to earn bonus points and other card benefits
Icini on the cake? If you ask a travel designer to book a trip through Chase Travel Portal, you can take advantage of the relevant allowances.
according to Sapphire Conservation Area Propose clause: “If booking directly through Chase Travel, travel purchases made using a reserve designer using a card are only eligible for 8 points per dollar. … Promotional credit is invalid for purchases purchased through Frosch and its family’s travel companies unless booked directly through Chase Travel.”
So it seems you can ask a travel designer to book a trip through Chase Travel and spend 8 Chase Ultimate Rewards points on purchases per dollar. Additionally, you can prepay your reservation with a biennial credit of up to $250 (requires at least two nights of stay).
If you don’t (or can’t) book a trip through Chase Travel, the Sapphire Reserve will still spend $4 on flights and the hotel booked directly gets an impressive 4 points. Either way, your annual $300 travel credit should apply to travel purchases booked through a travel designer.
And don’t forget that you can take advantage of your card’s travel insurance, automatic rental coverage, and more when you pay with your card.
Related: How Chase Sapphire Travel Insurance Saves $1,500 for My Family
How does a travel designer compare to an AI tool?
I know what some of you are thinking: Can’t I just discuss it?
Indeed, AI travel planning tools flood the travel landscape, some of which are very advanced.
However, there is one major advantage through a travel agency: they can book a trip for you. With the help of current generation AI tools, your chatbot may provide links to a booking page or phone number, but you still have to book each piece yourself.
For a travel designer, you don’t have to raise your fingers. And, if your plan changes, an agent can help you rebook or reschedule as needed. You can complete the fun part without any leg work – plan a trip.
Other common drawbacks of AI include misjudgment of how long it takes to go from one place to another and “illusion” or invent restaurants and other places that do not exist.
Of course, travel agencies can make mistakes, but they should know more about the place than the chatbots provide.
A good broker will put their fingers on the pulse of the destination, allowing them to recommend the hottest new restaurants, warn you of recent closures or traffic conditions, and put you on the waitlist for the booked hotels.
Finally, because travel agencies are constantly building relationships with other real people, they are more likely to provide a unique experience.
During my honeymoon in Madagascar, one of our local guides, Ambroise, took us to the outdoor village of Path, where Malagasy prepares real meals, plays traditional music, and even brings us a miniature Malagasy wedding celebration.
These places cannot be booked online; we can’t even find them without the help of local guides. Can chatbots do this?
Related: 7 Things I Learned with Chatgpt to Plan Holidays
How much is Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Designer Perk worth?
According to Chase’s website, the service is worth up to $300 per trip. However, when you book through Chase Travel Portal, don’t forget to earn the added value of bonus points.
In my past trips booked through a travel agency, when I use my payment, my most income is 2 points per dollar – the standard rate of travel purchases Chase Sapphire Priority® Card (See Rates and Fees) or 2 miles per dollar (all purchases of interest rates) when I make a purchase with my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.
However, if you ask a travel designer to book a trip through Chase Travel, you can get up to 8 points per dollar.
From a perspective: The $3,000 trip booked through Chase Travel will bring you 24,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, worth up to $492 based on TPG’s September 2025 valuation. Compare it to sapphire’s preferred choice for only 6,000 points.
Bottom line
In my experience, it is very worth the money to use travel planners for certain trips – Sapphire Conservation AreaTravel designer Perk, you don’t have to pay a dime for this time-saving service. Additionally, it provides a rare way to earn reward points on trips booked by a travel agency.
Unfortunately, I was not qualified to win the current 125,000 welcome point in the Sapphire Reserve, so Afrer spent $6,000 in the first three months of Accont opening, for the reason Sapphire prefersIf that rule does not apply and I don’t have a sapphire card yet, the cheering of the travel designer may induce me to add sapphire reserves to my wallet.
