Originally Posted by
Diplomatico
They're trying to incentivize people to pay the annual fee to keep the CSR for the second year....
That's too nuanced. The policy is too new to have that effect. I think it's simply designed to prevent cardholders from cycling between Reserve and Preferred while collecting bonuses.
Originally Posted by
ridgebackpilot
...it's really a $150 AF card. And you can make that up easily in UR benefits alone.
Yes, it's really a $150 card, it's a Sapphire Preferred Plus, but whether its worthwhile depends on the other cards you use. Sapphire Reserve offers nothing that isn't available elsewhere (usually at lower cost), but for some it will strike the right balance. If Chase wants this to be seen as a high end card they need to be adding benefits and offering generous retention bonuses now, and raising the cost next year, but perhaps they spent their entire marketing budget on the initial rollout.