Amex Platinum vs Chase Sapphire Reserve

Annual fee against credits

The Platinum Card costs $895 a year for a Basic Card, $195 for each Additional Platinum Card, and nothing for Companion Platinum Cards. [1] Against that fee Amex publishes specific credits rather than one general travel allowance. [1] On the travel side: up to $600 a year in hotel statement credits, paid as up to $300 semi-annually on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or The Hotel Collection stays booked through Amex Travel, with The Hotel Collection requiring at least two nights; up to $200 of Uber Cash a year ($15 a month plus a $20 December bonus, for rides and orders in the U.S.); up to $120 a year after buying an auto-renewing Uber One membership with the card; up to $200 a year against incidental fees from one selected qualifying airline; and up to $219 a year for an auto-renewing CLEAR+ membership, excluding taxes and fees. [1]

Everyday credits: up to $400 a year at qualifying U.S. Resy restaurants ($100 a quarter); up to $300 a year of digital entertainment credits ($25 a month at the listed partners); up to $300 a year at U.S. lululemon stores excluding outlets and at lululemon.com ($75 a quarter); up to $155 a year towards a monthly Walmart+ membership (up to $12.95 a month plus taxes); up to $200 a year for an Oura Ring bought at ouraring.com; and up to $300 a year towards an Equinox club membership or Equinox+ subscription. Resy, digital entertainment, lululemon, Oura and Equinox credits all require enrollment. [1]

Amex frames the package as "$3,500+ in annual value" that a cardholder can unlock. [1] The entries on annual credit and card annual fee explain how such caps typically work.

Earning rates and transfer partners

Platinum. The card earns 5X Membership Rewards points on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 of those purchases per calendar year, 5X on prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com, and 1X on other purchases. [1] Amex says points can be transferred to 20 airline and hotel travel partners, and the Membership Rewards programme page covers how the currency works. [1]

Ultimate Rewards. Chase describes earning bonus points on select purchases and transferring points to airline and hotel partners with select cards, alongside cash back as a statement credit or deposit into eligible U.S. Chase accounts, gift cards from more than 200 brands, Pay with Points at Amazon.com and PayPal, travel booked through Chase Travel, and 1–15 bonus points per $1 at over 1,000 stores through Shop and Earn. [4]

Moving points out. Amex requires the partner account to be linked and held in your name or by an Additional Card Member whose card was issued at least 90 days before linking; in most cases transfers need a minimum of 1,000 points in multiples of 1,000, the rate varies by partner, processing typically takes 48 hours, and transferred points cannot be converted back. [6] Transfers are final and cannot be reversed. [6] [7] Amex also charges an excise tax offset fee of $0.0006 per point, capped at $99, on points sent to a U.S. airline frequent flyer programme, and may limit transfers to no less than 100,000 points if an airline programme leaves. [6]

On the Chase side, the Ultimate Rewards agreement in the sources sets transfers in 1,000-point increments, only to participating programmes' accounts held by the cardholder or a company owner listed as an authorized user, with any fee disclosed before the transfer, most requests processed by the next business day but possibly taking up to 7 business days, and no refund or cancellation once points move; participating programmes can change without notice. [5] That agreement is the version issued for the Ink Business Preferred card, so it describes programme mechanics rather than Sapphire Reserve card terms. [5]

Lounge access

Platinum. The Global Lounge Collection is described as over 1,550 airport lounges as of January 2026, covering Centurion Lounges, Priority Pass membership with enrollment required, 10 Delta Sky Club visits when flying on an eligible Delta flight, and other select partner lounges, with Amex putting the benefit at over $850 of annual value. [1] Two limits are explicit: the Delta Sky Club allowance is 10 visits, and it depends on an eligible Delta flight. [1]

Sapphire Reserve.

Travel protections and fit

Platinum. Trip delay insurance applies where a round trip is paid for entirely with an eligible card and a covered reason delays the trip by more than 6 hours, reimbursing up to $500 per trip with a maximum of two claims per card in 12 consecutive months; trip cancellation and interruption cover runs to $10,000 per trip and $20,000 per card over the same period, both provided by New Hampshire Insurance Company, an AIG Company. [1] Car rental loss and damage cover is secondary, requires the entire rental to be charged to the card and the collision damage waiver declined at the counter, is unavailable for vehicles rented in Australia, Italy and New Zealand, and excludes liability cover. [1] The card also carries no foreign transaction fees, purchase protection for 90 days up to $10,000 per purchase and $50,000 a year, return protection up to $300 an item and $1,000 a year, extended warranty of up to one extra year on warranties of five years or less, and cell phone protection up to $800 a claim after a $50 deductible, limited to two claims per 12 months. [1]

One interaction matters for anyone moving points: the Membership Rewards terms state that a flight booked with frequent flyer miles is not charged to the card, so the insurance and other benefits that apply when a flight is charged to the card do not apply to that award ticket. [6]

Sapphire Reserve.

Which traveller each suits. On the published terms the Platinum Card fits a traveller who already books prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts or Hotel Collection stays through Amex Travel, spends on Uber in the U.S., holds CLEAR+, eats at U.S. Resy restaurants, pays for the listed streaming and news services, shops at lululemon or Walmart+, and books flights directly with airlines or through Amex Travel to collect 5X points. [1] It fits those patterns less well where the credits would go unused, because each is capped and tied to a named merchant. [1] For the Sapphire Reserve the sources describe a flexible Ultimate Rewards menu — cash, gift cards, travel, transfers and Pay with Points — but not the card's own credits or earning rates, so its current terms need checking before treating it as a like-for-like alternative. [4] [5]

Exceptions and limits

• Credit conditions. The hotel credit applies only to prepaid bookings through Amex Travel, and The Hotel Collection needs a two-night minimum; the Fine Hotels + Resorts figure of $550 is an average value per stay based on 2025 two-night bookings and varies by property. [1] The airline credit covers incidental fees only, such as checked bags, in-flight refreshments, flight-change fees, overweight baggage fees, lounge day-passes, pet-kennel fees and phone reservation fees, from one selected qualifying airline; Amex relies on airlines to submit correct transaction information and says to call the number on the card if a qualifying credit has not appeared after 8 weeks, and qualifying airlines can change. [1]
• Enrollment and dating. Priority Pass, Resy, digital entertainment, lululemon, Oura and Equinox benefits require enrollment, and the 1,550-lounge count is dated January 2026. [1]
• Transfer conditions. The name on the card and on the partner account must match, and an Additional Card must be at least 90 days old before linking; transfers cannot be reversed or converted back. [6] [7]
• Ultimate Rewards. Points do not expire while the account is open, but are lost immediately if the account is closed or its status changes for misuse, fraud or the listed reasons, which include failing to comply with other Chase agreements and Chase believing the holder may be unable to pay; an account closed for any other reason leaves at least 30 days to use points, and points are not reinstated unless Chase made an error. [5]

Related pages

Programmes: Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards. Card guides: Amex Platinum lounge access, Chase Sapphire Reserve lounge access. Terms: annual credit, card annual fee, full glossary.

Sources

Sources checked on 18 October 2026. Chase Sapphire Reserve card terms — annual fee, credits, earning rates, lounge access and travel protections — are not covered by the sources checked, and neither are other American Express or Chase cards, the names of Amex's transfer partners, or any point valuation.

1. American Express Platinum Card: benefits, credits and annual fee, checked 18 October 2026
2. Chase Ultimate Rewards programme overview, checked 18 October 2026
3. Ultimate Rewards Program Agreement, Ink Business Preferred version dated 09/25/2025, checked 18 October 2026
4. Membership Rewards Program Terms and Conditions, checked 18 October 2026
5. American Express: how do I transfer Membership Rewards points?, checked 18 October 2026