What do the Sapphire Reservation slots mean for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® dining credit?

The $300 dining credit is a useful benefit on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® but there’s an underrated benefit where you also get access to exclusive reservation times for restaurants on the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program.

Do you need to book a reservation available via the Chase Sapphire Reserve® in order to trigger the $300 dining credit?

Just to be clear, you do not need a reservation to use the $300 credit.

As long as you dine at one of the restaurants on the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program, you’ll trigger the dining credit. You get $150 in credit for January through June and then another $150 for July through December. You don’t have to use it all in one go—you can use it at multiple Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables restaurants for up to $150 in credit biannually.

In fact, looking at the terms & conditions, here's what they say:

A statement credit will be automatically applied to your account for dining purchases at select restaurants up to a maximum accumulation of $150 in statement credits from January 1 through June 30 and up to $150 from July 1 through December 31, for a total maximum accumulation of $300 in statement credits each calendar year. Calendar year means January 1 through December 31 of that same year

Nothing here says you need a reservation to use the credit.

You can view all the eligible restaurants here.

How do you book a reservation that is only available to Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders?

In order to book a reservation that’s exclusive to Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders, you’ll need to first go onto OpenTable to add your card.

After you add your Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you will then select the area you want to search. Just a reminder that restaurants on the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program are mostly available in cities across the US (generally not in rural and suburban areas).

You can see that in my “nearby” area it shows no restaurants. That’s because I do not live near a big city. In order to search an area you will click on that button that says “nearby” and it will show you a list of cities to choose from where there are Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables restaurants.

I chose Greater Boston for the area to show you an example of how to actually book a reservation only available to Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders. I chose Bistro du Midi which is a French restaurant in Boston. You can see that there are 4 times available (in blue rectangles) around the 7 pm time that are only available to Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders. And there’s another time in a red rectangle that’s available to anyone who would like to dine out at Bistro du Midi.

If you don't want to struggle through the OpenTable platform to find eligible restaurants, you can also use the NextCard dining credit map tool!

Final Remarks

The $300 dining credit is by far one of the best benefits on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and there’s an additional little perk where you get exclusive access to reservations. These exclusive reservation times at restaurants with the Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables program can help you to book your next date night with your significant other or a big dinner with friends. Let us know if these exclusive reservations help you out at your next dining experience:)