What is a travel designer? Don’t overlook this valuable Chase Sapphire Reserve perk
Quick summary
- A premium travel card recently introduced a refreshed suite of benefits, including access to a complimentary travel designer service for primary cardholders and authorized business officers.
- The travel designer connects users with destination experts who craft custom itineraries, handle bookings and offer support throughout the trip, leveraging decades of travel agency expertise.
- Booking through the card's travel portal with a designer allows cardholders to maximize bonus points and utilize travel credits, adding significant value to the experience.
- This service is especially useful for complex or remote trips where local knowledge and vetted contacts enhance safety and enjoyment.
What to consider
- The travel designer service is only available to primary cardholders and authorized business officers of the premium card.
- To earn the highest bonus points, trips must be booked directly through the card's travel portal with the designer's assistance; bookings outside this channel may not qualify for enhanced rewards.
- The service is valued at up to $300 per trip, and additional perks like trip insurance and auto rental coverage may apply when paying with the card.
What you'll miss from the article
- A detailed comparison of using a human travel designer versus AI trip planning tools, including real-world examples of how expert guidance can unlock unique, off-the-beaten-path experiences.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
The recent Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) refresh ushered in a higher annual fee and tons of new perks, including lifestyle credits, hotel elite status and Points Boost.
But one benefit you may not have heard of is the ability to book a custom trip with the help of a Chase travel designer for no added cost. Plus, if you ask them to book your trip through Chase Travel℠, you can take full advantage of the Sapphire Reserve's bonus points and travel credits.
Let's explore this lesser-known benefit so you can decide whether it's worth booking your next trip through a Chase travel designer.
Related: I'm keeping my Chase Sapphire Reserve despite its $795 annual fee. Here's why
How does the travel designer perk work?
According to Chase's website, "The Reserve Travel Designer program is provided as an exclusive benefit for Chase Sapphire Reserve primary cardmembers and Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business authorizing officers." If you hold either of these cards, you won't pay any travel agency fees to use this service; you'll just pay for the cost of your trip.
To access this complimentary service, log in to the Chase Travel portal and find the "Reserve Travel Designers" section. You can then use the contact information provided or the online chat function.
Chase will connect you with a travel designer who's an expert on your destination.
According to Chase's guide, "Reserve Travel Designers are backed by the premium service and expertise of Valerie Wilson Travel," a travel agency that amassed over 40 years of experience before being acquired by JPMorganChase in 2022.
Your travel designer will walk you through the process from start to finish. They'll collaborate with you to craft a custom itinerary that fits your travel style and budget, then take care of booking almost everything and be available for support through every step of your trip.
Because travel designers only work with vetted brands, you can rest easy knowing your trip will be fantastic — without sifting through hundreds of online reviews. Plus, your travel designer may know a terrific local guide or hole-in-the-wall dining spot that you wouldn't have found on your own.
Why use a travel designer?
I haven't used Chase's travel designer service specifically, but I've booked multiple trips through travel agents — and they were some of the best trips of my life.
For instance, take my trip to Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley in Peru in 2021.
I didn't have much travel experience at the time, so planning a weeklong trip felt extremely daunting, especially with the country's COVID-19 restrictions constantly in flux. I chose to splurge on a travel agent, and it was worth every penny to have a Peru expert hold my hand through the entire process.
Nowadays, I usually enjoy booking my own trips, especially if I'm using points and miles.
But there are certain types of trips where I turn to an expert — typically when I'm heading to a developing country or remote destination that doesn't have much tourism infrastructure and where English isn't commonly spoken.
For example, Madagascar requires visitors to hire a professional driver due to the extreme road conditions, but most drivers have little or no online presence. When I started planning my honeymoon in Madagascar last year, it was tough to dig up drivers' contact information, and user reviews were almost nonexistent.
That was one reason why I decided to use a travel agent, who booked vetted drivers and amazing local guides for every step of our journey. This gave us peace of mind leading up to our honeymoon and made it a breeze to navigate this less-touristed destination.
In my experience, booking certain types of trips through a travel planner has been well worth the money. But if you hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ (see rates and fees), you don't have to pay extra to access the card's travel designer perk — so there's no reason not to try it.
Related: I booked a family trip to Japan with a tour operator; here's why I would do it again
How to earn bonus points and other card benefits
The icing on the cake? If you ask your travel designer to book your trip through the Chase Travel portal, you can take full advantage of the associated perks.
According to the Sapphire Reserve offer terms, "Travel purchases made using your card through Reserve Travel Designers will only qualify to earn 8 points for each $1 spent if booked directly through Chase Travel. ... The promotional credit is not valid for purchases made through FROSCH and its family of travel companies, or through Reserve Travel Designers unless booked directly through Chase Travel."
So, it seems you could ask your travel designer to book your trip through Chase Travel and earn 8 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on the purchase. Plus, you could use the up to $250 biannual credit toward prepaid The Edit bookings (a two-night minimum stay is required).
If you don't (or can't) book your trip through Chase Travel, the Sapphire Reserve still earns an impressive 4 points per dollar spent on flights and hotels booked directly. Either way, your annual $300 travel credit should apply to travel purchases booked through your travel designer.
And don't forget, you can leverage the card's trip insurance, auto rental coverage and more when you pay for your trip with the card.
Related: How Chase Sapphire travel insurance saved my family over $1,500
How does a travel designer compare to AI tools?
I know what some of you are thinking: Can't I just ChatGPT it?
It's true, artificial intelligence trip planning tools are flooding the travel landscape, and some of them are pretty advanced.
But there's one major advantage to going through a travel agent: They can book the trip for you. With the current generation of AI tools, your chatbot may provide links to a booking page or a phone number to call, but you still have to book each piece yourself.
With a travel designer, you don't have to lift a finger. And, if your plans change, an agent can help you rebook or reschedule as needed. You get to do the fun part — planning your trip — without any of the legwork.
Other common drawbacks of AI include misjudging how long it will take to get from one place to another and "hallucinating," or inventing restaurants and other places that don't exist.
Of course, travel agents can make mistakes, too, but they should have better inside knowledge of a place than a chatbot can provide.
A good agent will keep their finger on the pulse of a destination, allowing them to recommend the hottest new restaurants, warn you of recent closures or traffic conditions, and get you on waitlists at hotels that are booked up.
Lastly, since travel agents are constantly building relationships with other real people, they're more likely to provide one-of-a-kind experiences.
On my honeymoon in Madagascar, one of our local guides, Ambroise, took us to off-the-beaten-path villages where Malagasy prepared authentic meals, played traditional music and even threw us a miniature Malagasy wedding celebration.
These places couldn't be booked online; we wouldn't have even been able to find them without the help of our local guide. Can a chatbot do that?
Related: 7 things I learned using ChatGPT to plan my vacation
How much is the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel designer perk worth?
According to Chase's site, this service is valued at up to $300 per trip. However, don't forget the added value of earning bonus points when you book through the Chase Travel portal.
On my past trips booked through travel agents, the most I could earn was 2 points per dollar — the standard rate for travel purchases — when I paid with my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) or 2 miles per dollar — the rate for all purchases — when making purchases with my Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.
But if you ask your travel designer to book your trip through Chase Travel, you can earn a whopping 8 points per dollar spent.
To put that in perspective: A $3,000 trip booked through Chase Travel would earn you 24,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points, valued at up to $492, per TPG's September 2025 valuations. Compare that to only 6,000 points with the Sapphire Preferred.
Bottom line
In my experience, using a travel planner for certain trips has been well worth the money — and with the Sapphire Reserve's travel designer perk, you don't have to pay a dime for this time-saving service. Plus, it provides a rare way to rack up bonus points on trips booked through a travel agent.
While I'm unfortunately ineligible to earn the Sapphire Reserve's current 125,000-point welcome offer afrer spending $6,000 in the first three months from accont opening due to having the Sapphire Preferred, if that stipulation didn't apply and I didn't already have a Sapphire card, the travel designer perk would likely tempt me to add the Sapphire Reserve to my wallet.