Verified: September 2026, annual fee sourced directly from the issuer’s page · Part of Pay Smart · US residents only — issuers pay per approved US application.
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A rewards card is only worth it if you pay the balance in full every month. If you carry a balance, the interest costs more than any points are worth — skip this page entirely.
The short answer
A premium travel card’s annual fee is a real, fixed cost — the question isn’t “are the points nice,” it’s whether the points and included credits you’ll actually use are worth more than the fee, every single year, not just the year you happen to take a big trip. For most people who travel once or twice a year, the honest answer is close, not a clear win either way.
The example: Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Sapphire Reserve carries a $795 annual fee (confirmed directly on Chase’s page, September 2026) and no foreign transaction fee. It’s a genuine example of the “big-points” premium tier this question is really about — a meaningfully higher fee than the $95 mid-tier cards in our no-foreign-transaction-fee shortlist, in exchange for a stronger points-earning rate and a set of included travel credits. The specific credits, bonus categories, and current earn rate all change over time — see the issuer’s page for what applies today rather than trusting any figure printed here.
See current offer, credits, and terms on Chase’s site → — terms apply, affiliate link.
The break-even framework
Whatever the specific fee and credits are on the card you’re looking at, the honest math is the same shape every year:
- Start with the annual fee. That’s the number you have to clear, in full, every single year — not just the year of a big trip.
- Subtract any included credits you’ll actually use. A travel credit only counts if it offsets spending you were already going to make — not if it pushes you to book something just to “use it up.”
- Value the points you’ll realistically earn and redeem well. Use a conservative estimate (see the roughly 1–2 cent-per-point range in Points 101), not the best-case number from a blog post.
- Compare the total to the fee. If credits-plus-points comfortably clear the fee in a normal year — not just a year with one big trip — it’s a genuine yes. If it only works out because of one two-week Italy trip, that’s a one-time win, not an ongoing “worth it.”
Worked example: a two-week Italy trip
Illustrative rough math only — plug in the actual current credits and earn rate from the issuer’s page for a real answer.
A two-week, two-person mid-range Italy trip (see How to Build an Italy Trip Budget) commonly runs somewhere around $4,000–$5,500 in card-eligible spend across flights, hotels, and day-to-day purchases before and during the trip. At an elevated earn rate on travel and dining plus the standard rate elsewhere, that spend might generate rewards worth roughly $100–$250 at a conservative 1–1.5 cent-per-point valuation — before counting any included travel credit. Whether that, plus the credits you’ll actually use, clears a $795 fee depends entirely on how much of that credit you redeem and how good your redemptions are. For a household that travels internationally once a year, it’s a real question, not an obvious yes.
Who should skip this
- Anyone who doesn’t pay in full every month. Not a maybe — the interest on a carried balance outweighs every benefit discussed here.
- Infrequent travelers. If this is your one Italy trip in several years, a $0-annual-fee no-foreign-transaction-fee card (see the shortlist) gets you most of the practical benefit with none of the ongoing fee.
- Anyone who won’t actually use the included credits. An unused travel credit is just money paid for nothing — be honest about whether you’ll really book the specific things it covers.