Chase Sapphire Reserve might be an industry game changer:

Annual Fee: $450
Annual Travel Credit of $300 immediately after charging travel (hotels, airfare, rental cars)
100,000 points just to sign up
3x points on all travel INCLUDING restaurants. 1 point for all other stuff
Access to airport lounges

Basically the card only costs $150 a year since $300 is deducted immediately each year. The way I understand it is if you have $300 in hotel charges, the day it posts to your statement it is credited.

The Chase points if you use them through Chase, you get 1.5, so the 100,000 points really equal $1,500 in travel. Of course, if you don't want to travel you can convert the points to gift cards. 100,000 points = $1,000 in gift cards.

Basically the first year you get a $300 travel credit + $1,500 in travel, so $1,850 for $450 annual fee year #1.

Insane offer.