Putting Value on WalletFlo’s Hottest Summer Credit Card

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Right now the Citi Premier® Card is offering one of the best ever welcome bonuses of 80,000 ThankYou Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.

This is proving to be the hottest card for WalletFlo users for the summer and so I think it would be a good time to take a look at what type of valuation you should be giving your ThankYou Points.

Citi Premier overview

As mentioned, the Citi Premier® Card has an outstanding welcome offer of 80,000 ThankYou Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months.

But in addition to the bonus, you can also get:

  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 3X on dining
  • 3X on gas stations
  • 3X on supermarkets
  • 1x on other purchases
  • $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
  • No Foreign transaction fees
  • $95 annual fee

While you can do better on some of these individual spend categories, the Citi Premier® Card is certainly a strong all-around spender.

If you want solid rewards but don’t want to mess around with multiple cards, this card can make it easy to earn a lot of points with your spend.

Interested in the 80,000 ThankYou Points welcome bonus? Learn how to apply here.

ThankYou Points valuation examples

That 80,000 point welcome bonus is very attractive but exactly how much value should you expect to receive for those points?

Below, I’ll show you how it could range from $800 to over $28,000!

And no, that $28,000 is not a typo.

Remember – You can input your own custom points valuation into the WalletFlo app and that will impact how your credit card ranks on your Cheat Sheet!

Cashback and gift cards

Valuation: 1 cent

You can redeem Citi ThankYou points for cashback/statement credits or for lots of different gift cards at a rate of one cent per point.

Gift cards are one of the most convenient ways to redeem points and if you can get one cent per point it’s not a terrible use of your points (but definitely not optimal).

Generally, for me gift cards are a last resort when redeeming transferable points but as long as you get one cent per point it’s not the end of the world.

Citi Travel Portal

Valuation: 1 cent

You can use the Citi Travel Portal to redeem at a rate of one cent per point for things like airfare, rental cars, cruises, and hotels.

When you book airfare, you’ll also earn miles for your flights so you do get a bit more value than one cent per point if you factor that in.

While the value is still on the low side, the benefit of using the travel portal is you don’t have to worry about award inventory so you can book any flight you see.

This method is for people who want to save money on travel but don’t want to bother with the challenges of transferring points. It can also be useful for cheap flights and some hotels.

Sometimes you may just want to book your travel outside the travel portal and reimburse yourself with direct deposit cashback so you can get your full benefits, travel protections, etc.

Tip: If you utilize the $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit you can technically get over one cent per point for hotel redemptions.

Citi Travel partners

If you’ve been in miles and points for a while you know that the best value for your points comes from utilizing transfer partners.

So let’s take a look at some of the Citi partner redemptions to see what type of valuations you might be working with.

We’ll start small and then ramp up the value.

Interested in the 80,000 ThankYou Points welcome bonus? Learn how to apply here.

JetBlue (USA Domestic)

Valuation: 1.2 cents per point

An economy redemption on JetBlue from LAX to MIA would run you 12,900 points for a $164 flight. So that comes out to about 1.2 cents per point.

You should be able to do better than that on other JetBlue flights but not that much better. (If you can get around 1.5 cents per point you are doing pretty good with JetBlue.)

Because JetBlue award prices are tied to revenue prices (similar to Southwest), these are always going to represent the lower end of redemptions for ThankYou Points when it comes to travel partners.

Tip: If you have the JetBlue Plus Card you can get a 10% rebate on your point redemptions which increases the value of your points.

Avios (USA Domestic)

Valuation: 2.1 cents per point

Flying business class from JFK to MIA on American Airlines would cost $357. Using 16,500 Avios to cover that trip, the cents per mile comes out to about 2.1 cents per point.

The way this redemption would work is you would first transfer your Citi points to Qatar and then transfer them to British Airways where you could book American Airlines (using the British Airways site) at the above rate.

For those of you who live near an AA hub, using the Qatar-BA route for American flights can be a very easy and efficient way to get around with ThankYou Points.

AA business class.
AA business class.

Avianca (USA-Europe)

Valuation: 10.1 cents per point

This valuation is based on business class redemptions on both Lufthansa and United using Avianca Life Miles.

For 63,000 Life Miles and only $25 in fees you could book a one-way business class flight on either United or Lufthansa from Houston to Frankfurt.

These flights are listed at $6,399, so that means that your redemption value comes out to 10.1 cents per point which is pretty amazing for business class.

Emirates (USA-Europe)

Valuation: 15 cents per point

If you thought 10 cents per point was impressive, it’s time to bump things up a notch with first class awards.

Emirates awards can get expensive for premium cabins but they have reduced fuel surcharges so they are not nearly as expensive as they used to be.

For 72,500 miles you can fly their amazing first class from New York (JFK) to Milan, Italy (MXP) and you only have to pay $84 in fees. That flight is currently going for $10,922.

With $84 in fees the cents per mile comes out to 15 cents per mile!

Virgin Atlantic (USA-Asia)

Valuation: 27.4 cents per point

Here’s when things start to get stupid.

If you were to transfer your Citi points to Virgin Atlantic and book first class on ANA from JFK to Japan it would cost you 60,000 Virgin miles one way.

I priced this flight in October of this year for $16,574. If you assume fees of about $100 then that means that the cents per point comes out to an astonishing 27.4 cents per point.

If you want to get even crazier Citi has offered 30% transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic before. So if you took advantage of one of those bonuses you could transfer 47,000 points for this redemption, making the value of your points come out to 35 cents per point.

ANA first class seat 1K

Final word

Some of these redemptions represent amazing outsized value.

Most people will want to stick to valuations that represent their actual travel savings rather than value captured from mega outsized redemptions.

That will typically be around one to three cents per point, depending on how you like to travel.

But knowing how insane the value can get with some of these programs can be a real motivating factor to help you optimize your rewards.

Citi Premier® Card: Earn 80,000 bonus ThankYou Points after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months

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Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. 

Citi Premier® Card 80,000 Point Bonus: Worth It?

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The Citi Premier® Card has an outstanding bonus of 80,000 points and it’s ending very soon!

But what can you really do with this bonus and what type of value can it mean for your travels?

Let’s take a look at some of the best redemptions for using these 80,000 points so you can see what might be possible.

The Welcome Bonus

  • Earn 80,000 bonus ThankYou Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months

Before getting in too deep in the details of how to use the bonus, it’s a good idea to take a look at the overall package of the Citi Premier® Card.

  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 3X on dining
  • 3X on gas stations
  • 3X on supermarkets
  • 1x on other purchases
  • $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
  • $95 annual fee
  • No Foreign transaction fees

While you can do better on some of these individual categories, the Citi Premier® Card is certainly a strong all-around spender. If you want strong rewards but don’t want to mess around with multiple cards, this card can make it easy to earn a lot of points with your spend.

Interested in the 80,000 point bonus? Learn how to apply here.

Transfer partners

Here’s a look at all of the potential transfer partners:

  • Aeromexico Club Premier
  • Air France-KLM Flying Blue
  • Avianca LifeMiles
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Etihad Guest
  • EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
  • JetBlue TrueBlue
  • Malaysia Airlines Enrich
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
  • Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

If you’re thinking that hardly any of those airlines look familiar — don’t worry.

A lot of these are somewhat niche programs but they allow you to book sweet redemptions including awards on airlines you are more familiar with like United Airlines, Delta, etc.

Below I’m going to highlight some of the most tempting redemptions. By no means is this list exhaustive. But if you’re looking for some type of reference point for what you can do with 80,000 Citi points this should help.

Turkish Airlines

Transferring your points to Turkish Airlines is a great way to fly domestically. You can get a one-way on United for 7,500 miles in economy and 12,500 in business class, even when flying to Hawaii. They even allow you to take advantage of 48 hour holds so you can transfer your points with confidence.

Avianca LifeMiles

Avianca LifeMiles is great for low fees and now it’s easier to book online. You can book a first class one-way to Europe for 87,000 miles on Lufthansa, considered by many to be one of the best first class cabins. You could also fly across the US in business class on United for 25,000 points.

Virgin Atlantic

Use 50,000 Virgin Atlantic miles to fly Delta in business class from the U.S. to Europe. Or, if you want to take advantage of one of the best first class redemptions consider flying between the U.S. and Japan on ANA-operated flights for 90,000 to 120,000 miles round trip!

Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines are not the cheapest but because you can transfer points from various programs to Singapore Airlines, even rewards that cost a lot are very obtainable. You could fly Singapore Suites for ~147,000 miles from Singapore to the US.

Or for something more obtainable, you could fly from the East Coast of the US to Europe for 81,000 miles in business class.

Interested in the 80,000 point bonus? Learn how to apply here.

Emirates

Emirates awards can get expensive for premium cabins like their amazing first class. But they have reduced fuel surcharges so they are not nearly as expensive as they used to be. For 72,500 miles you can fly first class from New York JFK to Milan, Italy and you only have to pay $84 in fees. That flight is currently going for over $10,000!

JetBlue TrueBlue

JetBlue TrueBlue Award prices are tied to revenue prices so the more expensive the cash price, the more expensive the award ticket.

JetBlue can be a great way to get around the US and they have an amazing business class product (Mint) although sometimes the award redemption value on that is not terrific. For that reason, you might want to sometimes look elsewhere like booking inter-island Hawaiian flights on Hawaiian Airlines for 6,000 points in economy.

Qatar Airways

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend Qatar Airways for partner bookings but if you’ve never flown on the famous Q-Suites, you can find some redemptions decently priced. This is especially true since you can use Avios to makes your bookings. Use the Q calculator to get estimates on the award price and you’ll see Qatar business class seats go for 43,000 from Doha to Paris.

Final word

The Citi Premier® Card bonus of 80,000 points can be used in a lot of ways for travel. These redemptions above are only the tip of the iceberg but should give you a good indication of just how much value you can obtain from this bonus.

Interested in the 80,000 point bonus? Learn how to apply here.

Advertiser Disclosure: UponArriving has partnered with affiliate partners and may receive a commission from card issuers. UponArriving does not display all credit card offers and affiliate relationships may impact how offers are presented. 

Editorial Disclosure: Opinions, reviews, analysis & recommendations are UponArriving’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. 

Citi Premier $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit Guide [2021]

The Citi Premier comes with an interesting hotel benefit that can save you $100 on certain hotel bookings. But is this benefit really that valuable or should you pass on using this perk? In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know about the $100 annual hotel savings benefit.

What is the Citi Premier annual hotel savings benefit?

The Citi Premier $100 annual hotel savings benefit is a special perk that will save you $100 on bookings of $500 or more as long as you make your booking through Citi and comply with other eligibility criteria. Below, I will break down all of the rules and restrictions for using this perk.

Tip: Use the free app WalletFlo to help you travel the world for free by finding the best travel credit cards and promotions!

Citi Premier overview

Before getting in too deep on the details, it’s a good idea to take a look at the overall package of the Citi Premier.

  • Solid welcome bonus (usually)
  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 3X on dining
  • 3X on gas stations
  • 3X on supermarkets
  • 1x on other purchases
  • $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
  • $95 annual fee
  • No Foreign transaction fees

In addition to the great bonus earning potential on dining, gas, and groceries, one thing that should stand out is the $95 annual fee.

That stands out because this benefit can save you $100 which means it is an instant way to come out on top with the annual fee. Sure, it may only be a $5 difference but anytime you can completely neutralize an annual fee with the single use of one perk that is something to be aware of.

Citi Premier annual hotel savings benefit rules

Like most credit card perks, the Citi Premier annual hotel savings benefit comes with a number of rules and restrictions. Luckily, the rules are pretty straightforward so you shouldn’t get surprised by anything. Here’s a breakdown of what you need to know.

Once per calendar year

This benefit can only be used once per calendar year. This means that it will expire every year on December 31st whether or not you put it to use. As far as I know, there is no ability to reinstate this benefit once it expires.

I would recommend that you use WalletFlo to help you to remember to use perks like this.

$100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more

In order to trigger this discount, you’ll need to book a hotel stay of $500 or more. Keep in mind that this is excluding taxes and fees.

There are a few things to note here.

First, you should absolutely compare prices with booking directly because you might be able to save a good amount of money with member rates, etc. Many times the OTA prices are competitive when compared to booking directly but that is not always the case.

The second thing to note is that because there is a $500 minimum, this discount is not well suited for shorter, cheaper stays. If you typically stay two or three nights at hotels costing around $150 or so, this benefit may become difficult to use.

Book through thankyou.com or 1-800-THANKYOU

You must make your booking through thankyou.com or 1-800-THANKYOU.

The big factor to consider here is that your booking will amount to a typical OTA booking. This means you will almost certainly lose out on elite night credits and points for your stay.

You may or may not receive your elite benefits like free breakfast, upgrades, etc. To maximize your odds of getting those be sure to call the hotel ahead of time and ask them to add your loyalty number to your reservation.

Because receiving elite benefits can sometimes be hit or miss when booking through an OTA, there is a risk that you can lose out on more value than you are saving.

For example, assume you had a four night stay and you would normally be receiving a free breakfast every morning for you and your spouse valued at $40 per morning. Normally, you would be getting $160 in value from breakfast alone but if you pursue that $100 discount you might lose out on that in addition to other benefits like upgrades.

This is one reason why I think this type of discount is best suited for non-chain hotels or hotels that you don’t have any status with.

Prepaid stay

To receive the $100 annual hotel savings, you must pre-pay for your complete stay with your Citi Premier Card, ThankYou Points, or a combination thereof.

The bummer is that you have to pay using your Premier Card if you are not going to use points. This means that you will not be able to utilize things like property credits from other hotel credit cards like the Hilton Aspire or Marriott Brilliant.

But the cool thing here is that you can use points to cover the booking and receive the discount. When I tested out the perk, it showed me that my 4,396 points were worth $54.95. That comes out to a value of 1.25 cents per point, which is actually not bad at all. That puts it on par with the Chase Sapphire Preferred (at least when it comes to hotel stays).

You could make the argument that with the $100 discount, you’re getting more value from your points.

For example, 32,000 points could get you a $500 hotel stay when you factor in the discount. That would come out to closer to 1.56 cents per point which is pretty impressive but not everyone likes to calculate value that way.

Reservations must be made by the primary cardmember

The reservations must be made by the primary cardmember but you can make reservations in the primary card member’s or authorize users’ name.

Package rates

Packaged rates such as air and hotel or hotel and car rental do not qualify.

Can’t be combined with other offers

Unfortunately, this benefit cannot be combined in the same transaction with the Citi Prestige card’s complimentary 4th night free if you have both the Citi Premier and Citi Prestige cards. This benefit also cannot be combined with any other promotions or discounts on thankyou.com.

How to use the Citi Premier annual hotel savings benefit

It is very easy to use the annual hotel savings benefit. Simply head over to thankyou.com and log into your account. Click on “Travel” and then “Hotels” on the top navigation bar.

Now, all you have to do is go through the normal booking process. Simply search for the hotel you want to book. If you don’t see your hotel then you can try inserting the name of the hotel chain into the “preferred hotel” field which may show you more results.

If your booking qualifies, meaning that the total of the hotel stay is $500 or more, you will see verification of your discount displayed in the price breakdown (as shown in the image below).

If you would prefer to not use your hotel benefit on the booking, you can simply uncheck the check box that states “apply my annual Citi Premier hotel benefit.” (Citi provides a helpful reminder about the expiration of the perk here.)

Just below that you can choose whether or not to use your points for the booking. In my case, I only had 4,386 ThankYou points and so I could have only used my points to cover a partial payment.

It shows you exactly how much your points are worth and how much of the remaining cost will be charged to your card so it is a helpful and easy to use feature.

Canceling a booking

If you happen to cancel your booking that you used the $100 benefit for, the benefit will remain available for use in that same calendar year.

Final word

Overall, the $100 benefit is an interesting hotel perk but I would make sure to remember the following:

  • If you take a lot of short cheap stays with only two or three nights, you might find it difficult to use this benefit.
  • If you are interested in earning elite credits and points and/or receiving your elite status benefits you might be losing more value by chasing this discount
  • The hotel prices may be higher than booking directly

However, if you are not staying at properties where you have elite status, prices are more or less equal, and your booking price is $500 or more, I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t want to consider using this benefit.

What Card Should I Product Change my Citi Premier to? [2021]

If you are serious about your credit card rewards and striving for an optimal strategy then you will no doubt have to make a decision on product changes at some point. In this article, I’ll break down what to do when you face this decision with respect to the popular Citi Premier.

What is a product change?

First, the basics so we make sure we are on the same page.

Product changes are when you change from one credit card to another. This could be an upgrade, a downgrade, or it could be changing to a different type of product line (American Airlines card to a cash back card).

For some banks, the consequences of product changing are pretty minimal.

You can proceed without having to think through your strategy too much and enjoy the benefits like avoiding the annual fee or jumping on a more premium credit card option.

But for other banks, such as Amex and Citi, you really need to think through the consequences of a product change. If you make the wrong decision, it could cost you a lot of bonus points in the future.

By the way, I recommend that most people use the app WalletFlo to track all of their product changes. It will allow you to track as many product changes as you need for a single card and it will help you keep up with your credit history in that regard.

Citi Premier options

If you hold the Citi Premier, you might be tempted to product change to a few different options. If you wanted to go to a more premium card, you could look into upgrading to the Citi Prestige.

But a lot of people who are product changing the Premier card actually want to lower or remove the annual fee so they will look for other options. One of the most tempting options is the Citi Double Cash but you should think twice before you product change to that card.

The reason is that if you product change from the Premier to the Citi Double Cash, your credit card number will likely change. And if your credit card number changes, it will probably reset the 24 month clock on your eligibility for a ThankYou bonus.

This means that you will have to wait an additional two years before you can receive a ThankYou bonus (*no thank you*). This could be a huge bummer if you have already been waiting a while for your ThankYou bonus eligibility to reset.

The best product change options

But there are a couple of cards known for NOT giving you a new credit card number and those are the cards you should be trying to probably change to if this is a concern.

These two cards are the:

  • Citi Rewards+
  • Citi ThankYou Preferred

Both of these credit cards have no annual fee and data points show that typically you will not be issued a new number for them. I said “typically” because a lot of things like this are YMMV. In other words, it’s hard to know for sure that you will not be issued a new credit card number but it seems like you certainly increase your odds of keeping your number if you go with these cards.

If you had to choose one of these cards, I would probably just go with the Citi Rewards+. I like that it earns 2X on groceries and gas but it also has a cool feature that rounds up to the nearest 10 points on every purchase. So if you make a lot of smaller purchases, this can be a nice way to rack up more points.

It also offers you 10% points back for the first 100,000 ThankYou Points you redeem per year, so for a no fee card it packs a good amount of value.

Final word

Overall, product changing with Citibank can be a little bit tricky sometimes. This is especially true with the 24-month ThankYou bonus rule. But by switching to the right cards, you can increase your odds of avoiding that reset and hopefully earn a bonus a lot quicker!

Citi ThankYou Premier Review [2020]

Next to American Express and Chase, Citibank has the best strong contenders in the transferable points game. In this article, I’ll focus on one of the most popular Citibank cards: the Citi Premier. I’ll give you some insight on when you should think about applying and when you should definitely avoid applying for the Citi Premier. I’ll also go into detail about the bonus categories and additional perks with this card.

Citi Premier overview

  • Solid welcome bonus (usually)
  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 3X on dining
  • 3X on gas stations
  • 3X on supermarkets
  • 1x on other purchases
  • $100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
  • $95 annual fee
  • No Foreign transaction fees

Welcome bonus

Historically, the bonus for the Citi Premier has been all over the place.

We’ve seen it mostly range from 30,000 points to 60,000 points and for a time the welcome bonus even completely disappeared. So the Citi Premier can be a bit of a “wild card” when it comes to bonuses.

My advice would be to stay away from this card when there is no welcome bonus offered and wait for at least a bonus around 40,000 to 50,000 points. Personally, I would only go for this card when there is at least a 50,000 point bonus.

Using a WalletFlo valuation of 1.62, 50,000 points comes out to $810 worth of value. That is very good for one of the best travel rewards credit cards.

To get the maximum amount of value, you will want to transfer your points to various travel partners. Citi has a lot of airline partners but the drawback is that a few of them are not very great programs and only have very limited value in certain circumstances.

The programs that I would focus on when transferring points include:

  • Avianca LifeMiles
  • Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
  • Emirates Skywards
  • Etihad Guest
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

At first glance, you may not recognize these airlines or realize the redemption potential but with a little bit of research and legwork they can actually be extremely useful. In fact, you could use these partners for domestic travel on the different legacy carriers.

Avianca and Singapore miles can be used to book flights on United; Cathay Pacific and Etihad miles can be used on American Airlines; Virgin Atlantic miles can be used on Delta, etc.

So even if you don’t plan on flying internationally with these foreign airlines, you can still get around the US pretty well by utilizing them.

For your reference, here is a full breakdown of all of the transfer partners along with the transfer ratios and transfer times.

Travel partnerRatioTransfer Time
AeroMexico ClubPremier1:1Instant
Air France KLM Flying Blue1:1Instant
Avianca LifeMiles1:1Instant
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles1:1Instant
Emirates Skywards1:1Instant
Etihad Guest1:1~7 Days
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands1:1~2 Days
Jet Airways JetPrivilege1:1Instant
JetBlue1:1Instant
Malaysia Enrich1:1~2 Days
Qantas Frequent Flyer1:1~2 Days
Qatar Privilege Club1:1~2 Days
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer1:1~2 Days
Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus1:1~7 Days
Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles1:1~2 Days
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club1:1Instant
Citi ThankYou Transfer Partners

Eligibility

In order to receive the bonus, make sure that you are abiding by the eligibility rules which state:

Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you received a new cardmember bonus for Citi Rewards+SM, Citi ThankYou® Preferred, Citi ThankYou® Premier/Citi PremierSM or Citi Prestige®, or if you have closed any of these accounts, in the past 24 months.

In addition to those, Citi has some other complicated application rules. If you want to automate your eligibility for credit cards like this then I would consider opening up a free account on WalletFlo. You’ll also be able to do things like manager credit cards, keep track of credits and annual fees, etc. 

Related: What Card Should I Product Change my Citi Premier to?

Bonus earning

In addition to having a pretty solid welcome bonus, the bonus earning potential on the Citi Premier is really where this card stands out.

If you are looking for a really well-rounded travel rewards credit card, this could be the best option for you.

Starting August 23, 2020, The Citi Premier earns the following rates:

  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 3X on dining
  • 3X on gas stations
  • 3X on supermarkets
  • 1x on other purchases

3X on air travel and hotels

Earning triple the points on airfare and hotels is very solid.

The biggest drawback here is that you’re not earning 3X on a broad travel category any longer. Also, there are better alternatives for these categories. You could use the American Express Platinum Card to earn 5X on airfare or you could use a card like the Sapphire Reserve to earn 3X on travel but receive much better travel protections in the process.

It’s worth mentioning that the Citi Premier lost many of its key travel and purchase protections and so now it is not a great card to use when relying on protections like trip cancellation or baggage delay protection.

3X on dining

3X on dining makes this a pretty solid dining credit card. I like to put my dining purchases on the Gold Card since I earn 4X but the Citi Premier has a much lower annual fee ($250 vs $95) so that is something to consider.

3X on gas stations

The Citi Premier can be one of the best credit cards to use on gas stations since it earns 3X on all of your fuel purchases.

3X on supermarkets

3X on supermarkets is also very competitive although once again I’d like to put supermarket purchases on the Gold Card to earn 4X.

1x on other purchases

And finally, you can earn 1X on all other purchases which is a standard earning rate.

Overall, each individual bonus category is not necessarily the best that you can find but the overall package of bonus categories is pretty impressive for a card with an annual fee of only $95.

Tip: Check out the free app WalletFlo so that you can optimize your credit card spend by seeing the best card to use! You can also track credits, annual fees, and get notifications when you’re eligible for the best cards!

Benefits

$100 Annual Hotel Savings 

Every calendar year, you can get $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding all taxes and fees. The catch is that you will have to book through thankyou.com or 1-800-THANKYOU (powered by cxLoyalty). This means that you could lose out on your elite benefits since this would be a prepaid booking.

If you choose to use the benefit, the $100 annual hotel savings will be applied at the time of booking.

There are a few restrictions to keep in mind with this benefit:

  • Reservations have to be made by the primary cardholder
  • Travel packages such as air and hotel do not qualify
  • Reservations made through any party or channel other than thankyou.com or 1-800-THANKYOU are not eligible for the $100 annual hotel savings
  • This $100 savings benefit cannot be combined in the same transaction with the Citi Prestige Card Complimentary 4th Night Hotel Stay
  • This benefit also cannot be combined with any other promotions or discounts on thankyou.com

25% bonus?

The Citi Premier used to allow users to redeem points for travel with a 25% bonus but that benefit is going away as of April 10, 2021.

This is a major loss and it really hurts the value of this card but if you did not use your points through the travel portal, it’s not a meaningful loss

Citi Entertainment program

The Citi Entertainment program offers special access to purchase tickets to events, including presale tickets and exclusive experiences. These events include things like concerts, sporting events, dining experiences, and others.

Final word

The Citi Premier does not have a whole lot of benefits or perks but it is a great card for earning a lot of points via a great welcome bonus and well-rounded bonus categories. It’s definitely worth picking up in my opinion — just make sure you find a good welcome bonus and have a decent grasp on the different transfer partners.

New Citi Prestige and Premier spending benefits live

Citibank is now offering better perks for two of its most popular credit cards. Some of the perks, such as those for the Citi Prestige are only temporary. But the benefits getting added to the Citi Premier are permanent and are actually just being expedited since these changes were already going to happen in August.

By the way, I’ve updated the database in WalletFlo so you don’t have to worry about keeping up with these changes and they should reflect in your profile.

Citi Prestige

  • Citi Prestige cardholders can now enjoy 5 ThankYou Points per $1 spent on all online purchases up to 7,500 points, through August 31, 2020. 
    • Retailer website orders
    • Online grocery orders
    • Online drugstore orders

This means that you can spend up to $1,500 on these categories which should be pretty easy for people to do over the summer and effectively turns the Prestige into a card like the Chase Freedom that allows 5X on up to $1,500 worth of spend. Not bad. 

And remember, you can use your $250 travel credit on expenses like dining until the end of the year. Again this is also notated in WalletFlo. 

Citi Premier

  • 3 ThankYou Points per $1 spent on supermarket purchases (instead of 1 point per $1 spent)
  • 3 ThankYou Points per $1 spent on restaurant purchases, including takeout and curbside pickup (instead of 2 points per $1 spent)

The new changes have already been in effect since June 2 so you should have been earning the increased rates over the past couple of days if you have this card.

Personally, I think these are great bonus categories for a card with an annual fee of $95. 3X on supermarkets and dining is very respectable. At a valuation of 1.7 cents per point, you’ll be earning just over 5% back on those categories which is very solid. 

I also think that it’s pretty cool that Citi is expediting this change. Technologically speaking, Citibank doesn’t always impress so it was nice to see them implement this change pretty quickly.

Big changes coming to Citi Premier

The Citi Premier is a fantastic travel credit card, largely for three reasons.

First, it comes with a great welcome bonus sometimes as high as 60,000 points. These points can be transferred to some quality transfer partners for great value.

Second, it earns 3X on travel which includes a broad array of purchases that extend beyond airfare and hotels. For a card with a $95 annual fee, 3X on travel is very competitive.

Third, it offers a 25% rebate when redeeming your points towards travel which allows you to redeem your points at a pretty solid rate of 1.25 cents per point. It’s not the best travel portal rate but it is pretty decent nonetheless. 

But in August 2020, there are going to be some new changes to the Citi Premier that will make this card less attractive to some people but also more attractive to others.

The Citi Premier will no longer earn 3X on travel and instead will only earn 1X. It is also going to lose its 2X on entertainment.

While it is going to lose those categories, the Premier is going to earn 3X at supermarkets and restaurants. 

I always consider this a strong travel card for bonus earning potential so the loss of 3X on travel is weird and now makes this more of a dining and supermarket card for bonus points. 3X on dining and supermarkets is a pretty solid combination.

Although I would still take the 4X earned on groceries with the Amex Gold Card, the Gold Card comes with a cap and a much higher annual fee of $250. 

(If you are an existing card member, you will retain the old bonus categories until April 10, 2021.)

An additional perk will be getting a $100 credit on a $500 plus hotel stay once per calendar year when booked through thankyou.com. In many cases, you will get more value from your elite benefits by booking directly with a hotel so this new $100 credit is not very enticing to me, since you have to book through the Citibank travel portal.

So if you are trying to rack up grocery and dining spend with a low annual fee, this card will be a pretty competitive option. But if you relied on this card to earn points on travel purchases and liked using your points at the 1.25 cents per point right, these changes will likely be pretty disappointing.

Citi Premier Sign-up Bonus at 50K [Expired]

There’s now a link for the Citi Premier with a 50,000 point sign-up bonus out right now that’s worth considering for many people. We’ve seen the Premier bonus at 40,000, 30,000, and even without any bonus at all so 50,000 Citi ThankYou Points for $4,000 spend is a solid bonus.

Update: Some offers are no longer available — click here for the latest deals!

The offer

  • Earn 50,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases with your card within 3 months of account opening
  • Application Link 

The Premier is one of the best bonus-earning credit cards with 3X on travel (including gas) and 2X on dining and entertainment. The $95 annual fee is waived the first year so it’s a great deal for anyone not interested in paying an annual fee.

Citi also has some solid transfer partners like Singapore Airlines which makes ThankYou Points a worthwhile currency to accumulate.

Citi application rules

You should note that Citi requires you to wait 24 months between cards of the same brand. So if you’ve received opened or closed a Citi ThankYou earning credit card like the Citi Prestige or the Citi Preferred in the past 24 months then you’ll need to wait until you’ve hit that 24 month period. There are also a number of other restrictions to know about when applying for Citi credit cards.

H/T: DOC

What Counts for the Citi Premier Entertainment Category?

The Citi Premier is one of the most valuable travel rewards credit cards when it comes with its 40K or 50K sign-up bonus. In addition to its valuable sign-up bonus, the card is also one of the top bonus earning cards based on its bonus categories. The Premier earns 3X on travel purchases and 2X on dining and entertainment. But many people still wonder what counts for the Citi Premier entertainment category?

Citi Premier entertainment category

The Citi Premier Entertainment Category

The entertainment category can get a little but murky at times as sometimes you’ll see purchases that you logically think should code as entertainment not earn the 2X they deserve. However, Citi does provide some guidelines for its entertainment category.

Citi states that “select entertainment” should qualify and states that this includes:

  • live entertainment,
  • live theatrical productions,
  • concerts,
  • live sporting events,
  • movie theaters,
  • amusement parks (including zoos, aquariums, circuses and carnivals),
  • tourist attractions (including museums and art galleries),
  • record stores,
  • video rental stores and
  • on-demand internet streaming media;

These entertainment categories cover a lot of territory.

Anytime you buy tickets to concerts or sporting events, even if you purchase your tickets through a merchant like TicketMaster or Stubhub, you should earn 2X on those purchases. For lesser known third-parties that sell tickets, it’s possible that these might register as “miscellaneous” or similar so you might not be able to earn bonus points.

You may not think you’ll be popping into a record store any time soon but many note that iTunes often counts as a record store purchase as do some Kindle purchases.

You would think Netflix would qualify for entertainment and it does for some but there are reports that this is not the case for everyone. Things are also not always clear for convention events like Comic-Con, which people have reported as not coding as entertainment. (There is an actual Marvel MasterCard that should code for bonus earnings for those, however.)

Citi Premier Entertainment
Earn 2X on museum tickets with the Citi Premier.

Tip: Use WalletFlo for all your credit card needs. It’s free and will help you optimize your rewards and savings!

What does not qualify for the Citi Premier Entertainment Category?

Citi also lists a number of purchases that are not supposed to not qualify for entertainment.

These include:

  • sporting camps,
  • public and private golf courses,
  • country clubs (including membership fees),
  • stores that sell musical instruments, video game arcades,
  • bowling alleys,
  • stores that primarily sell video games/accessories,
  • charitable organizations that provide live entertainment,
  • bookstores, and
  • sports complexes where you participate in the sport.

So there’s a distinction with these activities that should be noted and considered a rule of thumb.

If you are going to spectate at a sporting event, such as an MLB game or NBA game, then according to the terms that should qualify for the 2X earning rate. However, if you are actually participating in the event, such as playing at a softball sports center or going bowling, there’s a good chance that you won’t get the 2X.

It’s worth noting that online gaming purchases likely will not code as entertainment either.

Basically, if you are physically engaging in some sort of activity, even playing video games at an arcade, the odds go down that the purchase will code as travel. However, there are data points of people getting purchases like golf memberships honored with the Citi Prestige so there’s definitely a possibility you can still get bonus points if your purchase shows up as “entertainment.”

Remember that Citi nor MasterCard codes these merchants. Instead, as Citi states:

Codes are chosen and assigned by a third party, who may change the codes from time to time. When you make a purchase at a merchant, we’re provided the code for that merchant and if the code matches a category that gives you additional points, you will earn the additional points. Because we don’t control what code a merchant is assigned, sometimes a purchase that you think fits a certain category may not earn additional points.

This means that you can’t always know for sure how different purchases will code. Sometimes you can do some research prior to making the purchase but that will be difficult to do when making purchases with small merchants. If you suspect that a purchase should have counted but it didn’t, simply call up Citi using the phone number on the back of your card and inquire about the charge. Citi might not honor your request but you never know — sometimes they might even offer you points for the “inconvenience.”

Are there other cards that earn bonus points on entertainment?

There are a couple of other cards that also allow you to optimize bonus points on entertainment spend. The Capital One Savor Cash Rewards Credit Card earns 4% back on entertainment as well as 4% back on dining. And the Marvel MasterCard earns 3% back on entertainment as well as 3% back on dining and special Marvel purchases. 

Final word

The Citi Premier entertainment category is a nice way to supplement your earnings but I don’t think most people probably spend that much money on entertainment purchases. For that reason, this isn’t a super lucrative bonus category that is probably going to motivate you to go chasing down points with every purchase. However, it never hurts to inquire with Citi about your missing entertainment bonus points if you think you deserved them.

What Counts as Travel for The Citi ThankYou® Premier?

The Citi ThankYou® Premier is one of the best travel credit cards for its bonus category earning potential. The card earns 3X on travel (and gas stations) along with 2X on dining and entertainment and it often comes with a 50,000 point sign-up bonus, making it one of the most competitive bonus category earners in the market.

Update: Some offers are no longer available — click here for the latest deals!

What counts for travel for the Citi Premier?

The travel category is very broad and encompasses a lot of different types of purchses.

Citi defines travel as:

[P]urchases at airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, travel agencies/travel aggregators/tour operators, gas stations, commuter transportation, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis/limousines/car services, passenger railways, cruise lines, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, campgrounds and trailer parks, timeshares, bus lines, motor home/recreational vehicle rentals and boat leases and rentals

This travel category covers just about every legitimate travel purchase you will incur, so it makes the Premier one of the best bonus earning credit cards for travel, especially since it offers 3X with only a $95 annual fee (that’s usually waived the first year). Keep in mind that the premium version of this card, the Citi Prestige® Card, only earns 3X on hotels and airfare so unlike the Chase Sapphire cards, the bonus earning is less lucrative with the more expensive card.

Exclusions apply

There are some exclusions to be aware of. The terms explicitly exclude the following from the travel category:

You won’t earn 3X Points for purchases made at recreational camps, insurance companies, auto clubs, fuel used for non-automobile purposes, and real estate agencies

Gas stations are included in the 3X earning category but “[g]as purchases made at warehouse clubs, discount stores, department stores and convenience stores do not qualify for 3X Points.” These terms can make it a guessing game as to which category a vendor will code as. For example, some 7-11s that serve gas will code as a gas station but others may not. The same issue can arise with Wal-Mart and others, so sometimes you may want to test out how local merchants code in order to avoid any future hassle.

How does Citi determine what codes as travel?

Citi doesn’t assign or have any control over merchant codes. Instead, they are chose and assigned by a third party and these categories may change from time to time. When you make a purchase at a merchant, Citi is provided the code for that merchant and if the code matches a category that gives you additional points, you will earn the additional points.

This means that sometimes you’ll run into instances where you might not be earning the points you expected to earn. For example, a restaurant located within a large retail outlet may not be assigned a “restaurant” code, but rather a “retailer” code. This means that you won’t receive additional points for “dining out” with the Premier if you eat at that establishment.

The same thing can work in your favor, however. For example, a restaurant inside of a hotel may code as a hotel purchase which ends up earning you 3X instead of 2X.

What if my Citi Premier purchase doesn’t code correctly?

If you feel like you’re getting robbed because a purchase did not code correctly you can call up the ThankYou Service Center at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596). They might need to open up an “investigation” but they should be able to resolve the issue for you. There’s no guarantee that they’ll credit you with bonus points (especially since they cover this in the terms and conditions), but it could happen so be prepared to explain to the agents why the establishment should’ve coded one way versus another.

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