Citi Prestige Lounge Access Policy (Priority Pass) [2020]

The Citi Prestige is an interesting credit card because it’s not marketed quite as well as other premium cards but it does offer tremendous value to certain niche customers. People who spend a lot on dining can take advantage of 5X on dining and there’s also the 4th night free benefit that can still be very valuable for the right person. 

But another group that can benefit a lot from the Citi Prestige are those who want lounge access for more than two people. In this article, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about the Citi Prestige Priority Pass Select lounge access. 

What is the Citi Prestige Lounge policy?

The Citi Prestige lounge policy allows for entrance into Priority Pass lounges for yourself and up to two guests and/or immediate family members.

Here is exactly what the terms and conditions state: 

Primary and Authorized users are granted complimentary access to the Priority Pass lounges and allowed a maximum of up to two guests or and immediate family members (spouse, domestic partner and/or children under 18 years of age).

Because you can bring in immediate family members, the Citi Prestige has one of the most generous lounge access policies for families. Most other premium cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum Card limit your membership to only two additional guests.

Air France Lounge at IAH.

What about additional guests?

If you want to bring in additional guests you will have to pay $27 per guest. Keep in mind that some lounges do have capacity constraints so you would not always be able to pay for additional guests. If you are heading to a lounge during peak hours then you are more likely to encounter these type of restrictions.

Note that these restraints are different from the limitations put on Priority Pass members in general. For example, some lounges won’t allow any Priority Pass members during certain hours. The restraints I’m referring to here are essentially subjective determinations of overcrowding made by the lounges.

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

Citi Prestige authorized users Priority Pass

Authorized users for the Citi Prestige are also allowed Priority Pass membership. This is a great deal because you can add authorized users for only $75 per user, on par with the $75 required to add authorized users to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. 

What about Admirals Club access? 

The Citi Prestige no longer allows complimentary American Airlines Admirals Club access as of July 2017. Many people saw this as a huge devaluation when it happened and as a result a lot of people canceled their Prestige cards. 

How do you sign up for Priority Pass?

You should be automatically signed up for the Citi Prestige Priority Pass once approved so you shouldn’t have to worry about enrolling yourself. This is in contrast to a lot of other credit cards that force you to enroll. For example, you may have to log into your account and click through a few buttons in order to trigger your membership.

But that is not the case with Citibank. After you’ve been approved, your Priority Pass card should arrive in about one week.

Note: It’s not possible to expedite your Priority Pass card although you can expedite your Citi Prestige card.     

Are Priority Pass lounges legit?

In case you were not aware, Priority Pass is a network of over 1,100 lounges located all across the globe. The quality of these lounges can vary dramatically depending on your location. For the most part, I have not been very impressed with many of the lounges located in the US. 

However, when traveling internationally I tend to get more from them. This is especially the case on some of our round the world trips where arrival lounges can be a lifesaver with early or odd-time arrivals. 

Even though some of the domestic lounges are a bit underwhelming they still are better than waiting out by the gate the vast majority of the time. (Sometimes the lounges are ridiculously crowded and I prefer to just wait outside by the gate.)

If you are truly interested in a more premium lounge experience than you might look into a card like the American Express Platinum Card. That card, in my opinion, has the best lounge access out of any credit card on the market. Not only do you get Priority Pass Select membership, but you also get entrance into a lot other lounges including Centurion Lounges and Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta). 

Amex Las Vegas Centurion Lounge membership desk.

Is the Citi Prestige worth it?

Beyond the lounge access, you might be wondering if the Citi Prestige is worth it. Well, after the new Citi Prestige relaunch, the card comes with some enhanced benefits. The 4th night free got limited to two uses per year and lost concierge booking but it does have some new valuable perks. 

The Citi Prestige offers 5x points on dining and air travel/travel agencies and 3x points on cruises and hotels. 5X on dining is very impressive when compared to the competitors. 

The $250 airline credit on the new Prestige is much broader and will be activated upon making any kind of travel purchase including: 

  • Travel Purchases are defined as purchases made within the travel category, including purchases from airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, travel agencies/travel aggregators/tour operators, commuter transportation, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis/limousines/car services, passenger railways, cruise lines, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, and bus lines.

You’ll also get a nice cell phone protection benefit and some great travel protections which come in the following forms:

Update: The Citi Prestige lost many of its benefits below:

  • Trip cancellation and interruption
  • Trip delay protection
  • Baggage delay protection
  • Lost baggage protection
  • Roadside assistance
  • Travel in emergency assistance
  • World wide travel accident insurance
  • Medical evacuation

Final word

The Citi Prestige has one of the best Priority Pass Select memberships for families since you can bring in two guests and your immediate family members. The additional benefits of the Prestige card aren’t too shabby, either. The Prestige isn’t for everybody but if you fall into one of the right niches, it’s a great card. 

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.

Huge Changes Coming to the Citi Prestige in 2019

The Citi Prestige recently quietly disappeared as applications were removed from the Citi website. That’s because there were some major changes coming to the Citi Prestige and now in 2019 they are here. Here’s a rundown of both the positive and the negative changes that you can expect.

The positive changes

New bonus categories

The Citi Prestige will offer 5x points on dining and air travel/travel agencies and 3x points on cruises and hotels. 

This puts the Prestige in direct competition with the Amex Platinum which earns 5X on airfare and the Amex Gold Card which earns 4X on (US) dining (not to mention the handful of other cards that earn 4% back on dining).

Although Citi recently changed the trip delay coverage for the Prestige from 3 to 6 hours, it still could be a better card for trip delay protections than the Platinum Card, which requires you to pay extra for those benefits. And while I love the 4X for the Amex Gold Card, it’s limited to U.S. dining, so the Prestige has another leg up there.

The 3X on cruises/hotel is nice but that puts the Prestige on par with the 3X offered by the Citi Premier and Chase Sapphire Reserve on travel.

The new bonus categories are going to be a major selling point for the Prestige but you should also think of the broader picture — how are you going to use your points? Earning 3X or 4X with another program could be better if those points are more useful (but more on that below).

Broader $250 travel credit

The $250 airline credit on the new Prestige is going to be much broader in the future and will be activated upon making any kind of travel purchase (before it was limited to airline purchases).

  • Travel Purchases are defined as purchases made within the travel category, including purchases from airlines, hotels, car rental agencies, travel agencies/travel aggregators/tour operators, commuter transportation, ferries, commuter railways, subways, taxis/limousines/car services, passenger railways, cruise lines, bridge and road tolls, parking lots/garages, and bus lines.

This will allow the Prestige to compete more closely with the Chase Sapphire Reserve which offers a $300 travel credit that’s extremely broad.

With the $250 travel credit, the effective annual fee for the Prestige card will be $245. 

Cell phone protection

As we’ve seen some other cards like the Chase Ink Preferred do, the Citi Prestige will be adding cell phone protection for damage and theft (this benefit will come in May). Presumably, this will work the same way that other cards do which require you to pay your bill with the card to get coverage.

Sign-up bonus?

We know that a new sign-up bonus is coming, we just don’t know what it’s going to be yet. If I had to guess, it would be somewhere between 50,000 and 70,000. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a high minimum spend requirement or perhaps a tiered structure for the bonus, either.

Update: The card has started with a sign-up bonus of 50,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. Higher offers may come in the future but they will likely have high spend requirements. 

The negative changes

With these new benefits, there are some key losses to the Citi Prestige.

4th night free limitations

The biggest loss is that you will only be able to use the 4th night free benefit two times per year. This benefit had unlimited value since you could earn 4th night frees as many times as you wanted and there was no limitation on the value of the free night.

Now, there’ still no limitation on the value you can save for the free night, but you’ll only be able to capture that value two times per year. This means that you’ll need to be much more strategic with your selection of where you want to use your 4th night free.

This isn’t a major loss for most people but for the few who really capitalized on this perk, this will be a huge loss. 

Also, Beginning 09/01/19, Citi Prestige Concierge will no longer be available for Fourth Night bookings and bookings must be made either online at thankyou.com or by phone at 1-800-THANKYOU in order to be eligible for the Fourth Night benefit.

This means that you won’t get guaranteed elite perks and will lose out on elite credits. 

Bookings made prior to 9/01/19 will not count toward the two-stay cap in 2019.

25% bonus rate on air travel redemptions gone

When you used your points earned from the Citi Prestige, you could receive a 25% bonus on airfare redemptions similar to what the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers. That’s no longer the case and you’ll receive just a flat 1 cent per point rate on redemptions. This isn’t a major loss and Citi had already gutted its point redemptions for airfare for a while.

No more 2X on entertainment

The Citi Prestige will no longer earn 2X on entertainment. The Citi Premier still offers this option.

Annual fee going up $450 to $495

The annual fee will now be sandwiched between the Amex Platinum’s $550 and the Sapphire Reserve’s $450 as Citi attempts to carve out its new space in the premium card market niche. This isn’t a huge increase but it’s definitely significant enough to re-evaluate the card for current cardholders.

Citi ThankYou Partners

Airline partners 

  • Asia Miles
  • Avianca
  • Etihad
  • Eva Air
  • Flying Blue
  • Garuda
  • JetBlue
  • JetPrivilege
  • Malaysia Airlines
  • Qantas
  • Qatar
  • Singapore Airlines
  • Thai Airways
  • Turkish Airlines
  • Virgin Atlantic

Should you apply?

If you’re thinking about going for the Prestige there are a few things you’ll want to consider.

Citi application rules

If you’re planning on applying make sure that you are aware of the 24 moth rule which does not allow you to earn a Citi sign-up bonus if you’ve opened or closed (or downgraded/upgraded/product changed and received a new card number) a Citi ThankYou card in the last 24 months.

So for example if you closed the Citi Premier six months ago, you’ll need to wait 18 months before you can apply for the Citi Prestige. Or if you product changed a Citi Premier to a Double Cash 12 months ago and received a new card number, you’ll have to wait 12 more months.

Amex Gold Card vs Citi Prestige

A lot of folks will wonder if they should move their dining spend from the Amex Gold Card to the Citi Prestige next year.

There’s a lot that goes into choosing one card over the other when the annual fees, travel credits, bonus categories, benefits, and transfer partners are different but I think a primary concern is what are you going to do with those points? 

Earning more points on dining with Citi is tempting but I much prefer the Amex Membership Rewards travel partners to Citi, because I regularly use/pursue miles for ANA, Avios, Aeroplan, and Emirates. So I’d usually prefer 4X Membership Rewards to 5X ThankYou Points.

However, Citi has some pretty good airline partners too and you might be more into those partners than I am. If that’s the case, then you’ll likely treasure the chance to earn 5X for those partners. So it could make sense to put your dining spending on the Prestige over the Amex Gold Card but it will come down to how you value those transfer partners.

The point is to remember there is no reason to go chasing 5X over 4X if you don’t have use for the points earned from the higher bonus rate. 

Using multiple cards to maximize rewards

If I wanted to use points with airlines like Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, and Flying Blue which are partnered up with Amex, Citi, and Chase then I might spread my spending around to all three programs. Depending on how much you spend and how you much you’re able to maximize credits, it could make sense to have many cards in your wallet that you actively use.

Here’s what your wallet could like like and what your effective annual fees would be with maxed out travel/dining credits.

  • Citi Prestige: 5X on dining and airfare ($245 effective annual fee)
  • Amex Gold: 4X on US supermarkets ($30 effective annual fee)
  • Sapphire Reserve: 3X on travel ($150 effective annual fee)
  • Chase Freedom: 5X on rotating categories (no annual fee)
  • Chase Ink Cash: 5X on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services; 2X on gas (no annual fee)
  • Amex Blue Business Plus: 2X on all purchases up to $50,000 per year (no annual fee)

This would be a pretty fantastic line-up of credit cards and allow you to really maximize different spending areas. While it might seem crazy to spread your spending across three programs, if you were trying to use your points with Singapore, Flying Blue, and/or Virgin Atlantic, it could make a lot of sense to have a credit card line-up like this.

If you wanted to use partners unique to Citi, you should really get a sense of the mileage requirements for those partners so that you don’t end up with stranded ThankYou points (not enough points to do anything with). This likely won’t be an issue if Citi comes with a decent sign-up bonus but for the long-term it could be an issue if you don’t spend enough and you’re trying to spread your spending around.

Will Chase respond?

With the Amex Gold Card offering 4X on US dining and US supermarkets and now the Prestige going with 5X on dining and airfare, Chase is getting beat pretty thoroughly in the dining department, where they used to be among the best for credit card spend. I’m really interested to see if Chase comes up with a card with dining-focused rewards on par with these cards or implements them into a card like the Sapphire Reserve.

Final word

These are exciting changes for many people. Unless you were someone who repeatedly used the free 4th night benefit, you will probably consider this a major positive change to the Prestige. We will see what the sign-up bonus looks like but the Prestige card just got much more attractive and should be on your radar for early next year.

H/T: TPG

Citi Prestige Benefits: Everything You Need to Know

The Citi Prestige comes with some of the most valuable travel benefits out of any premium credit card. Before this credit card lost a host of its benefits like Admirals Club access, I thought the Prestige was the most valuable credit card on the market. Since then, new competitors have announced their presence and some perks have been lost, but I still think the Citi Prestige benefits are very strong. Here’s everything you need to know about these perks.

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

Citi Prestige Benefits

Citi Prestige bonus?

The Prestige has offered as high as a 100,000 point sign-up bonus in the past but at other times it doesn’t offer a sign-up bonus at all. For that reason, it’s hard to call the sign-up bonus a benefit until Citi Prestige 50K or 75K offers roll back around.

When those offers do roll around though you’ll earn Citi ThankYou Points which can be transferred to some great airlines like Singapore Airlines, Etihad, Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Cathay Pacific and many others. With those airlines you can book some of the most premier first class cabins in the world like the coveted Singapore Suites.

Use points from the Prestige to fly first class on Singapore.

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

4th night free

The 4th night free benefit is what really helps the Citi Prestige benefits stand out.

Without it, the Prestige would be a truly underwhelming credit card option. Depending on how expensive your hotel stays are, this perk could end up saving you hundreds of dollars per hotel booking and cancelling out the $450 annual fee.

Here are some things to know about the 4th night free benefit.

Based on average nightly rate

  • The way the 4th night free benefit works is that if you book 4 consecutive nights through Citi, you receive the 4th night free based on average nightly rate (it used to be based on the 4th night’s rate).

Book via phone

  • You can make the booking for the 4th night free online or via the phone. I highly suggest making the booking over the phone to ensure that you’re able to have all of your hotel elite status perks honored.

You can use points

  • You can use Citi ThankYou points to cover the full amount needed for the stay or just a portion of it. The drawback is that these points are redeemed at one cent per point. (Some would argue 1.33 cents per point when you factor in the 25% discount of the 4th night free.)

Keep in mind that ThankYou Points with the Citi Premier (with a much lower annual fee) can be redeemed at 1.25 cents per point for hotel stays.

Hyatt Ziva Citi Prestige Benefits
Getting the 4th night free for a nice resorts is one of the best Citi Prestige benefits.

$250 airline credit

The Citi Prestige always had one of the best airline credits until new competitors like the Sapphire Reserve entered the picture. But the $250 airline credit is still one of the top Citi Prestige benefits.

The Citi ThankYou Terms & Conditions define what counts for the airline credit:

Airline Fees are defined as purchases made with airlines including Air fares, baggage fees, lounge access and some in-flight purchases.

The fact that airfare counts for this credit is huge because it’s not as restrictive as the credit from the Platinum Card. If you do any flying at all each year, there’s a good chance you can put this airline credit to use and knock down your effective Citi Prestige annual fee to only $200.

Citi Prestige Bonus categories

  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 2X on dining and entertainment
  • 1X on all other purchases

The Citi Prestige earns pretty good bonus earning rates. They aren’t quite as strong as the Reserve’s 3X on dining and travel, but they are still more well-rounded than the Amex Platinum Card and it’s nice to have the additional bonus earning category of entertainment.

Note: With the Citi Premier you can earn 3X on all travel purchases.

Citi Prestige benefits
A unique perk of the Citi Prestige is 2X on entertainment, which includes sport venues.

Citi Prestige lounge access

Like many other credit cards, the Citi Prestige offers Priority Pass lounge access. This gives you access to over 1,000 airport lounges located around the globe. You can enjoy things like free wifi, free drink and snacks, comfy seating, and even amenities like showers and nap rooms.

The Prestige will provide you with Priority Pass access for up to two guests and/or your immediate family (spouse, domestic partner and/or children under 18 years of age). As a comparison, the Sapphire Reserve allows “unlimited guests” (subject to capacity) and the Platinum Card limits you two guests.

Priority Pass lounge at SIN.

Redemptions for travel and cash back

The Citi Prestige allows you to redeem your points at a rate of 1.25 cents per point for airfare and 1.0 cents per point for cash back. The 1.25 cents per point for airfare is on par with the Sapphire Preferred but is beat out by the 1.5 cents per point of the Sapphire Reserve.

Also, getting 1.0 cents per point for cash back is standard compared to many travel credit cards but can easily be outdone by no annual fee credit cards like the Citi Double Cash which earns 2% back. So overall the redemption rates for the Prestige aren’t very impressive.

Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check Credit

The Prestige like so many other premium cards comes with a Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check $100 credit. If you haven’t signed up for these yet, I recommend going with Global Entry because it comes with TSA Pre-Check.

Global Entry will provide you with expedited entry into the US and it’s food for five years! It has saved me countless hours getting through immigration and customs and even provides benefits when traveling in other countries.

Citi Prestige travel and purchase protections

The Citi Prestige offers some of the strongest travel and purchase protections that you’ll find out of any credit card. Their trip delay insurance kicks in after only a 3 hour wait compared to most cards that require 6 or more hours. The Prestige also has a great extended warranty coverage period of two years and unlimited roadside assistance.

Here are all of the different Citi Prestige travel and purchase protection benefits.

Lost or damaged Luggage

  • Covered up to $3,000 per person per trip

Trip Interruption

  • You can be reimbursed up to $5,000 per traveler per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses

Trip Delay Reimbursement

  • If delayed more than 3 hours you are covered for expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per traveler per trip

Baggage Delay Reimbursement

  • If delayed more than 3 hours, you are covered for essential expenses for up to $500 dollars per traveler per trip

Purchase protection

  • Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account

 Extended Warranty Protection

  • Extends warranty by 2 years but not to exceed 7 total years

Price Protection

  • If a card purchase you made in the U.S. is advertised for less in print or online within 60 days, you can be reimbursed the difference up to $500 per item, $2,500 per year

Return Protection

  • Citi may reimburse you for eligible items that the store won’t take back within 90 days of purchase, up to $500 per item, $2,500 per year

Roadside assistance

  • Unlimited and complimentary costs for select services

Additional Prestige card benefits

  • Mastercard Airport Concierge Service
  • Hotels and Resorts Worldwide with Mastercard
  • The Lost Wallet Service
  • Special Offers and Benefits provided by Citi Prestige Concierge
  • CITI PRIVATE PASS

Final word

The Citi Prestige has the potential to be one of the most valuable premium credit cards on the market. You just need to know how to tap into it the right way by utilizing benefits like the 4th night free and the $250 airline credit. If you use those efficiently, then it’s very easy to justify the $450 Citi Prestige annual fee. If you want to apply for the Prestige, make sure you’re aware of the numerous Citi credit card application rules.

Should I Apply for the Citi Prestige® Card with a 75K Bonus?

The Citi Prestige® Card application link for 75,000 is finally live, via DOC. 75,000 is a lot of points but there are some questions you might want to think about before applying for this card. Here’s a rundown of some things to consider before applying.

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

New changes

If you’re not aware, the Prestige just lost a lot of benefits it previously had like Admirals Club access but did receive from positive changes, such as a higher sign-up bonus and a new way to utilize the 4th night free benefit.

Have you earned a Citi ThankYou Point sign-up bonus in the previous 24 months?

If you’ve picked up a sign-up bonus from the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card or the Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card in the previous 24 months you are not eligible to receive the sign-up bonus for this card.

This rule also applies if you have closed or product changed a ThankYou Point earning card within the past 24 months. If you have done that, then you reset the 24-month clock from the date you closed the card or product changed it.

As far as I can tell, there is no way around this rule (besides finding applications in the future that don’t include the 24-month language). Thus, it’s very important to know how long it’s been since you were approved for another ThankYou Points earning card or closed/product changed.

If it’s been less than two years, don’t bother applying. 

Also, just to be safe, I’d probably wait an additional 30 days from the 2-year anniversary from the approval date because Citi’s IT tends to get things mixed up.

Do you just want to earn ThankYou Points?

The Prestige now offers a great sign-up bonus of 75,000 points. This is one of the best sign-up bonuses for a premium credit card but it comes with one of the highest minimum spend requirements of $7,500.

If you’re just trying to earn Citi ThankYou Points then I would recommend looking at the Premier Card. It offers a 50,000 sign-up bonus right now after spending $4,000. It also comes with one of the best bonus earning rates at 3X on travel including gas and 2X on dining and entertainment. You can also get it with the $95 annual fee waived for the first year.

It might still be worth it to pursue the 75K bonus if you can hit the $7,500 spend requirement without any problems and can take advantage of the other perks, such as the $250 travel credit and 4th night free benefit. It’s just a good idea to at least consider the Premier.

Are you going to use the 4th night free benefit?

The most valuable perk out of all of the Prestige benefits is the 4th night free benefit.

This can end up saving you hundreds or even thousands of dollars depending on how often you use it. At the same time, if you’re the type of traveler that rarely stays in one place for four or more nights or perhaps exclusively book hotels with points then this perk may not bring you much value and could even be worthless.

If this perks is worthless to you and you already have Priority Pass with a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve then you might want to really consider going with the Premier instead.

What’s your effective annual fee?

The $450 annual fee is not waived for this card but there are two reasons why this annual fee is not as bad as it sounds.

First, the Prestige comes with a $250 travel credit that you can use on a broad range of airline expenses.The Prestige specifically states that  “Airline Fees are defined as purchases made with airlines including Air fares, baggage fees, lounge access and some in–flight purchases.” So if you’re already planning on spending at least $250 on airfare, your effective annual fee is only $150. 

If you’re able to double-dip with the statement credit, then it’s even sweeter since you’re coming out $50 on top.

It’s worth also noting that sometimes when you apply in-branch you can receive the $350 annual fee.

Do you want airport lounge access?

The Citi Prestige offers Priority Pass that can get your immediate family or two guests into over 1,000 lounges world wide. This is nice but if you’re primarily concerned with lounge access you might want to consider other cards. The Platinum Card® from American Express offers broader lounge access than the Prestige and the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers Priority Pass access that allows you to bring in unlimited guests. Thus, if you’re looking for a card with great lounge access, the Prestige might not be the best option.

Final word

The Citi Prestige at 75K is a valuable sign-up bonus but it comes with a high spending requirement. It might make a lot more sense to go with the Citi Premier for a lot of people, since that card comes with a lower annual fee, lower spending requirement, and still comes with a solid 50K bonus.

Is the Citi Prestige® Card Now Better Than The Platinum Card® from American Express?

With new changes coming to the Citi Prestige® Card,  a lot of people will be wondering how the new Prestige holds up to a card like The Platinum Card® from American Express, which also recently underwent some changes. There are a lot of different factors to consider, but here’s my take on the comparison with a final winner chosen at the end.

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

Charge card vs Credit Card

The Citi Prestige is a credit card the American Express Platinum is a “charge card.” A charge card must be paid off in full each month or else you face a hefty monthly fee. The benefit to a charge card like the Platinum is that you’re not restricted to a credit limit and so you have a little more flexibility — you just need to be able to keep yourself in check to make sure you’ll pay off your balance in full each month.

To me, the added flexibility for spending is a nice plus for the Platinum, although if you don’t make large purchases, this probably doesn’t mean much to you.

Transfer partners

The Platinum Card earns Membership Rewards, which transfer out to several partners. Here are the transfer partners of Membership Rewards.

Airlines

  • Delta Skymiles
  • Club Premier AeroMexico
  • Aeroplan Air Canada
  • Flying Blue Air France/KLM
  • MilleMigilia Club Alitalia
  • ANA
  • Asia Miles
  • Avios British Airways
  • El Al
  • Emirates Skyrewards
  • Etihad Guest
  • Hawaiian Airlines
  • Iberia Plus
  • JetBlue TrueBlue
  • KrisFlyer Singapore Airlines
  • Virgin America
  • Virgin Atlantic

Hotels

  • Choice Privileges
  • Hilton HHonors
  • SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest)

Citi Thankyou Points

The Citi Prestige earns Thankyou Points and Citi has fairly recently added a lot of new travel partners. These partners are:

citi-logo

Airlines

  • Air Jet Privilege
  • Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
  • EVA Air
  • Eithad Guest
  • Flying Blue (Air France, KLM)
  • Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer
  • JetBlue TrueBlue
  • Malaysia Airlines Enrich
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

    • Hilton HHonors (Get 1,500 HHonors Bonus Points for 1,000 pts)

Typically, the transfer partners are one of my first considerations when considering a travel rewards card but with two cards like these, which are heavy in the benefits department, more weight should probably go to which benefits will fit better into your travel lifestyle.

Still, although I’d give more consideration to the benefits, I would have to say that Membership Rewards edges out Thankyou Points here. Specifically, having ANA, Aeroplan, and now British Airways and Iberia Avios at a 1:1 ratio makes Membership Rewards stand out. And even though I can’t stand Delta SkyMiles, it does help having a legacy carrier as a partner. Citi still has decent partners but their best partners overlap with Membership Rewards, such as Asia Miles, Singapore, Flying Blue, JetBlue, Virgin Atlantic, and Etihad. Thus, the Platinum Card takes this one.

Both programs can get you closer to flying in Singapore Suites.

Sign-up bonus

The Platinum Card

The Platinum Card offers a standard public sign-up bonus of 60,000 Membership Rewards after you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months. The 60K offer is the standard offer available to the public, but it’s also possible to receive 75K or even 100K offers.

Citi Prestige

The Citi Prestige is now offering a 75,000 sign-up bonus after spending $7,500 in the first 3 months.

Both of these sign-up offers are great but I’d go with the Platinum.

Even though the standard public offer is higher for the Prestige (for the time being), it’s still possible to get a 75K or 100K sign-up bonus offer on the Platinum and the minimum spend requirement is $2,500 lower.

Something else to think about is the Citi 24 month rule which prevents you from earning another ThankYou point earning card for 24 months. While American Express imposes a once per lifetime rule for bonuses, there’s many other ways to earn Membership Rewards, so earning the bonus on the Platinum Card doesn’t limit you from other earning opportunities like the Prestige does.

I like Amex’s transfer partners more than Citi’s so I’d rather have 60K Membership Rewards with plenty of chances to earn more Membership Rewards to use on travel partners I love, than 75K ThankYou Points with no chance to earn more ThankYou Points until 24 months later.

For all of these reasons, the Platinum Card wins out.

Bonus Categories

The Platinum Card

  • 1X on all purchases
  • 5X on airfare purchased directly with the airline
  • 5X on hotel stays booked through the Amex Travel Portal
  • 1X on all other purchases

Citi Prestige

  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 2X on dining and entertainment
  • 1X on all other purchases

Both cards offer bonus earning potential on hotel stays but only the Prestige gives you bonus points on direct bookings.

I’d wager that the Citi Prestige offers the better overall bonus earning potential for most people. It’s nice that you can earn 3X on hotels purchased directly with the hotels (thus retaining elite perks) and the 2X on dining and entertainment is nice. The Platinum’s 5X on airfare is fantastic but for people who fly with points most of the time and eat out a lot, there’s not much earning potential with the Platinum, so the Prestige wins this.

Benefits

Platinum Card

Las Vegas Centurion Lounge.

Citi Prestige

  • $250 airline credit (which can be used for broader expenses, such as airline tickets)
  • Priority Pass Select airport lounge access for you and up to two guests for free
  • Complimentary night at any hotel of your choice after a minimum 4-consecutive-night booking (now bookable with points at 1 cent per point)
  • $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check
  • Rental car benefits like express check-in, free upgrades, and discounts with status
  • Add authorized users for $50 each
  • Concierge service

In my opinion, the Platinum Card is superior here. The Prestige has two main perks going for it. It’s got a $250 airline credit that can be used on just about any airline-related expense, making the annual fee an effective $200 for many. The 4th night free benefit has the potential to be extremely valuable but only if you would be able to put it to use.

On the other hand, the Platinum Card offers probably the best lounge access out of any credit card. Together the $200 airline credit and $200 Uber credit knock down the $550 annual fee to an effective $150 but that’s only if you can put those perks to good use. But the Platinum card also offers elite status with Hilton and SPG (and thus Marriott), so there’s a lot of additional value there.

It really comes down to how you utilize each of the perks but I’d say that for me, I value the lounge access and hotel elite status that I put to use way more than a 4th night free benefit, which I rarely do. I also easily use up 100% of the Platinum’s Uber and airline credits making the true effective annual fee of the Platinum $150. So the winner here is the Platinum, although if I used the 4th night fee benefit a few times a year, the outcome might be different.

Protections

Protections for purchases and travel aren’t usually a priority for many but these protections can be extremely valuable when things go wrong. The Amex Platinum has a number of quality protections but not as many as the Citi Prestige. Specifically, the Citi Prestige offers protections on baggage delay, trip delay/cancellation, and price protection. Since the Prestige offers more protections, it easily takes this category.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

Both cards have no foreign transaction fees.

Annual Fee

Platinum Card

  • $550, not waived

Citi Prestige

  • $450, not waived

As already shown, the effective annual fees of these cards can be as low as $150 for the Platinum and $250 for the Prestige when you factor in travel credits. This slants in favor of the Platinum Card but it’s admittedly much easier to use the $250 airline credit of the Prestige versus the $200 airline and uber credits of the Platinum. Another plus for the Prestige is that some have had success with getting a $350 annual fee when they apply in-branch. Because the annual fee is lower for the Prestige, it wins this.

The winner

I think it’s a pretty tight race between the Prestige and the Platinum Card (tighter than most give it credit for). Personally, the winner for me is the Platinum Card because I love all of the benefits and its effective annual fee is only $150 for me. I also prefer the Membership Rewards transfer partners more.

However, you might choose the Prestige over the Platinum Card if you don’t have use for the $200 Uber credit, Centurion Lounges, and/or can put the 4th night free benefit to use each year to save hundreds on hotel stays.

So because these cards are so close, it all depends on how you will make use of the cards but for me, I’m rolling with the Platinum Card for now.

New Changes to the Citi Prestige® Card (Including a 75K Bonus)

Rumors have been swirling for months about changes coming to the Citi Prestige® Card and those rumors were recently confirmed but the details about the changes weren’t officially released. Well, now we know some of the specific changes coming in a couple of weeks to the Citi Prestige. Via The Points Guy, Citi just announced changes to the Prestige that will come into effect July 23, 2017. This is the same date that all of the former benefits to the Prestige will go away. Here are the new changes.

New sign-up bonus

The standard sign-up bonus for the Citi Prestige is 40,000 points after spending $4,000, a very underwhelming bonus. Citi will be upping the sign-up bonus to 75,000 points but the minimum spend requirement will by shooting up to $7,500. 75,000 points comes out to about $937 worth of airfare.

I wrote earlier that I thought it would be great to see the sign-up bonus up to 75,000 so that’s a huge plus for this card. But the spend requirement of $7,500 is very high and it’s going to be much less practical for many people to hit it, so that’s a major drawback. It’s $3,500 higher than the Reserve and $2,500 higher than The Platinum Card® from American Express. It does come with more points so that somewhat justifies the higher spend.

Changes to the 4th night free benefit

The 4th night free benefit is arguably the most valuable perk of the Citi Prestige and is how it distinguishes itself from other premium cards, such as the Sapphire Reserve. One of the issues is that in the past, you’d have to call in to the Citi Prestige Concierge to use this benefit (or do so by via email). Then, after Prestige Concierge booked the night for you, you would have to wait for a statement credit to be issued for the free night.

Now, you’ll be able to make that booking entirely online and the discount will be immediately applied. The other change is that you will be able to use Citi ThankYou points to cover the full amount needed for the stay or just a portion of it. The drawback is that these points are redeemed at one cent per point (though some would argue 1.33 cents per point when you factor in the 25% discount of the 4th night free).

As a quick aside, it still doesn’t make sense to me that the less-premium Citi ThankYou® Premier allows you to redeem hotels for 1.25 cents per point but the Prestige is stuck at 1 cents per point. 

A major concern is that this new way of booking might be similar to how other portals work that essentially operate like an OTA. This means that you might lose out on earning points, elite credit, and getting elite perks honored with certain loyalty programs like Hilton. Before, you would always retain those hotel elite perks. We still don’t know exactly how this will work but losing those perks would mean these changes actually make this perk less valuable for many people.

Update: As reported by DOC, these bookings will still allow you to receive your hotel elite status perks when booked via the phone.

The other issue is that business travelers could use the former method of redeeming the 4th night free to receive a reimbursement from their employer — that (questionable route) may not be possible any longer since the discount will be immediately applied. Also, you lose out on the additional 3X earnings you’d get before while waiting on the reimbursement.

Cashback redemptions

As rumored before, you will be able to redeem ThankYou points for cash back at the rate of one cents per point. I still think that if your goal is cash back redemptions you should go with other cards. Even when you factor in the 3% on airline travel and hotels and 2% on dining and entertainment, you’re still probably better off going with another cash back card — even a card like the Citi® Double Cash Card might offer better returns, depending on your spending habits.

Metal card

The Citi Prestige will be issued in metal. For many, including myself, metal cards have lost a bit of luster. I still like them but they’re not quite as unique as they once were and if you’ve got a few of them in your wallet, it can become much heavier to carry around. The Points Guy reports that this card is not as heavy as other metal cards so that might be less of an issue.

Benefits remaining the same

The Points Guy also reports that other benefits will be remaining the same, including:

  • Annual $250 Air Travel Credit (eligible to use on airfare)
  • $100 statement credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check
  • Priority Pass Select lounge access immediate family or two free guests traveling with you
  • 3x points on air travel and hotels
  • 2x points on dining and entertainment
  • 24/7 access to the Citi Prestige Concierge
  • Travel and Emergency Assistance, Trip Cancellation and Interruption Protection and Trip Delay Protection (some of the best trip delay insurance)

The annual fee will remain at $450, though in the past it’s been possible to get it down to $350 when you apply in-branch.

Final word

The 75K sign-up bonus is nice and certainly competitive but that $7,500 minimum spend requirement is significantly higher than other premium cards. The online 4th night free booking and ability to use points for them is convenient but if it means losing out on hotel elite perks, that’s a major blow to this card. The other changes, such as 1 cent per point for cash back redemptions and a metal card are nothing special.

So overall, these are likely positive changes, but I don’t think Citi has done anything to make the card stand out in a significant way. It’s still a valuable card, but I don’t see this card encroaching into Chase’s or Amex’s territory given the high minimum spend requirement.

Changes to the Citi Prestige® Card Confirmed (Still Awaiting Details)

It’s now confirmed that changes are coming to the Citi Prestige® Card this year. The new changes or “updates” will be announced at a Citi Prestige cardholder event on August 10th at Ellis Island with celebrity chef, Josh Capon. Based on recent rumors about these changes, I’m not getting too excited/optimistic about the changes.

An awkward time for updates

This is a bit of an awkward time to announce updates for Citi. That’s because they recently took away some of the core benefits of the Citi Prestige. Although some applicants had more time to enjoy these benefits, the new changes are set to go into effect July 23, 2017 and will officially remove:

  • American Admirals Clubs when flying American on that day
  • The 1.6 cents per point redemption rate for redeeming Citi ThankYou Points for American
  • The travel redemption rate of 1.33 cents per point is being lowered to 1.25 cents-per point.
  • The three free rounds of golf benefit
  • Also, the 4th night free benefit will no longer include taxes and will be calculated based on the average cost of each of the four nights

These were dramatic changes for the Prestige and as a result of these many chose to cancel their cards. It’s worth noting that the 4th night free benefit of the Prestige still has the potential to be very valuable and so I think even with the above changes, the Prestige still makes sense for a lot of people.

The rumored changes

The rumored changes, via DOC, are supposedly the following:

  • Metal card
  • ShopRunner membership
  • Citi ThankYou Points worth 1 cent per point towards cash/gift card redemption
  • Citi ThankYou Points can be used towards the 4th night free benefit

If these end up being the changes, this is will be quite the overwhelming update.

Metal cards are cool but hardly a novelty now and present no true value to a card. ShopRunner is easy to get with various American Express cards. Being able to redeem points at 1 cent per point for cash or gift cards is nothing special and could be worse than that other Citi cards offer in terms of cash back, even with bonus categories of the Prestige factored in.

Using ThankYou Points toward the 4th night free benefit is the only potential benefit that catches my eye. This would mean ThankYou Points could operate like Hilton Honors points or SPG but only require you to stay 4 nights to take advantage of a free night. The catch is that the redemption rate will still likely be capped at 1.25 cents per point which will limit the value for that perk.

What improvement would I like to see?

The Prestige already comes with a pretty broad $250 travel credit that can even be used on airfare and comes with Priority Pass (with guest access for two people), so I doubt we’d see an overhaul there. I really can’t see Citi bringing back Admiral Club access after just axing it officially a mere two weeks before this event.

What I’d like to see is the return of a substantial sign-up bonus. The Prestige has offered a 100K sign-up bonus in the past so it would be tremendous to see that offer return or even a 75K offer which would better compete with The Platinum Card® from American Express.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve vs the Citi Prestige: Which is Better?

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

With the recent launch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve and recent changes to the benefits of the Citi Prestige card, many travelers and credit card consumers are probably wondering how these two cards stack up against each other in a head to head comparison. I recently compared the American Express Platinum Card to the Sapphire Reserve, but here’s a new in-depth comparison of the Chase Sapphire Reserve vs the Citi Prestige with a winner crowned at the end.

Transfer Partners

Citi Thankyou Points

The Citi Prestige earns Thankyou Points and Citi has fairly recently added a lot of new travel partners. These partners are:

Airlines

  • Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
  • EVA Air
  • Eithad Guest
  • Flying Blue (Air France, KLM)
  • Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer
  • Malaysia Airlines Enrich
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
  • Virgin America Elevate (Get 500 Elevate points for 1,000 pts)
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

    • Hilton HHonors (Get 1,500 HHonors Bonus Points for 1,000 pts)

Chase Ultimate Rewards

The Sapphire Reserve earns “Ultimate Rewards” that can all be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to a variety of travel partners listed below.

Airlines

  • British Airways Executive Club
  • Flying Blue
  • Korean Air SKYPASS
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
  • United MileagePlus
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

  • Hyatt Gold Passport
  • IHG® Rewards Club
  • Marriott Rewards
  • The Ritz-Carlton Rewards

Which reward program is better? 

I personally would take Chase Ultimate Rewards partners over Citi Thankyou Points partners. I like that Chase has additional options for earning miles for for its different airline partners, such Southwest, United and British Airways with its co-branded cards (all of which can be used for good domestic/Caribbean/Mexico flights). Also, I much prefer 1:1 transfers to Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt over Citi’s lone hotel partner Hilton because of better value for points. However, with that said, I still feel that there are some Thankyou Points partners with great potential for value. 

Thankyou Points 

  • Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific) – Fantastic product with a distance-based award program allowing for very reasonable redemptions to Asia and great redemptions with partners to places like Europe; can supplement miles with Membership Rewards. 
  • EVA Air  – Good for booking intra-continent Star Alliance flights in places like Europe and Asia due to lower mileage requirements and very flexible routing rules. 
  • Virgin America – Young, swanky airline with revenue based awards growing to serve more cities. Lots of options on the west coast but routing is limited in other parts of the country. Overall, not a bad way to get around the country/Mexico.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Membership Rewards and Thankyou Points partners

Two partners overlap each program:

Overall, Citi has more options when it comes to airline partners than Chase but I much prefer the options that Chase has to offer, especially because there are great ways to supplement those point transfers with solid Chase co-branded cards. When it comes to hotel partners, I don’t think it’s even close, as Hyatt, Marriott/Ritz-Carlton, and IHG at 1:1 ratios make up a powerful trio for hotel stays (that again all have additional co-branded cards). Unless and until Citi makes American Airlines a travel partner, I think Chase travel partners are easily superior, so the Sapphire Reserve wins here.

Redeeming Points

In addition to transferring points to travel partners you can always redeem your points in different ways, such as for cash back, gift cards, or to book travel.

Citi Thankyou Points

Thankyou Points can be redeemed in the following ways:

  • 1.0 cent per point for cash back, hotels, cruises, and car rentals
  • 1.0 cent per point for gift cards
  • As a Citi Prestige card holder, you can redeem points as 1.25 cents per point on airlines.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

Ultimate Rewards can be redeemed in the following ways:

  • 1.0 cent per point for cash back
  • 1.0 cent per point for gift cards
  • As a Sapphire Reserve card holder, you can redeem points as 1.5 cents per point on the Ultimate Rewards travel portal.

Ultimate Rewards easily wins in this comparison as you get more value in redeeming points for travel than you do with Citi Thankyou points. Furthermore, you can redeem points at this great rate for more than just air fare, but also things like hotels and cruises.

Sign-up Bonus

Citi Prestige

  • 40K to 100K (currently 40K) when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months.

Citi has shown a downward trend in sign-up bonuses as of late, so I’m not sure how much hope there is that the higher 100K offer or even 75K offer might be returning any time soon. You might even have to get a bit lucky to see the 50K offer….

Sapphire Reserve

  • 50K when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months.

Bonus Categories

Citi Prestige

  • 3X on air travel and hotels
  • 2X on dining and entertainment
  • 1X on all other purchases

Sapphire Reserve

  • 3X on travel
  • 3X on dining
  • 1X on all other purchases

This is a bit close of a comparison and the winner for your spending habits might be different than mine, but I’d still take the Sapphire Reserve’s earning rates over the Prestige. That’s because the travel category is very broad for the Reserve and it includes the following:

airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages.

I spend a lot more on non-hotel/air fare travel expenses than I do on entertainment, so the 3X on travel offered by the Reserve would take me much further than the 2X on entertainment offered by the Prestige.

Increasing earning potential with additional credit cards 

In addition to those earnings, you can always combine the Sapphire Reserve with a Chase Freedom card (or two) or Ink Cash and have additional no-annual fee cards earning you tons of extra points at the rate of 5X on certain categories (dining, groceries, cable bill, etc.) or 1.5X on all purchases. For Citi, you can add the Citi Premier to earn 3X on travel and gas but it comes with a $95 annual fee (the no annual fee Citi Thankyou Preferred does not offer additional bonus earning potential that you can’t get without the Prestige). 

With 3X on dining and travel categories, I think the Reserve is going to earn points for most travelers more quickly than the Prestige, so I’m giving this one to the Reserve. 

Benefits 

Citi Prestige

  • $250 airline credit (essentially reducing the annual fee to $200)
  • Priority Pass Select airport lounge access for you and up to two guests for free
  • Complimentary night at any hotel of your choice after a minimum 4-consecutive-night booking (now calculated on an average nightly rate basis and taxes are not included)
  • $100 Global Entry credit
  • 3 free rounds of golf (set to expire July 23, 2017)
  • Rental car benefits with National Car Rental, Avis, Budget, and Sixt.
  • Add authorized users for $50 each.
  • Concierge service
  • Mastercard luxury hotel and resorts

Sapphire Reserve

  • Priority Pass airport lounge access with unlimited guest access subject to lounge’s policy
  • $300 annual travel credit (essentially reducing the annual fee to $150)
  • $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check 
  • Add authorized users for $75 per person
  • Rental car benefits with National Car Rental, Avis, and Silvercar
  • Visa Infinite concierge service
  • Elite Hotel Benefits at Relais & Châteaux

The benefits are very similar so it often comes down to the Reserve’s $300 travel credit versus the 4th night free benefit of the Prestige. While there are other factors to consider, in terms of benefits, I think these two benefits are what set the cards apart from each other in the long-run and should play a major role in one’s decision to keep each card. For that reason, I can’t claim a winner for the benefits, since it likely depends on your personal traveling habits. 

Primary rental car insurance 

Citi Prestige

  • Citi Prestige offers secondary insurance up to $100,000

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • The Sapphire Reserve offers primary rental car insurance covering up to $75,000. This benefit comes with fewer restrictions than the Sapphire Preferred had.  

Primary rental car coverage is a huge benefit offered by the Sapphire Reserve because it can save you from having to file a claim with your insurance company and keep your premiums down. Since the Prestige only offers secondary protection, it falls short here.

Travel protections

Both of these cards offer superb protections for travel and purchases. Take a close look at the terms compared below and you’ll see how equally matched these two cards are. 

A) Lost or damaged Luggage

Citi Prestige

  • Covered up to $3,000 per person per trip

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • For checked or carry-on bags are damaged or lost by the carrier, you’re covered up to $3,000.00 for each Insured Person for each Common Carrier Covered Trip and up to $500.00 for each Insured Person for each Common Carrier Covered Trip for jewelry, watches, cameras, video recorders, and other electronic equipment.

B) Trip Interruption

Citi Prestige

  • If your trip is canceled or cut short by covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $5,000 per traveler per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • If your trip is canceled or cut short by covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses.

C) Trip Delay Reimbursement

Citi Prestige

  • If delayed more than 3 hours you are covered for expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per traveler per trip.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • If delayed more than 6 hours you are covered for expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket. (Upgrade from the Sapphire Preferred which required 12 hours.)

D) Baggage Delay Reimbursement

Citi Prestige

  • If delayed more than 3 hours, you are covered for essential expenses for up to $500 dollars per traveler per trip.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • If delayed more than 6 hours, you are covered for essential expenses, such as toiletries and clothes for up to one hundred ($100.00) dollars per day for a maximum of five (5) days.

Purchase protections

A) Purchase protection

Citi Prestige

  • Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  •  Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account. (This is a significant upgrade from the previous $500 limit of the Sapphire Preferred.)

B) Extended Warranty Protection

Citi Prestige

  • Extends warranty by 2 years but not to exceed 7 total years. 

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • Extends the time period of the original manufacturer’s written U.S. repair warranty by 1 additional year on eligible warranties of three (3) years or less, up to a maximum of ten thousand ($10,000.00) dollars per claim.

C) Price Protection

Citi Prestige

  • If a card purchase you made in the U.S. is advertised for less in print or online within 60 days, you can be reimbursed the difference up to $500 per item, $2,500 per year.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • If a card purchase you made in the U.S. is advertised for less in print or online within 90 days, you can be reimbursed the difference up to $500 per item, $2,500 per year.

D) Return Protection

Citi Prestige

  • You can be reimbursed for eligible items that the store won’t take back within 90 days of purchase, up to $500 per item, $2,500 per year.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • You can be reimbursed for eligible items that the store won’t take back within 90 days of purchase, up to $500 per item, $1,000 per year.

Roadside assistance 

Citi Prestige

  • Unlimited and complimentary costs for select services. 

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • Free for up to $50 and up to 4 times per year

Foreign Transaction Fees

  • Both cards have no foreign transaction fees.

Annual Fee

Citi Prestige

  • $450, not waived (more like $200/year with airline credit)

Chase Sapphire Reserve

  • $450, not waived (more like $150/year with airline credit)

Highlighting the Differences 

Lounge Access

Lounge access for these cards is pretty equal with these cards. The Prestige allows for two guests or immediate family members to enter Priority Pass lounges for free while the Reserve card appears to allow unlimited guests subject to the policy/discretion of the Priority Pass lounge you’re visiting. Since the drop of Admirals Club access for the Prestige, the value of the lounge benefit has dropped significantly and I think both cards offer more or less the same lounge benefit now with the edge going to the Reserve.  

***It might be the case that the Sapphire Reserve offers superior lounge access because more than two guests could gain free entry, but I’m still waiting for more data points regarding guest entry with the Reserve to arrive at a conclusion. 

Update: It’s now confirmed that the Sapphire Reserve Priority Pass access allows complimentary access to you and the guests in your “travel party.” Which means all the guests accompanying you can enter subject to availability and the rules of the lounge (some lounges restrict guest access to always try to check ahead of time). 

Bonus earning potential 

I think that most travelers will benefit from 3X on dining and travel than 3X on air fare/hotels and 2X on dining and entertainment. 

Travel benefit 

Both of these cards offer some of the best travel credits out there but the Reserve stands out since its $300 credit is higher and applies to any purchase falling within the travel category (which is very broad as seen above). This is much more inclusive than the $250 Prestige credit that while broad enough to cover air fare, doesn’t quite cover the same range of travel expenses as the Reserve does. Thus, the Reserve will easily save you $50 more each calendar year on travel with this credit. 

4th night free

The 4th night free benefit is probably the only area where the Prestige clearly comes out on top. If you book your hotel through the Citi Prestige concierge service then you’re given the fourth night free for a consecutive 4 night or longer stay and this benefit can be applied an unlimited amount of times each year! If you’re someone who likes to stay around in one place for four consecutive nights or longer then this benefit could absolutely work in your favor enough such that it makes more sense for you to go with the Prestige over the Reserve in the long term. Thus, while the Reserve’s credit will net you $50 in savings, the 4th night free benefit could net you hundreds in savings each year if used efficiently. 

Authorized users

It’s $25 cheaper to add an authorized user to the Prestige than it is to the Reserve, so the Prestige wins this race. Something to think about is: if you’re were planning on adding even just two authorized users, then the savings from adding authorized users with the Prestige cancels out the additional $50 in savings from the Sapphire Reserve’s travel credit. If those savings are combined with a couple of free hotel nights, it might be difficult for Reserve to compete with the value gained by the Prestige.   

Protections

The protections offered by these cards are among the very best out of any travel credit card and it’s a tight race. The protections are very similar but Citi does offer better baggage delay and trip delay in my opinion since the waiting time is only 3 hours compared to 6 hours with the Reserve. At the same time, the Reserve offers primary rental car insurance, which can end up saving you a lot of hassle and money as your premiums can avoid an increase. Therefore, I think this one is a draw between the two cards. 

Final word

These two cards are the best benefits cards in my opinion but there can only be one winner. In this case, I’ve got to go with the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The sign-up bonus is currently more than double the Citi Prestige; Chase has better travel partners; the bonus categories are probably more valuable for most travelers; the travel credit is higher and more broadly defined; and the protections are just a bit better, in my opinion. I think that the only reason I’d hold on to the Prestige over the Reserve in the long-run is if I regularly took advantage of the 4th night free benefit and/or had a few authorized users, but aside from that, the Reserve is simply a beast of a credit card and the best benefits card out on the market right now. 

The Citi Prestige vs The Citi Thankyou Premier

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The Citi Prestige and Citi Thankyou Premier are both two of the best travel credit cards with flexibility in point use. The major difference between the two cards is that the Prestige is more benefit oriented while the Premier is more about earning Thankyou Points with bonus category spend. Still, while the Prestige is more about the benefits, it also offers exceptional point earning opportunities that you don’t find in many other benefit-based credit cards like the American Express Platinum. This article will compare the two cards and see how they stack up to each other.

Transfer Partners

citi-logo

Both cards obviously earn Citi Thankyou Points. Just as a refresher, here are the different Thankyou travel partners.

Airlines

  • Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)
  • EVA Air
  • Eithad Guest
  • Flying Blue (Air France, KLM)
  • Garuda Indonesia Frequent Flyer
  • Malaysia Airlines Enrich
  • Qantas Frequent Flyer
  • Qatar Airways Privilege Club
  • Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
  • Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
  • Virgin America Elevate (Get 500 Elevate points for 1,000 pts)
  • Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotels

    • Hilton HHonors (Get 1,500 HHonors Bonus Points for 1,000 pts)

Sign-up Bonus

Citi Thankyou Premier

Citi Thankyou Premier

  • 40K to 50K (currently 40K) when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months

Citi Prestige

  • 50K to 100K (currently 50K) when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months

Personally, I’m holding out on the Prestige until the 100K offer rolls around again but that’s only because I already have the American Express Platinum card, which offers me similar benefits. If I didn’t currently have a card offering me things like Priority Pass, I’d still go for this card even with the 50K offer. The Citi Premier just switched back to 40K from 50K, so I’m not sure when the 50K bonus will be back.

Bonus category earning potential

Citi Thankyou Premier

  • 3X on Travel (this also covers an extremely broad range of expenses like the CSP but is even a little bit broader!).
  • 3X on Gas
  • 2X on Entertainment (This includes movie theaters, some sport events, museums, tourist attractions, amusement parks, and more)
  • 2X on Dining

Citi Prestige

  • 3X on Air fare and hotels (this is more limited than the “travel” category for the Premier)
  • 2X on Entertainment
  • 2X on Dining

I think it’s pretty rare for a benefits-focused card to offer such great bonus earning potential like the Prestige does (the Amex Platinum offers none). The only categories missing from the Prestige are the 3X on gas and broader travel category. This makes the Prestige a pretty decent primary card to use for daily spending.

However, you’d likely want to compliment this card with one or two others that offer rewards in things like groceries, gas, and the broader travel category. Two cards that could fill this role are the Chase Sapphire Preferred (2X on Travel) and the American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card (2X on groceries and gas).

Benefits

citi-prestige-card

Citi Prestige

  • $250 airline credit (which can be used for broader expenses, such as airline tickets)
  • Priority Pass Select airport lounge access for you and up to two guests for free (the Platinum requires that you pay $27 per guest for this benefit)
  • Complimentary access with two guests to American Airlines Admirals Club lounges (when you fly with them)
  • Complimentary night at any hotel of your choice after a minimum 4-consecutive-night booking (Probably the most valuable benefit)
  • $100 Global Entry credit
  • 3 free rounds of golf through GolfSwitch
  • Rental car benefits like express check-in, free upgrades, and discounts with status.
  • Add authorized users for $50 each.
  • Concierge service

If you have the Citi Prestige card you can transfer your Premier points to the Prestige and redeem those points toward American Airlines miles at a rate of 1.6 cents and 1.33 cents for any other airline.

I think that these benefits are among the best that are offered by any credit card and I’ll illustrate why.

I’ll use my last year’s travels as an example.

  • There were three times that I could’ve potentially taken advantage of a fourth night free. With an average cost of $200 per night, that’s $600 worth of value I could’ve got from that benefit alone.
  • When you add in the airline statement credit that’s another $200
  • Throw in the Priority Pass lounge access and that’s easily  $1,200 worth of value. And if I used my free guest pass for my partner each time, it would have been like getting another $400 in value.

So that’s roughly $1,600 of value and that’s not even counting the value from the sign-up bonus, which could easily add on at least another $500.

As you can see with the statement credit, lounge access, global entry, and the potential for free hotel nights, these benefits can easily total a return value in the thousands — if you play your cards right. You can check out how the Citi Prestige compares versus the American Express Platinum here.

Annual Fees

Citi Thankyou Premier

  • $95, waived the first year

Citi Prestige

  • $450, not waived

If you’re a Citigold client and/or a you apply for the Prestige in-branch you can often get the annual fee knocked down to $350.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

  • Both cards boast no foreign transaction fees.

Overall, both cards are solid choices for earning Citi Thankyou Points. However, if I had to choose one it would likely be the Prestige. The Prestige has the potential to earn you thousands if you travel frequently and play your cards right. On top of that, it still has a decent earning potential with its bonus categories. Since I could get so much out of the Prestige, I value it more.  

 

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