The Citi Premier card provides cardholders with much flexibility in bonus categories and some benefits, but if you want to enjoy luxury perks then you might consider another travel rewards card.
Perks: Missing standard travel benefits
One of this card's most appealing features is Citi's annual hotel savings credit. You can receive an annual $100 discount on a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when you use your card and book through ThankYou.com or 1-800-THANKYOU.
However, this perk stacks up to similar cards. For instance, the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card provides up to $100 of yearly statement credits toward airline incidental expenses.
The Citi Premier does carry a few Mastercard benefits as a World Elite Mastercard. While you can enjoy World Elite features like a complimentary ShopRunner membership, outside the rewards system and $100 annual hotel savings credit, Citi Premier Card benefits don’t include many eye-catching perks. In fact, the issuer’s standard Citi Concierge and Citi Entertainment services are perhaps its only exclusive features.
It’s not a bad feature roster, but it omits common perks like a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit and travel insurance. A few competitors like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Bank of America Premium Rewards Card offer more value in the travel perk department.
Redemption: Lower value outside of Citi's transfer partners
Booking travel through Citi will always yield a redemption value of 1 cent per point. Similarly, using your Citi Premier’s points on non-travel rewards like gift cards will also provide a 1-cent value. While this can be helpful if you’re an infrequent traveler, you'll find taking advantage of Citi’s airline transfer partners is the best way to give your points a bit more mileage if you find a valuable transfer rate. According to Bankrate's valuations, the points value can be worth around 1.6 cents apiece with the right partner.
There isn’t a fee for transferring, but the minimum transfer amount is 1,000 points. Unfortunately, Citi's U.S. transfer partners are limited (JetBlue is the only domestic airline in its flight partner lineup, for instance).
If you prefer convenience over optimum rewards value, you can book travel through the Citi Travel Center (entirely with points or a combination of points and cash), including:
- Airfare
- Hotel stays
- Rental cars
- Cruises
- Vacation packages and other activities
In case your upcoming travel is limited, Citi provides several ways to use your points on, such as:
- Cash back in the form of eligible savings and checking account direct deposits, statement credits and personal checks ($5 minimum for checks)
- Pay With Points to cover purchases (when eligible)
- Gift cards to a variety of retailers
- Shop with Points at popular retailer websites, including Amazon and PayPal, and in-person with partner merchants (although this may incur a fee), including Best Buy, CVS and select gas stations
- Transfer points to another account or charity
For now, transferring your ThankYou points for travel partner airfare is typically the most valuable use of your points. However, keep in mind that you can get even higher point values with some cards from other issuers, including Chase, American Express and Bilt.