The Citi Strata Premier Card is the mid-level entry in the Citi ThankYou family. It fits between the Citi Prestige (no longer available to new applicants) and the no-annual-fee Citi Rewards+ cards. This was the first of the Citi cards that my wife Sharon and I signed up for, and we both still have it.
Each of the Citi cards has valuable properties, but the Strata Premier is indeed the powerhouse when it comes to bang for your buck. Here are the details of the Strata Premier card:
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card
Annual Fee
$95 per year
Sign Up Benefits
The Citi Strata Premier offers 75,000 ThankYou points if you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months after opening your account with this link. Citi has rules about when you can receive a signup bonus. Here are the requirements from Citi’s website:
Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Premier ® or a Citi Strata Premier℠ account in the past 48 months.
Spending Bonus Categories
The Citi Strata Premier offers plenty of opportunities to earn multiple points per dollar spent. Cardholders earn 10X points on hotel, car rental and attraction bookings made on the Citi Travel portal.
You’ll also earn 3 points per $1 in the following categories.
- Supermarkets
- Restaurants, including takeout
- Gas & EV charging stations
- Air travel
- Hotels
- Travel agencies (This is a hidden bonus category)
Citi’s terms state that charges with travel agencies will earn 3 points per dollar, so it is still possible to earn bonus points for otherwise non-bonused travel spending. I learned of this glitch when a reservation booked with Rocketmiles was coded as airfare. The card earns one point per dollar for all other types of spending.
No Foreign Transaction Fees
As you would expect from a travel credit card, the Citi Strata Premier card does not charge foreign transaction fees.
ThankYou Points
The Citi Strata Premier earns ThankYou points, which are a type of flexible (transferrable) points. Citi has made these points more valuable by consistently adding travel partners. Currently, you can transfer points to the following programs:
- Aeromexico
- Avianca LifeMiles
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- Eva Air
- Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
- JetBlue (fixed value program)
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Qatar Privilege Club
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
- Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Accor Live Limitless (1,000 points = 500 ALL reward points)
- Choice Privileges (1,000 points = 2,000 Choice points)
- Leading Hotels of the World (Leaders Club) (1,000 points = 200 Leaders Club points)
- Wyndham Rewards
- Sears Shop Your Way (1 point = 10 SYW points)
If you’re a U.S.-based flyer, you notice there are not many airlines you know on this list, like American, Delta, or United. You’re right. That’s not to say there isn’t value to be had with some of these partners; you just need to know what you’re doing to book the flights you want and get a good return. Here are some examples of how you can book flights in the U.S. with the available transfer partners:
- United Airlines flights can be booked with Singapore & Turkish miles
- Delta Airlines flights can be booked with Flying Blue or Virgin Atlantic miles
If you don’t want to learn about all the ways to transfer points, you could always use your ThankYou points to book travel (flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises, and activities) through the ThankYou Rewards portal. You’ll get 1 cent for each ThankYou point when using this method. It’s better than the other options, like getting gift cards and redeeming for merchandise or concert tickets.
Combining points with other ThankYou accounts
Citi Strata Premier or Prestige are the only cards offering airline and hotel partner transfers. You can transfer ThankYou points from other Citi cards to the Strata Premier and then to any partner programs.
$100 Hotel Savings Benefit
Once per year, you can receive $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when booked through the ThankYou travel portal. To get the savings, you must pre-pay for your stay using the Citi Strata Premier card, ThankYou points or a combination of the two. The savings will show up at the time of booking. This benefit can not be combined with the 4th night free from the Citi Prestige card.
If you’re thinking about using this benefit, make sure to check prices elsewhere before booking. Also, know that by using a third-party website, you will not receive hotel loyalty points or status benefits during your stay. (Some hotels will provide on-site benefits to program members as a courtesy but are not obligated to do so.)
Travel Insurance
You’ll receive the following travel coverages when using the Citi Strata Premier:
- Trip Delay ($500 for a 6-hour or longer delay)
- Trip Cancellation and Interruption ($5,000 per covered trip)
- Lost or Damaged Luggage
- Secondary Car Rental Coverage
It took some digging through the Citi website, but as a cardholder, I was able to find a copy of the Benefits Guide. I’m happy to report that the Trip Delay and Trip Cancellation/Interruption coverages apply when you pay with your Strata Premier Card, use ThankYou points, or partially pay with frequent flyer points.
You must charge the full amount of a covered trip to your covered card or in combination with your covered card and accumulated points on your eligible account or redeemable certificates, vouchers, coupons, or discounts awarded from frequent flyer program or similar program.
The baggage coverage only applies when paying with your Strata Premier or Citi points.
Extra Perks
Having any Citi card will give you access to Citi Entertainment events. These are events exclusive to Citi cardholders or access to presales and preferred tickets for concerts and sporting events. We used this benefit to get tickets to see Billy Joel’s final show of his residency at Madison Square Garden.
Final Thoughts
The Citi Strata Premier Card may be the best overall card in the ThankYou program. It offers many bonus point categories, and it’s pretty easy to rack up points without trying very hard. With a 75,000-point sign-up bonus, it may be a good idea to apply if you are eligible under Citi’s guidelines.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
