The annual fee on my Citi Prestige Card is due pretty soon and like some of you, I’m wrestling with whether to keep or cancel the card. As you know, Citi increased the annual fee to $495 and removed all of its valuable purchase protections.
For a lot of people, canceling the card is a no-brainer because of these negative changes. However, the card still has a lot of useful perks, which is why I’m still on the fence about whether to keep or cancel the Citi Prestige.
$250 annual travel credit
The $250 annual travel credit is one of the highlights of the Citi Prestige Card. While the AmEx Platinum cards also charge high annual fees, those airfare credits are restricted to a single airline.
Granted, you get to choose the airline, but that still doesn’t leave a lot of flexibility for redemptions. Especially now that (most) gift card purchases don’t qualify for this credit. At least with the Citi Prestige Card, there is a higher chance of getting your money’s worth since most of us are bound to spend at least $250 on travel in a year.
With this in mind, I really consider the annual fee on this card to be $245 or $150 higher than the Citi Premier. That may not apply if you’re not making use of this benefit, so keep that in mind.
5X Category bonuses
The Citi Prestige earns 5X points on airfare and restaurants and 3X on hotels and cruises. All other purchases earn 1 point per $1 spent.
That 5X bonus on restaurants is pretty substantial for me. Granted, charging travel to this card is a bad idea since the card has been stripped of travel protections.
However, I still use the card for things like hotel incidentals and dining. Those are purchases that don’t need to be protected but still add up to a substantial bonus. For me, that 5X on restaurants goes a long way.
The value of Citi TY points
The Citi Prestige Card’s 5X dining bonus wouldn’t be such a huge deal if it wasn’t for the value of Citi ThankYou points. Lately, I find myself getting more use out of those points than Chase Ultimate Rewards, which was once considered the gold standard in rewards currencies.
Thanks to partnerships like Avianca Lifemiles, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Turkish Airlines and Etihad Rewards, there are some really great sweet spot awards that can be booked with Citi ThankYou points.
More importantly, Citi occasionally runs airline transfer bonus promotions. These have helped me get even more value out of my ThankYou points.
4th Night Free
As part of its massive downgrade, Citi reduced the 4th night free benefit to just twice a year. Book a hotel through the Citi ThankYou travel portal and you’ll automatically get the fourth night free. That’s a 25% discount on hotel stays.
If you make use of this benefit twice a year on room rates averaging $247.50 per night, you’ll offset the annual fee. Cut that number in half if you’re making use of the airfare credit. See? It doesn’t take much to get your money’s worth from this card.
$100 Global Entry application fee credit
The Citi Prestige Card has a $100 Global Entry application fee credit every five years. I already took advantage of mine last year, so I can’t use it again for another four years.
If you haven’t used your Global Entry application fee credit yet (and you’re not a resident of New York), at least make sure you take advantage of it before canceling the card.
Priority Pass Select membership
Lots of premium credit cards offer Priority Pass Select membership, including the Hilton Aspire, Sapphire Reserve and AmEx Platinum Cards. The important distinction between Priority Pass Select membership offered by AmEx and other card issuers? AmEx excludes restaurant credits.
If the food spread at a participating airline lounge is substandard, you can’t opt for a ~$28 credit at a participating restaurant if your membership is through an AmEx credit card.
If you frequently make use of the Priority Pass Select membership (the restaurant perk in particular), then the Citi Prestige Card might be worth keeping. Especially if you’ve already downgraded the Sapphire Reserve after that annual fee shot up to $550.
Final thoughts
The Citi Prestige has a lot going for it and under some circumstances, the lack of purchase and travel protections can be overlooked. I’m still trying to figure out whether to keep, cancel or swap out this card. But in any case, Citi ThankYou points are super useful and I’m going to keep a card in my wallet that earn these rewards.
Downgrade to the Premier. I will assume you have the free Citi Double Cash. Those two work really well together.
Remember you will lose any points you have earned on the Prestige once you cancel, so use or transfer them out. I think you have 60 days.
I use the Amex Gold at 4x for restuarants and supermarkets, plus the $10/month grubhub perk, for food stuff. At $250, it pays for itself.
I had waited a couple of years after ending both my Prestige and Premier and this time around I could not justify the big price tag on the Prestige, so I got the Premier and happy with that.
would you send me a discover referral link.
Unfortunately I have no way to refer you. Thank you for checking though! Also, I’m going to delete your email since I don’t want bots picking it up and sending you spam.
Let me know if u r still looking for a Discover referral. I can send it to you.
I Still use and love the prestige. I have also learned you can reset the two 4th night credit by combing any new card to your thank you account. I use citi prestige + citi premier + double cash + citi +. I also agree that TY points have become my most useful points. I love the 4th free night and using the points to pay for the hotel at 1.25 per point. Just booked 4 seasons in Seychelles saving over 2k. That’s well worth the fees.
Nice! Sounds like you’re getting great use out of the card.
Chaser123, can you explain further about combining another TY card to the account? Any possibility to separate and then combine? Just wondering how this works, it seems pretty weird.
Wife/My Prestige’s are grandfathered in at the $350 rate. So its only a $100 AF for us. I wanted to Product Change to the DC, just to move the $30K lines of credit for MS at 2pts., but then those points become a bit less valuable since I would loose the 4th night.
For the last 3 years I have gotten retention offers. Ask and you will receive one.
We have a trip to Japan coming up and was thinking about Premier to use for buying train tickets and hotels. I don’t think I can justify having the Prestige as I already have the Amex Plat as this one is my go to when traveling for the protection it offers.
Yeah that’s a lot of annual fees! I don’t think most people need more than one premium rewards card. The AP is pretty solid, if you can justify that annual fee.
My AF will be coming due this Summer and I’ll be facing the same dilemma. Two big negatives for me are the loss of the Citi Gold $350 AF, and the change to the 4th night free booking option. Having to book through the TY portal is a big deal for me. Portal pricing and no hotel status/point earning may be the deal breaker for me. I have saved thousands of dollars using 4th night benefit over the years, but will probably seldom use it going forward. It will be interesting to read others comments on this….
That 25% discount might be worth foregoing elite benefits. I don’t know about the TY site, but I have booked Hilton hotels through the UR portal and received both points and elite benefits as a Hilton Gold/Diamond member.
I haven’t booked anything through the TY portal either. I did check rates for an upcoming trip and the rates were MUCH higher than what I got going through the hotel directly. When you could book the 4th night using their concierge, you had access to all hotel rates )prepay, member, etc.). That is not an option using the portal. Plus (it’s my understanding) that there is no way to add your hotel membership number to a TY reservation so no point earning or status benefits.
The portal might be a good option for booking off-brand hotels.
I think you can add your number by calling the hotel and having them include it on your reservation. You should check the Chase UR portal though – they have really good deals. Through the end of Feb. they’re offering up to 40% off hotel bookings in Mexico, Brazil and Costa Rica.
Are you sure you can add your member#? That would ease the pain a little.
I’ve looked at the UR portal in the past but never used. I’ll have to give it another look for future bookings.
I’ve been able to do that with UR bookings. It’s probably the same for hotels booked though Citi TY.
I dumped my card last year. While the fourth night free is nice, the true dealbreaker for me was the elimination of all of the insurance and protection benefits. Without those, I would never charge an airfare or hotel to the card.