Citi Premier Card: Guide

The Citi Premier has a standard bonus of 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in 3 months.

Sign Up Bonus

• • 60,000 miles after spending $4,000 in 3 months

• • $95 annual fee

Card Perks

• • Citi cards offer the best extended warranty protection — an additional 2 years on manufacturer’s warranties.

• • No travel insurance on this card

• • Once per calendar year, $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees, when booked through thankyou.com

Earning rates:

• • 3 ThankYou Points for each $1 spent at restaurants

• • 3 ThankYou Points for each $1 spent at supermarkets

• • 3 ThankYou Points for each $1 spent at gas stations

• • 3 ThankYou Points for each $1 spent on air travel and hotels

• • 1 point for everything else

My Take:

With adding Choice and Wyndham as transfer partners, the Citi Premier became a great option for families. The option to transfer to Turkish also offers great value as it means this one bonus could get a family of 3 to Hawaii from anywhere in the US — if you can find award availability.

The transfer partners are a bit more obscure but that doesn’t mean they provide less value.

What I think its most annoying about Citi is that they have removed all travel insurances from their credit cards. Even rental car insurance is not provided, so you definitely need to pair this card with another one like Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card for better travel insurance benefits.

The Extended Warranty is the best in the business and a reason to keep this card (or another one from Citi) long term. You get an additional 2 years of warranty on items that you purchase with this card. We have used this benefit for anything from washing machines to clothes!

I think the $100 hotel credit is useless to most people, but you may find a good option. Hotel rates at ThankYou.com (where you have to book to get this benefit) tend to be inflated so you probably won’t actually save $100. But you never know and it is worth checking if you are going to pay cash anyway.

In the past, Citi approved people fairly easily for this year but the past few years has been more fickle — especially with people who have many cards open.

If you like the Vacasa option for family vacations, Choice hotel options in US or Europe, or want to try the redemption on Turkish — I’d say this card is worth a 5/24 slot as it will likely be easier to get approved if you have fewer cards open.

My 3 Favorite Redemption Options

Transfer to Choice Hotels at 1:2

With a transfer rate at 1:2, this option can provide some phenomenal value. That means if you transfer 50,000 Thank You points, you will have 100,000 Choice points!

Choice Hotels is often overlooked as a points program because it has a lot of lower-end properties in the US. But it actually has a number of great properties in Europe. Also – it has a number of Ascend Collection hotels which are often independent, historic, or boutique hotels that partner with Choice Hotels. This means this collection includes a lot of unique options ? from 4 bedroom cabins in Big Bear, CA to B&B properties in Florida and historic hotels in the Northeast.

Most hotel chains only allow you to book a standard hotel room with points. Some offer the option to use more points to upgrade to a suite. With Choice, though, the number of points charged is the same no matter the room type. So if a property has larger suites or even 2-4 bedroom villas available, they cost the same as a 1 room hotel room! This makes these properties great options for families.

Choice also has a partnership with Bluegreen Vacations which has timeshare properties that usually include a full kitchen and separate living room, these are included in the Ascend Collection.

Transfer to Wyndham Rewards and use to book Vacasa Rental homes

This is another great option! Points transfer 1:1 with Wyndham.

Rental homes cost 15,000 Wyndham points per bedroom per night. This makes homes with lots of bedrooms very expensive but one bedrooms can be a great value. The pricing does not take into account if homes have lofts or basements with extra sleeping areas. Some one-bedroom homes actually sleep up to 8.

Read more about the process to book Vacasa rentals here.

You can start here with my search of all of the United States and 1 bedroom places. Though it is not a published guideline, it seems like Vacasa rentals that cost more than $350 per night (before taxes and fees) will be unavailable to book with Wyndham points.

Even better taxes and fees (including cleaning fees) are currently waived when you book with points!

You have 30 days from when you book to cancel your reservation for no fee.

Transfer to Turkish Airways to book flights on their partner, United. Hawaii is 20k round trip!

The cheapest option for flying from most of the mainland US to Hawaii on points is by transferring Venture miles to Turkish Airways and using them to book on Turkish’s partner, United. This is a more advanced award booking and will take time and effort to book. Get a step by step on how to find and book this redemption here.

Business class flights would be just 30,000 points round trip (assuming you can find availability). Or 20,000 round trip in Economy.

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