Citi Costco - What are Eligible Travel Purchases?

[Anonymous]

So I've been wanting a 3% travel card for a while now and I shop at Costco and noticed that the 3% cash back for Travel seems a bit vague. I was looking at the card terms here: https://www.citicards.com/cards/credit/displayterms/flow.action?app=UNSOL&t=t&sc=GIDC1256615D111111W...

• 3% cash back on restaurant (including cafes, bars, lounges and fast food restaurants) and eligible travel purchases worldwide, including airfare, hotels, car rentals, travel agencies, cruise lines and Costco Travel.

Airfare - seems straight forward but say you purchase airfare from a travel website VS direct from the airline - would that count?

Hotels - would purchases from travel websites count? 

Travel agencies - are these websites like Expedia, Hotels, Travelocity, Airbnb, Tripadvisor? 

The Sam's club credit card seems more flexible with what they count as travel, but Costco seems restrictive/vague. 

Does anyone know more about the 3% travel category and what would be a safe bet on what counts as "travel". 

[Closingracer99]

It also depends on the merchant and how they are coded ....

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I've been wanting a 3% travel card for a while now and I shop at Costco and noticed that the 3% cash back for Travel seems a bit vague. I was looking at the card terms here: https://www.citicards.com/cards/credit/displayterms/flow.action?app=UNSOL&t=t&sc=GIDC1256615D111111W&B=S&uc=F4Q

• 3% cash back on restaurant (including cafes, bars, lounges and fast food restaurants) and eligible travel purchases worldwide, including airfare, hotels, car rentals, travel agencies, cruise lines and Costco Travel.

Airfare - seems straight forward but say you purchase airfare from a travel website VS direct from the airline - would that count?

Hotels - would purchases from travel websites count? 

Travel agencies - are these websites like Expedia, Hotels, Travelocity, Airbnb, Tripadvisor? 

The Sam's club credit card seems more flexible with what they count as travel, but Costco seems restrictive/vague. 

Does anyone know more about the 3% travel category and what would be a safe bet on what counts as "travel". 

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I think we have to look at the visa codes like closing said and find out which vendor is which code in order to be 100% sure.

[Anonymous]

I confirmed via email from a Citi rep that sites like expedia are eligible for the 3% bonus.
I also confirmed that most places for gas are eligible, including convenience stores which are exempted in the fine print. I was told that if you pay at the pump, it will almost always code as gas, if you pay at the register inside it *might* code as convenience store or some other code other than gas. In those cases you would lose out on the gas bonus.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I confirmed via email from a Citi rep that sites like expedia are eligible for the 3% bonus.
I also confirmed that most places for gas are eligible, including convenience stores which are exempted in the fine print. I was told that if you pay at the pump, it will almost always code as gas, if you pay at the register inside it *might* code as convenience store or some other code other than gas. In those cases you would lose out on the gas bonus.

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That's true. Best try out a small tiny charge first then see if you get your rewards. 

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I confirmed via email from a Citi rep that sites like expedia are eligible for the 3% bonus.
I also confirmed that most places for gas are eligible, including convenience stores which are exempted in the fine print. I was told that if you pay at the pump, it will almost always code as gas, if you pay at the register inside it *might* code as convenience store or some other code other than gas. In those cases you would lose out on the gas bonus.

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That's true. Best try out a small tiny charge first then see if you get your rewards. 

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I'm sure this Costco card will make a lot of money despite the reward structure because a lot of people will make this their primary card and will just use it for most of their purchases and not everyone tracks their rewards to see if everything is being calculated properly. I guess I will find out when I get the card, i'm not in a rush as my Freedom has the 5% back until December.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I confirmed via email from a Citi rep that sites like expedia are eligible for the 3% bonus.
I also confirmed that most places for gas are eligible, including convenience stores which are exempted in the fine print. I was told that if you pay at the pump, it will almost always code as gas, if you pay at the register inside it *might* code as convenience store or some other code other than gas. In those cases you would lose out on the gas bonus.

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That's true. Best try out a small tiny charge first then see if you get your rewards. 

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I'm sure this Costco card will make a lot of money despite the reward structure because a lot of people will make this their primary card and will just use it for most of their purchases and not everyone tracks their rewards to see if everything is being calculated properly. I guess I will find out when I get the card, i'm not in a rush as my Freedom has the 5% back until December.

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I agree with that! People are definitely going to make this their primary card. I know I would if I didn't care about tracking rewards or maximizing them. And yup!! Use that freedom 5%. I almost forgot about that since I never go to costco nowadays...

[Closingracer99]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I confirmed via email from a Citi rep that sites like expedia are eligible for the 3% bonus.
I also confirmed that most places for gas are eligible, including convenience stores which are exempted in the fine print. I was told that if you pay at the pump, it will almost always code as gas, if you pay at the register inside it *might* code as convenience store or some other code other than gas. In those cases you would lose out on the gas bonus.

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That's true. Best try out a small tiny charge first then see if you get your rewards. 

---

I'm sure this Costco card will make a lot of money despite the reward structure because a lot of people will make this their primary card and will just use it for most of their purchases and not everyone tracks their rewards to see if everything is being calculated properly. I guess I will find out when I get the card, i'm not in a rush as my Freedom has the 5% back until December.

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I agree with that! People are definitely going to make this their primary card. I know I would if I didn't care about tracking rewards or maximizing them. And yup!! Use that freedom 5%. I almost forgot about that since I never go to costco nowadays...

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Eh I wouldn't use it at all TBH if I had it. I don't like the fact you get the reward as a check to use at Costco basically... I know I could say get $200 back and use it to buy say $10 dollars worth of eggs and get cash for the rest but i like my options open .... Will be using my Chase Freedom at Costco for the rest of the year because Costco doesnt take my TY premier

[Anonymous]

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@Closingracer99 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I confirmed via email from a Citi rep that sites like expedia are eligible for the 3% bonus.
I also confirmed that most places for gas are eligible, including convenience stores which are exempted in the fine print. I was told that if you pay at the pump, it will almost always code as gas, if you pay at the register inside it *might* code as convenience store or some other code other than gas. In those cases you would lose out on the gas bonus.

---

That's true. Best try out a small tiny charge first then see if you get your rewards. 

---

I'm sure this Costco card will make a lot of money despite the reward structure because a lot of people will make this their primary card and will just use it for most of their purchases and not everyone tracks their rewards to see if everything is being calculated properly. I guess I will find out when I get the card, i'm not in a rush as my Freedom has the 5% back until December.

---

I agree with that! People are definitely going to make this their primary card. I know I would if I didn't care about tracking rewards or maximizing them. And yup!! Use that freedom 5%. I almost forgot about that since I never go to costco nowadays...

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Eh I wouldn't use it at all TBH if I had it. I don't like the fact you get the reward as a check to use at Costco basically... I know I could say get $200 back and use it to buy say $10 dollars worth of eggs and get cash for the rest but i like my options open .... Will be using my Chase Freedom at Costco for the rest of the year because Costco doesnt take my TY premier

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Haha yeah there is that aspect. But I am talking about the regular consumers who don't care about rewards that much. I know my dad would use this as his daily driver so he doesn't have to remember what card has which rewards. He also doesn't mind when he gets his rewards, just that he does get them

Why don't they take your premier?

[kdm31091]

If you just want a card for the occasional travel purchase, is it really worth having a dedicated account? Then you have to pay for Costco membership ($50 a year or so), physically go cash out the rewards only once a year, etc.

Compared to just using a 2% card, you'd have to spend $5,000 on travel before you'd outweigh even the membership fee, if you're just using it for the 3% on travel. For dining, that would change the numbers somewhat, but you already have a 3% dining card (AARP).

This isn't to say the Costco is bad but opening it just for the 3% on travel may not be of much use. Don't just fixate on the 3%. Run the numbers and figure out how much it actually means for you, taking into account the fee.

If you want to shop there anyway, it's a good all around rewards card. Paying for membership just to use it as a cash back card makes the worth a little more murky IMO.