topic Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ?????? in Credit Cards

Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 03:43:54 GMT

Both have the same annual fees. (unless you have Citi Gold).

The Citi Prestige offers a $250 annual airline fee credit, and you can use it for any kind of airline purchase including plane tickets automatically applies the $250 annual airline fee credits to your airline charges you make on your card,

The Platinum Card offers a $200 annual credit but has more restrictions ? Can only use it for airline fees like baggage fees, change fees, lounge fees, and in flight meals. You can’t use the credit to offset the purchase of tickets like you can with CIti.

Also flying internationally which lacks Centurion Lounges and are mainly only int he U.S. due to American Express losing American Airlines/US airway lounges (Admirals Clubs.) ?

Priority Pass lounges includes free access for up to two guests using your Citi card but American Express does not.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

Jansroom726 — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 03:58:51 GMT

+1 interested in this also

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

ficobgtx — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:00:05 GMT

Ever stay more than 3 nights at a hotel? 4th night free as much as you want with prestige. Can't beat that in my opinion.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

Jansroom726 — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:03:05 GMT

@ficobgtx wrote:
Ever stay more than 3 nights at a hotel? 4th night free as much as you want with prestige. Can't beat that in my opinion.

I'm very interested in this benefit. However, what if the hotel can't be booked through the Citi concierge? I've read mixed reviews that as long as it's a hotel and can be booked by a travel agent, it should be eligible?

Any insight? Thanks.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

NRB525 — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:04:46 GMT

@Jansroom726 wrote:
@ficobgtx wrote:
Ever stay more than 3 nights at a hotel? 4th night free as much as you want with prestige. Can't beat that in my opinion.
I'm very interested in this benefit. However, what if the hotel can't be booked through the Citi concierge? I've read mixed reviews that as long as it's a hotel and can be booked by a travel agent, it should be eligible?

Any insight? Thanks.

I am guessing this 4th night free is overrated. I've seen many similar promotions through basic hotels and loyalty programs, so it's likely just a case of shopping carefully. The Prestige is explicit about it, so that's an advantage, but if you are staying 4 nights in any one hotel, the chances are you qualify for some sort of similar discount.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

NRB525 — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:06:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Both have the same annual fees. (unless you have Citi Gold).

The Citi Prestige offers a $250 annual airline fee credit, and you can use it for any kind of airline purchase including plane tickets automatically applies the $250 annual airline fee credits to your airline charges you make on your card,

The Platinum Card offers a $200 annual credit but has more restrictions ? Can only use it for airline fees like baggage fees, change fees, lounge fees, and in flight meals. You can’t use the credit to offset the purchase of tickets like you can with CIti.

Also flying internationally which lacks Centurion Lounges and are mainly only int he U.S. due to American Express losing American Airlines/US airway lounges (Admirals Clubs.) ?

Priority Pass lounges includes free access for up to two guests using your Citi card but American Express does not.

The two cards are, for all intents and purposes, equivalent. How much airline travel and long term hotel stays do you do already?

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

ficobgtx — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:13:05 GMT

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Citi-Prestige-My-Experience-some-good-some-not-so-good/m-p/4095352

My experiences posted here. Can be a bit painful, but so far worth it. Will get the same rates that are on the hotel website that are typically "guaranteed" to be the lowest. So great deal in my opinion.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:12:22 GMT

@Jansroom726 wrote:
@ficobgtx wrote:
Ever stay more than 3 nights at a hotel? 4th night free as much as you want with prestige. Can't beat that in my opinion.
I'm very interested in this benefit. However, what if the hotel can't be booked through the Citi concierge? I've read mixed reviews that as long as it's a hotel and can be booked by a travel agent, it should be eligible?

Any insight? Thanks.

AMEX Platinum: 1 Membership Reward per dollar on all purchases
Citi Prestige® Card:
- Earn 3x points on Air Travel and Hotels
- Earn 2x points on Dining at Restaurants and Entertainment
- 1 ThankYou® Point per $1 spent on other purchases

The AMEX Platinum offers free SPG Gold elite status while you hold a Platinum card. The Citi Prestige® Card offers the 4th night free on hotel stays ooked through its travel provider Carlson Wagonlit

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

heyarrnold — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:12:45 GMT

I have both, although I haven't had the Plat very long. But I definitely love my Prestige over my Plat. The 4th night credit is wonderful. I've used it many times without any issues.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

red259 — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:15:19 GMT

Its not a contest in my mind. The only way I see the plat coming out ahead is if there is A. a great signup, B. You fly Delta and can use the skylounges or C. An airport you frequent has a centurion lounge that you would use. Beyond that the prestige card just seems to totally own the amex plat and with the few exceptions listed above I don't think its much of a contest.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

yfan — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:30:47 GMT

Unless you are looking to transfer points to partners at the most opportune moments - which, let's face it, no one has anything on Amex on - the Prestige has to get the nod. For several reasons:

$250 airline credit can be used for airfare. This is big. Yes, people will tell you that you can get away with buying airline gift cards with the $200 Amex airline incidentals credit, but that's getting away, and involves risk of not being honored. No such thing with Citi. Besides, you can lose a gift card. You cannot lose a cash amount posted on your statement!
Priority Pass lounge access. Amex better get a move on this.
Points earning in general. Citi Prestige has a 3-2-1 structure, with the Platinum you can't do any better than 1 point per dollar.
Points earning through respective travel portals. Booking travel through Amex's portals will get you 2x MR points. Booking through Citi's will get you 3x for airfare and hotels (actually you'd get that even if you didn't use Citi's portal).
Points redemption through respective travel portals. The best you can do with Amex is 1 cpp when redeemed for airfare on Amex travel (hotels and cruises are lower value redemptions). With Citi, you get at least 1.33 cpp when redeeming for airfare, and potentially 1.6 cpp if you fly American or US Airways.
4th Night free. Yes, this has to be bookable by a live travel agent, but once in a while for a nice hotel, this may not be so bad.
It's a Mastercard. Like it or not, Mastercards are accepted in more places than Amex, especially if you are traveling internationally and shopping locally where you travel.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

jsucool76 — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:22:23 GMT

Other than the 100k offer, prestige every day of the week. While I loathe Citi's customer service, and the process of getting hotel quotes, the product is just better.

Ritz wins customer service

Prestige wins all around usability

Platinum wins sign up bonus (right now atleast).

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

Anonymous — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:30:03 GMT

@jsucool76 wrote:
Other than the 100k offer, prestige every day of the week. While I loathe Citi's customer service, and the process of getting hotel quotes, the product is just better.

Ritz wins customer service
Prestige wins all around usability
Platinum wins sign up bonus (right now atleast).

i guess one you have to pay in full and other you can carry the balance. Is it Chip and PIN ? like barclay arrival+ ? or is it just signature ? i couldn't get my Chase freedom, Citi Double or Capital One to work last time trying to buy train tickets inside a station in europe. Discover didn't work either.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

jsucool76 — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:32:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@jsucool76 wrote:
Other than the 100k offer, prestige every day of the week. While I loathe Citi's customer service, and the process of getting hotel quotes, the product is just better.

Ritz wins customer service
Prestige wins all around usability
Platinum wins sign up bonus (right now atleast).
i guess one you have to pay in full and other you can carry the balance. Is it Chip and PIN ? like barclay arrival+ ? or is it just signature ? i couldn't get my Chase freedom, Citi Double or Capital One to work last time trying to buy train tickets inside a station in europe. Discover didn't work either.

All 3 are chip and sig, but I had no trouble buying train tickets in europe with either my prestige or ritz from the unmanned kiosks. None of them asked me for a PIN.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

redpat — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:00:06 GMT

FHR can be a better benefit than 4th night free. I have stayed 2 night in one FHR and 2 night in another FHR for a total benefit of $320 and $130 benefit for one night stays. Many times I find it hard to schedule more than three nights and when I travel for business I'm reimbursed anyway.

Also, National Car you get Executive upgrade. There are other car rental company upgrades.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

ficobgtx — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:10:52 GMT

FHR can be better in some instances, but 4th night free can be better in many others. I stayed at a Ritz and first nights were $199, 4th night was $869. Still beats $320 and $130.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

DaJagman — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:11:29 GMT

Platinum works for me. Staples Center has a lounge for Clippers Kings and Lakers games I buy nosebleed tickets and watch from the lounge. I hit Centurion in Vegas 3 or 4 times a year. I use MR points for transfers. I think Prestige is probably a better deal for most people unless you can find value in the Amex benefits and they fit your needs.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

boosnark — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:11:57 GMT

@jsucool76 wrote:
Other than the 100k offer, prestige every day of the week. While I loathe Citi's customer service, and the process of getting hotel quotes, the product is just better.

Ritz wins customer service
Prestige wins all around usability
Platinum wins sign up bonus (right now atleast).

Getting airline credits is always a hassle with the Ritz, requiring copies of the receipt to be uploaded to their website. For the Platinum, you can only sign up on one airline to get airline credits. This is where Citi wins, IMHO. Having said that Citi has raised their customer service levels a notch in the last couple of years (at least in my experience, YMMV). I've kept my Amex Platinum for sentimental reasons (member since '87) but I may just PC to a plain Green card since Prestige and Ritz fulfills all my travel and other related needs at this point.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

redpat — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:26:54 GMT

@ficobgtx wrote:
FHR can be better in some instances, but 4th night free can be better in many others. I stayed at a Ritz and first nights were $199, 4th night was $869. Still beats $320 and $130.

For me I may use 15 - 20 single or two night stays. My luck, the 4th night would be $199, lol,

BTW one night is $130 which with Presitege you get $0 benefit.

Re: Amex Platinum or Citi Prestige ??????

DrZoidberg — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:36:43 GMT

Until Platinum raises the earnings per $, Prestige will win overall. Platinum has better travel perks, lounge access and MR transfer partners. But Citi wins with the fee being for anything and the earnings potential.