topic Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking in Credit Cards

Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

SMDLiquid — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 01:54:23 GMT

The process of booking should be a lot easier now

http://thepointsguy.com/2016/01/easier-to-book-citi-prestige-4th-night-free/

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

-Cal- — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 02:01:41 GMT

I would say when I booked my last stay the process wasn't exciting. Hopefully this will indeed be better, it would be great if we could book online.

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 02:38:41 GMT

Thanks for reporting this. This change corresponded to Citi's switching their concierge provider from the Ten Group to Aspire (same one Amex Platinum uses).

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

Ysettle4 — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 03:52:13 GMT

While this is an improvement overall, I find that I'm able to score huge discounts on let's say expedia, bookit.com that significantly outweigh the 4th free perk. Example: I recently booked a 5 night vacation to the DR and the hotel quoted me roughly $405/night and I was able to score it on bookit.com for $185/night. Citi's concierge quoted $405/night as well.

Where this card really shines for me is the points value towards AA flights and the $250 airline credit.

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

-Cal- — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 04:06:55 GMT

@Ysettle4 wrote:
While this is an improvement overall, I find that I'm able to score huge discounts on let's say expedia, bookit.com that significantly outweigh the 4th free perk. Example: I recently booked a 5 night vacation to the DR and the hotel quoted me roughly $405/night and I was able to score it on bookit.com for $185/night. Citi's concierge quoted $405/night as well.

Where this card really shines for me is the points value towards AA flights and the $250 airline credit.

Thats an interesting fact, I haven't used Expedia in a while. Do you find that to be true across the various rooms types outside of basic rooms including premium rooms and suites? I might start paying closer attention to Expedia.

I did compare my last rate against Kayak and Citi was actually a slightly cheaper per night rate plus the 4th night free, so maybe YMMV

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

jsucool76 — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 04:11:05 GMT

Glad to hear this. Still waiting for an online portal to do this myself.

Also interesting, the phone number listed on the TPG post is a boca raton number. I recognize my own area code anywhere.

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

Anonymous — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 04:16:54 GMT

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

jsucool76 — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 04:16:41 GMT

Their headquarters probably holds 10 people. I'm sure they outsource to call centers all over the world (different time zones mean people dont need to be at work at midnight)

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

Ysettle4 — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 06:04:48 GMT

@-Cal- wrote:
@Ysettle4 wrote:
While this is an improvement overall, I find that I'm able to score huge discounts on let's say expedia, bookit.com that significantly outweigh the 4th free perk. Example: I recently booked a 5 night vacation to the DR and the hotel quoted me roughly $405/night and I was able to score it on bookit.com for $185/night. Citi's concierge quoted $405/night as well.

Where this card really shines for me is the points value towards AA flights and the $250 airline credit.
Thats an interesting fact, I haven't used Expedia in a while. Do you find that to be true across the various rooms types outside of basic rooms including premium rooms and suites? I might start paying closer attention to Expedia.

I did compare my last rate against Kayak and Citi was actually a slightly cheaper per night rate plus the 4th night free, so maybe YMMV

So far yes, in my experience I find this to be factual across various levels of rooms and suites. Bookit has been my go-to lately. Kayak seems to only find decent deals on flights and not necessarily hotel rates.

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

onstar — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 08:10:49 GMT

I just booked 4 nights in Maui at a Starwood property using Citi Prestige 4th night free. Was on hold for 5 minutes when I called, then it took about 15 minutes after the guy came on the line. I have no frame of reference since this is the first time using the 4th night free, so I can't tell you if it is much better than before, but this was pretty painless. One thing he pointed out was that the rates would either come from their system or from the hotel's website. And you can still use the AAA discount or other discounts from the hotel's website.

Rooms were $440/night including all taxes and fees. Total $1,760 less $440 credit, net $1,320.

Kayak had special rates only available via Kayak. It was $370/night, total $1,480.

So I only really saved $160. It's still awesome.

I'm actually staying 6 nights in Maui, but the other 2 nights are covered by SPG points, so that's that.

But yeah, it'd be nice if these could be self service via a website.

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

SMDLiquid — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 01:05:21 GMT

Just booked at 4 day stay & I got mixed results. First agent was clueless & was quoting rates $1K over the hotel rate.

Also the hold time was crazy & the agent just seem lost. Call later & the second agent was wonderful & everything was done in a timely matter.

The most important thing is that I did save €340.00 Euros

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

ficobgtx — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 03:45:49 GMT

I've now booked using the new service 3 times.

First time: 59 minutes.

Second time: 21 minutes

Third time: 35 minutes and still on hold

Everytime I've called over the past 3 weeks, they warn that there are long wait times. Really... Every time I call?

once I actually get someone, the experience is nicer. Not transferred to a travel agent, they just do it all themselves. Before, they had to get a CWT person on, and I would typically have to repeat my hotel, dates etc.

But the wait times are killing me now.

Update, in the time it took me to type this out, wait time has gone from 35 to 38.

Re: Citi Prestige 4th Night Free Booking

ficobgtx — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 04:04:39 GMT

FYI, 3rd time total: 53 minutes

Only nice thing, they are quite good at booking. Hold time was probably 50 mins, took less than 3 to give info and for him to book. Cut out the wait time and I'm happy, even if I do have to call instead of book online.