topic Re: Any Prestige rumors? in Credit Cards

Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 06:16:46 GMT

Has anyone heard anything about potential changes to Prestige? There was a survey about four months ago, but I'm not aware of any changes that resulted from it.

It seems like the current Prestige appeals to a few groups of often unprofitable people:

Frequent 4th nighters

Benefit vampires

Retention seekers

Bonus chasers ineligible for CSR

Mile hackers who use uncommon transfer partners

2018 is here, and once I use my airfare credit I'll renew retention games. It's been about six months since the nerf, and all we've gotten is the ability to book 4th nights online (at some properties) and slightly heavier cards. I would have expected Citi to try to improve the card in some meaningful way by now to keep/attract people other than the above groups.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 10:07:47 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Has anyone heard anything about potential changes to Prestige? There was a survey about four months ago, but I'm not aware of any changes that resulted from it.

It seems like the current Prestige appeals to a few groups of often unprofitable people:
Frequent 4th nighters
Benefit vampires
Retention seekers
Bonus chasers ineligible for CSR
Mile hackers who use uncommon transfer partners

2018 is here, and once I use my airfare credit I'll renew retention games. It's been about six months since the nerf, and all we've gotten is the ability to book 4th nights online (at some properties) and slightly heavier cards. I would have expected Citi to try to improve the card in some meaningful way by now to keep/attract people other than the above groups.

Look forward to more nefring instead. Wouldn't be surprised if Citi stated limiting the benefit to a few hundred dollars a year.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

UpperNwGuy — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 20:33:34 GMT

My memory may be faulty on this topic, but I thought I read an article about three months ago that Citi had decided last year not to "play to win" in the premium credit card market. And that makes sense to me because two big things have changed since Citi first introduced the Prestige. First, their relationship with American Airlines has changed, evidenced by the elimination of Admiral's Club benefits and the 1.6x multiplier on redemptions for American flights. Second, Chase belatedly entered the premium card market with the Sapphire Reserve, which in turn forced American Express to quickly upgrade its Platinum card, while Citi did nothing. I think Citi has shifted its focus to Double Cash, Costco, and Simplicity, as these seem to be the three cards they are actively promoting. The entire Thank You Points family of cards (Preferred, Premier, and Prestige) seems to be a token effort by Citi to play with the big boys.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 15:44:44 GMT

@UpperNwGuy wrote:
My memory may be faulty on this topic, but I thought I read an article about three months ago that Citi had decided last year not to "play to win" in the premium credit card market. And that makes sense to me because two big things have changed since Citi first introduced the Prestige. First, their relationship with American Airlines has changed, evidenced by the elimination of Admiral's Club benefits and the 1.6x multiplier on redemptions for American flights. Second, Chase belatedly entered the premium card market with the Sapphire Reserve, which in turn forced American Express to quickly upgrade its Platinum card, while Citi did nothing. I think Citi has shifted its focus to Double Cash, Costco, and Simplicity, as these seem to be the three cards they are actively promoting. The entire Thank You Points family of cards (Preferred, Premier, and Prestige) seem to be a token effort by Citi to play with the big boys.

With that said I disagree with you.

Citi's Prestige, depending on who you're talking to, is the best of the heavy hitting cards (between Chase, Citi, U.S Bank, and AMEX).

Nowhere else are there as many useful perks on a card. I'll give you a few examples: Price rewind, loss baggage protection, baggage delay protection, trip cancellation/interruption insurance, $250 airline credit that can be used towards tickets, missed event/lost ticket protection, 4th night average stay at hotel for free, $100 towards global entry/TSA precheck, Priority Pass select, free roadside assistance, the favorable extended warranties, the yearly points bonus for being a Citi Gold or Priority customer, and damage + theft protection.

The card used to be amazing, but it's still incredibly good seeing as it's $350 a year if you play your cards right, and offers more rounded perks than all of the others. However, if you're a person who likes lounges, the AMEX Plat is better for someone.

When I aquire this card later this year, it'll be "card aquisition of the year" for me. I just have to remember to open up a Citi Priority checking account first.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 16:59:00 GMT

@UpperNwGuy wrote:
My memory may be faulty on this topic, but I thought I read an article about three months ago that Citi had decided last year not to "play to win" in the premium credit card market. And that makes sense to me because two big things have changed since Citi first introduced the Prestige. First, their relationship with American Airlines has changed, evidenced by the elimination of Admiral's Club benefits and the 1.6x multiplier on redemptions for American flights. Second, Chase belatedly entered the premium card market with the Sapphire Reserve, which in turn forced American Express to quickly upgrade its Platinum card, while Citi did nothing. I think Citi has shifted its focus to Double Cash, Costco, and Simplicity, as these seem to be the three cards they are actively promoting. The entire Thank You Points family of cards (Preferred, Premier, and Prestige) seem to be a token effort by Citi to play with the big boys.

It might well be the case that they aren't playing to win. I just kind of wonder why they're playing at all when they're going to be left with a lot of frequent 4th nighters as customers. Maybe they hope to have a lot of checking/savings customers who don't examine competing products too closely.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 17:05:36 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@UpperNwGuy wrote:
My memory may be faulty on this topic, but I thought I read an article about three months ago that Citi had decided last year not to "play to win" in the premium credit card market. And that makes sense to me because two big things have changed since Citi first introduced the Prestige. First, their relationship with American Airlines has changed, evidenced by the elimination of Admiral's Club benefits and the 1.6x multiplier on redemptions for American flights. Second, Chase belatedly entered the premium card market with the Sapphire Reserve, which in turn forced American Express to quickly upgrade its Platinum card, while Citi did nothing. I think Citi has shifted its focus to Double Cash, Costco, and Simplicity, as these seem to be the three cards they are actively promoting. The entire Thank You Points family of cards (Preferred, Premier, and Prestige) seem to be a token effort by Citi to play with the big boys.
It might well be the case that they aren't playing to win. I just kind of wonder why they're playing at all when they're going to be left with a lot of frequent 4th nighters as customers. Maybe they hope to have a lot of checking/savings customers who don't examine competing products too closely.

It does indeed seem like Citi is a relationship bank.

You get bonuses for having their top teir checking accounts, TY rewards on a checking account, $100 off the Prestige annual fee, special fee schedules on certain checking accounts, and more. Those who have a Citi checking account can even use their TY points towards their bill payment system (although not recommended at about a value of about 0.6 cpp). I would say Citi gives way more to those who are invested into their eco system compared to someone who just has a regular checking or even a Priority checking account alone.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 19:53:59 GMT

Bonus Chasers are probably better off getting the Premier. You get 50k points and you don't have to pay a fee.

Citi probably lost a lot of money on the Costco deal and are trying to change focus and get away from the co-branded and the transfer partner game and focus on people who carry balances and get them with the 0 percent offers.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 20:58:31 GMT

Some of Prestige's benefits are available on no-AF products. I like price rewind and the extended warranty, but I can get those on my Costco card without an AF (as I'd be paying for my warehouse membership, anyway).

CSR and Prestige differ a bit in what they cover with trip cancellation/interruption protection. Citi is more comprehensive for revenue travel and tickets, but Chase covers award travel with UR partners even when the points/miles did not start out as Chase URs.

A few extra TYs wouldn't do me much good when I've thus far been unable to find a particularly good way to redeem them. I have enough loyalty programs already.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 21:55:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Bonus Chasers are probably better off getting the Premier. You get 50k points and you don't have to pay a fee.

Citi probably lost a lot of money on the Costco deal and are trying to change focus and get away from the co-branded and the transfer partner game and focus on people who carry balances and get them with the 0 percent offers.

When I navigate from citi.com to the CC page, I currently see no bonus for either Premier or Prestige.

Are others seeing this? Has it been that way for a while?

No bonus would mean they're making some change shortly...or else really throwing in the towel.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

MrDisco99 — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 22:30:04 GMT

I also noticed there hasn’t been a signup bonus offer for Premier or Prestige for some time. I suspect these cards may be going the way of the Dividend if things stay as they are.

I’d planned to hang on to my TY Premier for the second year so I could signup for another one and get the bonus again after the second year was up. However with it looking like there may not be a bonus offer to go after I’m questioning whether I want to pay an AF at all on this card. The 50K points I got were nice and they helped iron out some details in my vacation plan but their portal leaves much to be desired. I have one more flight I need to buy and I theoretically have enough points to get it but it’s not available on the portal after checking over and over again for months. I can use a different card for it but then I have to figure out what to do with the rest of these points. I guess I could get some gift cards or something.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 23:21:47 GMT

@MrDisco99 wrote:
I also noticed there hasn’t been a signup bonus offer for Premier or Prestige for some time. I suspect these cards may be going the way of the Dividend if things stay as they are.

I’d planned to hang on to my TY Premier for the second year so I could signup for another one and get the bonus again after the second year was up. However with it looking like there may not be a bonus offer to go after I’m questioning whether I want to pay an AF at all on this card. The 50K points I got were nice and they helped iron out some details in my vacation plan but their portal leaves much to be desired. I have one more flight I need to buy and I theoretically have enough points to get it but it’s not available on the portal after checking over and over again for months. I can use a different card for it but then I have to figure out what to do with the rest of these points. I guess I could get some gift cards or something.

What flight aren't you able to book? Is it some weird international route? An obscure carrier?

I can understand small hotels not being on there, but I assumed they had most airlines covered. I've only booked AA flights through Citi, though.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 03:13:15 GMT

To further obfuscate their supposed strategy for Prestige, Citi has been giving out retention offers like candy. I just accepted another one for $50 per statement with $1500+ spend for us to 7 statements. The bar is not very high.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

MrDisco99 — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 04:51:24 GMT

@wasCB14wrote:
To further obfuscate their supposed strategy for Prestige, Citi has been giving out retention offers like candy. I just accepted another one for $50 per statement with $1500+ spend for us to 7 statements. The bar is not very high.

That's not a really great offer. Sure you get $350 (eventually) but you have to spend $10,500 to get it. That's a 3.3% gain. I suppose it's better than nothing on top of the rewards you're already getting, but it's easily beaten by some mundane signup or upgrade bonus offers. It makes sense if you would have put that spend on the card anyway, but I don't get the impression most people use their Prestige card that way. I could be wrong.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

MrDisco99 — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 04:56:19 GMT

@wasCB14wrote:
@MrDisco99 wrote:
I also noticed there hasn’t been a signup bonus offer for Premier or Prestige for some time. I suspect these cards may be going the way of the Dividend if things stay as they are.

I’d planned to hang on to my TY Premier for the second year so I could signup for another one and get the bonus again after the second year was up. However with it looking like there may not be a bonus offer to go after I’m questioning whether I want to pay an AF at all on this card. The 50K points I got were nice and they helped iron out some details in my vacation plan but their portal leaves much to be desired. I have one more flight I need to buy and I theoretically have enough points to get it but it’s not available on the portal after checking over and over again for months. I can use a different card for it but then I have to figure out what to do with the rest of these points. I guess I could get some gift cards or something.
What flight aren't you able to book? Is it some weird international route? An obscure carrier?

I can understand small hotels not being on there, but I assumed they had most airlines covered. I've only booked AA flights through Citi, though.

It's a weird international route. I'm trying to book a flight from Santorini back to Athens. What's annoying is that when I looked at it last year there was plenty of availability on Aegean and I went ahead and banked points so I could book it for when we are actually going later this year. However, all that's showing for my date since it became bookable is some crazy overnight all over Europe itineraries on Lufthansa. If I look on the Aegean site it's bookable there. I just want to use my points dammit.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 05:12:55 GMT

@MrDisco99wrote:
@wasCB14wrote:
To further obfuscate their supposed strategy for Prestige, Citi has been giving out retention offers like candy. I just accepted another one for $50 per statement with $1500+ spend for us to 7 statements. The bar is not very high.
That's not a really great offer. Sure you get $350 (eventually) but you have to spend $10,500 to get it. That's a 3.3% gain. I suppose it's better than nothing on top of the rewards you're already getting, but it's easily beaten by some mundane signup or upgrade bonus offers. It makes sense if you would have put that spend on the card anyway, but I don't get the impression most people use their Prestige card that way. I could be wrong.

For the type of clientele the Prestige is intended for, $10,500 isn't that much.

This is the same bank that offered a measley 75,000 TY points for $7,500 in spend once the nerf happened last July.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 05:59:37 GMT

@MrDisco99wrote:
@wasCB14wrote:
To further obfuscate their supposed strategy for Prestige, Citi has been giving out retention offers like candy. I just accepted another one for $50 per statement with $1500+ spend for us to 7 statements. The bar is not very high.
That's not a really great offer. Sure you get $350 (eventually) but you have to spend $10,500 to get it. That's a 3.3% gain. I suppose it's better than nothing on top of the rewards you're already getting, but it's easily beaten by some mundane signup or upgrade bonus offers. It makes sense if you would have put that spend on the card anyway, but I don't get the impression most people use their Prestige card that way. I could be wrong.

It's not an amazing retention offer in itself, but a good offer considering that since my last one:

-I've spent less than $2k on the card

-I booked a 4th night free

-I got the GE credit and 2018 airfare credit *but did pay a $450 AF*

-I got a few price rewinds (newer stuff had been going on Costco in anticipation of a potential Prestige closure)

I have a $10k checking account with them but am not Citigold/priority or anything.

My point is more that it's odd they don't offer new customers a bonus, but they are happy to give cash to keep current customers....even ones who are clearly unprofitable. I'm not alone. On FT, just about anyone gets a Prestige retention offer.

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 05:53:50 GMT

@MrDisco99wrote:
It's a weird international route. I'm trying to book a flight from Santorini back to Athens. What's annoying is that when I looked at it last year there was plenty of availability on Aegean and I went ahead and banked points so I could book it for when we are actually going later this year. However, all that's showing for my date since it became bookable is some crazy overnight all over Europe itineraries on Lufthansa. If I look on the Aegean site it's bookable there. I just want to use my points dammit.

Just tried it myself. Google flights shows a few carriers fly the route, but Citi shows nothing. I didn't realize the Citi/Connexxions website had such limitations!

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

wasCB14 — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 06:19:02 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
@MrDisco99wrote:
@wasCB14wrote:
To further obfuscate their supposed strategy for Prestige, Citi has been giving out retention offers like candy. I just accepted another one for $50 per statement with $1500+ spend for us to 7 statements. The bar is not very high.
That's not a really great offer. Sure you get $350 (eventually) but you have to spend $10,500 to get it. That's a 3.3% gain. I suppose it's better than nothing on top of the rewards you're already getting, but it's easily beaten by some mundane signup or upgrade bonus offers. It makes sense if you would have put that spend on the card anyway, but I don't get the impression most people use their Prestige card that way. I could be wrong.
For the type of clientele the Prestige is intended for, $10,500 isn't that much.

This is the same bank that offered a measley 75,000 TY points for $7,500 in spend once the nerf happened last July.

I do have some off-category, no-perk-needed spend I can put on the card. Also, cash is welcome as I am still somewhat point-heavy.

When the current bonus is nothing at all, 75k for $7.5 would be a big improvement!

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 06:35:59 GMT

@wasCB14wrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
@MrDisco99wrote:
@wasCB14wrote:
To further obfuscate their supposed strategy for Prestige, Citi has been giving out retention offers like candy. I just accepted another one for $50 per statement with $1500+ spend for us to 7 statements. The bar is not very high.
That's not a really great offer. Sure you get $350 (eventually) but you have to spend $10,500 to get it. That's a 3.3% gain. I suppose it's better than nothing on top of the rewards you're already getting, but it's easily beaten by some mundane signup or upgrade bonus offers. It makes sense if you would have put that spend on the card anyway, but I don't get the impression most people use their Prestige card that way. I could be wrong.
For the type of clientele the Prestige is intended for, $10,500 isn't that much.

This is the same bank that offered a measley 75,000 TY points for $7,500 in spend once the nerf happened last July.
I do have some off-category, no-perk-needed spend I can put on the card. Also, cash is welcome as I am still somewhat point-heavy.

When the current bonus is nothing at all, 75k for $7.5 would be a big improvement!

Meh. The spending requirement is too high for what you get. Even the Reserve's spending requirement is $4,000 and it's probably worth as much as the Citi bonus after point transfers. It doesn't surprise me that Cut-Corners Bank either has a conservative sign up bonus with higher spend or none at all, with nothing in between.

Personally i'm getting real tired of Citi's cheapness lately. Nerfing the Prestige... Upping the requirements of Citi Gold... 99% overseas customer service... weak to no signup bonuses for their points cards... Cheap metal used on the Prestige and the most flimsy card in my wallet comes from them (Premier).

Re: Any Prestige rumors?

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 07:06:01 GMT

I'm pretty sure they've had sign up bonus so of 40k points for $4k spend and/or 50k points for $5k spend, maybe even 30k points for $3k spend. Nothing spectacular value wise, but the same rate and more easily hittable than 75k for $7.5k.