topic Re: Citi Premier Refresh in Credit Cards

Citi Premier Refresh

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 18:23:40 GMT

According to TPG, Citi Premier will be refresh on August 23rd, 2020.

New:

-3X on Supermarket and Restaurant categories

-annual $100 credit on any $500 or more hotel stay booked through Thankyou.com

Gone:

-no more 25% portal redemption bonus

-3X on Non-air Travel like parking, tolls, cruise

-2X on Entertainment

Same:

-3X on Air Travel and hotels

-3X on Gas

-$95 AF

So what do you guys think of the refreshed Citi Premier?

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

kdm31091 — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 20:45:53 GMT

Losing the 25% bonus is not great, although I'm not sure the portal is always the best deal anyway. Someone with more experience might have more input.

Honestly though, supermarket and dining are really common categories at this point so it just becomes another option among many. They are dropping the less common categories like parking fees and entertainment (although only 2x entertainment, so really is not a big deal anyway). If you like ThankYou points it seems like an okay option, but still not a must have card. For everyday consumers who don't know/care about 25% bonus etc, these changes are probably positive; for reward maximizers like us, less positive.

Since the Double Cash now gives a straight 2x TYP on everything, not sure it would be worth holding DC, Premier, and Prestige as some do after the refresh since the Premier is only giving an incremental 1x on certain things, and the Prestige has 5x dining anyway.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

MrDisco99 — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 19:00:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Gone:
-no more 25% portal redemption bonus

So... TY points are now 1cpp unless transferred to airlines?

I mean... I guess I'll probably keep mine just because I have 72K points I still need to use. Most of the TY points I've redeemed have been done through the portal just because the transfer partners are not that useful to me. Looks like the card as a whole may not be that useful after I use those points.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

kdm31091 — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 19:03:09 GMT

@MrDisco99 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Gone:
-no more 25% portal redemption bonus
So... TY points are now 1cpp unless transferred to airlines?

I mean... I guess I'll probably keep mine just because I have 72K points I still need to use. Most of the TY points I've redeemed have been done through the portal just because the transfer partners are not that useful to me. Looks like the card as a whole may not be that useful after I use those points.

Right. The 25% bonus is being dropped although existing users still have a year before that happens. 1cpp through the portal

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 19:06:17 GMT

@MrDisco99 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Gone:
-no more 25% portal redemption bonus
So... TY points are now 1cpp unless transferred to airlines?

I mean... I guess I'll probably keep mine just because I have 72K points I still need to use. Most of the TY points I've redeemed have been done through the portal just because the transfer partners are not that useful to me. Looks like the card as a whole may not be that useful after I use those points.

Existing cardmembers still will get 1.25 cpp on Citi travel portal until April 10th, 2021.

Citi Premier losing Travel Redemption Bonus, and changes to points categories

MyFault — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 20:22:52 GMT

Has anyone seen this yet?

https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/citi-premier-will-lose-25-travel-redemption-bonus-will-change-bonus-categories/?fbclid=IwAR29KGH429ZcptOkwA9Plq2Suc27yz1CnGLgGt9VVDN6Q2jMe_R6pdb4IN0

Disappointing imo. I had actually thought of getting this card, vs the Citi Costco, to get into Citi. Now it looks like i'll be avoiding it.

Citi xfer partners are useless, and without the 25% Bonus booking travel in the Thank You portal that's a big hit to the SUB value.

I think i'll just continue to avoid Citi for a while, and go after the Costco card after i'm back under 5/24 and have the last Chase cards i want.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

kdm31091 — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 20:53:27 GMT

The more I think about it I'm thinking Citi is trying to reduce people only using the card for bonus spending by making the card pretty well rounded for the average consumer. Now, for maximizers and travel point enthusiasts, it's not a great thing, but those who don't want to juggle a lot of cards is I think who Citi is trying to appeal to here.

Customers like us who juggle cards and maximize each purchase are not ideal for the lenders as I'm sure they want to see us using it for non-bonus spend too. Refreshes like this are probably meant to encourage that. The new Premier covers enough bases for the everyday person that they probably would end up using it for most of their spend even nonbonus.

That said, I think Citi needs to stop messing with their cards. They are constantly changing the benefits/rewards/categories and it's not a great look from a customer point of view.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 21:27:31 GMT

@kdm31091 wrote:
The more I think about it I'm thinking Citi is trying to reduce people only using the card for bonus spending by making the card pretty well rounded for the average consumer. Now, for maximizers and travel point enthusiasts, it's not a great thing, but those who don't want to juggle a lot of cards is I think who Citi is trying to appeal to here.

Customers like us who juggle cards and maximize each purchase are not ideal for the lenders as I'm sure they want to see us using it for non-bonus spend too. Refreshes like this are probably meant to encourage that. The new Premier covers enough bases for the everyday person that they probably would end up using it for most of their spend even nonbonus.

That said, I think Citi needs to stop messing with their cards. They are constantly changing the benefits/rewards/categories and it's not a great look from a customer point of view.

I was looking to pick up the Citi Premier along with the Double Cash later this year. It's 50-50 now.

Re: Citi Premier losing Travel Redemption Bonus, and changes to points categories

Citylights18 — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 21:37:17 GMT

Its a shame to see the 1.25 ccp go but that is the trend in the industry; trading higher earning rates for loss of the enhanced redemption rates.

If you had the Citi Trifecta of Prestige, Premier and Double Cash you'll still have quite a lot of value.

Dining 5x

Air Fare 5x

Hotels 3x

Gas 3x

Supermarkets 3x

Everything Else 2x

You lose 3x from car rentals, tolls, ride share, travel agencies (big) and replace it with 3x groceries. But you can't stack the 4th night free on the Prestige with the 1.25 redemption on the Premier anymore making that perk less valuable. I would argue that 4th night free is a waste of time when you can get 30-40% cash back by booking with DOSH at expensive properties.

There are Citi offers which tend to be good. But you could get them with the Prestige or DC so you don't really need the Premier.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/targeted-citi-credit-card-spend-offer-get-4x-points-on-select-categories/

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 21:44:24 GMT

My thoughts- it's almost tempting, but not quite.

3% on gas, groceries, and restaurants would capture a lot of my spend. But, Discover and Chase are 5% rotating so this card is only useful for half the year. And, for that half the year it's only 1% better in those categories than the Double Cash.

The annual fee doesn't even bother me that much given the $100 hotel credit. I'd find a way to make use of that, maybe force myself to take a vacation. But, it's not really worth it for me to add an additional card.

Now, if they merged the benefits of this and the Double cash then I'd be all over it.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

Citylights18 — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 22:08:17 GMT

One thing to consider with Citi is their pricing tends to be high on hotel redemptions. Yes you're getting a $100 credit but the average price of a hotel room is $50 dollars more. See this article where the research is done.

https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/the-complete-guide-to-citi-prestige-4th-night-free/

That's how they create slippage in redemption value by getting you to book hotels through the ecosystem where they don't have the most dynamic discounting. Chase is not so bad if you want to just book a night or two on a lower end hotel and have the points sitting in the account.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

VPExecutive — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 22:13:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
According to TPG, Citi Premier will be refresh on August 23rd, 2020.
New:
-3X on Supermarket and Restaurant categories
-annual $100 credit on any $500 or more hotel stay booked through Thankyou.com

Gone:
-no more 25% portal redemption bonus
-3X on Non-air Travel like parking, tolls, cruise
-2X on Entertainment

Same:
-3X on Air Travel and hotels
-3X on Gas
-$95 AF

So what do you guys think of the refreshed Citi Premier?

Let me guess... The TY portal hotel booking costs at least $100 more for the same hotel than booking through the hotel directly or through travel sites. They did something similar with the Prestige's 4th night free change last September. A lot of people report booking through the TY portal adds a price to each night causing the 4th night free to be pointless to use. So, really, this is not a real benefit.

I never see anything positive or beneficial to customers when Citi make changes, this is no exception.

Chase will continue to eat Citi's lunch in the U.S Market.

Re: Citi Premier losing Travel Redemption Bonus, and changes to points categories

MyFault — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 22:45:08 GMT

I didn't need the card to build up Thank You points, and build their trifecta. I am already doing that with UR points from Chase, and they have the xfer partners i use.

I just wanted to get into Citi, and figured getting the Premier would be worth it in year 1, from the SUB. Then PC to the Costco card after. But, now the SUB won't be worth it imo.
I don't need a Citi card that bad. Just was feeling the itch, and Chase won't approve me for the last few cards of theirs i want until mid next year.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

VPExecutive — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 22:51:46 GMT

@Citylights18 wrote:
One thing to consider with Citi is their pricing tends to be high on hotel redemptions. Yes you're getting a $100 credit but the average price of a hotel room is $50 dollars more. See this article where the research is done.

https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/the-complete-guide-to-citi-prestige-4th-night-free/

That's how they create slippage in redemption value by getting you to book hotels through the ecosystem where they don't have the most dynamic discounting. Chase is not so bad if you want to just book a night or two on a lower end hotel and have the points sitting in the account.

Exactly. Citi will find a way to recoup the $100 benefit to their advantage... They will charge the customer $500 a night for a room over the course of three nights while the hotel itself will charge $467 a night for the same exact room. They did something similar with the Prestige card last September.

Citi really needs to pull itself from the U.S Market... They're pathetic. Their best deposit accounts are not in the U.S... Their travel partners are not in the U.S, their investment products are behind the times (charges an annual fee unless you're a Gold or Priority customer and then another annual fee if you have less than $25,000 in your account, and then buy and sell fee), their IT department is a joke, and their credit cards are constantly devalued and changed around. One used to be able to get an AF reibursement on select Citi cards with a CitiGold account (at the time only required $50,000 or more in deposits), that then turned into a $100 AF discount on the Prestige, which then turned into one needing $200,000 in assets with Citi just to get Prestige discount and CitiGold.

A joke.

Re: Citi Premier losing Travel Redemption Bonus, and changes to points categories

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 00:35:31 GMT

Maybe worth it for the sub if they're willing to waive the AF this year as a refresh promo

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 00:56:10 GMT

removing from my future apps.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

Loquat — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 21:47:31 GMT

Sucks that the 25% bonus is going away. It was one of the main reasons for keeping Citi. I hardly ever use their transfer partners because they're slow to transfer and their partners are okay at best. Virgin for Delta was about my only use for transfer partner...all else was via the TY Portal because I got the 25% boost from the Premier card and the 10% points rebate from the Rewards+.

The grocery category means nothing when you compare it to the Amex Gold and EveryDay Preferred. Will covert this one to another Double Cash when the annual fee rolls around unless they give me a reason not to.

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

CreditCuriosity — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 22:43:09 GMT

Looking at picking this up for the 60k signup bonus alone as my 24 months is up since i have last had the card.. Other then that no use for the card as right now, but will take the travel credit and/or just cash/gift cards for a lesser value still good none the less

Re: Citi Premier Refresh

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 08:15:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@MrDisco99 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Gone:
-no more 25% portal redemption bonus
So... TY points are now 1cpp unless transferred to airlines?

I mean... I guess I'll probably keep mine just because I have 72K points I still need to use. Most of the TY points I've redeemed have been done through the portal just because the transfer partners are not that useful to me. Looks like the card as a whole may not be that useful after I use those points.
Existing cardmembers still will get 1.25 cpp on Citi travel portal until April 10th, 2021.

And they will enjoy the old point categories (such as 2x on Entertainment, 3x on multiple travel categories) through April 10, 2021, and the new categories starting in August.

Overall, this will be a competitive "all-in-one" card.

3x on air travel, hotels, restaurants, groceries and gas stations at $95 is an alterntative to:

1. Amex Gold at 3x on air travel, 4x on restaurants and groceries for $250 with similar point value with transfer partners

2. Well Fargo Propel at 3x on air travel, hotels, restaurants, gas stations and transit and streaming for $0 AF with far less point value

Re: Citi Premier losing Travel Redemption Bonus, and changes to points categories

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 08:19:31 GMT

@Citylights18 wrote:

If you had the Citi Trifecta of Prestige, Premier and Double Cash you'll still have quite a lot of value.

Dining 5x
Air Fare 5x
Hotels 3x
Gas 3x
Supermarkets 3x
Everything Else 2x

Don't forget:

OTA hotels/car rentals (Expedia, Orbitz, etc) 5x with Prestige

Cruise lines 3X with Prestige

Even so, IMO the Presitge only really makes sense for those with a CitiGold account who get the $350 annual fee ($100 net after travel credit).