Link: Learn more about the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card
We recently saw the launch of the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card, which is the new premium card in the Citi ThankYou ecosystem, intended to compete with the premium cards issued by Amex, Capital One, and Chase.
If you ask me, this is an intriguing card that’s worth giving a try, if nothing else. While it has a hefty annual fee, it also has some interesting bonus categories, and offers credits and benefits, plus some lounge access perks. In particular, I think this card is interesting for those who are looking to earn American miles. In this post, I’d like to take an in-depth look at the card, including the overall value proposition.
Citi Strata Elite Card welcome offer & fee basics
For someone looking to earn Citi ThankYou points, the Citi Strata Elite Card is now the premium, flagship card in the portfolio. Let’s go over the details of the welcome offer, eligibility, and annual fee.
Limited time welcome bonus of 100K ThankYou points
The Citi Strata Elite Card has a limited time welcome bonus where you can earn 100,000 ThankYou points after spending $6,000 within three months. While this is being marketed as a limited time offer, though we don’t yet know when it will be pulled.
Personally, I value Citi ThankYou points at roughly 1.7 cents each, so I’d consider this to be an excellent bonus.
Card eligibility restrictions & rules
The Citi Strata Elite Card welcome bonus isn’t available to those who have received a new account bonus on this exact card. It’s also not available to those who have converted another Citi card to this exact card in the past 48 months. Since this card just launched, I think virtually everyone should be eligible for the card. 😉
Beyond that, eligibility for this card (including the bonus) is unrelated to whether you have any other Citi ThankYou card. That means you’re eligible for the bonus on this card if you have the Citi Strata℠ Card (review) or Citi Strata Premier® Card (review). You’re even eligible for the bonus if you have the Citi Prestige Card, which is no longer open to new applicants.
Beyond that, Citi has fairly limited rules when it comes to getting approved for cards. The most important restriction to keep in mind is that you can typically only be approved for one Citi card every eight days, and at most two Citi cards every 65 days. Here’s my experience getting approved for the card.
$595 annual fee & $75 authorized user fee
The Citi Strata Elite Card has a $595 annual fee for the primary cardmember, and a $75 annual fee for each authorized user.
While that’s a steep annual fee, the card offers lots of perks that should help offset that. Many people will also find it worthwhile to add authorized users, as they receive their own Priority Pass™ Select membership as well, so $75 is a reasonable cost for that.
Keep in mind that if you’re a Citigold customer, you can receive a $145 annual rebate on your annual fee, which is a nice perk.
Citi Strata Elite Card points earning structure
The Citi Strata Elite Card could be worth spending money on, given its rewards structure. The card has the following rewards structure:
- 12x ThankYou points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions, booked through Citi Travel
- 6x ThankYou points on air travel booked through Citi Travel
- 6x ThankYou points on restaurants on Citi Nights purchases, on Fridays and Saturdays between 6PM and 6AM ET (regardless of where in the world you are)
- 3x ThankYou points per dollar spent at restaurants any other time
- 1.5x ThankYou points on all other eligible purchases
This card has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a great card to use both within the United States and abroad. Let’s take a closer look at how these bonus categories work.
6-12x ThankYou points with Citi Travel
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers bonus points when booking through Citi Travel, which is Citi’s travel portal. Specifically, the card offers 12x ThankYou points when you book hotels, rental cars, and attractions, and 6x ThankYou points when you book air travel through the portal.
Usually I’m hesitant to book through a credit card travel portal, since there’s often an opportunity cost to doing so. That being said, this is an excellent return on that spending, and I’m sure some people will find that to be worthwhile.
3-6x ThankYou points on dining & restaurants
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers bonus points on dining, and this is structured interestingly. First, the card offers 6x ThankYou points at restaurants for Citi Nights purchases. The way this works, you earn 6x ThankYou points on your dining spending on Fridays and Saturdays between 6PM and 6AM ET, regardless of where in the world you are. That’s an unbeatable return on dining spending, though of course only within a limited timeframe.
During all other times (so for 144 hours per week), the card offers 3x ThankYou points at restaurants.
The restaurants and dining category generally includes cafes, bars, lounges, fast food restaurants, takeout, and delivery. You generally won’t earn bonus points for purchases made at bakeries, caterers, and restaurants in other establishments (like hotels, department stores, grocery stores, discount stores, convenience stores, and warehouse clubs).
1.5x ThankYou points on everyday spending
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers 1.5x ThankYou points on everyday spending, with no cap. That’s a solid return on spending, though as I’ll cover below, there could be a better play here. You could also pick up the no annual fee Citi Double Cash® Card (review) as a complement, and then earn up to 2x ThankYou points on everyday spending, after paying your bill.
Citi Strata Elite Card points redemption options
How can you redeem the Citi ThankYou points earned on the Citi Strata Elite Card? You have a couple of options, with one being much better than the other, in my opinion.
The most straightforward (but less lucrative) way to redeem your points is essentially as cash toward purchases. Your points are worth 0.75 cents each cash back, or up to 1.0 cents each toward travel purchases, gift cards, etc. Personally, I don’t think that’s the way to maximize the points, though.
What I find much more interesting is the ability to transfer points to one of the Citi ThankYou airline or hotel partners. This can be done at the following rates:
Note that having this card also allows you to pool your points on less premium cards, such as the Citi Strata℠ Card (review) or Citi Double Cash® Card (review), and maximize the value on those.
Citi Strata Elite Card lounge access benefits
As is the case with many premium credit cards, the Citi Strata Elite Card offers some lounge access perks. This includes both a Priority Pass™ Select membership, plus limited Admirals Club access.
Priority Pass™ Select membership
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers a Priority Pass™ Select membership, which gets you access to the world’s largest collection of independent lounges. Best of all, this membership allows you to take two guests with you at no additional cost.
Priority Pass has 1,300+ airport lounges around the world, so access to these lounges will prove useful to just about any traveler. This benefit applies both for the primary cardmember and for authorized users.
American Admirals Club lounge passes
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers American Admirals Club lounge access passes. Every calendar year, the primary cardmember receives four Admirals Club lounge passes:
- These passes are issued digitally, and each pass is valid for 24 hours across multiple lounges
- One pass is required for each person 18+, but those under 18 can be brought in as guests, without requiring additional passes
- Passes can only be redeemed for adults accompanying the primary cardmember, so they can’t just be gifted to others
- You must be traveling same day on American or a oneworld partner, with a departing or arriving boarding pass
This could come in handy for someone who occasionally flies American, who doesn’t need a full Admirals Club membership, but still values lounge access in some form.
Citi Strata Elite Card credits & perks
As is the case with many premium cards nowadays, the Citi Strata Elite Card has a steep annual fee, but then offers quite a few credits and benefits that can help offset those. The card offers many hundreds of dollars of credits each year, though admittedly not everyone will be able to maximize all of them. Let’s go over the details of each of these.
Up to $300 annual hotel credit
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers up to a $300 annual hotel credit. The way this works, each calendar year, you can receive $300 off a hotel stay of two or more nights that’s booked through Citi Travel.
You need to book a pre-paid stay, and must charge the cost to an eligible Citi card, and then the $300 credit will be applied at the time of booking. If your reservation is less than $300, the remaining amount of the annual hotel benefit will be available for your next qualifying purchase in that same calendar year.
While I don’t love booking through a credit card travel portal, this could be pretty easy to maximize. For example, if you booked a two night stay at the rate of $150 per night, you’d pretty nicely recoup value there.
Up to $200 annual “Splurge Credit”
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers up to a $200 annual “Splurge Credit,” as it’s described. The way this works, each calendar year, you can receive up to $200 in credits for purchases with select businesses.
This is valid with 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy, Future Personal Training, and Live Nation. You need to register with merchants to do this, and you can register for up to two merchants at a time, at this link.
There are exclusions with each merchant, but for the most part, they’re pretty straightforward. I imagine for most OMAAT readers, American will be the most interesting partner here, and tickets qualify for this credit. So booking a single $200 flight ticket would get you full value from this. For most prospective cardmembers, that should basically be good as cash.
Up to $200 annual Blacklane credit
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers up to a $200 annual Blacklane credit. This is a semi-annual credit, so you receive up to a $100 credit in January through June, and up to a $100 credit in July through December.
Blacklane is essentially a global premium chauffeur service, that allows you to book rides in advance. Blacklane isn’t cheap, but that’s because it’s a “real” pre-booked chauffeur service, rather than an on-demand rideshare service (at least in most cities).
I’m sure some people will have no issues maximizing this, while others likely won’t get much value from it, given the high pricing. Based on my own research, Blacklane is much more reasonably priced in some cities than others, and there’s also a more affordable on-demand service in cities like Dubai and Miami, where this could come in handy.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
The Citi Strata Elite Card offers a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit once every four years. Just charge the membership fee to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is being paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card.
Is the Citi Strata Elite Card worth it?
The Citi Strata Elite Card isn’t some earth shattering card, and I think the value proposition is pretty sustainable, which is probably good (since cards that seem too good to be true typically don’t last long before we see major changes). So, is the card worth it? I have a few thoughts…
First of all, I think there’s a strong argument to be made for applying for the card and giving it a try, given the welcome bonus being offered, and strong first year value. The fact that many of the perks are tied to the calendar year rather than the cardmember year makes the first year value particularly good.
Hopefully you find the card perks to be worthwhile, but if you don’t, you should be able to product change it to a lower or no annual fee card, which gives you lots of flexibility.
Personally, I think it’s not too hard to make the math on this card work. Yes, there’s the $595 annual fee, but:
- The $200 Splurge Credit should basically be worth close to face value, as you can just use that to book a $200 American flight
- I actually think the $300 hotel credit is pretty easy for most people to maximize — just book a two night stay through Citi Travel for $300, and you get $300 back, so that’s pretty straightforward
- The American Admirals Club passes will prove useful for someone who flies American once in a while, but doesn’t necessarily value outright buying a membership
- If you don’t otherwise have a Priority Pass™ Select membership, this is a good pathway for getting that
I think the bigger reason to consider this card is the overall renewed value in the Citi ThankYou ecosystem, both thanks to the improved card portfolio, plus due to American AAdvantage now being a Citi ThankYou transfer partner.
There’s a lot of value to complementing this card with one of the no annual fee cards that can help you maximize value. First there’s the Citi Double Cash® Card (review), which earns 1x ThankYou points when you make a purchase, and 1x ThankYou points when you pay for a purchase. Earning 2x ThankYou points for your non-bonused spending categories is awesome.
Then there’s the Citi Strata℠ Card (review), which offers incremental value like 3x ThankYou points at supermarkets, on select transit, on gas and EV charging stations, and on self-select categories of your choice.
So the ability to create a portfolio of cards here really is quite tempting.
Bottom line
The Citi Strata Elite Card is Citi’s new premium credit card, in an increasingly competitive space. The card has a $595 annual fee, but offers value for that. It offers anywhere from 1.5-12x points per dollar spent, lounge access (including a Priority Pass™ Select membership and Admirals Club passes), and provides up to $820 in annual credits, or potentially even more.
I think there’s a strong case to be made for applying for this card and giving it a shot, at a minimum. I also think there’s merit to the overall value of the Citi ThankYou points ecosystem, and potentially complementing this card with either the Citi Double Cash® Card (review) or Citi Strata℠ Card (review), to maximize your rewards. If you’re looking to maximize the AAdvantage miles you earn, this is now the card ecosystem to pay attention to.
If you want to learn more about the Citi Strata Elite Card or want to apply, follow this link.
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