Good morning everyone, I hope your week is going well. 3 weeks ago, my wife and I decided to book a last minute trip to Europe this summer with stops in Prague (PRG), Copenhagen (CPH), and Amsterdam (AMS). When I was researching hotels in Prague, I heard many good things about Old Town Prague and wanted to stay there. There were several chain and independent hotels to choose from, so I checked TripAdvisor to see which hotels were highly rated. That is how I stumbled onto the Century Old Town Prague – MGallery Hotel Collection. It has great reviews, is in a great location, comes with free breakfast and wifi, and the price was right.
I also remembered to use the $100 hotel credit on my Citi Premier Credit Card. I’ve had a Citi Premier for several years, but never found a good use for the $100 hotel credit because you need to book through Citi’s online travel agency and you do not get any elite status or perks, but that doesn’t matter if you book an independent hotel. Here is how I booked my hotel in Prague using the $100 hotel credit and Citi ThankYou Points. To get started, I signed into my Citi ThankYou Points account, clicked on the Travel tab and clicked on Book a Hotel Room.
At the top of the page, there is a banner that says you can earn 10x Citi ThankYou Points for hotels and car rentals booked through Citi Travel through June 30, 2024. More details below.
If you have several Citi ThankYou Point-earning credit cards linked to the same Citi ThankYou account, select the credit card you want to use. I selected my Citi Premier since I wanted to use the $100 hotel credit, then I clicked the Search for Travel button.
Here are the terms and conditions for the 10x Citi ThankYou Point promo that is running through June 30, 2024:
Earn faster, go farther
10X the fun
Earn a total of 10 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel℠ portal on ThankYou.com or by calling 1-800-Thankyou (TTY: 711) and saying “Travel”. Offer is valid through 11:59 PM 6/30/2024.
You earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on the Citi Travel℠ portal bookings. You will earn an additional 7 bonus ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on hotel, car rental and attractions excluding air travel when booked through the Citi Travel℠ portal or by calling 1-800-Thankyou (TTY: 711) through 11:59 PM 6/30/2024. The booking must post to your account during the promotional period to qualify.
This offer may overlap with other special offers in which you are currently enrolled. You must use your Citi Premier registered here to earn the bonus points. For bookings made with a combination of points and your Citi Premier, only the portion paid with your card will earn the additional points. Bonus points will take up to 3 billing cycles to post to your account. To qualify for this offer, this account must be open and current. Bonus points will not be earned on canceled bookings. If your account is closed for any reason, including if you convert to another card product, you will no longer be eligible for this offer. Citi Travel℠ is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Group together with Booking.com.
At the bottom of the search page, there is a link to learn more about the $100 hotel credit.
Here are the terms and conditions for the $100 hotel credit:
$100 Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
Once per calendar year, enjoy $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees, when booked through thankyou.com or 1-800-THANKYOU (powered by Rocket Travel. Citi Travel℠ is powered by Rocket Travel Inc., part of the Booking Holdings Group together with Booking.com.) and subject to the additional requirements stated below. TTY: Use 711 or Other Relay Service. To receive the $100 annual hotel savings, you must pre-pay for your complete stay with your Citi Premier Card, ThankYou Points, or a combination thereof. If you choose to use the benefit, the $100 annual hotel savings will be applied at the time of booking.
If you cancel a booking for which you used the $100 hotel savings, the benefit will remain available for use in the same calendar year. All reservations must be changed or canceled through thankyou.com or by calling 1-800-THANKYOU. TTY: Use 711 or Other Relay Service.
Eligibility Requirements
1. Reservations must be made by the primary cardmember. Reservations can be made in the primary cardmember’s or authorized users’ names.
2. Packaged rates such as air and hotel, or hotel and car rental do not qualify for this benefit.
3. Reservations made through any party or channel other than thankyou.com or 1-800-THANKYOU are not eligible for the $100 annual hotel savings.
4. The $100 annual hotel savings benefit cannot be combined in the same transaction with the Citi Prestige® Card Complimentary 4th Night Hotel Stay if you have both the Citi Premier and Citi Prestige cards. This benefit also cannot be combined with any other promotions or discounts on thankyou.com.
Back at the search page, I typed in the name of the hotel, selected my dates, selected 2 adults, and clicked the Search button.
Since I was searching for a specific hotel, it showed up at the top of the results.
This hotel has great reviews and the price seemed perfect.
This hotel has 11 different room types and 28 room offers, depending on if you select free breakfast, free cancellation, bed type, etc.
Since I was staying for 3 nights, I wanted to find a room rate that would add up to just over $500, before taxes and fees, to use the $100 hotel credit. I looked through the 28 possible options and found an option for $167 / night and $175 / night.
Selecting the $167 / night option, the total before taxes and fees came to $499.74, so it wasn’t eligible for the $100 hotel credit.
Selecting the $175 / night option, the total before taxes and fees came to $523.77 and was eligible for the $100 hotel credit. The total price with the $100 hotel credit came to $489.77.
If you want to earn 10x Citi ThankYou Points on the hotel booking, you can pay the remaining amount with your Citi Premier, all you need to do is enter the credit card’s CVV.
However, since I have a lot of Citi ThankYou Points with no immediate plans to use them elsewhere, I decided to use 47,615 Citi ThankYou Points to bring the hotel cost down to $0. This hotel has a $13.62 charge at check-in that I couldn’t pay with points. To complete the booking, I still needed to enter my credit card’s CVV, even though there was nothing to pay.
My booking was now complete. I used my $100 hotel credit and 47,615 Citi ThankYou Points for my 3 night stay in Prague. Since I have the Citi Rewards+ Credit Card, I will get a 10% rebate on the points redeemed (4,762 points).
I then went to the My Bookings page and clicked on Hotels to view my hotel reservation. Everything looks good and I am excited for my upcoming hotel stay in Prague.
If you have any questions about the booking process or about the Citi ThankYou Points travel portal, please leave a comment below. Have a great day everyone!
How did the price compare with other websites? You’re far too savvy to not have compared.
Also, will you earn 10X on the entire booking?
The base price was the same as far as I remember, I didn’t check all 28 rates, I was just happy to use my $100 hotel credit. Since I paid the balance with TYPs, I don’t think I will earn any TYPs since I didn’t have a charge on my Citi Premier.
Be extra careful when using this benefit. I made a reservation and took advantage of it but days later had to cancel. My benefit is gone and Citi has been unable to fix this, after more than one month and multiple calls.
About the hotel rates: Citi is using booking.com so that means a very broad selection and competitive pricing.
Hi Antonia, I’m really sorry that Citi is not being helpful with this benefit. According to the terms:
If you cancel a booking for which you used the $100 hotel savings, the benefit will remain available for use in the same calendar year. All reservations must be changed or canceled through thankyou.com or by calling 1-800-THANKYOU.
Did you cancel the reservation through the Citi ThankYou Points travel portal?
I considered using the Citi portal for hotel(s) this past month on a 2 week trip, and even for the 4th nite free benefit … alas everything comes up as non-cancellable, non-refundable. For all the time and money I’ve poured into Citi for their programs and TY points, it was a rude awakening. Woo-hoo, look at all the great deals … now look at all the fine print.
There are some hotels that have free cancelation rates through the TYP portal, but the default cheapest option is usually noncancellable.
Wouldn’t it be better to charge the hotel to your premier card for the 10x and then cash out TY points to cash at 1 cpp?
Hi Matthew, you might be right. That seems like it would have been a better deal than redeeming points directly.
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Hey did you come across Luxury Collection and Hotel Collection? Is this $100 credit applicable to all hotel types?
I did not see any of those properties in the city I was looking at but if it shows up in the TYP hotel portal, it should be eligible for the $100 off $500 discount.