Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. Earlier today, I received an email from Citi regarding my Citi Double Cash Credit Card. The subject line sounded generic: “Grant, Activate your offer today and start earning now” and didn’t look very enticing until I read further down the email. After activating the offer, I can “Earn an additional 4 points per $1 spent, up to 2,500 ThankYou® Points, through 07/31/2024” when I “Spend on eligible purchases at restaurants.”
4x Bonus Citi ThankYou Points on top of the 2x the Citi Double Cash already earns = 6x at restaurants on the first $625 spent. That is better than the 4x on the American Express Gold Card, and a little better than 5x on the Citi Custom Cash Credit Card and the old Citi Prestige Credit Card, but not as great as the 7x on the Chase Freedom Flex Credit Card. If you have a Citi Double Cash, check you email for this targeted email offer from Citi.
After clicking on the above Activate in One Click button, here is the confirmation message that says you successfully activated the offer.
Citi also sent out another targeted email about my Citi Custom Cash with the long subject line “Special offer: Earn additional ThankYou Points on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through the Citi Travel portal.” By using the Citi Travel Portal to book hotels, car rentals, and attractions with your Citi Custom Cash, you can earn an extra 4x Citi ThankYou Points. This email is kind of confusing to read, so I clicked the Book Travel button to learn more.
Unfortunately (in typical Citi ways), the landing page is equally confusing. Even with the extra 4x Citi ThankYou Points on the Citi Custom Cash, I would come out ahead if I used my Citi Premier for 10x on travel booked through the Citi Travel Portal. There are also 4 different expiration dates, depending on which Citi credit card you use. Either way, I am not a fan of booking paid travel through the Citi Travel Portal because:
- You will only get 1 cent per point (CPP) value from your Citi ThankYou Points
- You have to deal with Citi’s online travel agency (OTA) to cancel or make any changes to your reservations
- You will not earn hotel points or elite nights if you stay at a chain hotel
- You can often earn 10%-15% cash back booking chain hotels through cash back portals
Long story short, activate the restaurant offer on the Citi Double Cash and don’t book paid travel through the Citi Travel Portal. The one exception would be if you are using the $100 Hotel Credit with your Citi Premier, since you will earn 10x on the hotel reservation. If you have questions about either offer, please let me know. If you received any other recent offers from Citi, please share the details in the comments section too. Have a great day everyone!