Tag Archives: Citi Bank

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I Still Prefer the US Bank Altitude Reserve vs. New-ish Citi Strata Premier for Earning, Redeeming & Travel Protection

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Yesterday, I wrote my Deep Dive into Citi Strata Premier Credit Card Earning Categories & Travel Protections (Rental Car, Trip Interruptions & Lost Luggage). I wrote about the various travel-related earning categories and covered the 4 main travel protections on the new-ish Citi Strata Premier Credit Card.  In this post, I will compare those earning categories and travel protections with the US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card.  As a reminder, the Citi Strata Premier (CSP) earns 10x on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel Portal and 3x on air travel, travel agencies, hotels, gas stations and EV charging stations.

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Deep Dive into Citi Strata Premier Credit Card Earning Categories & Travel Protections (Rental Car, Trip Interruptions & Lost Luggage)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Much has already been written about the new-ish Citi Strata Premier Credit Card, but I wanted to do a deep dive into the earning categories and travel protections on this credit card, mostly so I could compare this credit card to the US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card.

This post has many links to the various pages on the Citi card benefits website, but you will need to sign into your Citi account first before clicking any of the links below.  Let’s get started by covering the various travel-related earning categories on the Citi Strata Premier.

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Earn 4x Bonus Citi ThankYou Points at Restaurants with Citi Double Cash Credit Card (Targeted Email Offer)

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.

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My Dilemma: Buy 97K Choice Hotels Points from Daily Getaways for $505 or Transfer 49K Citi ThankYou Points to Choice?

Updated 2:30pm PT on 5/10/24: I was able to buy a 42K Choice Hotels Point package from Daily Getaways on April 29.  The 42K points finally posted to my Choice Hotels account today (May 10).  I transferred 9K Citi ThankYou Points into 18K Choice Hotels Points, and then I booked my 3 night reservation in Stockholm (3 x 20K = 60K points).


Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Laura and I are planning our Summer vacation to a few Scandinavian / Nordic countries and I have identified 2 Ascend Hotel Collection properties (part of Choice Hotels) that are bookable for 20,000 Choice Hotels Points per night.  We would spend 5 nights in these properties, so 5 x 20,000 points = 100,000 points.  I currently have 3,000 points in my Choice account, so I need 97,000 more points.  Currently, there are 3 possible options, and I am having a hard time figuring out which path to take, so this is where I need your help.  Please read through this post and let me know what you would do if you were in my situation.

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My 2 Favorite Restaurant & Food Apps for New York City: InKind & Too Good To Go

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  2 weeks ago, I was in New York City with Laura for her Spring Break.  We had a great time seeing musicals, walking around Manhattan, and eating out at fancy restaurants.  During our time in NYC, we used 2 apps for restaurants and food that I wanted to share: InKind and Too Good To Go.  If you have never heard of InKind before, it is an app that you can use to pay at participating restaurants.  Several times throughout the year, InKind runs various promotions with Chase Offers, Citi Merchant Offers, and AMEX Offers that you can use to buy discounted InKind credits.  If you are new to InKind, you can use my referral link which will give you a $25 reward bonus after you spend $50 or more with InKind.

I’ve written about InKind many times, but I don’t think there is a city in the country with more InKind restaurants than New York City.  Just look at this map of participating InKind restaurants!  I’m not sure the total number, but I would guess somewhere in the 150-250 restaurant range, with multiple options in every area of the city.

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