Tag Archives: Citi ThankYou Points

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My 2 Retention Offers on Citi Strata Premier Credit Card

Good morning everyone.  A few days ago, the $95 annual fee posted to my Citi Strata Premier Credit Card.  I never use this credit card for purchases (I have other Citi and non Citi credit cards that have better bonus categories and bonus multiples), but I keep this credit card for the ability to transfer my Citi ThankYou Points (TYPs) out to transfer partners.  As part of my routine, whenever a credit card annual fee posts to any of my accounts, I call the credit card company and ask for a retention offer (read my recent post Midyear Review: My Credit Card Retention Offer Thought Process & Results).

Since I haven’t put any purchases on this credit card in several months, I was doubtful that I would receive any retention offers, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I called.  During the call, I told the rep that I was considering closing the account due to the $95 annual fee.  The rep transferred me to the retention offer department.  Surprisingly, the retention offer rep had 2 decent offers available:

1: Receive a $95 statement credit + 1,000 TYPs after spending $1,000 on the credit card each month for 3 consecutive months

2: Receive 10,000 TYPs after spending $3,000 on the credit card in the next 6 months

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Midyear Review: My 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I recently watched a Frequent Miler On The Air Podcast episode on YouTube where Greg and Nick reviewed their 2024 predictions, so I figured it would be fun to review My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  The original predictions are in black, correct predictions are in green, and incorrect predictions are in red.  Without further ado, here are my predictions for 2024:

My 2024 Airline Predictions

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will introduce a “family pooling” benefit for miles or travel credit. – Nope, but Southwest Airlines Wanna Get Away Plus fares do offer Transferable Flight Credit that can be used for other Rapid Rewards members.
  • American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled). – Nope, not yet, but I haven’t booked any AA Web Special awards recently.
  • British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family. – Nope, not yet, Qatar and Finnair were the most recent additions.
  • Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders. – Nope, not yet, I haven’t booked many Delta awards this year.
  • United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation. – Nope, not yet, I confirmed this a few days ago when I purchased a United Airlines flight.

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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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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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