Citi Strata Premier Card Review: A Mid-Range Travel Card That Covers All the Bases

Citi Strata Premier Card Benefits

Generous Rewards

I’ve had the Citi Strata Premier Card (previously the Citi Premier card) for a while now, and one of my favorite aspects of this card is its bonus categories. It’s my go-to credit card for earning rewards on gas purchases. If you have an EV, you’ll likely appreciate the bonus points on EV charging stations.

Here’s the full breakdown of what you can earn:

• 10x points on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
• 3x points on air travel and other hotel purchases, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging stations
• 1 point per dollar on all other purchases

Citi spells out which specific travel purchases qualify for bonus rewards with the Strata Premier Card, but if you’re ever in doubt, here’s a guide to what’s considered travel by the different travel rewards card issuers.

Welcome Bonus

New cardholders can earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. Those points can be used to book travel directly through CitiTravel.com (worth $600 this way), transferred to travel partners or even redeemed for cash back or gift cards.

This is a solid welcome offer, especially if you find a way to redeem your points through one of Citi’s transfer partners, as that will generally get you the most value per point.

$100 Annual Hotel Benefit

Once per calendar year, you can get $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when you book through CitiTravel.com. The benefit applies instantly at the time of booking, and it’s an easy way to save $100 if you already have travel plans.

I used this benefit to save $100 on a hotel during a winter trip to Tokyo, and ended up finding a great, central option in Ginza that I wouldn’t have known about if I didn’t go through the Citi Travel portal.

Travel Protections

Like all the best travel credit cards, the Strata Premier Card offers comprehensive travel coverage to protect aspects of your trip when you book with your card. This includes:

• Rental car insurance
• Common carrier trip cancellation and trip interruption coverage
• Trip delay insurance
• Lost or damaged luggage coverage

A credit card with travel insurance can reimburse you if things don’t go as planned, but you’ll have to book your travel with the card for these benefits to kick in.

Citi Entertainment

As a Citi cardholder, you get access to presale tickets and exclusive events through the Citi Entertainment platform. This could come in handy if you’re hoping to score tickets to a specific concert that you anticipate selling out quickly.

Citi Strata Premier Card Drawbacks

Transfer Partner Program Leaves a Bit To Be Desired

If you’re looking to maximize credit card rewards, you’ll almost always want to transfer your points to a credit card program’s selection of airline and hotel travel partners. When you transfer to a partner rather than book through a credit card program’s portal, you have much more potential to get incredible value — you’re not locked into getting a certain value per point, and some transfer partners represent especially good opportunities to maximize rewards.

The Citi ThankYou Rewards program is no exception, but its selection of transfer partners isn’t necessarily as beginner-friendly as the options with American Express Membership Rewards® and Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

Here’s the full list of Citi transfer partners:

• Accor Hotels Live Limitless
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Aeromexico Rewards
• Avianca LifeMiles
• Cathay Pacific
• Choice Privileges
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Air
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club
• Preferred Hotels & Resorts I Prefer Hotel Rewards
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and Virgin Red
• Wyndham Rewards

While there are quite a few partners, most of them are foreign airlines and smaller hotel chains. If you travel internationally, there’s definitely an opportunity to find some value with these partners. For instance, I recently transferred points to Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program to book business-class flights back from Asia, and the experience was far superior to flying business to Asia on a domestic airline, from the comfort of the seat to the service to the in-flight food and beverage.

JetBlue is a good option to have for domestic travel, and there are lots of Wyndham and Choice Privileges hotels in the U.S. as well. So it’s not like you’re without options, but you should be prepared to devote a bit of time to exploring the rewards programs of Citi’s partners if you want to get maximum value out of your ThankYou points for travel.

No Airport Lounge Access

Compared to more premium travel cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and The Platinum Card® from American Express (an advertising partner), the Citi Strata Premier Card’s list of benefits looks a little thin. There’s no airport lounge access, which isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, but it’s become a common perk to expect among travel cards.

The tradeoff is that you get a much more reasonable $95 annual fee — many competing cards charge several times that amount per year in exchange for airport lounge access, statement credits and other perks you won’t find here.

Highest Bonus Categories Are for Citi Travel

Lately, one of my biggest complaints with travel rewards cards has been the increased emphasis put on spending with the credit card issuer itself. The Chase Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum are guilty of this: Both cards earn the most points on spending through the Chase Travel℠ and Amex Travel® portals, respectively.

The Strata Premier Card follows this trend, with the highest 10x earning category being reserved for hotel, car rental and attraction purchases made through Citi Travel. While this isn’t surprising, it’s frustrating for those of us who prefer to book directly with the hotel. The benefits of booking hotels directly include enjoying elite status perks (which you generally don’t get when you book through a third party like a credit card travel platform) and the ability to book an award with the hotel’s loyalty currency, which is almost always a better deal.

Who Is the Citi Strata Premier Best For?

The Citi Strata Premier Card is best for flexible travelers who want the ability to earn rewards quickly. It earns 3x points on several common spending categories, including restaurants, gas stations and supermarkets. It can be even more valuable if you have another Citi card, like the Citi Double Cash® Card (an advertising partner), which earns unlimited 2% cash back — 1% when you buy, 1% as you pay. I have this cash-back credit card, and I move my rewards to my Strata Premier Card account to unlock transfers to Citi’s full list of partners. Since I frequently use the Double Cash Card on purchases that don’t qualify for bonus rewards, I’ve been able to earn a nice stash of ThankYou points between the two cards.

If you book at least one $500+ hotel stay per year, the Strata Premier Card can put some easy money back in your pocket thanks to its $100 annual hotel benefit. You’ll have to book this through Citi Travel, but in my experience from Mexico City to Tokyo, the platform offers a good range of affordable, boutique properties with character.

To truly maximize rewards with the Strata Premier Card, you should be willing to learn a bit about the Citi ThankYou Rewards program’s transfer partners, since this is where you’ll find the most value for your points.

Is It the Right Card for You?

The Citi Strata Premier Card could be a good option if you:

• Book at least one $500+ paid hotel stay per year
• Frequently spend money at gas stations, restaurants, supermarkets and EV charging stations
• Are familiar with redeeming points with travel partners or are willing to learn
• Want travel protections like trip delay insurance

Alternatives to the Citi Strata Premier Card

If you’re considering the Citi Strata Premier Card, you should also take a look at other mid-range travel rewards cards. Here are two top alternatives:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Like the Strata Premier Card, this card has a $95 annual fee. It earns 5x points on Chase Travel and 2x points on all other travel, as well as 3x points on dining worldwide, on online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target, and wholesale clubs), and on select streaming services. The Sapphire Preferred Card comes with strong travel insurance and an annual credit of up to $50 toward hotels booked through Chase. Compared to Citi ThankYou Rewards, the Chase Ultimate Rewards program is slightly more beginner-friendly, with more U.S.-based airline travel partners.
• Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card: Another option with a $95 annual fee, the Autograph Journey Card earns 5x points with hotels, 4x points with airlines, 3x points on restaurants and other travel, and 1 point per dollar on everything else. So far, Wells Fargo has fewer transfer partners for redeeming points for travel compared to Citi and Chase, but it does offer a few, including Choice Privileges, Air France-KLM Flying Blue and British Airways Executive Club. The Autograph Journey Card also includes an annual $50 statement credit on a $50 minimum airline purchase, and it stands out for offering cell phone protection when you pay your wireless bill with the card.