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Citi has revamped the cards in its ThankYou® Rewards program, introducing the new Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees), which serves as the centerpiece for our redesigned ThankYou Rewards trifecta.
- For a limited time, earn 100,000 bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com and 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com
- Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time
- Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
- Up to $300 Annual Hotel Benefit: Each calendar year, enjoy up to $300 off a hotel stay of two nights or more when booked through cititravel.com.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 12X – Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time.
- 1.5X – Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases.
The card currently features a massive limited-time offer worth 100,000 ThankYou Points after meeting the spending requirement, a bonus large enough to unlock thousands of dollars in travel through Citi’s airline and hotel transfer partners.
The Citi Strata Elite delivers premium perks without premium pricing. With a $595 annual fee, it undercuts rival flagship cards from rivals Chase and American Express, yet still includes airport lounge access, hundreds of dollars in annual credits, and up to 12X earning rates on select travel booked through CitiTravel.com.
Rounding out your winning Citi trifecta involves grabbing AwardWallet's favorite everyday spending card, the Citi Double Cash® Card (Rates & Fees), with the option of adding the new Citi Strata℠ Card (Rates & Fees) to lock in additional earning categories, without adding any annual fees.
Here's how to put together this winning strategy.
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Start with the Citi Strata Elite 100K offer
The limited-time 100,000-point offer on the Citi Strata Elite makes it a no-brainer as the starting point for the revised trifecta. Any time a flexible rewards card gives you the opportunity to bank a six-figure bonus, it's worth taking a look at.
In addition to the valuable bonus, the Citi Strata Elite delivers excellent earning rates, some tangible perks, and doesn't charge the stratospheric annual fees now charged by rival premium cards. You don't need to worry about maximizing complicated monthly credits either, since the flagship benefits are relatively easy to use.
Feature benefits include:
- 12× on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on CitiTravel.com
- 6× on air travel booked on CitiTravel.com
- 6× dining on Citi Nights (Fri–Sat, 6 p.m.–6 a.m. ET); 3× dining other times
- Up to $300 Annual hotel benefit
- Up to $200 Annual Splurge Credit℠
- Up to $200 Annual Blacklane® Credit
- Four Admirals Club passes each calendar year
- Up to $120 Global Entry® or TSA PreCheck® Credit
- Priority Pass™ lounge access
- Full transfer access to all Citi ThankYou partners, including American Airlines
The Citi Strata Elite is the engine that turns everyday spend from your other Citi cards into premium award travel.
- For a limited time, earn 100,000 bonus Points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com and 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com
- Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time
- Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
- Up to $300 Annual Hotel Benefit: Each calendar year, enjoy up to $300 off a hotel stay of two nights or more when booked through cititravel.com.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees
- 12X – Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time.
- 1.5X – Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases.
Earn 2X Points on Every Purchase With the Citi Double Cash
We consider the Citi Double Cash® Card (Rates & Fees) the best rewards card from any issuer for non-bonus spending.
The card is marketed as a cash-back card earning 2% cash back on every purchase: 1% when you buy plus 1% as you pay. However, rewards are issued as ThankYou Points that can be redeemed for cash back or transferred to a few travel partners. You'll also earn 5% rewards on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel® portal — although you'll want to use your Citi Strata Elite for these purchases as part of this Citi trifecta.
If you're looking to pay down debt or finance a larger purchase, this card also comes with one of the best available introductory APR offers on balance transfers.
- Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
- Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.
Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked with Citi Travel. - Balance Transfer Only Offer: 0% intro APR on Balance Transfers for 18 months. After that, the variable APR will be 17.74% - 27.74%, based on your creditworthiness.
- Balance Transfers do not earn cash back. Intro APR does not apply to purchases.
- If you transfer a balance, interest will be charged on your purchases unless you pay your entire balance (including balance transfers) by the due date each month.
- There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5).
- Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.
Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked with Citi Travel.
Add the Citi Strata Card for 3X categories and no annual fee
The icing on the ThankYou Rewards cake is the Citi Strata℠ Card (Rates & Fees), which earns up to 5X points on spending, and doesn't charge an annual fee.
This card's 5X eligible categories cross over with the Citi Strata Elite, so you're better off using that card for these purchases. However, it does open up valuable 3x categories like supermarket spending, at gas and EV charging stations, on select transit, include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit services, and a unique category of your choice (Fitness Clubs, Select Streaming Services, Live Entertainment, Cosmetic Stores/Barber Shops/Hair Salons, or Pet Supply Stores).
On top of that, new cardholders will earn 30,000 bonus points points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- For a limited time, earn 30,000 bonus Points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
- 0% Intro APR on balance transfers and purchases for 15 months; after that, the variable APR will be 18.74% - 28.74%, based on your creditworthiness. There is an intro balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer (minimum $5) completed within the first 4 months of account opening. After that, your fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5).
- Earn 3 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent in an eligible Self-Select Category of your choice (Fitness Clubs, Select Streaming Services, Live Entertainment, Cosmetic Stores/Barber Shops/Hair Salons, or Pet Supply Stores). Choose your eligible Self-Select Category on Citi Online or by calling customer service. The default Self-Select Category is Select Streaming Services.
- Earn 5 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals and Attractions booked on Citi Travel® via cititravel.com; earn 3 ThankYou Points for each $1 spent at Supermarkets, on Select Transit purchases, and at Gas & EV Charging Stations.
- Earn 2 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent at Restaurants; earn 1 ThankYou® Point for each $1 spent on All Other Purchases.
- No Annual Fee
- 5X – Earn 5 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals and Attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ via cititravel.com
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent in an eligible Self-Select Category of your choice (Fitness Clubs, Select Streaming Services, Live Entertainment, Cosmetic Stores/Barber Shops/Hair Salons, or Pet Supply Stores). Choose your eligible Self-Select Category on Citi Online or by calling customer service. The default Self-Select Category is Select Streaming Services.
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Supermarkets
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on Select Transit purchases
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Gas and EV Charging Stations
- 2X – Earn 2 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Restaurants
- 1X – Earn 1 ThankYou® Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
Leverage the Citi ThankYou Card Trifecta for Top Returns on Spending
With a wallet full of high-earning ThankYou Rewards cards, you're ready to start stacking points for your next adventure. Let's dive into a quick illustration of how the Citi Trifecta works in practice.
Let's say you spend an average of $450 per month at supermarkets, $300 at restaurants, $150 at gas stations, $250 each on air travel and hotels (averaged over the year), and $850 on other purchases you can charge to a credit card. (For reference, that's a total of $2,250 in card spending per month.)
This is how many ThankYou Points you could earn if maximized:
| Category | Monthly Spend | Card | Earn Rate | Monthly Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supermarkets | $450 | Citi Strata Card | 3x | 1,350 |
| Restaurants | $300 | Citi Strata Elite | 3× (weekday) | 900 |
| Gas | $150 | Citi Strata Card | 3x | 450 |
| Air Travel (booked on CitiTravel.com) | $250 | Citi Strata Elite | 6x | 1,500 |
| Hotels (booked on CitiTravel.com) | $250 | Citi Strata Elite | 12x | 3,000 |
| Other purchases | $850 | Citi Double Cash | 2x | 1,700 |
| Total | $2,250 | 8,900 points per month |
That's almost 9,000 points per month in earnings from $2,250 in spending — just shy of 4x ThankYou Points per dollar spent. This tops up your AwardWallet account with around 105,000 points per year, without accounting for the points from signup bonuses.
- 12X – Earn 12 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6X – Earn 6 Points per $1 spent at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services on CitiNights℠ purchases, every Friday and Saturday from 6 PM to 6 AM ET. Earn 3 Points per $1 spent any other time.
- 1.5X – Earn 1.5 Points per $1 spent on All Other Purchases.
- Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time.
Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked with Citi Travel.
- 5X – Earn 5 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals and Attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ via cititravel.com
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points for each $1 spent in an eligible Self-Select Category of your choice (Fitness Clubs, Select Streaming Services, Live Entertainment, Cosmetic Stores/Barber Shops/Hair Salons, or Pet Supply Stores). Choose your eligible Self-Select Category on Citi Online or by calling customer service. The default Self-Select Category is Select Streaming Services.
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Supermarkets
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent on Select Transit purchases
- 3X – Earn 3 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Gas and EV Charging Stations
- 2X – Earn 2 ThankYou® Points per $1 spent at Restaurants
- 1X – Earn 1 ThankYou® Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
Who's Eligible for Citi Cards?
These cards all share a base set of application restrictions that apply to all Citi cards:
- Maximum of one (1) personal card per eight days
- No more than two (2) total cards per 65 days
- Maximum one (1) business card per 95 days
In addition to the overall issuer rules, ThankYou Rewards-earning cards also feature one extra restriction: You can't get a bonus on a particular card if you've earned a new account bonus on that same card within the past 48 months. For example, the Citi Strata Elite notes:
Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Strata Elite℠ Card account in the past 48 months or if you converted another Citi credit card account on which you earned a new account bonus in the last 48 months into a Citi Strata Elite.
However, this 48-month rule doesn't restrict you from putting together a trifecta of the Citi Strata Elite, Citi Double Cash, and Citi Strata Card. You'll just need to wait a couple of months while you're approved for all three cards.
Related: Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions
Final Thoughts
The Citi ThankYou Rewards trifecta is an unmatched way to earn substantial rewards on your day-to-day purchases. The best part is that you don't need to pay multiple annual fees to build out this rewards strategy, which makes it much more accessible. Once you've collected your welcome bonus on each card, you'll be able to take advantage of some excellent transfer partners and learn about the best ways to use ThankYou Points.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Double Cash® Card (Rates & Fees), and Citi Strata℠ Card (Rates & Fees)
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