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The first round of major changes to the Citi Prestige® Card take effect today. Back in October, Citi revealed plans to adjust bonus categories, add cell-phone protection, and change existing benefits like the $250 airfare credit and a 4th night free at hotels.
The updates are scheduled to roll out on three separate dates in 2019, and the overall impact is mixed. However, today’s changes are entirely positive.
New Changes on January 4, 2019
The following bonus categories are improving:
- Earn 5X points on airfare
- Earn 5X points on restaurants
- Earn 3X points on cruise lines
The card will also continue to earn 3X points on hotels. The only planned negative change for bonus categories is the reduction of entertainment purchases from 2X to 1X, but that won’t happen until September, 2019.
AwardWallet has a great tool to help you optimize your spending. You can review transactions for any connected credit card account and see if you’re getting the maximum number points with that merchant.
The other good news today is that the card’s $250 annual credit (which was previously limited to airfare) has expanded to cover all travel purchases. This means the Citi Prestige® Card credit should automatically apply to a much broader list of travel merchants, putting it on more even footing with the $300 travel credit offered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
Upcoming Benefit Changes
The next benefit to roll out will be the Cell Phone Protection Plan, starting May 1st, which will cover damage or theft of your mobile device when you pay your monthly bill with your card. Full details of the coverage haven’t been published yet, but the benefit is likely to be similar to other cards offering free cell phone insurance.
On September 1, 2019, we’ll see some of the negative changes kick in. The annual fee is increasing from $450 to $495 for existing cardholders on the first-anniversary date after September 1st. Those who paid their most recent annual fee in August 2018 or earlier should be able to avoid the fee increase until 2020.
Another significant change is new restrictions on the 4th-night-free benefit. Starting September 1st, Prestige cardholders will be restricted to two bookings per year. Even more problematic, only bookings made through Thankyou.com will be eligible—which means you won’t earn elite benefits for these bookings with many hotel chains.
The final benefit on the chopping block is the 25% bonus when using Citi ThankYou points to purchase airfare through the Citi Travel Portal. This was never a great value compared with transferring ThankYou points to airline partners, but it does eliminate a useful option when award availability is scarce.
Our Take
The nine-month delay between the positive changes kicking in today and the negative changes scheduled for September creates an interesting “golden age” for the Prestige Card. Current cardholders should consider putting it back in their purses and wallets to take advantage of the new spending categories.
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Great for invested with Citi points. Nice earning capabilities. Not sure I would be able recoup the annual fee
I am most interested in this card. I haven’t used much of anything else but Chase so it will be nice to experience a whole new world.
Thanks for the mention in the article regarding the card analysis tool on Award Wallet. It is a great way to see how current spending can be maximized. Love it!
There are some pretty big perks on this card.
I’ll definitely consider this card!
For those who do not want to pay an annual fee, uber visa card might be a good alternative with 4% cashback on dining and 3% cashback on airfare and hotel plus no foreign transaction fee.
Absolutely, the Uber Visa Card is a great choice when you’re paying for a meal and comfortably made it into our list of best cards for dining – https://awardwallet.com/blog/best-credit-card-for-dining-restaurants/
… interesting feedback from euromann
Take it with a grain of salt. There are plenty of folks in the points and miles community that have a great experience with Citi, including insurance claims.
Debating on applying for this card
Looks promising. Hopefully sign up bonus will be good.
This card already sounds so good, not sure I’d even need a welcome bonus (not that I’d complain if it was offered)
BEwARE – CITI Bank is a poor credit card division to get top service.
1. Insurance – 3 rd party vendor Chubb will not give you a FORMAL Proof of Insurance Letter which you need at some locations international for car rental. Chubb only sent me an excel spread sheet that a 4rd garden could do with no name or contact information. AVIS in Ireland laughed at teh document!
2. Concierge long delays when calling and 72 hours to book hotels or golf courses
3. Two billing cycles WAIt ti be credit for travel purchases
4. Poor support for emergency car service with many times nOBODy shows up
5. Stay away from CITI ——— go to CSR or AMEX PLAT!
euromannn, thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with Citi and in detail at that. Word of mouth certainly helps such decisions.
Don’t see this going in my wallet but it may have a place for others. Thanks for the info.
This is indeed a great boost for those of us who already have the card. Otherwise it got almost no use other than FNF. Sure wish they’d rethink elimination of that benefit!
Think about to apply one next.
I guess that the card issuers just assume that $50 to $100 annual fee increases are peanuts to the “big spender” card members.
Thanks for the information, wow that’s quite the bonuses! I will have to consider this and pass along the information.
I thought 4% on restaurants was good, but now 5%! So sweet.
Nice 5% back on eats is great. Too bad it’s closed to new customers for now.
Wish the old was available now.
Switching gears if you don’t mind….Can the points from a personal Chase Sapphire Reserve card be pooled with a Chase Ink Business Preferred card?
Yes, they can.
The first mainstream card I have seen to offer 3x on cruises!
The recent annual fee increases we are seeing on premium cards (Prestige, AMEX Platinum, etc.) is concerning to me.
Wow! This is great information to know. I love travel hacking and will definitely look into getting this card.
Rereading this…maybe I should diversify a little more and get some thank you points…..
Fee too high to make this worth it for us
Can’t wait for the application to go live
Too bad it is closed for new card members.,
Applications are set to open towards the end of this month from all reports.
This is really a fantastic offer! I hope it doesn’t mean the points are going to be devalued though.
How is the redemption side of things? The earnings are clear to compare to other cards. Is the cashback value valued at 1c each? And is the Thank You bonus of 25%, is that like the Chase travel portal where your points are worth 25% more? CSR is effectively 4.5% return in the portal and that would make this 5.25% so clearly still a better option. Does anyone here have this card that can testify to the redemption side of rewards as opposed to the earning side? Thanks in advance.
As covered in the post, until September you’ll still receive a 25% bonus through the ThankYou Rewards travel portal, after that it cuts back to 1¢ per point.
I will cancel this card this year after getting the annual benefits. Not a great card to keep anymore compared to CSR or amex plat
A great card to have.
how does the insurance compare to other cards like Amex platinum?
The insurance benefits on the Prestige beat the Platinum card on almost every front, for both travel insurance and purchase protections. They are a standout feature of the card.
I cancelled this card when I lost access to AA lounges. Will have to reconsider it again when it gets relaunched?
A great bonus offered, doesn’t get much better than x5.
What is the 2nd best card for people who love to fly and dine?
We peg the Sapphire Reserve at number 2, or possibly the Amex Gold Card if you’re collecting MR points.
I’ll definitely look into this card!
Thanks for the information.
I see how the extra points would be great but I don’t prefer their xfer partners. But then I’ve been burned by Citi before and always have to think about their cards, if they reopen to applicants.
THis is a major boon for those who already have this card.
Not sure worth it to get the card just for the promo, though
I still think im going to keep my airfare spending on my Amex Plat. Find it easier to get use of those points. For restaurants I’ll switch to prestige.
great card it is just that the thank you points are worthless to me.
The revised benefits do not justify the increased annual fee.
I think Citi Prestige could be worth it if we spend more more than 10k dollars on dining and airfares. Multiply that by 2 (5X on citibank minus 3X on CSR, giving us a difference of two miles per dollar) and we are talking about 20k dollars. Considering that we pay 150 dollars on CSR (after receiving 300 dollars back as travel credits) and 200 dollars on Citi Prestige (after receiving 250 dollars back as travel credits, assuming that we apply before this September), it would be 50 dollars vs 20k points.
Thus, I am giving Citi Prestige a serious thought.
The analysis will be greatly appreciated.
Completely agree. Prestige card rules at this moment. Until Citi messes it up. And Citi will. Citi always does.
Great news here!! Thanks for the update.
Chase Ink Business Preferred cell phone insurance also covers LOSS of cell phone not just theft or damage. I just had to file a claim.
Will the card be worth it after September?
Going to depend heavily on whether you use the 4th night free benefit in my opinion. If this is your only card with Priority Pass or if you spend a lot in on dining and airfare, it probably makes sense. We’ll definitely be publishing a more detailed analysis on keep or cancel as the AF increase gets closer.
Cell Phone Protection Plan! Amex has 5x thou……hmmmmm
The 5% on restaurants is huge – loving that change for sure!
That’s a great rebate!
Eagerly waiting for this credit card to be opened to new applicants!
5x even 10x earn is not as relevant when the travel partners are so lame! NO hotel partners and weak air partners. . . .Chase leaves Citi in the dust
NO hotel travel partners and verrrry marginal air partners. What is the point of 5x even 10x earn if redemptions are so completely lame?
Thanks for letting us know!
That sounds like a good reason to hold back on other applications and be ready and waiting for this one when it becomes available! Thank you for the heads up info!
The earning rate is clearly massive, however, it’s important to consider what one want to do with the points earned. In my view, Chase UR points still are the most useful in terms of available transfer partners, followed by AMEx MR, and then finally Citi TY points. Simply put: having more of a points currency which is less useful/valuable, isn’t really an advantageous position.
I agree, I find Chase UR much more valuable. The ability to transfer to United and Hyatt are huge benefits to earning UR over TY.
I was considering canceling this card until I heard the news about 5x on restaurants. This will be huge. Thanks for the reminder.
I think I’ll keep my CSR – seems like a better overall card for my spending situation.
Same here. And UR is a much better program than TY.
It’s cheaper too
CAR will still be my go-to to card. With 20k trip cancellation, medical benefits,road service and 50% bonus on cash travel redemptions In not going to pay $495/year for the “additional” benefits .
Always love any offers at five Times points.
Is this a CSR beater?
Does this come with Priority Pass? I currently have the CSR and my wife has the Aspire (I don’t think we’ll be keeping it long term but there’s a chance). We’d certainly have to drop one of these to pick up the Prestige and I’m not sure I could justify that.
Yep Priority Pass included, you can see the full list of cards and guest privileges here: https://awardwallet.com/blog/priority-pass-benefits-just-lounges/
Hmm tempting. I feel like there may be too many overlapping benefits to have this and the CSR though. I just applied for the Freedom Unlimited too so I’m in the process of setting up my Chase trifecta.
Wow x5 on dining…I’d assume this will also work for restaurants outside the US, which will be very nice for international trips.
The annual fee sure is creeping up.
Over CSR for insurance though…
5x points is always welcome. I still haven’t delved into TY points yet but they will be my next foray into flexible points when there is welcome bonus offered. The 4th night free cutbacks don’t bother me much but the demise of the 25% bonus by using TY points in the travel portal is a big loss from my point of view.
This interesting. Additional points in earning categories for an additional $45 in annual fee. This could be quite the good arbitrage situation for the person that can run up the points on this card. I hope the application window opens soon.
Thanks for the info. My understanding is that Citi issues multiple cards with bonuses more freely than other issuers. I’ll look out for any offers.
This card is going to be for sure be top of wallet for airfare and dining now….and good thing my renewal is before Sept, thus can see how much additional benefit 5x will be vs. devaluations (loss of unlimited FNF, loss of 25% when redeeming, $45 more in fee..etc.)
Amex Platinum also has 5x earning on airfares and similar (if not better) transfer partners, so I’d call it a wash on that front.
I would agree. When looking at Premium cards last year, Prestige and Platinum were my two choices. Right now, glad I went with Platinum. I’ve already built a substantial number of points with airfare purchases.
While i welcome today’s change and will certainly be using the prestige card for air fare and dining till september, i’m still not sure if i will continue to keep this card after september when the ability to book the 4th night thru citi concierge goes away. That makes the benefit essentially useless. I was totally ok with it being restricted to twice a year (even once a year would be fine).
I look forward to this card opening to new applicants. I’ve never had this card.
Same here