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If you know how to use them, premium credit cards should provide you more value than they cost. With all of its valuable perks, it should be pretty easy for travelers to justify the annual fee of the new Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees) in the first year. But in fact, I’d even go as far to say this card can pay for itself in a single trip. To prove it, I grabbed a backpack and went to the airport. Here’s what came next.
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The Citi Strata Elite’s Annual Fee Is Easily Justifiable
If you’re not that familiar with the new card, here’s how the math could've looked if I just cashed in its biggest credits on a single adventure:
- Up to $300 annual hotel savings benefit on stays of two nights or more booked through Citi Travel
- Up to $200 annual Splurge Credit℠ you can use at a selection of merchants, including American Airlines
- Up to $200 Blacklane credit, with $100 available in the first half of the year and $100 in the second
Right there, that’s at least $700 in tangible value every year — but you'd only save about $600 on a single trip since the Blacklane credit is a semi-annual credit. And that doesn’t even include the value of the welcome bonus, the Citi ThankYou® Rewards points you’ll earn along the way, or the other perks like the Priority Pass membership or the Admirals Club passes.
This is all to say the numbers are pretty clear. The Citi Strata Elite can pay for itself after just one trip.
But that example’s almost too simple. Not everyone travels in a way that lets them use every credit on a single trip — or even any at all. So, I set out to see if I could make the Citi Strata Elite pay for itself on a single trip without factoring in a single one of these headline benefits. And I believe I pulled it off.
Related: Credit Card Benefits Every Traveler Should Know About
How I Made the Citi Strata Elite Pay for Itself on One Trip to Europe
This trip started in Myrtle Beach, but I didn’t really start realizing value out of my Citi Strata Elite until I arrived at London Heathrow the next day.
What set this trip in motion was the chance to check out American Airlines’ brand-new Boeing 787-9P. I could’ve conceivably transferred Citi ThankYou Points to American Airlines AAdvantage at a 1:1 ratio to book this ticket. However, I booked this trip in May — before the Citi Strata Elite was announced and American Airlines was added as a Citi transfer partner. Instead, I redeemed just 45,000 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles for the one-way business class award. Fast forward a couple thousand miles, and that’s where we’ll pick things up.
Stockholm, Sweden
The value really started accumulating once I left London. I’d never been to Sweden, so I transferred 8,000 Citi points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club and booked a SAS flight to Stockholm. That ticket would’ve cost more than $200 in cash, but instead I used 7,500 points and paid only about $40 in taxes and fees.
Since this trip came together at the last minute, hotel options were few and far between. Luckily, the Nordics are a sweet spot for Choice Privileges redemptions. I booked two nights in a multi-bedroom suite at the Clarion Hotel Arlanda Airport for just 10,000 Choice points per night. And it was incredible.
Because Citi transfers to Choice at 1:2, that worked out to only 5,000 Citi ThankYou Points per night. The cash rate for the stay was 7,695 Swedish krona (over $800), giving me over 8 cents in value per Citi point.
If you’re light on Citi points, you can still score great deals on rooms like this when Choice puts points sale. That’s why it’s always worth keeping an eye on the current buy points promotions.
I also earned a bunch of Citi ThankYou Points on a few too many coffees in Stockholm and on rides between the airport and city center. But I was hungry for more.
Related: Guide to Citi ThankYou® Transfer Partners
Oslo, Norway
After two nights in Stockholm, it felt like the right time to keep moving. I pulled up Google Flights and spotted an Ethiopian Airlines fifth-freedom flight from Stockholm to Oslo for $51. I booked it through the Citi Travel portal and earned 6X points. Modest earnings for sure, but every little bit counts.
The flight got me into Oslo early on a Saturday morning, just in time to start racking up 6X points with the Citi Nights multiplier. I’ll admit this is a quirky perk, but if you’re dining out, grabbing a coffee, or even an entire pizza during the eligible hours (which shift depending on where you are in the world), it can be lucrative.
I played tourist for most of the day in Oslo and explored as much of the city as I could on foot. It instantly became a favorite, and I'm excited for the day I get to go back.
Like in Stockholm, I used Choice points again. And I was able to score a superior room at the Clarion Hotel Oslo Airport for 15,000 points. With Citi’s 1:2 transfer ratio to Choice, that was just 7,500 Citi points, saving me 1,970 Norwegian kroner, or a little under $200.
Related: The Best Flexible Rewards Points for Free Travel
Zurich, Switzerland
This trip was nothing more than a mad dash through Europe, so after three nights, it was already time to head home. The best-value return flight left from Zurich, so I flew SWISS on that leg and used up a travel credit I’d had sitting around. And I still earned points on the in-flight snack I bought.
The layover in Zurich was short-lived, but I made the most of it with breakfast in the PrimeClass lounge (thanks to the card’s complimentary Priority Pass membership) and some time on the airport’s viewing deck. Though I'll argue the latter was more enjoyable than the former.
My ticket home cost 27,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles and routed me through Philadelphia to Myrtle Beach. The cash fare would’ve been more than $600, so this redemption was yet another example where I scored big time.
The flight itself wasn’t memorable, but it got me home and gave my Citi points another chance to shine. And thanks to my AAdvantage elite status, I wrapped up the trip with a visit to the Philadelphia Flagship Lounge, which has quickly become one of my favorite domestic lounges.
Summing it all up
That was a lot for a quick trip. But if one thing’s clear, I unlocked serious value by strategically redeeming Citi ThankYou Points earned with my Citi Strata Elite and racking up more points on food, getting around, and even souvenirs abroad. Here’s how it added up:
- Dollars saved by redeeming points: I avoided nearly $1,800 in out-of-pocket costs by using Citi points for flights and hotels. That included two nights in Stockholm worth more than $800, a night in Oslo worth almost $200, a short-haul flight to Sweden that would’ve cost about $200, and my ticket home that was selling for over $600.
- Rewards earned on purchases: On top of that, I earned a healthy amount of Citi ThankYou Points from spending on things like meals, coffees, and souvenirs, plus bonuses from Citi Travel and Citi Nights. Based on recent AwardWallet user redemptions, each point is worth about 2.03¢ apiece.
I could’ve stretched it further by booking attractions, a rental car, or one of my hotels through Citi Travel to earn 12X points. And I could’ve layered in one of the card’s headline credits. But none of that was necessary this time.
But at the end of the day, I still pulled off a quick trip to Europe, put the Citi Strata Elite to work, saved about $1,800 by redeeming points, and earned lots of points back that'll go towards a future trip.
Bottom Line
You can unlock a lot of value from your Citi Strata Elite by using its big statement credits, or you can save just as much by putting it to work on bonus categories and leveraging its best transfer partners. But I'd recommend doing both, since it’s the easiest way to get more value out of the card than it costs to keep.
- For a limited time, earn 80,000 bonus Points after spending $4,000 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.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees)
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