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One of the best parts of earning Citi ThankYou® Points is having the flexibility to redeem them in a variety of ways. While we almost always recommend transferring ThankYou Points to one of Citi’s 21 transfer partners for maximum value, that’s not your only option. You can also use points to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and experiences directly through the Citi Travel℠ portal.
It’s a simple way to book travel with points — no award availability to worry about and no need to navigate partner loyalty programs. Just be aware: you’ll typically get far less value from your points when redeeming this way. That said, the portal is easy to use and can be worth it in the right situation.
In this guide, we’ll cover how the Citi Travel portal works, walk through the booking process, and help you decide when it’s worth using ThankYou Points this way.
Page Contents
What Is the Citi Travel Portal?
The Citi Travel portal — as known as the Citi Travel with Booking.com — is a one-stop shop online travel portal that lets you book flights, hotel stays, rental cars, and activities.
It's similar to the Chase Travel and Amex Travel portals, if you're familiar with those. You can book trips using an eligible Citi credit card, or you can redeem Citi ThankYou Points for your travel.
Citi Travel is powered by third-party provider Booking.com and functions similar to Booking.com's online travel agency (OTA), although the user interface isn't quite the same. The options presented won't necessarily be the same as what you will find with Chase Travel or other Online Travel Agencies (e.g., Expedia), as each is different with the hotels and airlines included (although they have a high level of overlap). If you've navigated any of these before, finding your way around Citi Travel will be easy enough.
The only requirement to be able to use the Citi Travel portal is that you hold a card that earns Citi ThankYou Points.
How Much Are ThankYou Points Worth Through Citi Travel?
Citi ThankYou Points are worth 1 cent each when redeemed through the Citi Travel portal. This low value per point is one of the downsides of using Citi Travel. And unlike with the Chase Travel portal, having a specific premium credit card will not get you any extra value for your points.
Contrast this with the average 2.19¢ per point that AwardWallet users get from their ThankYou Points. These points are easily worth twice what you get for them using the Citi Travel portal. This is because our users overwhelmingly redeem their points by transferring them to Citi's transfer partners and redeeming them for premium travel with airlines and hotels. However, it can be a lot more work to get this high value out of your points.
If you value simple, straightforward redemption options — especially a one-stop shop where you can potentially book all the travel you need — the Citi Travel portal is still worth using. Before we walk through how to use it, let's go through all of Citi's ThankYou Point-earning cards.
Earning Citi ThankYou Points
Citi offers a nice array of ways to earn ThankYou Points. If you're looking to boost your points balance, consider one of the cards below.
The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card has been a mainstay in my wallet. The Citi Double Cash® Card is an excellent choice as well, as you earn 2% cash back on all purchases: 1% when you buy plus 1% as you pay. But these earnings come in the form of ThankYou Points, which you can transfer to travel partners as long as you have a premium Citi card.
Cards that provide access to the Citi Travel portal include:
- Citi Strata Premier℠ Card
- Citi Double Cash® Card
- Citi Custom Cash® Card
- Citi Rewards+® Card(no longer open to new applicants)
- Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card (no longer open to new applicants)
- Citi Prestige® Card (no longer open to new applicants)
The best way to maximize earning ThankYou points is to build a small portfolio of Citi cards. You can take advantage of the bonus points each card offers in various spending categories to ensure you get the most for every dollar.
- 10X points per $1 on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X points per $1 spent on airfare, and other hotel purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent at gas and EV charging stations
- 3X points per $1 spent on dining at restaurants, including cafes, bars and lounges
- 3X points per $1 spent at supermarkets
- 1X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 2% cash back on every purchase—1% when you buy and 1% when you pay. Plus, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 12/31/25. Citi cash rewards now also convert to ThankYou points at 1:1 ($10 = 100 ThankYou points).
- Earn 5% cash back on purchases in your top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent
- 1% cash back thereafter, plus, you'll earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases
- No rotating bonus categories to sign up for – as your spending changes each billing cycle, your earn adjusts automatically when you spend in any of the eligible categories.
- Special Travel Offer: Earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/2025.
- Eligible spending categories are: Restaurants, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Select Travel, Select Transit, Select Streaming Services, Drugstores, Home Improvement Stores, Fitness Clubs and Live Entertainment.
Related: Build a Winning Combo of Citi ThankYou Rewards Cards
How To Book Using the Citi Travel Portal
You'll need to log into Citi Travel using your normal Citi account credentials. Access the Citi Travel login link to begin. The first thing you'll be asked to do is select which Citi credit card you'd like to use to book travel, if you have more than one card that earns ThankYou points.
Select a card and click “Search for Travel” at the bottom of the page. Alternatively, you can log into the normal Citi login page and then click the “Book Travel” link for the specific card, which you can find under the card spending summary (sometimes you have to expand to see the full list of options). I find the latter method easiest.
It is at this moment that I must comment on Citi's website functionality. While I generally don't have issues accessing my card accounts, successfully logging into my account and beginning a search through Citi Travel doesn't always happen without a hitch. I'll sometimes land on an error page. Know that if this happens to you, you're not alone. This is honestly the most frustrating aspect of using Citi Travel.
Assuming login and card selection are successful, you'll land at the main Citi Travel search page. Here, you can select whether to book hotels, rental cars, flights, or attractions. This landing page is similar to other travel portals and should look fairly familiar, whether you're searching for hotels, flights, cars, or attractions.
We'll walk through how to book all four types of travel through the Citi Travel portal. First, let's dive into how to search for hotels and other accommodations.
Booking hotels
Booking hotels and other accommodations with Citi Travel is straightforward. Simply select the “Hotels” tab on the main search page, and then enter your destination, dates, and the number of guests. You'll then be presented with a list of accommodation options bookable through the travel portal.
Note that you're not stuck with only hotels. In my searches, there were often bed and breakfasts, serviced apartments, and hostels. There are certainly not the vacation rental options you'd find with Airbnb, for example, but you'll find more than just hotels.
Below are the top results for a sample Citi Travel portal hotel search for properties in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. If you've booked hotels with other OTAs, navigating the search should be pretty intuitive. Prices are provided in both points and cash. Note that Citi Travel typically has fewer accommodation options than booking.com (in this case, 25 were available through Citi Travel compared to 38 through Booking.com).
There are numerous filter options in the panel to the left of the results, including property type, neighborhood, star rating, guest rating, and room amenities. It's easy to change the sorting and filtering to find properties to your liking.
The default sorting option is “Best Match,” which seems to prefer Hotel Collection properties (more on those below). You can see the price in both points and cash, top featured amenities, and the average guest rating.
If you select a particular hotel, you can view photos and explore its features and amenities. If you navigate to reviews, note that Citi Travel uses both Booking.com reviews and Agoda.com reviews. I had noticed that the guest ratings for each property are not identical to those you'll see at Booking.com. Citi Travel uses either a combination of the two sites referenced or whichever is higher.
From here, you can scroll down to select a particular room. Since the Citi Travel portal is powered by Booking.com, all available room types should show up. This gives you a lot more flexibility than booking with many hotel loyalty programs, where you're restricted to base-level rooms or must fork over additional points for an enhanced room or suite.
How does pricing compare to other booking channels?
When you initially search, you may notice that the cash prices displayed exclude taxes and fees, but the points prices (often shown as a combo of points and cash) include taxes and fees. Unfortunately, to do a price comparison with other sites, you'll have to add the stay to your cart to see the final price after including taxes and fees.
It's important to note that you may not be provided the best price through Citi Travel. The first comparison I made was between Citi Travel and Booking.com, the site that powers the Citi Travel portal. One would think both sites would offer the same price, but that wasn't the case.
Here is Citi Travel's price for a 3-night stay at The Harbor House, a property I selected from the Charlottetown search results (and one I've actually stayed at). The three-night stay for my example booking dates is $410.97 USD.
Through Booking.com, the cost is $382.08. Citi Travel is charging ~$29 more, an increase of 7.5% over the Booking.com rate! This is for the same room type and a similar cancellation policy.
Here is a second example of price shopping among sites for a sample four-night stay at the Hyatt Centric South Beach Miami:
- Citi Travel: $2,321.32
- Booking.com: $2,319.49
- Expedia.com: $2,283.95
In this case, the Citi Travel and Booking.com prices are nearly identical. They are also a hair more than Expedia's price. Reviewing a few other random hotels to compare showed variation in price, with Citi Travel often being the highest, but not always by much.
Make sure you compare the Citi Travel portal price against other sites. You might get a better deal elsewhere. However, you won't be able to book with points.
Hotel Collection benefits
When Citi changed its travel portal provider to Booking.com, it also launched two hotel programs: Hotel Collection and Luxury Collection.
Eligible Citi cardholders can enjoy exclusive savings and perks at these properties, including free breakfast for two, free Wi-Fi, and early check-in and late check-out, when available. With Luxury Collection bookings, guests are eligible for room upgrades at check-in, based on availability, and receive a $100 on-property credit for use during their stay.
Luxury Collection and Hotel Collection bookings are available only to those with the Citi Strata Premier or Citi Prestige Card. These programs are similar to other luxury hotel programs, such as American Express' Fine Hotels + Resorts and Chase's The Edit.
As you peruse the Citi Travel portal, you may notice that Hotel Collection and Luxury Collection properties usually get first billing in the list of results. Click on “See offers” to see the perks you can enjoy and the terms of each.
If you want to specifically filter for Hotel Collection or Luxury Collection properties, these are conveniently located at the top of the left panel, listing all the various filters.
However, there's a catch: You have to book a specific rate to receive the Hotel Collection or Luxury Collection benefits. Sometimes, the premium simply isn't worth it for what you receive. Consider this rate difference for a stay at the Mondrian South Beach in Miami. An additional $81 per night for Hotel Collection perks? Maybe that's worth it for early check-in and daily breakfast. But it better be an excellent breakfast.
That being said, you can find properties where there is no premium for the Hotel Collection benefits. It's all dependent on the individual hotel.
Will I get hotel elite status benefits when booking through the Citi Travel portal?
If you book through the Citi Travel portal, you likely won't receive hotel elite benefits with major chain hotels. Bookings with Citi Travel are treated as third-party reservations, and most hotels don't honor elite benefits for these.
This is a big downside compared to booking directly with a hotel. I often count on hotel elite status perks to add substantial value to my stay. Free breakfast for a family can add up to a lot of daily savings! Plus, you won't receive stay credit on these bookings, which means it won't help your progress toward qualifying for elite status.
There are plenty of hotels available in the Citi Travel portal that aren't associated with major chains, though. If you don't have loyalty to a particular chain, this loss of benefits isn't a worry. Booking hotels through Citi Travel also remains useful if you're specifically looking for properties outside what is offered by major chains (e.g., boutique bed and breakfasts) or if you're looking for hotels in an area devoid of major chains.
Using the Citi Strata Premier‘s $100 annual hotel perk
If you have the Citi Strata Premier, make sure you select that card on the landing page before starting your hotel search. This will automatically apply the annual hotel savings benefit — $100 off a booking of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees — offered by the card. You can use this benefit once per year and must book through Citi Travel to enjoy this credit.
Using the Prestige Card‘s fourth-night free benefit
Those who still hold the Prestige Card (no longer available to new applicants) get a fourth night free on hotel bookings, available twice each year when booking through Citi Travel. If you have this card, ensure you select it on the first page before beginning your searches; otherwise, you won't enjoy this benefit.
Booking flights
Now that we've covered how to book lodging, let's move on to booking flights through Citi Travel. You can use the portal to book flights similar to how you'd use any other OTA. To search for a flight, simply select the “Flights” option on the search screen and key in your origin, destination, whether you want one-way or round-trip travel, flight date(s), number of passengers, and cabin class.
You can also select whether you want “Direct only,” which will eliminate flight options with connections.
Citi Travel will present a list of flight options based on your search criteria. At this point, you can sort and filter in various ways. The default sorting is “Best Overall,” which is often subjective but typically includes a shorter travel time with fewer connections. You can filter by carrier, departure or arrival time, number of stops, and price, among other options.
Flight availability
You can book most flights on major domestic and international carriers using the Citi Travel portal. You'll have more options at your fingertips when searching for flights through Citi Travel rather than restricting yourself to using award miles. Mixed-carrier itineraries that often aren't available using award miles are sometimes an option with Citi Travel.
It's important to note, however, that there are some low-cost carriers that can't be booked in the portal. Some are available with a phone call, while others aren't available at all. Here's a look at some low-cost carriers you can and cannot book with Citi Travel:
- Book online: Azul, GOL, JetBlue, Pegasus, Porter, and WestJet
- Book via phone: Air Asia, Southwest
- Cannot book at all: Spirit, Frontier, Sun Country
To book over the phone, contact the ThankYou Service Center at 833-737-1288.
Related: Can You Book Low-Cost Carriers with Amex, Capital One, Chase, or Citi Points?
Flight pricing
Flight pricing should be similar and competitive to what you find when booking directly with airlines, barring the use of any discount codes or other promotions currently available. Pricing should mirror other OTAs, as well.
You'll sometimes see a bigger variation with international carriers than with U.S. airlines. Remember that you'll get 1 cent per ThankYou Point when using points to book flights. Therefore, a $200 ticket will cost 20,000 ThankYou Points.
You'll get the biggest bang for your buck by booking economy flights with Citi ThankYou Points. This is because the redemption value you get from economy award flights (booked via the airlines' loyalty programs) is often less than what you can get out of business-class awards, but not always.
It pays to check for award flights to see if there are any Citi ThankYou transfer partners you can use to book the flight you want.
Related: The Best Citi ThankYou Point Sweet Spots for Flights in North America
Do flights booked with ThankYou Points earn miles?
Yes. Unlike an award ticket, when you book a ticket through Citi Travel using ThankYou Points, your ticket will earn miles based on the carrier's earning methodology. This is because you're actually booking a cash ticket and then redeeming your ThankYou Points at 1 cent each to cover the cost. Just make sure you enter your frequent flyer number to earn miles on any tickets booked.
Factoring in the award miles you earn is important when comparing the cost of an award ticket to that of a ticket booked through Citi Travel. This may affect which booking method you choose. If you're chasing elite status, this is something else to factor in, as well. Paid tickets can earn elite miles, segments, qualifying dollars, and/or points that help you qualify for status. Award tickets typically don't.
Example economy flight comparison: Citi Travel portal vs. transfer partner
Consider this itinerary from San Francisco (SFO) to Boston (BOS). It is available for $179.98 cash or 17,998 Citi ThankYou Points when booked in the Citi Travel portal.
You can book this as an award using Avianca LifeMiles — one of the Citi ThankYou transfer partners. At first glance, paying 15,000 LifeMiles seems like the better deal. However, make sure you consider the taxes and fees, plus any miles earned by your ticket. LifeMiles charges a redemption fee, so the total cost of the flight would be 15,000 Citi ThankYou Points (transferred to LifeMiles) plus $30.60. Now it's basically a wash, unless you can take advantage of a ThankYou Points to LifeMiles transfer bonus.
Doing a little digging, this cash fare would be a United Airlines K-class ticket. Crediting this ticket to LifeMiles, you'd earn 1,352 miles. Based on AwardWallet's valuation, these are worth ~$38. You'd give these up if you booked an award ticket.
Now the math clearly shows that booking through the Citi Travel portal is the better option. Plus, an award ticket wouldn't get you any credit toward elite status if you're working toward that with Avianca LifeMiles.
Related: Citi's No Annual Fee Cards and the Strategy Behind How to Get Them
Basic economy
Be careful: Citi will present basic economy flight options for some carriers. These are clearly labeled, however, so it should be easy to avoid them. If you're looking at a Basic Economy itinerary, it'll clearly say so.
However, you'll need to know each carrier's name for their Basic Economy equivalent. No matter what it's called, it'll be displayed within a rectangle above the carrier name. If you expand the flight (see the Delta option in the image below), you will see the price difference for the non-basic economy option.
One gripe I have with Citi Travel is that basic economy cannot be filtered out of the search. This is problematic. At times, I'd like to eliminate all basic economy flights from the results to compare the cheapest economy fares that are not Basic. Instead, you have to select a flight, and then choose a different fare class on the booking screen.
If you're wondering why all your options are basic economy, this is the reason. Don't worry: You still can book a normal economy fare. You just need to make sure you expand the flight and select it from the options.
Booking rental cars
Like searching for hotels and flights, searching for rental cars in the Citi Travel portal is straightforward. Enter your pick-up and drop-off location(s), the dates and times of both, the driver's age, and you're off and running.
One of the nicest aspects of the rental car search — unlike searching for hotels — is that the total price is displayed up front in both dollars and points. You can filter the search results by vehicle type, rental agency, and whether free cancellation is offered. I like that the initial search is sorted by the lowest price first. You can also see whether the reservation offers free cancellation or is non-refundable.
Here are a few things to be aware of when renting a car through Citi Travel:
- Primary auto rental collision damage waiver: Many premium credit cards offer rental car coverage that covers your rental car in the event of a collision. However, few of Citi's own credit cards offer this, and >none of the cards that earn ThankYou points have this feature. This means that rentals made through the Citi Travel portal will never be covered — a major downside — unless you purchase this additional coverage.
- Rental agency “skip the counter” programs: Some rental agencies, such as National and Hertz, offer “skip the counter” programs where you can go straight to the lot to pick out a car. If you rent through Citi Travel, you may not receive these benefits. I can attest that I have received my elite status benefits on many third-party bookings, however, so you may be fine. You may need to contact the rental agency after making a booking and get them to add your loyalty number manually. But receiving these benefits is not foolproof.
- Use of discount codes: If you book through Citi Travel, you won't be able to apply corporate (or any other) discount codes to reduce the cost of your rental.
Booking activities and attractions
Attractions are the final category of travel you can book through Citi Travel. There is a multitude of options to pick from, including tours, transportation, events, food experiences, outdoor experiences, cultural experiences, and more. What you can find through Citi Travel is what you would expect to find through an OTA like Expedia or Orbitz, or through a site like Tripadvisor or Viator.
To search for attractions, simply start typing a city name into the search bar. You can also search by the exact name of an attraction. If you type in a country name (or the name of a U.S. state), you'll be prompted with a list of cities to choose from. Once you search for a particular location, you can filter the results by price, star rating, and/or duration.
You can also list by popularity and price. Attractions are also grouped into categories, and you can filter the results by selecting each in the top ribbon or using the category selector in the left bar.
Attractions is the one type of travel where it seems Citi Travel has a slight edge over making reservations through Booking.com. You'd expect the two sites to have exactly the same price for the same experience. However, I found that Citi Travel was often 2%–10% cheaper than Booking.com.
The Stonehenge & Bath day tour in the sample results above is $110 through Booking.com, which was one of the better discounts I found using Citi Travel. This is certainly something to note. As with everything else in the Citi Travel portal, your ThankYou Points are worth 1 cent each when redeemed for attractions.
Not all locations will have attractions available to book. I tried to enter the towns in my rural area, and none of them showed up as an option to search. That being said, you should be able to find something in the vast majority of major cities, plus some other areas. It's worth noting that you won't find Disney park tickets in the portal, unfortunately.
Related: Tips for Saving Money at Disney World With Points and Miles
Is It Worth Using the Citi Travel Portal?
This is the big question. With ThankYou Points worth only 1 cent each when redeemed through Citi Travel, it isn't generally worth redeeming them through the portal. Unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards, where you can get up to 2 cents per point — which is more comparable to their value when transferred to loyalty partners — Citi doesn't offer any bonus value.
Given that AwardWallet users redeem ThankYou Points for an average of 2.19¢ each when using transfer partners, we recommend that you use them this way.
That being said, there are times when booking through Citi Travel will get you more value than transferring your points. This is most common with inexpensive economy airfare.
If you're also trying to save money and would rather spend reward points than cash for travel where transfer partners aren't an option, this is another time when using the Citi Travel portal will be worth it. The same goes for those who want to book all their travel in one place. It takes time to understand the ins and outs of loyalty programs. For some, the simplicity Citi Travel provides is a major selling point.
Finally, you can always use the Citi Travel portal to book paid travel. There are definitely good reasons to do so. Being able to take advantage of the Citi Strata Premier‘s annual $100 off $500 hotel booking benefit is one of them. You'll also earn a good number of ThankYou Points on cash bookings. So, don't write off the Citi Travel portal entirely. It's a great option to have in certain situations.
When it makes sense to book through the Citi Travel portal
Using the Citi Travel portal is generally a good idea:
- When you don't want to worry about travel blackout dates or availability for award travel.
- If you prioritize simplicity and would rather book all your travel in one place.
- When booking an award flight yields a similar value per point, remember that flights booked through the Citi Travel portal are revenue fares that earn miles!
- When you can take advantage of certain benefits (e.g., Citi Strata Premier Card annual hotel benefit) or bonus earning promotions.
- If you want to use ThankYou Points to book attractions.
When to avoid using the Citi Travel portal
These are the times you'll want to avoid using the Citi Travel portal:
- When booking premium cabin flights, as you'll nearly always do better booking these using award miles from transfer partners.
- When it costs fewer points to transfer them to a loyalty partner and book your travel that way.
- For booking hotels where you want to receive elite benefits.
- When you want travel flexibility, award travel usually has better change and cancellation policies than paid travel.
- For any car rentals, these aren't covered by a primary auto rental collision damage waiver through Citi.
Final Thoughts
Whether you see the Citi Travel portal as a key tool in planning your travel and redeeming your points or view it as a low-value option you don't care for, it's at least an option to have in your back pocket. The biggest upside I see for some travelers is being able to book their entire trip using one tool. There's also the perk of using points to pay for things where transfer partners aren't an option, such as guided tours or attraction tickets.
Personally, I don't get much value out of the Citi Travel portal. I've considered using it to book attractions, but the low 1-cent-per-point value is a huge turn-off. Getting half the typical value for my points is too much for me to stomach. I've historically gotten over 2 cents per ThankYou Point through partners like LifeMiles, Flying Blue, and Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles.
However, I should note that all three of these partners have devalued, and I haven't yet used the latter two post-devaluation. Still, transfer partners are generally the best way to go if you want to maximize your points.
FAQ
What is the phone number for Citi Travel?
You can call Citi Travel at 1-833-737-1288.
Do flights booked with ThankYou points earn miles?
Yes. Flights booked through Citi Travel are revenue fares, so they will earn award miles. Citi just lets you redeem your ThankYou Points to cover the cost.
Who has access to the Citi Travel portal?
Anyone with a credit card earning ThankYou Points has access. However, cards issued by Citi that earn other rewards, such as American Airlines miles, don't provide access to the portal for booking travel.
Does Citi Travel price match?
No, Citi Travel does not offer a price match to other OTAs or booking sites. Citi also discontinued its "Price Rewind" feature on its credit cards. However, this would not have applied to things bookable through the travel portal anyway.
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