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If you're looking for an easy way to earn a lot of Citi ThankYou® Points on your upcoming travels, the best way might be booking hotels, rental cars, and more through the Citi Travel portal. Several cards that were offering promotional earnings on select travel purchases over the course of 2025 and into 2026 have now removed all reference to the end dates for the enhanced earning rates. And in this post, we'll show which cards those are and which purchases qualify.
Citi Travel Portal Earnings Boost for Select Credit Cards
Boosted earnings in the Citi Travel portal is a promotion we've become familiar with in the past year. And while many of these offers were scheduled to end before the calendar flipped to 2025, we're happy to report that these earning rates may be sticking around for the long term.
Here's a look at the no-annual-fee Citi credit cards that'll earn up to 5X Citi ThankYou Points on select travel portal purchases.
- Citi Double Cash® Card: Earn a total of 5X points per $1 spent on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked with Citi Travel portal. The end date for this offer, originally December 31, 2025, has been removed from Citi pages promoting the Citi Double Cash, so it looks link this enhanced earning rate is here to stay for now. This offer provides 3X additional points on top of the 1X point per dollar on purchases and 1X point per dollar for payments on purchases.
- Citi Rewards+® Card: Earn a total of 5X points per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. This card has been discontinued for new cardholders. See this post for more details.
- Citi Custom Cash® Card: Earn an unlimited additional 4X points per $1 spent on hotels and car rentals when you book on the Citi Travel portal. The end date, originally June 30, 2026, has been removed from Citi pages.
Perhaps the best of these is the offer on the Citi Custom Cash. If travel is your top spending category for a billing cycle, you'll earn a total of 9% cash back (delivered as 9X points) on travel purchases booked through the Citi Travel portal!
Related: How To Build a Winning Combo of Citi ThankYou Rewards Cards
Depending on who you are and how you travel, it may or may not make sense to book through the Citi Travel portal. There are obvious pros and cons to this practice — and third-party bookings in general. However, if you appreciate the rewards-earning potential you can unlock through Citi's portal, consider getting a specific card…
Earn Even More Points on Portal Bookings With the Citi Strata Premier® Card
Frequent Citi Travel portal users should consider getting the Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees). The earning rates — including on portal bookings — exceed the promotional offers on Citi's no-annual-fee cards. Plus, you can get a one-time $100 credit for booking a hotel stay costing at least $500 through the Citi Travel portal.
Cardholders earn points within several other valuable categories as follows:
- 10X on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Restaurants
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Supermarkets
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Gas and EV Charging Stations
- 1X – Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
If you like to travel, the $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier is a card you shouldn't overlook.
- Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com.
- Earn 10 Points per $1 spent on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on CitiTravel.com.
- Earn 3 Points per $1 on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases, at Restaurants, Supermarkets, Gas and EV Charging Stations.
- Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- $100 Annual Hotel Benefit: Once per calendar year, enjoy $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when booked through CitiTravel.com. Benefit applied instantly at time of booking.
- No expiration and no limit to the amount of points you can earn with this card.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees on purchases.
- 10X on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Restaurants
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Supermarkets
- 3X – Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Gas and EV Charging Stations
- 1X – Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases
Related: Citi Strata Premier Full Review
Our Take
Booking hotels, rental cars, and attractions through the Citi Travel portal can be a great way to rack up easy rewards. Citi's apparent change from a limited time promotion to a permanent enhanced earning category is a welcome change. Of course, this is always subject to further changes, so make sure to double check your card's benefits guide before making a large travel booking.
Keep in mind, though, that hotel stays booked through the Citi Travel portal likely won’t earn elite status credits or perks. Most hotel loyalty programs require you to book directly to access those benefits. However, for non-branded hotels and stays at hotels where you don't have status, booking hotel stays and car rentals with the right Citi card can really boost your Citi ThankYou points balance.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees)
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