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Are you sitting on a pile of Citi ThankYou® Points spread across multiple cards? Or maybe you found a great award deal on American Airlines, and you want to use your rewards to book it. While Citi ThankYou Points tend to fly under the radar, they're quite valuable if you know the best ways to use them.
Our favorite option? Transferring to one of Citi's 21 airline, hotel, and retail partners. While most Citi cards now have the option to transfer points to partners, only a few cards get the best transfer rate. Thankfully, you can combine Citi ThankYou Points across cards to boost the value of all of your Citi points.
Additionally, Citi ThankYou Points can be combined and shared with other Citi account members — making it easier to pool points for an award.
Let's break down the steps for transferring to Citi's partners, then walk through how to combine Citi ThankYou Points and share them with other Citi members.
Transferring Citi ThankYou Points
As we mentioned above, utilizing Citi's transfer partners is our top choice for redeeming ThankYou Points. While there are other ways to redeem points, such as booking through Citi Travel, they only net a 1-cent per point value, if not less. Alternatively, AwardWallet users average 2.3¢ per point value when transferring points to one of Citi's airline or hotel partners.
Three Citi cards earn transferable points that can be transferred to partners at the best rates. They are:
- Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees)
- Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees)
- Citi Prestige® Card (no longer open to new applicants).
$595Rates & 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.
$95Rates & Fees
- 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
$495
- 5X points on air travel, travel agencies, and at restaurants
- 3X points at hotels and on cruise line purchases
- 1X point per dollar on all other purchases
When you have one of these cards, your points are typically transferred at a 1:1 ratio, with just a few exceptions.
Furthermore, Citi offers other cards that earn ThankYou Points, but the points transfer at a lower rate of 10:7 in most cases, also with a few exceptions. These cards are:
- 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
- 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.
$0
- 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.
- 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.
- Special Travel Offer: Earn an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on Citi Travel℠ portal.
Related: How to Earn Citi ThankYou Points: Cards, Categories, and Strategies
How to Transfer Citi ThankYou Points
To transfer your Citi ThankYou Points to an airline or hotel partner, first log in to your Citi account, then scroll down until you see your points. Choose “View/Redeem.”
After this, a pop-up will appear, which shows multiple options for using your points. Choose “Points Transfer.”
From here, you'll be taken to the ThankYou Points portal and the main transfer partners page.
Once you've chosen the partner to transfer to, you'll be taken to a page where you can use a slider to enter the number of points you want to transfer, along with your name and loyalty account number. After this, simply check the box to agree to the terms and conditions, then continue through to the confirmation page. Most point transfers are instant, although it can vary by program.
Related: Maximize Your Points: All Current Transfer Bonuses Available Now
How to Combine Citi ThankYou Points
It's of little use to have points spread across multiple Citi cards. You need your points in one place so they can be fully maximized for the best award deals. Thankfully, if you have Citi ThankYou Points in multiple places, it's easy to combine them online.
Here's how to combine Citi ThankYou Points:
1. To start, log in to your Citi account. Scroll down to your ThankYou Points balance and click “View/Redeem.”
2. Once in your ThankYou Points portal, click on your initials in the top right corner, then select “My Citi Accounts.”
3. From there, you'll see all of your accounts listed.
4. After this, select the accounts to combine and confirm your choices.
If you don't see all of your accounts listed, you can call the ThankYou Points customer service line at 1-800-THANKYOU (1-800-842-6596). Agents are able to combine all of your ThankYou accounts into one account for ease of combining.
If possible, you'll want to combine your points onto a Citi Strata Premier, Citi Strata Elite, or Prestige Card. These cards provide the best rates to Citi's transfer partners, whereas other cards have lower transfer rates.
[Ending May 17] Sharing Citi ThankYou Points
Citi ThankYou Points can be shared for free between most Citi ThankYou members. However, this benefit will be discontinued on May 17, 2026.
Here’s an overview of how points sharing works now and will continue to work until the benefit officially ends:
The process for sharing Citi ThankYou Points comes with a few important rules.
- Eligible ThankYou Points members can both share and receive up to 100,000 points in a calendar year.
- Shared points expire 90 days after being moved. This means it's crucial to have a plan for using them to prevent them from going to waste.
Let's look at the steps for sharing Citi ThankYou Points with other members.
1. Log in to your Citi account, scroll down to your ThankYou Points, then click “Redeem.” This will direct you to a new page where a pop-up will appear, offering you several options to choose from.
2. Select “Point sharing.”
3. On the Points Sharing page, scroll down to Points Sharing Overview. From there, select the Begin Sharing button and follow the steps.
You will need the name and ThankYou Points account number or credit card number of the person you're sharing points with.
Wrapping Up
Even though Citi points fly under the radar compared to programs like American Express Membership Rewards® and Chase Ultimate Rewards®, they're a valuable points currency to keep on hand. There are multiple ways to earn and use the points.
You can transfer them to one of Citi’s 20+ partners, combine Citi ThankYou Points, or even share them with a friend or family member (but only through May 17, 2026). Once you understand your options, there are plenty of ways to put them to use booking great trips.
- 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
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Strata℠ Card (Rates & Fees), and Citi Double Cash® Card (Rates & Fees)
