You may have heard rumors that the Citi Premier Card is getting a refresh. We can now confirm that those rumors are true.
As of May 12, the Citi Premier Card has been renamed the Citi Strata Premier Card.
Credit card changes can be positive or negative – or a combination of both – but they rarely cause such a neutral reaction. In our opinion, these changes are lackluster and do not warrant a tag name change.
So let’s dig deeper into the changes that current cardholders and new subscribers can expect.
Information about the Citi Premier and Citi Strata Premier cards has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Summary of changes
What hasn’t changed:
- Annual fee (remained at $95)
- Most bonus categories, including air travel, hotels, gas stations, supermarkets and dining
- ThankYou Rewards Transfer Partner
- $100 hotel credit annually
- There are no foreign transaction fees
- Visit Citi Entertainment
- Benefits of World Elite Mastercard
What’s changing:
- New name and tag art
- New e-vehicle charging station bonus category
- Citi Travel portal bonus category is ongoing
- Re-impose travel protections
- Advanced sign up bonus
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Current Citi Premier cardholders will receive enhanced benefits on the Strata Premier card effective immediately. They will receive a new card with the new Strata Premier name and card image when their current card expires.
New income rate
The new card has two changes to the earning structure:
- New: 3 points per dollar spent at e-vehicle charging stations
- Expanded: 10 points per dollar spent on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through the Citi Travel portal
All other bonus earning categories remain the same.
Earning bonus points for every dollar spent on electric vehicle charging is a nice addition, see how the card already earns 3 points per dollar spent on gas purchases.
Since the refreshed Citi Travel portal launched in March 2023, eligible cardholders (including Premier cardholders) have been able to earn rewards points on hotel bookings, car rentals and attractions when booked through this portal.
This perk was scheduled to end June 30 but is now an ongoing benefit of Strata Premier. While this can bring value to cardholders and increase their ThankYou Rewards points balance, there are many reasons why Booking directly is usually better.
It might be great to see the introduction of new rewards categories like streaming services, online retail purchases, or pharmacies. However, this card already has strong bonus categories.
Related: How to earn over 300,000 points in one year
Re-introduction of travel protection measures
The next set of benefits is quite interesting. Citi is introducing – or rather, reintroducing – four new travel protection benefits for cardholders:
- Trip cancellation and interruption
- Delay your trip
- Luggage is lost or damaged
- Car rental insurance
2019, Citi removes travel and purchase protections on multiple cards; Citi Premier lost 10 travel and purchase protections.
This is where things get interesting because back then, Citi inserted the following statement into its frequently asked questions for Citi Premier:
Citi continually evaluates our products to ensure that the benefits involved best meet our customers’ needs. As a result, we will no longer offer select protection benefits on your card so that we can continue to provide the key benefits that our customers use and value most without must pay additional fees. As a cardholder, you will continue to receive many valuable card benefits including FICO Credit Score, Citi Identity Theft Protection Solution, and Citi Entertainment.
This begs the question, what has changed? Perhaps it was the COVID-19 pandemic, during which those who booked travel with the Citi Premier card were left out of the loop and customer satisfaction dropped.
Regardless, the reinstatement of benefits that were removed about five years ago is a welcome change. However, it really just brings the Strata Premier back to the standards of many of its competitors, like Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
Related: The best travel insurance policies and providers
Advanced sign up bonus
For a limited time, customers new to Citi Strata Premier can earn 75,000 bonus ThankYou points after spending $4,000 within the first three months of account opening. Current Premier cardholders are not eligible for rewards on the new card.
The highest offer we’ve ever seen on a Citi Premier card is 80,000 bonus points, last offered in January 2023. The regular offer on Citi Premier has been 60,000 points for a while, so getting 75,000 points now is a good deal.
Bottom line
The new Citi Strata Premier is not much different from the Citi Premier.
While we would expect more enhanced benefits or perhaps the addition of new transfer partners, maintaining the current bonus categories with the same $95 annual fee is welcome (a bit uninteresting).
We’re seeing a new rewards category with EV charging, an extension of bonus points on select Citi Travel bookings, and the reintroduction of travel protections.
All in all, not much has changed – this card still has a strong value proposition.
We are more interested in Prestigious Citisuccessor. This premium card stopped accepting applications in mid-2021, and it is expected that Citi will launch a “Strata Elite” card later this year, which will hopefully benefit users. Reserve Chase Sapphire®the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card And American Express Platinum® Card a serious race for their money. Keep stable.
Information about Citi Prestige has been independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: Premium credit cards vs. mid-tier credit cards: Which should you buy?
