All-New Citi Strata Elite Card, Plus Rebranded Citi Strata Card

Citi is an promoting associate.

There’s a brand new premium bank card in the marketplace and CNBC Select has every little thing you could know.

Recently, Citi introduced the all-new Citi Strata Elite℠ Card, targeted on journey and eating advantages. We suppose the $595 Strata Elite stands out most for its handful of assertion credit and excessive 12X rewards price on accommodations, automotive leases and sights booked on cititravel.com. A giant plus, cardholders also can switch their factors to American Airlines.

In its current announcement, Citi has additionally rebranded the Citi Rewards+ Card (now not obtainable) to the Citi Strata℠ Card. This no-annual-fee bank card is extra of an on a regular basis card that permits you to select your individual rewards class from a listing of choices.

Read extra about each “new” Citi playing cards beneath, together with their welcome bonus presents.

The revamped Citi Strata has a welcome provide of 30,000 bonus factors after spending $1,000 within the first three months of account opening.

The new Citi Strata Elite has a barely greater provide of 80,000 bonus factors after spending $4,000 within the first three months of account opening.

Both of those Citi playing cards earn rewards within the type of Citi ThankYou® Points, which will be redeemed for a variety of rewards at various values.

The Citi Strata is a no-annual-fee card.

The Citi Strata Elite, however, comes with a $595 annual charge, in trade for its extra premium choices. It’s fairly normal for a premium journey card to be this costly; Chase only in the near past upped its lux Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) to $795 per yr.

Now, the Citi Strata Elite does include nearly $1,500 in worth yearly, which helps offset the price of the cardboard. What’s most necessary is that the advantages match simply into your way of life; extra on that beneath.

The no-annual-fee Citi Strata does not have any extra advantages itself, however does qualify for World Elite Mastercard advantages, together with Lyft, Mastercard ID theft safety, priceless experiences and extra.

With the Citi Strata Elite being a extra premium card, it brings many perks that target elevated journey and eating choices:

• Hotel advantages: Enjoy as much as $300 off a resort keep of two nights or extra booked by way of Citi Travel each calendar yr
• Annual Splurge Credit: Earn as much as $200 in assertion credit out of your alternative of as much as two of the next manufacturers: 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy, Future Personal Training and Live Nation, with the choice to vary your choice at any time
• Annual Blacklane Credit: Enjoy as much as $200 in assertion credit when reserving with Blacklane, as much as $100 from January by way of June and as much as $100 from July by way of December
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® credit score: Receive a press release credit score of as much as $120 each 4 years as reimbursement for the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck utility charge
• American Airlines Admirals Club passes: Every calendar yr, you will obtain 4 Admirals Club Citi Strata Elite passes, good for entry to 50+ Admirals Club lounges
• American Airlines level transfers: Can switch Citi ThankYou® Points to American Airlines AAdvantage miles at a 1:1 ratio
• Complimentary Priority Pass Select membership: Access to 1,500+ airport lounges worldwide for the first cardholder and licensed customers, plus as much as two friends
• Access to The Reserve by Citi Travel: A set of 4.5- to 5-star accommodations
• Citi Entertainment: Exclusive entry to buy tickets to 1000’s of occasions, with particular experiences for the yr’s most anticipated
• Access to “Fashioned:” Complimentary entry to Death & Co’s way of life platform “Fashioned,” which has cocktail tutorials, mixology programs and extra
• Travel and buying protections: Perks like journey delay safety, enhanced journey cancellation and journey interruption safety and misplaced or broken baggage safety, GraspRental protection, prolonged guarantee and buy assurance plus
• No international transaction charges

The Strata Elite can be the primary issued “World Legend” bank card, the most recent premium tier to the Mastercard Collection, providing precedence reservations at eating places, together with in Europe by way of Mastercard’s partnership with TheForok, ticketing entry and extra.

The skill to switch ThankYou® Points to AAdvantage miles — a favourite perk of ours — is accessible to Citi Strata Elite, Citi Strata Premier℠ and Citi Prestige® Card clients (the final now not open to new candidates).

When it involves incomes Citi ThankYou® Points, the Citi Strata provides you the power to decide on certainly one of your individual classes:

• Earn 5X factors on accommodations, automotive leases and sights booked on Citi Travel through cititravel.com
• Earn 3X factors on an eligible self-select class of your alternative (health golf equipment, choose streaming providers, stay leisure, beauty shops/barber retailers/hair salons or pet provide shops)
• Earn 3X factors at supermarkets
• Earn 3X factors on choose transit purchases
• Earn 3X factors at fuel & EV charging stations
• Earn 2X factors when spending at eating places, together with restaurant supply providers
• Earn 1X factors on all different purchases

The self-select class defaults to streaming providers, however you possibly can change it as soon as per quarter, both on-line or by calling customer support.

The Citi Strata Elite is extra travel-focused, with its rewards providing:

• Earn 12X factors on accommodations, automotive leases and sights booked on cititravel.com
• Earn 6X factors on air journey booked on cititravel.com
• Earn 6X factors at eating places, each Friday and Saturday, from 6 PM to six AM ET; earn 3X factors some other time
• Earn 1.5X factors on all different purchases

What first jumps out concerning the new Strata Elite is the 12X rewards class, which is excessive in comparison with many bank cards today, even amongst these with massive annual charges. It’s value noting that so as to earn this elevated price, you will need to ebook by way of the Citi Travel portal, which can prohibit your choices.

The Strata Elite additionally has one thing somewhat distinctive about certainly one of these rewards classes: a time-frame. On Friday and Saturday nights, from 6 PM to six AM ET, you will earn double the conventional rewards on restaurant spending, for a complete of 6X factors, with the time-frame being dubbed “CitiNights.” While the 3X factors earned some other time are a strong return, the bump to your rewards on Friday and Saturday evenings might make weekend date nights slightly extra rewarding.

Redeeming your factors

The ThankYou® Points that each the Citi Strata and Citi Strata Elite provide will be redeemed for quite a lot of totally different rewards, with various ranges of worth:

• Travel
• Gift playing cards
• Purchases at choose retailers
• Cash again
• Point transfers and sharing for eligible clients
• Charitable contributions

You’ll possible obtain the best worth out of your ThankYou® Points once you switch them to certainly one of Citi’s 20 totally different switch companions, together with 14 airways, 5 accommodations and 1 retail possibility:

• ALL Accor Live Limitless (2:1 ratio)
• Aeromexico (1:1 ratio)
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue (1:1 ratio)
• Avianca LifeMiles (1:1 ratio)
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1:1 ratio)
• Choice Privileges (1:2 ratio OR 2:3 with choose Citi playing cards)
• Emirate Skywards (1:1 ratio)
• Etihad Guest (1:1 ratio)
• EVA Air (1:1 ratio)
• JetBlue TrueBlue (1:1 ratio OR 5:4 with choose Citi playing cards)
• Leaders Club (5:1 ratio)
• Preferred Hotels & Resorts (1:4 ratio)
• Quantas Frequent Flyer (1:1 ratio)
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club (1:1 ratio)
• Shop Your Way (1:10 ratio)
• Singapore Airlines (1:1 ratio)
• Thai Royal Orchard Plus (1:1 ratio)
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles (1:1 ratio)
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club & Virgin Red (1:1 ratio)
• Wyndham Rewards (1:1 ratio OR 5:4 with choose Citi playing cards)

Since Citi presents a variety of switch companions, you might have elevated flexibility with the factors you are incomes, letting you choose the airways and accommodations that finest suit your wants.

If you are in search of extra advantages than the Citi Strata presents however a more cost effective possibility than the Citi Strata Elite, listed here are some alternate options we love.

The Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express is a superb $0 annual charge card (see rates and fees) that earns a strong price of rewards in on a regular basis spending classes, like at U.S. supermarkets and on U.S. on-line retail purchases. If you might have an eligible Disney streaming membership, you possibly can obtain a credit score of as much as $84 in $7 month-to-month chunks after utilizing your enrolled Blue Cash Everyday Card to spend $9.99 or extra every month (topic to auto renewal). The card earns money again within the type of Reward Dollars, which might then be redeemed for assertion credit to assist pay your bank card invoice.

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For charges and charges of the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express, click on here.

Information concerning the Citi Rewards+ Card, Citi Prestige® Card has been collected independently by CNBC Select and has not been reviewed or supplied by the issuer of the cardboard previous to publication.