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Is Citi Prestige worth $450 annually?
My annual fee is coming due pretty soon and I’m going back and forth as to whether it’s worth paying the $450. It may actually be $350 with a Citi Priority banking account, but I’m having some issues with that. Anyways. Citi Prestige offers a ton of benefits – annual $250 travel credit, buy 3 get 4th night free on hotels, a great priority pass membership, and a bevy of other bennies so I’m weighing the pros and cons and if I should keep my Citi Prestige. So is Citi Prestige worth $450 annually?
First things first. Dollars out. Value In.
- Annual fee first year: $350
- Travel Credits: $500
My first year I paid a $350 annual fee because I had CitiGold checking. I closed that account and somehow retained CitiGold for a few months after. Then…it got downgraded to Citi Priority sometime last year – which was great. HOWEVER, I had an issue with logging into my account while traveling abroad and a new account was formed and I just noticed I didn’t have CitiPriority anymore. Fair enough, but I’m wondering if I can’t somehow relink my logins and get it back. We shall see. So for arguments sake – let’s say I have to pay the $450 this year.
Going into this year’s annual fee I’m up $150 from just the travel credits.
Buy 3 nights get 1 night free. $225
I stayed at the Caledonian last year in Edinburgh Scotland and utilized the 4th night free benefit. That alone was roughly $225. Add that in to the running total and I’m up $375 going into this annual fee.
I’ve utilized the lounge benefits A LOT. Prestige will lose Admirals Club access come June 20th, but it’ll still have a great Priority Pass membership.
Lounge access provides a lot of added value, but the Admirals benefit will be lost soon. Sure, I could use the $250 travel credit to offset buying a membership, but that’s a terrible use IMO.
A few Admirals Clubs I’ve visited
Priority Pass Membership has been amazing
- Cambodia
- Vietnam
- LAX Tom Bradley Korean Air
- LAX Air Canada
- Bangkok
- Edinburgh
- Taipei
- And on and on
The biggest debate I have with using the Priority Pass for creating a defined added value is my Amex Business Platinum gives me a priority pass membership as well. Thanks to reader DF who brought to my attention that the Amex Biz Plat also allows 2 guests…this is a redundant benefit if I do in fact keep the Biz Plat for another year ( which I’m not sure I will.)
Another factor is I’m under 5/24. I did just apply and was approved for the Business Preferred and there is conflicting evidence as to whether Chase biz cards fall under 5/24, but even if it does count, I’m back under 5/24 by August and could get the Reserve with another incredible Priority Pass membership.
Citi’s 24 month rule.
If you’re unfamiliar with their 24 month rule, check this out.
This means that even if I don’t want to keep the Prestige I need to downgrade the card to keep the 24 month tally I already have alive.
Another $250 Travel credit will hit January 2018.
So even the fees on award tickets like flying EVA with Singapore Air miles will get refunded.
Citi, unlike Chase and US Bank ( and their Altitude card), still gives the credit based on an annual basis, not cardmember year basis. This means I’ll get another $250. That brings this year’s running total up to $150 + $225 + $250. By the time my 3rd annual fee would hit I’d be ahead at least $625 – $450(2nd year fee( = $175
At this point I could look to downgrade my Prestige to a preferred card and reapply and start the process all over again as I would have 24 continuos months without opening or closing a citi card within the product family. Sheesh – so much work these days.
The other benefits I use: 3x travel, 2x dining and entertainment
I do tend to put spend through the Prestige, but as I pick up other cards, I’ll mainly use the Prestige for it’s provided benefits: $250 travel credit, priority pass, and buy 3 get 4 – not the spend given benefits.
I’m leaning towards keeping it open. The value seems to be there and that’s without taking into consideration using any buy 3 get the 4th night free benefits again.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
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