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We have long awaited the release of the new super premium Citi card that would ostensibly replace the retired Citi Prestige. As a bit of background, The Citi Prestige was an insanely valuable card when it first was released, in fact it included 2 rounds of golf per year, and a 4th night free on hotels ( you could even book Virtuoso rates with a 4th night free ). Over time Citi realized that it was a massive money loser, devalued the product, and ultimately ended new applications ( I have one still, grandfathered ).
At the end of July, Cit debuted the new Citi Strata Elite℠ Card with a 80k online offer, and 100k walk into a branch offer. The 100k offer is now online publicly and I kinda think it’s a no brainer for the first year. After that… we will see. My wallet is insanely heavy with ultra premium cards right now, but I’m a sucker for a one year trial and a big bonus.
The Strata Elite is the big brother to both the Citi Strata℠ and Citi Strata Premier℠ ( I think the Premier is the most underrated card on the market btw ). Let’s take a look at the card, if it makes sense for your wallet, and why now is the easiest time to get the card with a public 100k offer.
- Best of 2025 - transfer to AA
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The big premium bro of the most underrated card on the market, the Citi Strata Premier ℠ Card. Yo’ll get 1.5x everywhere + an interesting dining bonus shown below.
You’ll earn 6x points at restaurants every Friday and Sat between 6pm and 6am ET and 3x all other times.
Welcome Offer
100k Thank You points after $6k spend in the first 3 months of account opening
Annual Fee
$595 *See rates and fees
Points Earned
Premium Citi Thank You points
(Transferrable to partners including American Airlines )
This is the $595 version of the Citi Strata Premier which I think is the most underrated card on the market.
Transfer partners? American Airlines was just added to an already great list of air and hotel partners that fills in some gaps if you already have Amex or Chase cards in your wallet.
It has access to smaller programs like EVA and Turkish which opens up great business class opportunities to Europe and Asia. It also has a 1:2 transfer ratio to Choice which is great for using points at Preferred Hotels.
The only downside to the card is it doesn’t have many US parter programs like Amex, Bilt, or Chase.
- 12x points on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6x points on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6x points at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services, every Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. ET and 3x points any other time.
- 1.5x points on All Other Purchases
- Up to $300 Annual Hotel Benefit: Every calendar year, enjoy up to $300 off a hotel stay of two nights or more booked through Citi Travel.
- Up to $200 Annual Splurge CreditSM: Every calendar year, earn up to $200 in statement credits on your choice of up to two of the following brands: 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy®, Future Personal Training, and Live Nation.
- Up to $200 Annual Blacklane Credit: Every calendar year, enjoy up to $200 in statement credits when booking with Blacklane, a global chauffeur service. Earn up to $100 on Blacklane purchases January through June and up to $100 July through December.
- Up to $120 Global Entry® or TSA PreCheck® Application Fee Credit: Receive a statement credit, up to $120 every four years, as reimbursement for the application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
- Four American Airlines Admirals Club® Citi Strata Elite Passes (Worth Over $300 Annually): Every calendar year, receive four Admirals Club® Citi Strata Elite℠ Passes for access to nearly 50 Admirals Club® lounges worldwide
- Complimentary Priority Pass SelectTM membership (Worth $469 Annually): Complimentary access for primary cardmembers and authorized users, and up to two guests to 1,500+ airport lounges worldwide (not all lounges admit guests)
Reduced fees for Citi customers:
- Citigold® Private Client Relationship Tier credit: Qualifying Citigold Private Clients receive a $595 first year banking relationship credit and $145 Annual Credit each year thereafter if the primary cardmember has an open and current Citi Strata Elite Card account.
- Citigold® Relationship Tier credit: Qualifying Citigold clients receive $145 Banking Relationship Annual Credit if the primary cardmember has an open and current Citi Strata Elite Card
Application rules
- This has a 48 months rule in effect
- Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Premier® or Citi Strata Premier℠ account in the past 48 months
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
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.
Citi Strata Elite℠ Card Details:
The earning is heavily structured to reward you when you book through Cititravel and if you do a lot of dining on Friday and Saturday night. Personally, for the cost, the Premier is a better bang for buck at $95 and 3x for dining, gas, travel, supermarkets, and ev charging. If you’re a Citigold account holder, you’ll automatically get a $145 reduction in the $595 annual fee. This kicks the cost down to $450 ( if you would use the Splurge and BlackLane credits, you’d be paying $50 effectively for 4 Admirals Club passes and a $300 annual hotel benefit, and priority pass – note this one doesn’t include restaurants ).
The benefits are also calendar year… so everything you see down below, you’d get this year, and then again next year. That’s an easy way to recoup the annual fee in year one.
Card Earning:
- 12x points on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked on cititravel.com.
- 6x points on Air Travel booked on cititravel.com.
- 6x points at Restaurants including Restaurant Delivery Services, every Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. ET and 3x points any other time.
- 1.5x points on All Other Purchases
Credits:
- Up to $300 Annual Hotel Benefit: Every calendar year, enjoy up to $300 off a hotel stay of two nights or more booked through Citi Travel.
- Up to $200 Annual Splurge CreditSM: Every calendar year, earn up to $200 in statement credits on your choice of up to two of the following brands: 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy®, Future Personal Training, and Live Nation.
- Up to $200 Annual Blacklane Credit: Every calendar year, enjoy up to $200 in statement credits when booking with Blacklane, a global chauffeur service. Earn up to $100 on Blacklane purchases January through June and up to $100 July through December.
- Up to $120 Global Entry® or TSA PreCheck® Application Fee Credit: Receive a statement credit, up to $120 every four years, as reimbursement for the application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck®
Lounge Access
- Four American Airlines Admirals Club® Citi Strata Elite Passes (Worth Over $300 Annually): Every calendar year, receive four Admirals Club® Citi Strata Elite℠ Passes for access to nearly 50 Admirals Club® lounges worldwide
- Complimentary Priority Pass SelectTM membership (Worth $469 Annually): Complimentary access for primary cardmembers and authorized users, and up to two guests to 1,500+ airport lounges worldwide (not all lounges admit guests)
Reduced fees for Citi customers:
- Citigold® Private Client Relationship Tier credit: Qualifying Citigold Private Clients receive a $595 first year banking relationship credit and $145 Annual Credit each year thereafter if the primary cardmember has an open and current Citi Strata Elite Card account.
- Citigold® Relationship Tier credit: Qualifying Citigold clients receive $145 Banking Relationship Annual Credit if the primary cardmember has an open and current Citi Strata Elite Card
Application rules
- This has a 48 months rule in effect
- Bonus ThankYou® Points are not available if you have received a new account bonus for a Citi Strata Elite℠ account or converted into a Citi Strata Elite℠ in the past 48 months
- Currently you can get the card alongside the Prestige.
Will I get it? is it worth the bonus?
Gosh dangit…I probably will at a 100k offer. The access to EVA Air at 1:1, Iprefer at 1:4, and now AA access for shoring up my account is easily worth paying the fee. I’d use of the Splurge and BlackLane pretty easily since I travel so much.
Citi transfer partners: Now with American Airlines
The new access to American Airlines is going to attract a lot more people into the Cit Thank You ecosystem. This was temporarily available back in 2021, but ended less than a year later. It’s now back for Citi Strata Elite℠ , Citi Strata Premier℠ Citi Prestige cardholders. v
Overall
The fact that the card gives you a ton of the credits in 2025 and again in 2026 makes getting this card with a 100k offer a no brainer in my opinion. The addition of AA as a transfer partner has made Thank You points much easier to use for most people. The Splurge credits on AA alone would offset $400 of the fee which means, worst case you’re paying $195 for 100k points. Factor in the other credits at a fraction of their face value and it’s easy to justify the fee for the bonus in year one. See how you do after that…personally I’ll be holding on to my Prestige as well and my Strata Premier long term.
Rumor is current Citi Prestige cardholders will be converted to Strata Elite in 2026…so if you’re like me and you’re in this boat, it makes sense to get this card now, get a bonus while you can. As I mentioned above, the restrictions would be in effect for those who convert to a Strata Elite as well as those who have gotten a new one in the past 48 months.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. 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.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
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.
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