Where is the Premium Citi Thank You business card?

Where is the Premium Citi Thank You Business card?

I love my Citi Premier card and just recently acquired a Citi Prestige. Everything I’ve read online indicates that the Prestige is a massive hit and worth many times the annual fee. That’s why I just signed up for it! Now, I know that there is a Citi Thank You business card out there, and it seems like some people have had luck applying for it in branch, but where are the primo business cards? Given the success of the Premier and Prestige, and the growing number of wallet slots they occupy – where are the Citi Thank You Business Premier and Citi Thank You Business Prestige cards?

The History:

Citi launched their Thank You points program back in 2005. I had Amex and Mastercard versions of the premier pass circa 2008-2010. The program has evolved quite nicely and I particularly prefer the ability to transfer points to partners vs. the redemption options they used to have.

Back then the point accumulating ability was outstanding because of the travel-focused earning structure. Bonus Thank You points were given per mile flown, as well as base TY for the purchase, and you’d still earn EQM/RDM within the loyalty program you were flying on.

Example:

AA flight  $250 Flight and 2500 miles each way

• 250 Thank You points for the flight cost
• 5000 Thank You points for the miles
• 5000 EQM
• 5000 RDM
• Any class of service and elite bonuses

The Problem: You couldn’t get in on that ASPIRATIONAL TRAVEL with the old system

This was several years ago and obviously the earning was outstanding, but it was the redemption options that were the most limiting. The redemptions were static and facilitated through the Thank You portal for travel consolidated through Expedia. You could redeem for an ipod or a toaster, but I always redeemed for travel and throughout the time I had the card I earned loads of free flights. The downside is I always redeemed for coach as the redemption value was a penny per point, i.e. 50000 TY for $500 flight. If I wanted to redeem for a flight like my Etihad Business Studio it would have cost 700,000 Thank You points. CAHMONNNNN that is insulting.

I WANT MY BIDDDDDDDNESSSSSS

I however, prefer the Current Thank You program because of the transfer partners. I like the Premier and Prestige versions of the card as they provide opportunity to build flexible currency. The Prestige, in particular, has a sick amount of benefits. We shall see how much I use them over the next year, and what these new Citi lounges are going to look like, but if they offered a biz version with these bennies…we’d go bananas signing up. It’d also make keeping Citi Thank You points alive much easier as Miles and I could rotate and rotate and rotate and….rotate.

I wrote an article last month

saying that Chase’s 5/24 rule has given Amex a huge opportunity to capitalize on a horrendously restrictive policy. Well, it seems to me that Citi is being given a similar opportunity. The restrictions that Chase ( Ink Plus, Ink Cash) and Amex ( Open Gold/Plat) have imposed on small business cards have primed the market for a Citi business card that offers comparative benefits as their personal counterparts. I would sign up for both versions of the Citi Thank You business card if they came in Premier and Prestige sizes. Even with the recent downgrade of benefits with the Prestige card it still is a killer card.

So Citi…Get at it!