Citi has announced that cardholders of the Citi ThankYou Preferred, Rewards+, Double Cash and Custom Cash cards can all get $100 off of $500 or more on all hotel stays booked through Citi Travel from 10/16/23 to 1/31/24. That’s probably not quite as good as it sounds, but it is certainly worth keeping this discount in mind if you are a qualifying cardholder.
The Deal
- Citi is offering $100 off all hotel stays of $500 or more (before taxes & fees) for Citi ThankYou Preferred, Rewards+, Double Cash and Custom Cash cardholers who book between 10/16/23 and 1/31/24
Key Terms
- Must book through Citi Travel and have a qualifying card
- Can repeat the discount an unlimited number of times
Quick Thoughts
On the surface, a 20% discount on a $500 hotel stay sounds terrific. However, keep in mind there are some important caveats here:
- You won’t earn hotel points or elite night credits or qualify for elite benefits in most cases when you book through a credit card portal
- You can’t use discounts like AAA, AARP, or others that may apply to your situation when you book through a credit card portal.
- You can’t click through a shopping portal for rewards
- Citi’s prices tend to be very high compared to other booking options
That last point is the main reason this doesn’t excite me much. I haven’t looked much recently, but in the past I have frequently found Citi’s travel portal to be very much overpriced compared to others. I’m sure there are instances where this could make for a decent or even good deal, particularly on some independent hotels that you wouldn’t otherwise find on shopping portals, but there are others where this discount still won’t make it worth booking through Citi.
Do keep in mind that:
- Through June 2024, ThankYou Preferred and Rewards+ cardmembers can earn a total of 5X points by booking their hotels, rental cars and attractions through the Citi Travel site.
- Through December 31, 2024, Citi Double Cash cardmembers will earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rental and attractions booked through the Citi Travel site. This is 3% cash back on top of what they already earn with the card
Overall, I find this deal lukewarm, but worth keeping in mind.
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I recently rebooked some hotels in Spain via the Citi travel portal and some of the prices were cheaper than Expedia, while others were more expensive (though it could have been due to 4 weeks passing from the initial booking). But overall, I didn’t find that Citi’s portal was that much more expensive than Expedia’s (sometimes cheaper). Of course, I didn’t explore every avenue for each particular hotel.
Note that the Citi Premier already gives $100 off a $500+ booking and it gets 10x points through June 30, 2024, so I’m trying to take advantage of that in order to help meet the signup bonus.
So we get $200 off 500 with this deal?
No. As noted above, this perk is for “Citi ThankYou Preferred, Rewards+, Double Cash and Custom Cash cardholers.”
Basically they are temporarily giving these no fee cards the same perk that already comes with the Premier.
Interesting that they’re offering the “perk” of the $95 Premier card on these no annual fee cards.
Or no “perk” to the $495 Prestige