Do you have to pay with the Prestige card to get the 4th Night Free?

The Citi Prestige card has many great perks.  One of those perks is the ability to get a rebate of the full cost of the fourth night of a hotel stay booked through the Citi Prestige Concierge.  Full details about this benefit can be found here:  Complete Guide to Citi Prestige 4th Night Free.  And, here’s a review of the card’s primary perks:

• Earn 3X points for airfare, hotels, and travel agencies; and 2X points for dining and entertainment
• $250 air travel credit (including airfare) per calendar year
• Free lounge access: AA AAdmirals club access, and Priority Pass Select with free guests
• $100 Global Entry application fee credit
• Use points for 1.33 cents value for any flight; or 1.6 cents per point value on American Airlines; or transfer to airline partners
• 3 rounds of Golf free each year
• 4th night free hotel benefit

One question I’m often asked is whether it is necessary to pay for your stay with the Prestige card in order to get the 4th Night rebate.  Reasons for wanting to pay with another card include: special offers tied to other cards (e.g. Amex Offers), the need to meet minimum spend requirements, card perks (e.g. you may want to pay with your SPG card at an SPG property in order to earn 2X points).  And, even more tempting, is to pay with gift cards that were obtained at a discount.

In the past I’ve had success in earning the 4th Night Free rebate even when I paid entirely with gift cards [see: You DON’T have to pay with your Prestige card for 4th Night Free (but you should)].  However, that was before Citi changed concierge services.  Citi’s old concierge service (Ten Lifestyle Concierge) used to work with Carlson Wagonlit to book rooms.  Now, the new concierge service, Aspire Lifestyles, is able to book hotels directly.  That has mostly been a good thing: the new concierge service is able to book hotels directly rather than handing you off to a separate service.  Plus, they seem to be more open to using just about any hotel promo codes, group codes, etc. in order to get the best rates (note: not all readers have had success with these things. If you have trouble, I’d recommend hanging up and trying again with a different concierge).

Since the change to the new concierge service, I haven’t personally tested whether alternate payments have worked, but I know a person who has.  The short answer: there is no guarantee you’ll get the rebate if you don’t pay with your Prestige card.  Sometimes it works to pay with another form of payment and sometimes it doesn’t.  As a result, I recommend paying with your Prestige card to ensure getting the rebate.  Since the card offers 3 points per dollar at hotels, it is pretty rewarding anyway!

Here’s his full story:

1) I tested 2 times intentionally, both Hilton’s in Peru (April). I was getting some extra promo points by charging Hilton on Premier and felt if challenged, at least Citi card.  [Editor’s note: he means that charging the stay to another Citibank card might be safer since Citi can theoretically see that he at least charged the stay to a Citibank card]

2)  I really wanted this to work so I could do 4 night Hyatt and pay with gift cards!  I will likely not try that now unless things change.

3)  I keep track of 4th night in spreadsheet to make sure posts…..I have 7-8 already!

4)  One posted no problem. One did not post. I also had a legit stay not post in Bogota.

5)  I called about Bogota (March), a legit one, was told looks good and should post, be patient as terms are 2 statement cycles. It was about 2 months and they usually post within the month. I was just a few days short of 2nd statement cycle posting.  Still not posted a month later (June) and since one in Peru posted a few weeks ago, but the other one did not, I called.

6)  Aspire agent told me that upon review, I did not charge the full Bogota stay on my Prestige. I in fact did. There is an 18% hotel tax that guests with tourist visas less than 60 days are exempt, so bill was less than they were expecting. The Aspire agent said HE COULD NOT APPROVE, he needed to send to the manager who reviewed and denied the 4th night. It was approved and credited about 3-4 days later.

7)  They clearly do not credit for resort fees which is well known. I was also surprised to learn that even though it shows on my confirmations that I will receive credit for the 10% service fee, I did not in most cases (but I did in others). The Aspire agent informed me that […] since the 10% service fee is not part of the program […] the credit is adjusted.

8)  I did receive credit for the 18% tax on my Bogota Sheraton stay, even though I informed them that I was not subject to the tax. It was part of the hotel rate. This is true on every stay in Bogota…I received the credit including tax, even though I did not pay the tax. But in all other cases, they did not know I was not paying the tax.

9)  […] I asked that the Peru stay […] be reviewed, stating “I must have pulled out the wrong card” as charged to Premier. He stated they have access to all Citi cards, so his manager can review. I did not need to provide anything further. That was a bit surprising, full access to credit card charges, even beyond Prestige.

Conclusion

The Citi Prestige Concierge service does (at least sometimes) review accounts to make sure that full payment was made with the Citi Prestige card.  So, to be safe, always pay with your Prestige card for 4th Night Free reservations.  And, if your rebate does not post within two statement cycles of your stay, call to request a review.

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