Today Citi Thank You Points has added a new transfer partner: Choice Privileges. What’s more, they have added Choice at a ratio better than 1:1. Those with Premier and Prestige card will transfer 1,000 Citi ThankYou points to 2,000 Choice Privileges Points. That can certainly be attractive in the right situations.
The Deal
- Citi ThankYou Points can now transfer to Choice Privileges at the following ratios:
- Citi Prestige and Citi Premier Cardmembers
- 1,000 ThankYou points = 2,000 Choice Privileges
- Citi ThankYou Preferred, Citi Rewards+, Citi Double Cash (once converted to ThankYou points) cardmembers
- 1,000 ThankYou points = 1,500 Choice Privileges points
- Citi Prestige and Citi Premier Cardmembers
Key Terms
- Terms say “Points Transfers to Choice Privileges® may take up to 5 business days.”, but our test transfer posted immediately
Quick Thoughts
While Choice Privileges isn’t necessarily the most valuable points transfer partner, the fact is that Choice can be an outstanding value in some circumstances – particularly in Scandinavia where 16,000 Choice Privileges points can often get you a room costing north of $200 per night (and sometimes with both breakfast and dinner included).
If you have the Premier or Prestige card, an example like that would cost just 8,000 ThankYou points, which is a solid value. Even within the U.S. you can do well. In our latest look at Choice point value in the U.S., we found a median redemption value of 0.68 cents per point. With the 1 to 2 transfer ratio, that means that it’s easy to get 1.36 cents per ThankYou point value or better.
While quality varies quite a bit with Choice Privileges, there are certainly some cases where it can be quite handy. And in this case, Citi gets a leg up on Amex Membership Rewards and Capital One Miles as both of those programs offer transfers to Choice, but only at a 1:1 ratio. Given that Capital One has only announced those transfers and hasn’t yet enabled them, I wonder if this may cause them to re-evaluate the transfer ratio. Either way, it is surprising to see Citi lead the charge here — here’s hoping they have more positive changes in store.
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