The Citi Expedia+ Voyager and Expedia+ cards are offering increased bonuses for Black Friday of 70,000 points after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months. While these cards initially appeared to be a snoozer, Andy at Lazy Traveler’s Handbook recently uncovered that the bonus could have some value excellent value after all — and at 70K, some readers may find it to be worth a look.
The Offer & Key Card Details
Click on the card name below to go to the dedicated Frequent Miler page with more information about this card and to find a link to apply.
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
25K points 25K after $2K spend in 3 months$95 Annual Fee Earning rate: 4X Expedia purchases ✦ 2x restaurants & entertainment Card Info: Mastercard World issued by Citi. This card has no foreign currency conversion fees. Big spend bonus: 5K anniversary bonus with $10K annual spend Noteworthy perks: ✦ $100 annual air travel fee credit ✦ Expedia+ Gold status |
Quick Thoughts
Based on the limited data available about this card, I’d have assumed that the ordinary 50K offer wasn’t really worthwhile since the points are worth 0.7c each towards most hotels and flights, making the bonus on the Expedia+ Voyager worth $350. Once you subtract the $95 annual fee, it’s not a terribly exciting bonus offer (indeed, I recently opened a checking account with a similar-sized bonus).
However, in a recent week in review around the web post, we linked to an excellent post written by Andy at Lazy Traveler’s Handbook where he shows that there are actually a fair number of opportunities to get 1.4c per point in value for “VIP” hotels that are reasonably-priced. While I think most of us assumed that VIP hotels meant that the 1.4c valuation would only apply to expensive hotels where you may only get a night or two at best, it seems that there are at least a fair number of mid-range $100-$200 per night properties in the VIP classification.
In fact, Andy included this link to search for VIP properties and see what is available. I pulled up next Wednesday in Orlando, FL (an admittedly cheap market) and found plenty of inexpensive VIP hotels.
The above weren’t even sorted by price: I saw a $47 Red Lion marked as a VIP hotel (be sure to look for the black VIP image next to the hotel stars to see VIP hotels). If you’re able to take advantage of VIP hotels, the increased 70K bonus on the Voyager card could buy you $980 in hotel stays. That changes the math quite significantly and makes this offer worth a look, especially if you’re not brand-loyal and/or are traveling somewhere without chain properties. Keep in mind that Expedia bookings will not qualify for elite credit or benefits or earn hotel points.
The timing certainly makes sense with Expedia likely looking to build some hype for Black Friday. On that note, this offer is only available until 12/2/19.
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I don’t know why this isn’t valued higher- 70k points X $0.70 = $395 minimum, but that doesn’t account for possibility to use VIP hotels AND also double if not triple dip. So that to me easily should bring it to $595 just with a double dip and no VIP hotels.
Anyway I got an instant approval last night and instantly upgraded to gold status, whatever that’s good for. I used chase UR points recently just at the 1.25 value on the portal and saw some cool stuff like experiences (just did a 5 day jungle trek to Ciudad Perdida)- some other values there.
applied…said pending. In my Expedia account my status has been upgraded to automatic Gold. Yet, Citi still says pending. Must be a computer lag in updating a screen or something…we’ll see.
Anyone apply today? If card is showing on your citi account, then what is your statement closing date? Want to apply but want to time it so I can triple dip credit.
Thanks for the info. Just was approved for the 50,000 point Voyager a couple days ago, so looks like I’ll be playing the bonus matching game with Citi once my card arrives.
This has been available for days.
Oh wait. You just got your affiliate links.
A) It’s not an affiliate link (which you can clearly see).
B) It’s been available to some people when they logged in to their accounts for a day or two and was rumored to be publicly available on Friday, but now it’s publicly available sooner than expected. Either way, it’s a bonus that is available and worth letting people know about.
C) If affiliate links dictated the decisions at this blog, the content would be a lot different. We list the best publicly-available offers on our Best Offers page — even when it means not listing our affiliate links for those cards (which happens often).
LoL! :-]
This is obviously your first time here. I suggest you stop posting statements are completely false so that you don’t make a fool of yourself. Everyone who is frequenting this site knows these guys are on our side and post only things that we can benefit from. And besides, even if it is an affiliate link, can’t they make money for the time they spend finding these deals and writing lengthy analyses?
Also comes with Airline credit, anyone know is works for gift cards?