A Guide to Citi Premier Card Benefits Benefits

In terms of value, the Citi Premier® Card is hard to beat. This credit card offered by Citi, an advertising partner of The Ascent, earns bonus points in several categories and features an annual hotel savings offer. It’s also one of the more affordable travel rewards cards, with an annual fee of only $95.

In this guide, we’ll cover all the Citi Premier® Card benefits. Whether you’re comparing credit cards and checking out what this one offers or you’re already a cardholder and want to make the most of your card’s benefits, you’ll find all you need to know here.

Citi Premier® Card benefits

To start, here’s a look at the rewards and entertainment features you get with the Citi Premier® Card.

Rewards

The Citi Premier® Card gives you the opportunity to maximize rewards by collecting lots of bonus points. Here are the spending categories where you’ll earn 3 points per $1:

• Restaurants
• Air travel
• Hotels
• Supermarkets
• Gas stations

The number of bonus categories this travel rewards card has is a huge advantage compared to the competition. You’ll earn bonus points in two common travel categories: air travel and hotels. In addition, you’ll also earn bonus points in popular categories for everyday purchases, including supermarkets and gas stations.

All other purchases earn 1 point per $1 spent.

Citi Entertainment®

Citi Entertainment®, previously known as Citi Private Pass, is a program offering access to presale tickets and exclusive VIP experiences for entertainment events. It’s available if you have the Citi Premier® Card or any other Citi credit card with a Visa, Mastercard, or American Express logo. The following types of events are offered through Citi Entertainment®:

• Music
• Sports
• Dining
• Theater
• Virtual events

There are four different types of tickets you can get through this program:

• Citi Presale: The opportunity to purchase event tickets before they’re available to the general public. The standard presale period is two to three days before tickets go on sale to the general public, but this time frame varies depending on the event.
• Citi Preferred Tickets: An allotment of tickets set aside specifically for Citi credit card or Citibank debit card customers. These tickets are available for a limited amount of time during the public ticket sale period.
• Citi Complimentary Tickets: Complimentary tickets specifically for Citi credit card or Citibank debit card customers. These are available on a first come, first served basis, and availability can be very limited. You can receive a maximum of one complimentary offer per Citi account every six months.
• Citi VIP Packages: A ticket package specifically for Citi credit card or Citibank debit card customers. Each package includes at least one additional benefit, such as premium seating, merchandise, a meet and greet with the artist, or special access to hospitality areas in the event venue.

To view available events, visit the Citi Entertainment® website. While there’s no fee for using Citi Entertainment®, tickets to some events are sold through ticketing agencies that may charge their own fees.

Travel perks

Like other popular travel credit cards, the Citi Premier® Card has some excellent travel perks.

Annual hotel savings

This card gets you $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees, once per calendar year. To receive the discount, you must book the stay either through thankyou.com or by calling 1-800-THANKYOU. You also need to pay for it with your Citi Premier® Card, Citi ThankYou points, or a combination of the two.

It’s always nice when credit card offers pay for themselves. If you can take advantage of the $100 hotel savings every year, then you’ll come out ahead on the Citi Premier® Card’s $95 annual fee. And all you need to do is book a hotel stay that costs at least $500.

Note that if you stay at hotels often, and especially luxury hotels, you may get more value from the Citi Prestige® Card. While it has a much higher $495 annual fee, the Citi Prestige® Card offers a complimentary fourth night on paid hotel stays. The benefit is available up to two times per calendar year.

Citi ThankYou points transfer

The Citi Premier® Card earns points in the Citi ThankYou rewards program. One of the best parts about Citi ThankYou points is that you can transfer them to the loyalty programs of over a dozen travel partners. Here are the loyalty programs of the current Citi travel partners:

• Aeromexico
• Asia Miles
• Avianca LifeMiles
• Emirates Skyward
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Air
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• JetPrivilege
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Privilege Club
• Sears Shop Your Way
• Singapore Airlines
• Thai Royal Orchid Plus
• Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

When you transfer your Citi ThankYou points to one of these partners, you effectively turn them into points with that partner’s loyalty program. For example, if you transfer 10,000 points to the Avianca LifeMiles program, you’d get 10,000 miles. As a Citi Premier® Card holder, you get a 1:1 ratio on transfers to any of Citi’s airline partners. You get a 1:10 ratio on transfers to the Sears Shop Your Way program, meaning 1,000 Citi points would get you 10,000 Sears points.

With all the airline partners Citi has, the Citi ThankYou rewards program is perfect for frequent flyers. You can transfer points to an airline and then use those points to book an award ticket. It’s possible to get very high values, such as $0.03 per point or more, for your Citi rewards this way. Just keep in mind that the value you get when transferring your travel rewards depends on where you send them and what you book with them. Some airline partners have much higher value award tickets available than others.

No foreign transaction fees

There are no foreign transaction fees on purchases made using the Citi Premier® Card. It’s a good choice if you like to take international trips and need a card that won’t add to your travel costs. Many other credit cards add 3{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} foreign transaction fees. If you traveled outside the United States and spent $1,000, the Citi Premier® Card would save you $30 compared to cards that add 3{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5}.

Considering its perks and its price tag, the Citi Premier® Card stands out even among the best Citi cards. It offers bonus points in multiple popular spending categories. It gets you access to ticket presales and special deals courtesy of Citi Entertainment®. Best of all, it’s a fantastic travel credit card, offering hotel savings, versatile ThankYou Rewards points, and no extra foreign transaction fee for international purchases.