Citi Prestige Changes Confirmed: Better Earning, Less Benefits and Higher Fee
We already wrote a few weeks ago about the upcoming changes and the return of the Citi Prestige card. Now those changes have been confirmed through a dedicated page, and there’s even some new information that wasn’t revealed previously. We now know that the revamped card will be launched on January 4th, 2019. Here’s the good and the bad Citi Prestige changes with the new information in bold.
Positive Changes
- 5x Thank You Points on Dining
- 5x Thank You Points Airfare Purchases (airlines and travel agencies)
- 3x Thank You Points on Cruise Lines
- 3x Thank You Points on Hotels
- $250 credit for air travel will become a general $250 travel credit
- Cell phone insurance benefit beginning on May 1, 2019
Negative Changes
- Starting September 1, 2019 the 4th Night Free Benefit will be capped at two uses per year
- You will no longer be able to redeem TYP’s for 1.25 Cents on airfare through the portal
- Increased Annual Fee: $495/yr (Grandfathered $350 Citi Priority fee will be increased as well)
- $75 fee per authorized user
- Earnings on entertainment drop from 2x to 1x Thank You Points (after August 31, 2019)
- Beginning 09/01/19, Citi Prestige Concierge will no longer be available for Fourth Night bookings
Conclusion
These new changes make the card better when it comes to earning ThankYou points, but gut some of the perks that many people valued. With 5x on airfare and dining and 3x on hotels and cruises, the card is hard to beat. But then the fee is going up, 4th night benefit is being capped and you can no longer book it through Citi Prestige Concierge.
Would any of these changes make you apply or get rid of your Citi Prestige?
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Looks like several of my fellow readers are inferring that the ending of the Concierge is the end of the 4th night benefit (albeit capped). Is that the case?
How we will book the 4th night stays from Sept 2019 on?
After 08/31/19 all fourth night free bookings must be made through the thankyou.com portal.
Has Citi indicated whether there will be a limit to the number of Concierge bookings that can be made prior to 9/1/19 for stays in 2020 and whether the 4th night free would apply to all such bookings?
@Mddc73, thanks for that. I was assuming if I get billed the $495 annual fee in November, and it’s paid in December, I won’t get a refund if I use the $250 travel credit in January. Or does Citi pro-rate the refund? Cheers.
In the same boat as you @Jeepie, I wanted to cancel to get the prorate but a rep just told me that there is no more prorate on the prestige AF. Is this true? I can’t find any terms on the prorate
@jeepie keep it open till January 2020 so you can use the $250 for travel rebate for 2020.
Good catch … the travel rebate is by this funny calendar year, right? Which is to say that it starts anew after your December statement closing date (which also implies you can’t wait until the very end of December to use your credit for a given year).
Or am I hallucinating again?
@Gene, great observation. My renewal fee just hit. I have to pay it because I have a booking next August with a $3k refund coming. I now realize I have to pay with the card and also keep it in force until the reimbursement. If I get the reimbursement within two billing cycles, I will probably dump the card. That is, unless I have more bookings in the meanwhile. I can still use the concierge until September, for bookings where I also get loyalty points, so I can’t predict my action next anniversary. They’re definitely on probation with me though. Ymmv. Cheers.
Here’s the thing — I feel like we’re about to go into a feast before the famine. Yes, the fee is going up, in my case from $350 to $495. But, right now, I’m still in the $350 zone, and — if I understand correctly (always a big “if”) — those of us who have been grandfathered in at that rate will still be able to sign up again at that rate until Sept 2019. Which could well be worth it, since until then — here’s the feast part — we can still use the 4th night free *and* earn 5x at dining which converts to 6.25x if used for airline tickets. Which is not bad.
So nobody should be cutting off their nose to spite their face, which is to say ditching the card *now* in anticipation of how lousy it will be post-Sept 2019, especially when the first 2/3rds of 2019 can be a bonanza for eat-outers.
This is the one card I regret most not getting when it was available, but with new changes I will definitely not be getting it. No concierge / no direct booking benefits is a DEAL BREAKER
It was my favorite card when it first launched years ago and now it looks nothing like what it was. Sad
I agree with Rick. The concierge change is a deal breaker for me also. I’ve had this card for a few years also but will not be renewing it.
Not being able to use the Concierge for fourth night free bookings makes this card worthless for me. I have had the Prestige since 2015 and since that time it has been one devaluation after another. This card has gone from the best premium card to the worst. I will cancel the Prestige in June.