Citi Prestige Change Confirmation
Last week I covered the news of widespread changes coming to the Citi Prestige card. Today I learned even more information about these changes courtesy of @thepointsjock over at Travel Hacking 101.
Recap of Changes We Know About
As a recap, last week we learned that the following changes will be taking place on July 23, 2017 for current cardholders:
- Loss of Admiral’s Club Access.
- Loss of 3 free rounds of golf.
- No more 1.33 or 1.6 cent value for airfare. All airfare can be booked at 1.25 cents per points.
- The 4th night free will be based on the average rate and taxes will not be included.
More Questions Answered
Following that post, many of you had questions that could not yet be answered. Thankfully I have some new information to share. Among the things I learned today are:
- The annual fee of $450 will remain the same. Citigold clients will still only pay $350 and authorized users are still $50.
- If you get the card after September 1, 2016 you will not have Admiral’s Club access at all.
- If you get the card before September 1, 2016 you will have Admiral’s Club access until July 23, 2017.
- No matter when you get the card, you can book AA flights at 1.6 cents each and other flights at 1.33 cents each until July 23, 2017.
- No matter when you get the card, you get three free rounds of golf which need to be booked by July 23, 2017. Prestige members will continue to get access to private courses, even without the free golf benefit.
- The 4th night free benefit will remain in its current form for all bookings made before July 23, 2017. If you make a booking before that date, the program will work as it currently does even if travel is after that date.
- The Priority Pass membership will remain the same and will still include two guests.
- As we already knew, the bonus categories, Global Entry credit and $250 airfare credit are remaining the same.
Conclusion
So there you have it. The big news coming out of this is that 4th night free bookings can be made for later travel under the old rules, that you can make golf bookings up until the change date and most importantly that anyone who gets the card after September 1, 2016 will be out of luck when it comes to getting into AA lounges. Of course with all of these negative changes and the annual fee remaining the same, I doubt as many people will be getting the card.
Your thoughts?
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I was thinking of getting this card as I have the premier. With the loss of those benefits why apply? I think I will wait till the end of August and see what Chase will be offering with their new Sapphire Reserve card being rolled out
I downgraded to Basic checking from Gold 5 months ago. I have 1500 bucks with them to keep the account free. I just paid my second annual fee on the Prestige for $350. I’m not the only one. Seems once you are Gold and then downgrade, the c card side continues to see you as gold. I have 2 other friends for which it’s the same. Every time I call they thank me for being a gold customer.
I just got this card and I already have a fraud alert on it which I found out by logging into my account for making a purchase of $2,500 at a Simon Mall (not the only purchase, just the largest). I already tried calling the alert in (it was the only option) and had to hang up the first time when I was transferred to some dept and then on hold for over 20 minutes. I called back and when the operator tried to transfer me again, I said I’m paying $450 for this card and I shouldn’t have to be on hold for 20 minutes. Of course, I was on hold again for 20 minutes before I again hung up. I’m not sure how I’m going to clear this.
Karen, I’m sure they will work thru the problem with you to a successful resolution. I will say that Citi’s customer service is very slow on all of the cards i have with them, but once you get a hold of them they’re competent. i try not to put purchases on there that may require disputes or adjustments (rental car, hotel), which stings because those are in the 3x earning category. yet another reason to dump the card. the value of CSP’s instant-access customer service agents has grown on me tremendously over the years.
Citi taking a lot of crap on this, but I really want to give credit where credit is due. A year’s advance notice of these changes is very much appreciated, and a very rare thing in this game. While I’m not thrilled with the changes, the way citi is handling the changes earns them an A+ in my book.
I doubt Citi actually wants to give you that notice, they have to by Federal law
so, what is the difference between this and the Premier going forward? you pay an extra hundred bucks or so (net, once the $250 credit is factored in) per year to have a Priority Pass membership? i just don’t get why on earth Citi thinks people will keep this card. my annual fee cycle is Oct-Oct, so i will keep for 1 more cycle for sure (and argue like hell for some sort of retention offer), but after that…you’d have to be crazy, considering how many other ways there are to get the PP membership. what am i missing??? this is nuts. the 4th night benefit is a pain in the ass to use and comes at the expense of access to many promotional rates.
It’s true that it’s annoying to use, but the savings is still worth it I think. Use it once (20 minute phone call) and you’ve probably covered the $200 difference in fees. And the $250 airline credit can be used for airfare, not just fees. Without considering TY points versus MR points, I don’t see how this DOESN’T compare favorably to the Amex Platinum.
4th night free is working well for me. Saved $1500 in the last three months. And, I’ve been able to book promotional rates at Marriott and Hilton, BAR at Ritz Carlton. Ymmv of course. Cheers.
I don’t know unless they think they might come up with some new benefits in the future…no idea what though. Or they are planning cuts to Premier but hard to imagine what could really be dropped from Premier.
I just got the Prestige last month and had envisioned keeping it long term but not now. Sure the 4th night could still offset the AF but we’ll have to see if my expected travel pattern the second year would make that worth it. Some trips I don’t stay that many nights at once but some I do.
Drop it like it’s hot.
LMAO!!!
Please do not forget that the $350 fee if you are citigold goes away if you are not come nov 1. You will need assets of at least $200000 with citi in order to keep your citigold perks.
Mark
Ah good point. Thanks for pointing that out.
What about the $350 fee for applying in-branch?
Wait Mark how did u find that out? Source? Thanks.