Dec 30, 2014, 12:31 pm
Last edit by: mia
ALL Citi HHonors application links are now DEAD.
Citi's contract to issue Hilton co-branded cards ends December 31, 2017. Citi will sell most accounts to American Express. The criteria for determining which accounts are eligible to be sold are unpublished. Read Hilton FAQ: http://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/e...-card-faq.html .
Citi's contract to issue Hilton co-branded cards ends December 31, 2017. Citi will sell most accounts to American Express. The criteria for determining which accounts are eligible to be sold are unpublished. Read Hilton FAQ: http://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/en/e...-card-faq.html .
Citi Hilton Honors VISA (no annual fee version) [Ends Dec 2017]
Jul 6, 2015, 6:21 pm
#586
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
What a bummer.........we grabbed 2 last week but I use the points in 160K or 190K lots we should be good until April 2017.
Since I applied last week I will probably cancel every open HH card ( 8 I believe) this week and just keep the one I am making the spend on..............in reality 50 or 60K HH every 18 months is basically useless to us unless it was topping off a AXON or 5th night free award
Now what do I put my spend on, I need hotel points not airline
I have 170K spg, time to cancel my SPG business so I can churn it in a year and get going on Marriott again
Since I applied last week I will probably cancel every open HH card ( 8 I believe) this week and just keep the one I am making the spend on..............in reality 50 or 60K HH every 18 months is basically useless to us unless it was topping off a AXON or 5th night free award
Now what do I put my spend on, I need hotel points not airline
I have 170K spg, time to cancel my SPG business so I can churn it in a year and get going on Marriott again
Do you already have the Citi HH Reserve in your mix? It seems to have the same 18 month language, but you can do that every 18 months along with a 50k/60k/whatever every 18 months, and assuming some of your nights are on weekends that may perhaps help make 50k/60k only every 18 months more usable if you can combine it with 2 more nights from weekend certs from the Reserve card also every 18 months. (However, those certs expire while points don't, so you have to plan carefully when to apply for the Reserve.)
Similarly, you could try for Ritz-Carlton night certs with that card, and/or Hyatt night certs with that card, but again timing carefully since they probably expire too.
At the very least, it sounds like you may have to change hotels more often, because even if you'll find enough points or certs for your hotels, they won't always be that many at the same time from the same hotel program.
Jul 6, 2015, 6:32 pm
#587
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 6,605
I don't know that there is a simple answer. This card was the one and only one that you could use to get a lot of hotel points with minimum spend repeatedly in all recent years. I don't know if BofA's hotel cards were as quickly churnable as AS cards turned out to be (though recently that's slowed down some), but BofA dropped all hotel cards several years ago.
Do you already have the Citi HH Reserve in your mix? It seems to have the same 18 month language, but you can do that every 18 months along with a 50k/60k/whatever every 18 months, and assuming some of your nights are on weekends that may perhaps help make 50k/60k only every 18 months more usable if you can combine it with 2 more nights from weekend certs from the Reserve card also every 18 months. (However, those certs expire while points don't, so you have to plan carefully when to apply for the Reserve.)
Similarly, you could try for Ritz-Carlton night certs with that card, and/or Hyatt night certs with that card, but again timing carefully since they probably expire too.
At the very least, it sounds like you may have to change hotels more often, because even if you'll find enough points or certs for your hotels, they won't always be that many at the same time from the same hotel program.
Do you already have the Citi HH Reserve in your mix? It seems to have the same 18 month language, but you can do that every 18 months along with a 50k/60k/whatever every 18 months, and assuming some of your nights are on weekends that may perhaps help make 50k/60k only every 18 months more usable if you can combine it with 2 more nights from weekend certs from the Reserve card also every 18 months. (However, those certs expire while points don't, so you have to plan carefully when to apply for the Reserve.)
Similarly, you could try for Ritz-Carlton night certs with that card, and/or Hyatt night certs with that card, but again timing carefully since they probably expire too.
At the very least, it sounds like you may have to change hotels more often, because even if you'll find enough points or certs for your hotels, they won't always be that many at the same time from the same hotel program.
Neither of us has had the Reserve Card.
There are Many options ( even Arrival and Cap 1) to get the 13 or so nights oceanfront per year we need so while we may have to move to different hotels we can figure it out.
Didn't someone mess with the AA link when it died and get it working again ? I haven't had a AA card in years but I thought I read that someplace
Last edited by flyer4512; Jul 6, 2015 at 11:34 pm
Jul 6, 2015, 8:18 pm
#588
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 6,605
Amex has had some good offers with a lot of MR points lately, so you can keep your eyes out for those and convert the points to HH. And you can get some TYP cards from Citi. Also, while I've never looked at the details too closely, you can convert AA miles into HH points. No idea how favorable or unfavorable the exchange rate is.
Chase is clamping down and denying apps for some cards from people who have more than 4 or 5 applications with any issuer over the previous two years. So your 24 HH apps may be a problem. But the rule for now seems to be that they'll deny you for UR cards; co-branded cards like Mariott might not have been hit by the new rule yet.
Chase is clamping down and denying apps for some cards from people who have more than 4 or 5 applications with any issuer over the previous two years. So your 24 HH apps may be a problem. But the rule for now seems to be that they'll deny you for UR cards; co-branded cards like Mariott might not have been hit by the new rule yet.
What Amex card are you referring to ?
I have some work ( research) to do, TYP , HA both convert to HH.............I think you have t have status with AA to convert to HH but you can book Hilton hotels with AA points
Jul 6, 2015, 9:49 pm
#589
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
PRG had an offer for 50,000 MR points for $1,000 spend, and there was a business gold card offer for 75,000 MR points for $5,000 spend. Both cards waived the annual fee for the first year. I paired those two with the no-fee Everyday card which I'll keep to preserve the MR points assuming I'll close the other two, although I wouldn't rule out keeping PRG. There were also some Platinum offers for a lot of MR points. There's also the 85,000 HH point Surpass offer.
Jul 6, 2015, 11:39 pm
#590
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 6,605
PRG had an offer for 50,000 MR points for $1,000 spend, and there was a business gold card offer for 75,000 MR points for $5,000 spend. Both cards waived the annual fee for the first year. I paired those two with the no-fee Everyday card which I'll keep to preserve the MR points assuming I'll close the other two, although I wouldn't rule out keeping PRG. There were also some Platinum offers for a lot of MR points. There's also the 85,000 HH point Surpass offer.
I'll have to look into the Amex cards, I cancelled my SPG business today so I can hopefully grab that again in a year or so.
I know I had a Amex Gold card and got a 75K bonus around 2011 but I'm not sure if it was a personal (no churn) or a business card as I started my spreadsheet in 2012.
Jul 7, 2015, 5:43 am
#591
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
I got a Marriott card last week and my fiance got a Soutwest premier..........no problem with being well over 5 apps.
What Amex card are you referring to ?
I have some work ( research) to do, TYP , HA both convert to HH.............I think you have t have status with AA to convert to HH but you can book Hilton hotels with AA points
What Amex card are you referring to ?
I have some work ( research) to do, TYP , HA both convert to HH.............I think you have t have status with AA to convert to HH but you can book Hilton hotels with AA points
Jul 7, 2015, 7:20 am
#593
Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 1,269
Your threshold for objecting to marginally off-topic posts is pretty low. The brief discussion above is likely to be of interest to people who have been churning (or rapidly churning) the Citi HH card and are now looking for alternatives.
Jul 7, 2015, 9:59 am
#594
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 158
Regarding the 18 month time limit, my wife applied for the 60k offer by phone. They asked her if she had a Citi Hilton card opened in the last 18 months, and she said no. We didn't think much of it at the time, as we did not know about the 18 month limit. We'll as it turns out, she did have a Citi Hilton card opened 13 months ago, but they still approved her for the card and she still got the bonus after hitting the $1k spend req. This was all within the last 45 days.
Jul 7, 2015, 10:07 am
#595
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: 25 million points to burn!
Posts: 1,522
Regarding the 18 month time limit, my wife applied for the 60k offer by phone. They asked her if she had a Citi Hilton card opened in the last 18 months, and she said no. We didn't think much of it at the time, as we did not know about the 18 month limit. We'll as it turns out, she did have a Citi Hilton card opened 13 months ago, but they still approved her for the card and she still got the bonus after hitting the $1k spend req. This was all within the last 45 days.
Jul 7, 2015, 11:20 am
#596
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 158
Is there general consensus on how to interpret the "18 months" language?:
"Hilton HHonors Bonus Points offer not available if you have had a Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card account that was opened or closed in the past 18 months."
Upon first read, it looks like you have to have your Citi Hilton account closed for 18 months before you're eligible for another bonus. But it says "opened or closed," which would imply that if your account was opened more than 18 months ago, but never closed, then you're eligible. That would also suggest that, if you then closed that account, you would go from being eligible to ineligible for the next 18 months, which seems illogical. But that's how I interpret the language. Does anyone agree or disagree?
"Hilton HHonors Bonus Points offer not available if you have had a Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card account that was opened or closed in the past 18 months."
Upon first read, it looks like you have to have your Citi Hilton account closed for 18 months before you're eligible for another bonus. But it says "opened or closed," which would imply that if your account was opened more than 18 months ago, but never closed, then you're eligible. That would also suggest that, if you then closed that account, you would go from being eligible to ineligible for the next 18 months, which seems illogical. But that's how I interpret the language. Does anyone agree or disagree?
Jul 7, 2015, 1:18 pm
#597
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: home = LAX
Posts: 25,933
Is there general consensus on how to interpret the "18 months" language?:
"Hilton HHonors Bonus Points offer not available if you have had a Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card account that was opened or closed in the past 18 months."
Upon first read, it looks like you have to have your Citi Hilton account closed for 18 months before you're eligible for another bonus. But it says "opened or closed," which would imply that if your account was opened more than 18 months ago, but never closed, then you're eligible. That would also suggest that, if you then closed that account, you would go from being eligible to ineligible for the next 18 months, which seems illogical. But that's how I interpret the language. Does anyone agree or disagree?
"Hilton HHonors Bonus Points offer not available if you have had a Citi Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card account that was opened or closed in the past 18 months."
Upon first read, it looks like you have to have your Citi Hilton account closed for 18 months before you're eligible for another bonus. But it says "opened or closed," which would imply that if your account was opened more than 18 months ago, but never closed, then you're eligible. That would also suggest that, if you then closed that account, you would go from being eligible to ineligible for the next 18 months, which seems illogical. But that's how I interpret the language. Does anyone agree or disagree?
Citi appears to count from events, such as the card opening event or the card closing event, whichever was most recent.
Which is why cards (that are subject to "18 month" language on new apps) should be closed only around the same time a new card is opened. Only then will the 18 months from the last close be about the same as the 18 months from the last open.
Since this Citi HH card has no annual fee, if you've not gotten one lately, you should there keep any current one(s) open until it's time when you can apply for a new one. Remember to use them at least once or twice a year to avoid Citi cancelling them for "inactivity", since a cancelling by Citi is a "close".
Similarly, the consensus is that a conversion is treated by Citi as a "close" of the card you converted. So you cannot skirt the 18 month "rule" by converting instead of closing.
Jul 7, 2015, 2:23 pm
#598
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Brooklyn, NY, United States
Programs: AA, BA, UA, Spirit, Delta, PC Plat, SPG Gold, HHonors Diamond, Club Carlson Gold, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,735
Jul 7, 2015, 3:06 pm
#599
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,284
I'll urge my wife to take this offer as she never bothered with jumping on the recently expired 50k offers. I don't think this 75k offer does anything for the rest of us who've been following this thread for a while and have gotten at least one, if not multiples, of the Citi Hilton HHonors card recently. Any strategy for churning other than waiting 17 more months?
Jul 7, 2015, 3:24 pm
#600
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: On strike
Posts: 8,135
Great catch! Where did you find it? I checked Citi's site and it still points to the 40k offer.
I'll urge my wife to take this offer as she never bothered with jumping on the recently expired 50k offers. I don't think this 75k offer does anything for the rest of us who've been following this thread for a while and have gotten at least one, if not multiples, of the Citi Hilton HHonors card recently. Any strategy for churning other than waiting 17 more months?
I'll urge my wife to take this offer as she never bothered with jumping on the recently expired 50k offers. I don't think this 75k offer does anything for the rest of us who've been following this thread for a while and have gotten at least one, if not multiples, of the Citi Hilton HHonors card recently. Any strategy for churning other than waiting 17 more months?
If Citi is really enforcing the 18-month T&C, those of us who have been churning the late, lamented 50K offer really will have to sit on our hands & wait. However, the report above re phone approval (and earned bonus!) for the 60K card after a 13-month wait suggests the enforcement may not be altogether rigorous.