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Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes effective July 23, 2017

Old Jul 25, 2016, 12:23 pm
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Last edit by: oopl
7/16: New changes that will take effect on 7/23.
  • 4th night free bookable online at thankyou.com (benefit applied as discount at checkout)
  • Cash out TY at 1 cpp
  • metal card
  • 75,000 TY for $7,500 spend signup bonus

1. The following benefits will be changed effective July 23, 2017:

- Loss of AA Admirals Club Access (Effectively immediately if the account is opened on or after 09/01/2016. See Post 296.

- $0.0125 per each TY points for airfare redemptions at thankyou.com.

- Loss of Complimentary International & Domestic Golf

- 4th Night benefit will be based on the average nightly rate of your complete stay for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. Taxes will no longer be included within the statement credit.

2. $100 Annual Fee Reduction will be extended to Citi Priority if you are currently a Citigold client and you are impacted by the increase in minimum balance and downgrade.
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Citi Prestige benefit and reward changes effective July 23, 2017

Old Jul 27, 2016, 11:03 pm
  #226  
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: LAX, LGB, SNA
Programs: AA EXP OWE, DL DM ST+, AS MVPG, UA, BA, WN CP, Hyatt E, Ritz Plat, HH GM
Posts: 3,185
Originally Posted by abk
I just changed from the Exec card to this card for two reasons: It saves $250 for the AC and you can use these points whereas saver awards are pretty useless. To me this is a defensive move to salvage the Exec card which has no real reason to exist with the old benefits on this card.
Wow, that's very true. I mean when you're going to an AC, you're almost always gonna be flying AA, since it's in the terminal. Some airports are a pain to transit between terminals. I've never been near an AC without flying AA.
hiima is offline  
Old Jul 27, 2016, 11:46 pm
  #227  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: EWR-SEA-IAD
Programs: UA 1P MM, AS MVP G*, SPG Gold, Hyatt Plat, IHG Plat, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 977
Just got the official notice in my email:



As a valued cardmember, we want to inform you of changes to your Citi Prestige card. As of July 23, 2017 , some of your existing benefits will no longer be offered or will be changed.

Lounge Access

Access to American Airlines Admirals Club lounges will no longer be offered with your Citi Prestige Card.

You will continue to have complimentary access to Priority Pass TM Select Lounges and Citi Proprietary Lounges. You, your authorized users, immediate family or up to two guests will continue to enjoy access to over 850 airport lounges worldwide.

Redeeming ThankYou Points for Flights

You will only receive 25% greater value versus gift cards on all airfare redemptions with your ThankYou points. For example, 50,000 ThankYou points will now be redeemable for $625 in airfare on all airlines available at thankyou.com.

Complimentary International Golf

The three complimentary rounds of golf will no longer be offered with your card for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. You'll continue to have access to over 2,000 celebrated and legendary golf properties around the world with access to select TPC properties provided by MasterCard.

Complimentary 4th Night *

The Complimentary 4th Night benefit will be calculated based on the average nightly rate of your complete stay for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. Please see the reverse side of this letter for examples of how the benefit will be calculated. Taxes will no longer be included within the statement credit. You will still be able to enjoy your benefit at any hotel with no restrictions on the number of times you can use this benefit. All other terms of the Complimentary 4th Night benefit will remain unchanged.

The following benefits of your Citi Prestige card will remain unchanged:

Ÿ Your annual $250 Air Travel Credit

Ÿ $100 Statement credit for your Global Entry or TSA Pre application fee

Ÿ No foreign transaction fees on purchases

Ÿ 24/7 Access to the Citi Prestige Concierge

Ÿ 3x Points on Air Travel & Hotels, 2X points on Dining & Entertainment and 1 Thank You Point per $1 spent on other purchases

Ÿ Travel & Emergency Assistance, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection and Trip Delay Protection

Ÿ If you have an eligible banking relationship, you will continue to receive your Relationship Bonus.

We continually explore ways to enhance your Citi Prestige experience. Please continue to visit citi.com/citiprestige or refer to your Directory of Services which contains the Terms & Conditions of your benefits.

We encourage you to take advantage of the changing benefits through July 23, 2017 in conjunction with the many remaining exceptional benefits that enhance your experiences wherever your adventures take you.

Questions?

Feel free to contact us with any questions. You can visit us or call 1-877-288-2484 (TDD/TTY: 1-800-325-2865).

Legal Notices

* Complimentary 4th night benefit
For reservations made on or after July 23, 2017 for every four or more consecutive nights booked, you will receive a statement credit equivalent to the total cost of your entire stay divided by the number of nights stayed. For example, if you reserve a 4-night stay, and the first and second nights are $100 a night and the third and fourth nights are $200 a night, for a total of $600, you will receive a $150 statement credit. For reservations made before July 23, 2017, you receive a statement credit for the value of the of the 4th night's actual room rate, which in this example would be $200.

2015 Citibank, N.A.Citibank, N.A. Citi, Citibank, Citi with Arc Design, Citi Prestige, Citi ThankYou, ThankYou, Private Pass, The Lost Wallet and Citi with Arc Design are registered service marks of Citigroup Inc. Citi Private Pass Beyond is a service mark of Citigroup Inc.
HGHUA is offline  
Old Jul 27, 2016, 11:55 pm
  #228  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: PDX
Programs: AA Plat, Nexus
Posts: 358
Citi Prestige: Loss of AA lounge access, ThankYou points devaluation coming July 2017

Just received this via email. No more AA lounge access, and pretty severe points devaluation:


As a valued cardmember, we want to inform you of changes to your Citi Prestige card. As of July 23, 2017 , some of your existing benefits will no longer be offered or will be changed.

Lounge Access
Access to American Airlines Admirals Club lounges will no longer be offered with your Citi Prestige Card.

You will continue to have complimentary access to Priority Pass TM Select Lounges and Citi Proprietary Lounges. You, your authorized users, immediate family or up to two guests will continue to enjoy access to over 850 airport lounges worldwide.

Redeeming ThankYou Points for Flights
You will only receive 25% greater value versus gift cards on all airfare redemptions with your ThankYou points. For example, 50,000 ThankYou points will now be redeemable for $625 in airfare on all airlines available at thankyou.com.

Complimentary International Golf
The three complimentary rounds of golf will no longer be offered with your card for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. You'll continue to have access to over 2,000 celebrated and legendary golf properties around the world with access to select TPC properties provided by MasterCard.

Complimentary 4th Night *
The Complimentary 4th Night benefit will be calculated based on the average nightly rate of your complete stay for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. Please see the reverse side of this letter for examples of how the benefit will be calculated. Taxes will no longer be included within the statement credit. You will still be able to enjoy your benefit at any hotel with no restrictions on the number of times you can use this benefit. All other terms of the Complimentary 4th Night benefit will remain unchanged.

Last edited by mia; Jul 28, 2016 at 6:35 am Reason: Formatting
Cat Man Do is offline  
Old Jul 27, 2016, 11:57 pm
  #229  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: USA
Programs: IHG/Spire Amb., Hilton/Diamond, SPG/Gold, Marriott/Gold, AA/Plat, Southwest/CP
Posts: 270
Changes to Citi Prestige in July 2017: No More Admirals Club

Just got this rather unfortunate email from Citi:

As a valued cardmember, we want to inform you of changes to your Citi Prestige card. As of July 23, 2017 , some of your existing benefits will no longer be offered or will be changed.

Lounge Access

Access to American Airlines Admirals Club lounges will no longer be offered with your Citi Prestige Card.

You will continue to have complimentary access to Priority Pass TM Select Lounges and Citi Proprietary Lounges. You, your authorized users, immediate family or up to two guests will continue to enjoy access to over 850 airport lounges worldwide.

Redeeming ThankYou Points for Flights

You will only receive 25% greater value versus gift cards on all airfare redemptions with your ThankYou points. For example, 50,000 ThankYou points will now be redeemable for $625 in airfare on all airlines available at thankyou.com.

Complimentary International Golf

The three complimentary rounds of golf will no longer be offered with your card for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. You'll continue to have access to over 2,000 celebrated and legendary golf properties around the world with access to select TPC properties provided by MasterCard.

Complimentary 4th Night *

The Complimentary 4th Night benefit will be calculated based on the average nightly rate of your complete stay for reservations made on or after July 23, 2017. Please see the reverse side of this letter for examples of how the benefit will be calculated. Taxes will no longer be included within the statement credit. You will still be able to enjoy your benefit at any hotel with no restrictions on the number of times you can use this benefit. All other terms of the Complimentary 4th Night benefit will remain unchanged.

The following benefits of your Citi Prestige card will remain unchanged:

Ÿ Your annual $250 Air Travel Credit

Ÿ $100 Statement credit for your Global Entry or TSA Pre application fee

Ÿ No foreign transaction fees on purchases

Ÿ 24/7 Access to the Citi Prestige Concierge

Ÿ 3x Points on Air Travel & Hotels, 2X points on Dining & Entertainment and 1 Thank You Point per $1 spent on other purchases

Ÿ Travel & Emergency Assistance, Trip Cancellation & Interruption Protection and Trip Delay Protection

Ÿ If you have an eligible banking relationship, you will continue to receive your Relationship Bonus.

We continually explore ways to enhance your Citi Prestige experience. Please continue to visit citi.com/citiprestige or refer to your Directory of Services which contains the Terms & Conditions of your benefits.

We encourage you to take advantage of the changing benefits through July 23, 2017 in conjunction with the many remaining exceptional benefits that enhance your experiences wherever your adventures take you.
Definitely bummed about losing the Admirals Club access and will not keep the card unless they add something damn good to replace it. However, I see the new 4th night free calculation as being potentially a good thing, I guess depending on how you use it. I've had stays where my 4th night was the cheapest, but also used it on NYE in Barcelona last year.
LaphroaigAndRibeye is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 12:28 am
  #230  
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: PHL
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, AA Gold, FB Gold, ITA Volare Executive
Posts: 3,293
Yeah, and, good grief, while no one likes to lose anything they had, a year's lead-time -- in writing -- is sweet. I can hardly believe that I'll still be able to earn and burn on AA at 1.6x for all that time.

Also, my wife was getting cranky from me making her play golf to squeeze the full benefits out of her card.
Biggie Fries is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 12:37 am
  #231  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 21
Just received my notice

Thanks to Citi for the 11month notice (similar to Costco Amex), but not sure there will be much use for the Citi Prestige after elimination of these benefits unless they offer some sort of compensation for affected cardmembers in the form of TY pts bonuses, reduced fee, new sign-up bonus round, or other retention perks.

What would make you keep this card?
FlyinStone is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 12:49 am
  #232  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: LAX
Posts: 6,769
Yup. This reminds me of when the Amex Platinum lost Admirals' Club access. They had to build Centurion Lounges. That kept me a customer.

However, I don't see anything to compensate for the loss on this card. What's a Citi Proprietary Lounge?
FlyMeToTheLooneyBin is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 1:33 am
  #233  
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Programs: None
Posts: 1
Originally Posted by FlyMeToTheLooneyBin
Yup. This reminds me of when the Amex Platinum lost Admirals' Club access. They had to build Centurion Lounges. That kept me a customer.

However, I don't see anything to compensate for the loss on this card. What's a Citi Proprietary Lounge?
Agreed. Going to (most likely) be ditching this card unless something changes.
ajpuciat is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 2:09 am
  #234  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Location: STL
Programs: AA
Posts: 167
Originally Posted by FlyinStone
Thanks to Citi for the 11month notice (similar to Costco Amex), but not sure there will be much use for the Citi Prestige after elimination of these benefits unless they offer some sort of compensation for affected cardmembers in the form of TY pts bonuses, reduced fee, new sign-up bonus round, or other retention perks.

What would make you keep this card?

I still see value in this card but would like to see the fee reduced to 350 (effectively making the AF $100). As I see it now, it's basically going to become a SP card with Priority Pass for a hundred dollars more than the SP annually (when you subtract the air credit), if they drop the AF by a hundred dollars, they would definitely be very competitive again.

To answer your question, I will probably keep it at the current annual fee but will definitely keep it at $350
moonwoo is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 2:15 am
  #235  
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: San Francisco
Programs: Amex MR, SPG Gold, HHonors Gold, AS MVP
Posts: 518
Originally Posted by FlyinStone
Thanks to Citi for the 11month notice (similar to Costco Amex), but not sure there will be much use for the Citi Prestige after elimination of these benefits unless they offer some sort of compensation for affected cardmembers in the form of TY pts bonuses, reduced fee, new sign-up bonus round, or other retention perks.

What would make you keep this card?
The 4th night free benefit easily pays for the card as far as I'm concerned. But yeah, if you don't frequently have long hotel stays you should definitely switch to the Premier unless you place an unusually high value on the PP.
taliesin is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 2:28 am
  #236  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: ATL
Posts: 802
Originally Posted by HGHUA
Just got the official notice in my email:
Got mine also,,, just glad I walked into a bank branch in NYC as it makes the devaluation sting not so bad.

Last edited by bigbuy; Jul 28, 2016 at 2:45 pm
bigbuy is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 3:34 am
  #237  
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Location: 10023-Central Park West
Programs: CHASE UNITED CLUB; CITI PRESTIGE; IHG SPIRE AMBASSADOR; RITZ-CARLTON GOLD; Global Entry
Posts: 227
Yes, the news is damaging. However, I am in the camp $350 with CITIGOLD and 15% bonus and 11750 pts yearly with my CITIGOLD account. I have to wait until I see the new benefits for CITIGOLDs and the new Chase Saphire-Elite card to make a move.
Most likely, I will keep this card and continue to pay $350-$250 because the Lounge Club by the Ritz card is very limited internationally. Within USA, I think I will fly exclusively United with United Club membership anyway.

Nonetheless, it is a bad news.
ylord789 is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 3:44 am
  #238  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 456
Originally Posted by moonwoo
I still see value in this card but would like to see the fee reduced to 350 (effectively making the AF $100). As I see it now, it's basically going to become a SP card with Priority Pass for a hundred dollars more than the SP annually (when you subtract the air credit), if they drop the AF by a hundred dollars, they would definitely be very competitive again.

To answer your question, I will probably keep it at the current annual fee but will definitely keep it at $350
I feel the same. Ultimately, the point devaluation isn't a big deal to me as I'm planning transfer to miles. I also don't fly AA, as I'm based internationally for now so AA lounge access isn't a big deal either. The change to fourth night free could be good or bad. Obviously losing tax coverage sucks, but the averaging out the rate is good for people when the fourth night rate is cheaper than the averager rate so it's not too bad.

Of course, everyone's situation is different. Some people really value the benefits that were lost, so it would make sense for them to be upset and cancel. For me, the airfare rebate, fourth night free and PP Select with guests benefits have been the biggest ones for me. Removing one of these (or making the airline reimbursement to incidentals only) would probably cause me to cancel but the one year advance notice is definitely a classy move on Citi's part. I don't think I could get angry as that gives plenty of time to find an alternative.

Of course, if another card came out with these three benefits, I might consider consider making a switch from the Prestige and just keeping my Premier. The City National Visa Infinite looks extremely interesting (especially if I move home) and I'm excited to see the new Sapphire Reserve as well. If Chase does it right, the Sapphire Reserve is perfectly timed to take advantage of all of these disgruntled Prestige cardholders.
baroqen is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 4:58 am
  #239  
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Programs: AA EXP, Marriott Silver
Posts: 88
Any idea on whether the annual fee will change next year to align with the reduction of benefits? The value of lounge access alone is worth $450-500, depending on AA status. The absence of Priority lounges (or whatever they're called) at PHL renders this car worthless as of July 23, 2017.

Last edited by ajklink; Jul 28, 2016 at 5:08 am
ajklink is offline  
Old Jul 28, 2016, 5:19 am
  #240  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 70
Losing the golf benefit is a killer for me. This is worth $400-500/year and made having the card worthwhile. No golf benefit + no AA lounge access will mean I'll close this card next year. What a shame.
kantscholar is offline  

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