Originally Posted by
sethMCOflyer
What's the point of the annual fee at this point on the prestige card? After the $495 fee - $250 travel credit you end up paying $245 for two free hotel nights assuming you book two 4 night hotel stays through their reservation system and decent point earnings. Am I missing something? Is that really worth $250?<snip>
This might be hard to believe, but not every traveler is on the hamster wheel of obsessively trying to re-qualify for Marriott/Hyatt/Hilton loyalty status in order to get "free" breakfast. So for those that stay at higher end or boutique properties (think Four Seasons/St Regis/Ritz Carlton, etc.) the savings for a 4th night free can be pretty substantial. As I mentioned in my post, we tend to save ~$400-500 per stay, multiple times per year. That's average. We did save ~$700 for a 4th night free on one ocassion.
So the answer is yes, it can absolutely be worth it but you have to do your own math. But don't assume that your math is everyone's math.
Is it going to be as generous going forward as it used to be? Nope, but that seems to be the trend in travel over all. But at this point, Citi is still paying me to carry the card.
Regards