BigFlyer

As I mentioned in an earlier post - the change where they will no longer reimburse the taxes for the 4th night is a substantial devaluation.

Which makes alternatives more attractive. When you book with hotels.com, you essentially get 10% off the pre-tax price because of their free night program (but you don't get hotel program benefits, which you do get with 4th night free.)

To that 10%, you can add a further discount by booking with a cashback site. For example, topcashback.com is now giving 7% cashback, so you end up with 17% back on the pre-tax price.

So, doing the math, with a 3-night or less stay you are better off with hotels.com cashback, because you get no discount from Citibank.

With a 4 night stay, you are better with Citi - 25% back on the pre-tax value.

With a 5 night stay, you essentially get a 20% discount with Citi.

With 6 nights, you are getting a 16.6% discount with Citi - slightly less than with hotels.com + cashback.

mcgahat

I don't think it is that close. Elite benefits like breakfast for a couple, free internet and drinks in the club lounge can be considerable. Plus the say credit allowing you to retain status. Also the points you get to use towards free nights. I am new to the card but don't see myself using it except for the 4th night free benefit otherwise I use a cash back site and the hotels site.

GlobalMatt

Makes me all the more excited for the recently rumored Chase travel card that might just cough up 100k in miles for a sign-on bonus. Although, as for the lounge benefit, I might just have to bite the bullet and grab up the Citi Executive once Citi Prestige's AC benefit dries up, too.

Le sigh.

BigFlyer

I've used hotels.com and their rewards program in the past rather than hotel programs as I am fairly price driven - I like to pick my hotel based on price, location, amenities, without taking loyalty programs into account. I think the free night for every 10 nights with hotels.com compares favorably to most hotel programs in terms of free nights.

I was just pointing out that particularly for those that don't participate in loyalty programs, the change regarding refund of taxes does considerably close the gap between 4th night free and other options.

edealinfo12345

I can't see how Citi still comes out ahead with cards such as the Double Cash, Citi Costco and the Prestige (before its recent benefit reduction). Their match simply doesn't add up. They likely have wafer thin margins but make up because of immense volume of $$$ run on those cards.

What "other" changes??????? They recently actually increased benefits on many cards including the period of extended warranty and the amount of coverage for trip cancellation insurance.

The AA lounge at LGA requires you to pay for even snacks. So other than seating, what purpose does this lounge serve anyway?

mia

Many cardholders carry a balance and pay interest.

Admirals Clubs provide free light snacks, house drinks, wi fi, etc.

Scroll down to the section headed Amenities:

https://www.aa.com/i18n/travel-info/...irals-club.jsp

edealinfo12345

Other than free bagels w/cream cheese or a muffin, they offer little (probably worth $2 at most...compared to the $$$$ more you pay for a business or first class ticket). Here is their menu......even a measly breakfast BLT will run you $6 on a business class ticket. They even have the kahunas to charge $2 for chips and $3 for soda or bottled water...[This is for the AA lounge at La Guardia Airport in New York City]

[I wouldn't get excited or appreciative of a free bagel].

https://www.aa.com/content/images/pr...s/lga-menu.pdf

golfingboy

Interchange fees. Issuing banks rake in roughly $30 billion dollars annually from interchange fees (Visa and MC gets around the same amount each year as well). That is how they make money on all credit cards unless customers are not using the card for daily purchases. This is why they offer category bonuses; to entice customers to use the card.

Lotsa moola. Then you add in the customers carrying a balance and all the other fees (late fee, balance transfer fees, cash advance fees, annual fees, etc.) it becomes a lucrative business proposition for the credit card issuers. To sustain organic revenue growth in the credit card business line, the banks have to offer competitive credit cards

The Costco deal was a bad move on Citi's part as the interchange fee is almost non-existent for Costco purchases (including gas) coupled with the large cash back bonuses (virtually eating up bulk of interchange revenues), so Citi will be mainly hinging on customers carrying a balance for that product line. Will be a very long time before they see a positive ROI from this investment and the effects of this deal is already being felt in the other product lines (couldn't afford exclusivity with AA for instance) where they have to aggressively cut costs to sustain same P&L levels for their credit card business line. I suspect the Prestige was one of the first cards getting the hatchet and I wouldn't be surprised other cards will be seeing cuts in benefits.

Perfect opportunity for the other issuing banks to pounce.

SpammersAreScum

I just got the card a couple weeks ago. So a year from now, I'll need to do the math again and see whether the card still makes sense. Don't care about the golf, and won't use the 4th night enough for that change to have much effect. I have the Premier already; the loss of 1.6x on AA, and loss of AC access, will almost certainly swing the decision toward Prestige cancellation then.

VCURamFan

Used an AA lounge for the first time yesterday at ORD, what a joke. Bad bagels, and Chobani was the best breakfast offering. I had the chance to buy day old sushi or bottled coke for an upcharge. Every PP lounge I've used is significantly better than that disaster of a hellhole.

TTT103

The challenge is that there are very few domestic priority pass lounges.

mnscout

No. The real challenge is there are never in the terminal you're flying from.

BigFlyer

You're not missing much - they're pretty crappy.

HGHUA

Darn right, ORD pisses me off

RideThe22A

Agree with all of you. The Admirals Club is not the greatest, but it's the ONLY lounge available to AA passengers at most US airports. PP lounges are non-existent at my home airport (DCA), or they're located in international terminals with limited hours and not accessible to domestic travelers. The Admirals Club benefit was the primary reason I applied for a Prestige Card and is the primary reason I will drop the card at renewal time.