akr1970akr

I won't get hyper about it yet, but if the concierge changes mean that 4NF only really applies to Thank You bookings - whether via phone/web - and are basically all OTA style, that really is a big stealth devaluation.

The OTA's don't get the full spectrum of hotels, rooms, nor rates. It's a much weaker value proposition.

However, I have a hard time believing that Connexions phone booking service is really that way.

If its intended to service business travelers, I don't think they can offer such a limited, cramped kind of service. Business people are going to have lots of bona fide reasons why they may have to stay in hotels that are not OTA available. (I remember some years ago, my colleague had to book some high end hotel that was blocked from our Concur like system, and had to call in manually, since we were meeting a client counterparty on their golf course, and tee times were only available to hotel guests. So I don't think they can really NOT have some exception process system. But fair question will the hoi polloi of an intended mass affluent card be also allowed into that door)

There's plenty of time before one has to do anything here, so don't do anything hasty like cashing out TYP for Build a Bear gift cards.....

===========

Overall, I still don't think the casual, leisure user of the card is worse off. They have re-balanced some benefits away from the people who were booking 40-120 nights a year on this for work, towards the rest of card holders. That seems reasonable as the old model wasn't clearly not sustainable.

Another thing to keep an eye on - how Premier gets treated for TYP portal booking. If the uplift is removed there, it would sharply weaken that product relative to Sapphire Preferred, which I assume is its competition, so I hope that doesn't happen. But I would note that most of their Premier marketing material for the booking bonus now only mentions 1.25x for airfare booking, even if its still, in practicality, working at 1.25x for airfare and hotels. Citi might zap out the hotel uplift, which would end up being a double whammy for the Prestige/Premier double holders, who were benefiting from the 4NF+1.25TYP hotel redemption's, albeit limited to what was available on Expedia/TYP for prepaid rates.

SNA_Flyer

My understanding as well... Bummed that as a Priority client the lower fee is going away. Will definitely be reevaluating this card when the higher AF hits. At least I have some time to determine the value as they have given plenty of notice for the negative changes.

akr1970akr

Citigold can be had rather cheaply, if you have otherwise dormant rollover IRA assets sitting anywhere else. Open up a Citi Private Wealth Management account, and then set it up for self directed IRA + brokerage, and then roll in some cheap ETFs, or other financial holdings you might have at other places. I realize not everyone has IRA assets early in their careers, but this may be doable for some. This way there is no fee on the asset management, very low fees at the underlying investment, and account fees are waived for CG status (which this account creates). I am acutely sensitive to ongoing fee streams, and pay them very little for all this. (But to be fair, they also get fees off my mortgage, which accrues very little benefit to me, other than a small sliver of TYP. That mortgage frustratingly counts zippo toward CG status)

Depending on what other banking services are used at Citi, CG will then give uplift on organic TYP earning for banking products, reduce or waive Citicard fees, and give random banking benefits (safe deposit boxes, free ATM, etc.)

neutralist

From the email it reads $495 AF for Citi Priority users.

my anniversary date is december, so when the higher AF hits on 12/2019 I am closing out everything including checking account and the DC. Leaving the bank for good.

akr1970akr

Totally separately - why on earth will people use the TYP portal for booking airfare at 1c per TYP? All the drawbacks of a 3rd party booking if there are IRROPS or problems pre departure, and no benefit financially, when Citi is certainly getting something from the booking. Why wouldn't someone just book direct, or via a separate travel agency, get the 5x TYP benefit, and then redeem a statement credit at 1c / TYP to offset it? The statement credits can be done in fairly small chunks as I recall, as low as $25.

That doesn't seem to be well thought out, or its a deliberate trick for the unwary.

MD/DC Flyer

From the new website terms:

akr1970akr

That's a good observation. I guess we'll just have to see how this plays out. If its a 4NF that is limited to TYP OTA portal bookings only that's going to be hardly any better than hotel.com type gaming (discounted gift cards, cash back portals, 10% hotel.com rewards, sales etc.)

I just don't think a flagship travel card can realistically offer that little when compared to services like Amex FHR etc.

MD/DC Flyer

Exactly.

There is still some value to be had (none affiliated hotels, with no special rates) but it is much smaller.

Considering Citi transfer partners are exotic (and not in any good sense of the word), the increase earning is a wash.

At one point having to do the calculation every year of "does it worth it" will take its toll and means the card will be gone. I just don't understand how Citi think they can decimate the one differentiation factor of the card, which made it worth while and get away with it.

TTT103

I will likely renew the card one more time when the fee hits in a couple of months, but call it quits the following year.

The deal breaker for me is the drop in TY point redemptions for airfares from 1.6 to 1.25 to 1.0. I have a boatload of points that I hadn't plan on using anytime soon, but will definitely do so before the devaluation.

I'll be under 5/24 in about six months, so will likely pick up a CSR.

pinniped

Makes me wonder if Citi has a niche market to which they market the Prestige card as a high-end corporate card? e.g., Tied in with a corporate booking engine, or maybe even the Citi concierge, and used as a primary card for corp travel with special discounts, reporting, tools, etc.

As a personal user, they obviously have no knowledge (or right to know) why I'm staying in a particular hotel. They don't ask, I wouldn't tell, and in my case I believe they genuinely don't care. But if some cardholders are carrying a corporate version, I can see why they'd exempt business travel from the 4NF benefit.

mia

I think they are laying the groundwork to challenge excessive stays between now and September.

84fiero

I have no idea what the bloggers are basing it on - and many of them will say whatever sounds good to get you to click their affiliate link anyway. But FWIW before I canceled the card, I primarily transferred to Lifemiles as I get a lot of value from that program. Most of the other TYP partners (at the time anyway) weren't a big draw for me, personally.

pinniped

Probably. If asked, they'll probably say the 1.7 corresponds to the highest transfer partner available. (TPG pegs value Avianca at 1.7.) But you're probably right: it's also tied to which cards they can pimp and collect a commission on.

They have AA at 1.4 cpm and Avios at 1.5 cpm. I'm a regular user of both of those and always easily exceed those amounts. Avios usually around 3 cpm on simple coach awards on Aer Lingus. AA usually in the 2 cpm range on either off-peak awards or short transborder (US/CA) awards. Occasionally really good partner J awards using AA, although I don't dwell on cpm on those. Guessing TPG doesn't get as much (or any) money for getting people to sign up for AA cards.

Polytonic

Ugh. If it's through Connexions it's probably going to show as OTA-style booking (so no elite nights ). I hope that isn't the case.

It sounds like we have through September 2019 to book as many 4NF stays as we want though (thru September 2019)? Seems like a really long time before changes go in effect.

andersonCooper

It can be, but at the same time it seems TYP lost all its value to me. The higher earning potential is offset by its value reduction (for me it's for airfares), unless you do transfer partner, which Citi has the least transfer partners among Chase and AMEX. To me Asia Miles might be the only transfer partner valuable, but AMEX has better deal, or other OW members have better deals. For United and *A go for Chase while DL is AMEX. As such no Citi partner is quite useful (to me, YMMV).

I have my IRA under Vanguard simply because Vanguard funds expense ratio is so low that even Finance textbooks used it as an example for long-term performance calculations. I am not sure if Citi Brokerage has access to purchasing these Vanguard funds (especially Admiral shares), but for me to move my IRA and 401k out of Vanguard to park at Citi for a $295 fee makes little sense.