ellinj

hmm, I thought that Chase was the same in that regard.

akr1970akr

There are a lot of nuances to each card benefit. i wish I could give you a canned simple answer, but a lot will be situation specific (did you book with TYP/UR, or loyalty program, or cash), what were circumstances of delay / cancellation, and how well can you support/document those.

I just got hit with another delay event on Dec 31, and will have to submit another claim, and am not looking forward to this, even though I'm pretty certain this is totally covered, as it was an outright flight cancellation, where we had an overnight non reimbursed hotel room expense. We were grateful to even get a room, only 4mi from LAX. That was where booking direct with the property, and gently using my SO's status, got us the last room I think at 6pm on NYE in Manhattan Beach, LA. Still not free, and expecting the Virginia Surety denial do si do square dance.

ncsuactor84FT

This card is nuts. I have an Amex Platinum, a Citi Prestige, and my wife has the Sapphire Reserve. Of all three cards, I save more money with this one.

$1600 in 2 different 4th Night Free Refunds last year
$300 in price rewinds
$250 in travel credits
$30 in other promotions

then with 5x points in dining and airfare, plus free travel insurance... easily the best card in my wallet. Makes it's annual fee back by a factor of 4 on the credits alone. If you stay at nice properties this card is incredible.

scubadu

Agreed. Honestly, I'm perplexed by people that can't get value out of this card. But I suspect many are slaves to hotel status and that is a challenge. However, for higher end/boutique properties this card pays for itself many times over.

Regards

flyershmlyer

Might be too early, but would love to hear reports if 5x, 3x categories are posting as advertised.

mia

Burger King $1.61 posted 8 points.

DoctorORD

Thanks. How can you tell? On AMEX, there is a 4x icon, and on Chase, it's pretty easily listed as well... however, I haven't found a way to show the bonus points for individual transactions with Citi?

mia

It is the only 2019 Dining transaction on the statement. I made it intentionally because I knew you would ask .

Citi does not itemize awards by transaction.

jbeans

Since the ability to book 4NF hotels through the concierge will be going away, I took a good look at the online portal the other day, and it doesn't look like a viable option going forward. Majority of the rates posted are rack rates, you'd almost always save more money booking directly with the hotel even with 4NF. And of course, luxury boutique hotels like Aman are not on there. I saved about $2000 last year with 4NF, but I definitely won't be able to do the same once the new policy kicks in.

jameswes

I just proved this one wrong
I got in on the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar pricing all suites for their regular room rate in 2020.

milypan

My statement just closed. I made three restaurant purchases post Jan 4, but the rewards earnings were just listed as:

2x dining and entertainment
1x other purchases
Additional bonuses

Overall I earned around ~1,300 points on ~$330 of purchases. None of it made any sense, including the 1x other purchases (there was enough 1x in there to account for over half the total purchases, but in theory everything except a ~$50 car rental should have been 2x and above). The overall earnings were higher than I would have gotten had everything coded perfectly in my favor, so I have no idea what is going on. Hopefully next month will be more transparent.

spgplat21

Agreed, I've looked at the website for booking a handful of times and it was pretty terrible in each case. I only use the 4NF benefit 2-3 times a year, so I thought the net changes were going to be positive for me, but if they truly stick to forcing people to use the website for booking, the 4NF benefit become close to worthless to me. I'll wait until September just in case things change, but I'm already juggling so many cards, I can't see how it will be worth the hassle of continuing to juggle this card for a minor increase in earnings on restaurant spend.

akr1970akr

Although booking is hard enough, getting the credit to show up properly (in the future) is going to be the real test.

I don't have much hope for this amenity going forward.

I wish they had simply designed it better to begin with so it would have been a sustainable perk that could have been enjoyed longer, and more broadly across the customer base.

Colin

i got in on the same deal at Baha Mar.
but decided to go forgo the $250 4NF rebate in favor of the $100 credit, daily restaurant breakfast, amenity, and confirmed one-category upgrade with Prive.
if the hotel honors the rate, will just have to see then if they go the whole way and also honor the one-category upgrade.

jeepie