1readyset2go

SInce you use the 4th night free a lot hopefully you can help me. I have never had this card. I just got my first Citi TY premiere. SInce I already have a card in this family i will get my wife to sign up for the new Prestige as she has never had any TY cards. My main question is getting the 4th night free and how that works. Do you just book it direct with the hotel and Citi credits you back or do you have to use some Citi portal? I also read about people calling citi concierges so I am confused. I have read several pages of this and it's unclear to me what is the way to do this. I am looking at booking some Aman stays so this could be huge for us, but i don't want to pull the trigger until I know we will actually be able to use the 4th night free twice a year.

Thanks!

mia

Later this year the option to book through the concierge will end, but for now it is preferred. If you book through the concierge the hotel will see it as a traditional travel agency booking, and you should be eligible for hotel status and rewards. If you book through thankyou.com the hotel will see it as an Online Travel Agency (consolidator) booking, and those benefits are less likely to apply. Please continue discussion here:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi...ly-2017-a.html

1readyset2go

Thank you, that makes a lot more sense now. One more question if you would. Is this twice a during calendar year, or twice during the time in between you AF's. For instance if my wife got this card say this March, could she use the 4th night free twice in 2019 and then twice again in 2020 before the AF hits?

mia

I encourage you to read the Wikipost at the top of the other thread:

jbeans

You cannot book directly with the hotel yourself. I typically e-mail the concierge to make a 4NF reservation. But as MIA said above this feature is going away later this year, and you'll only be able to book via the ThankYou portal. One nice thing about booking via the portal is that you get the 4th night credited immediately, as in you pay a total sans 4th night, whereas if you book via the concierge you have to wait for them to credit you separately which can take up to 2 billing cycles after check-out. But do make sure to compare prices before booking, the portal sometimes has a much higher rate than booking directly.

wco81

How are the selection of hotels and rates on Thankyou.com compared to a general site like booking.com?

Can they access places like family-run hotels overseas, vs. international chains only?

The Citi Prestige terms and conditions say you have to prepay the entire stay with the Citi Prestige to get the 4th night free benefit. Does that mean you're getting a non-cancellable rate?

Are you generally paying higher rates to get that free fourth night than you would on other sites? For instance, would you have something like 4 nights through booking.com would be $800 but 4 nights for the same hotel and same dates on thankyou.com would be $1000 so the final price would be $750, which represents a savings but not as much of a savings as the "free" fourth night would imply?

akr1970akr

You have to look at each booking carefully. In general I would say the Citi portal is comparably to Expedia and other OTAs, with occasional ugly prices.

WantsAmex

So its been a month since relaunch. For Citi Gold clients, was your AF $350 or $450?

miadukes

Can anybody confirm the travel insurance on this card hasnt changed. Im getting ready to purchase 2 AA tickets but eill be using gift cards for the majority of the amount with less than 100 on the prestige. Do they still cover just charging a portion?? I tried perusing the benefit guide and saw it said they will cover the lesser amount to inlcude what you put on the card, so does that mean if i only charge 46 of the total ticket price im only entitled to reimbursement of 46?

lewis_saint

i can confirm that the annual fee for CitiGold clients is only $350. After signing up online with a $495/year annual fee, I was sent an amendment a week later in the post. Alongside the $250 travel credit, I see this card as only $100/year!

akr1970akr

Our card renewed at $350/yr , but its always been that rate. We're Citigold.

$100 a year seems ok for this. I haven't bothered trying for retention yet.

They have said NFW the last few times we've called on retention for this and we've had it since launch.

In the beginning there were lots of juicy offers.

azepine00

How is it gonna be implemented for 2019 - will they count benefit use prior to sept 1? If someone gets 2+ rebates earlier this year does it mean he/she will not be eligible after sept 1?

akr1970akr

Post September you can use it twice before the end of the year in 2019.

There are no limits on using it prior to Sep.

Basically treat it like separate time periods.

==========

Unless they jazz up benefits, I think they'll get a lot of cancellations come next Jan.

Especially among people who have $350 Prestiges that are likely candidates for $350 Schwab Plats. (discount for AUM)

I can't see how Prestige really is better than that, head to head, unless one really attributes a lot of value to the ancillary benefits (trip delay/interrupt, roadside, pricerewind, MC network vs Amex, etc.)

beachfan

I belive Schwab Amex Plat is going up $100 per year, just like the regular Amex Plat card

mia

Correct. the Schwab Platinum annual fee is already $550, but akr1970akr is referring to the $200 credit for $1 million investment account balances: