worldfreqtrav

355F1 - Any update on your 2020 bookings through Aspire?

yugi

Which card is better than Prestige right now? I'm getting tons of points on restaurants right now. Planning to cancel both Platinums (personal and biz), and keep the Prestige.

akr1970akr

I guess it depends on how you value the pts, where you are based, and what other bennies you might extract.

Prestige 5x on restaurants is nice, but relative to the 3x I get from others the relative advantage isn't as much.

Plat which gives some hotel status, and access to Centurions and Sky Clubs, could be quite helpful.

To me that is a big gap in Prestige, especially if 4NF is already getting eroded, well before stated demise.

And not being primary for US rental cars is also a bit weak.

I've been a fan of Prestige since launch. so I'm not a ha8erboi on them

355F1

MY latest reservations are only up until Nov 2019 as of right now.

I am a daily user of this site and will definitely post everything! ^

roundtree

Point valuations certainly vary widely. For me, I'm focused on transfers to partners almost exclusively for biz class TATL/TPAC flights. Citi's list of partners isn't as good, IMO, as Chase or AMEX, but it's certainly good enough that little of my redemption plans would change. Iberia is the one partner that I could use with Citi that the other two already have, but I digress.

The relative advantage depends on a number of factors. I certainly spend enough on restaurants that the 67% bonus adds up really quickly. At least in raw terms, moving from 3x to 5x is every bit as useful as moving from 1x to 3x.

Given the hotel statuses available via other cards with a low annual fee, the status advantage isn't very high. It certainly highlights the complexity of judging what's a good strategy with all the various costs that need to be tracked. The extra $40/year that I'll spend with Prestige + Marriott cards is more than compensated with the free night cert that Marriott provides. Others I'm sure have differing opinions on this.

The club accessses aren't as valuable as they once were, with the overcrowding and new restrictions. I'm fully prepared to live without them once my Personal/Business Plat AFs come up in Sept.

^ this. It's a reason I'll be downgrading my CSR to the CSP later this year instead of closing it. It's definitly one area that Citi lags and most of us don't pay attention to it with any card issuer. Of course, insurance isn't sexy to talk about when there 5x and 4NF and other cooler benefits.

akr1970akr

My feel is that its 'cheap' to keep the Prestige around (if one is CG) but I'll only put spend on it where I really think it will get a benefit - hotel/4NF, tickets for events (for missed event coverage), or risky (weather) flights where I think I might need the delay/interrupt insurance. all the juicy non bonused spend (from the issuers perspective) isn't going to Prestige. they've just shredded too much here to be fond of them. and if they blow up a 4NF credit i've been waiting for since Nov, i'll probably want to start gaming them harder with P1/P2 rotating SUB's. Right now we don't do that, since they are our main long term hub bank.

greyster

TTT103

I've had the Prestige card for a number of years, and will be putting mine out to pasture next month when it renews. There have been far too many downgrades to the card over the years, and the hits keep coming. Yes, I can create value out of the 4NF benefit twice a year, but other than that, I have other cards that afford me greater value with travel and everyday spending. While it hasn't become a horrible card, IMO, I see no reason to keep in when it duplicates many of the benefits I have with another premium card.

WantsAmex

Etp

Did anybody who had a $350 AF but was not CitiGold, get charged $495 AF at renewal?

roundtree

Mine showed up on the first billing statement.

pinniped

Well, I'm about to walk on the Prestige card. There have been too many small downgrades over the years - losing Admiral's Clubs, losing preferential redemption rates on AA, worse 4NF terms, limits to 4NF, etc. I have both of the premium hotel cards (Marriott and Hilton) that give me benefits can justify their high annual fees and duplicate many of the Prestige benefits, so I don't see the need for another $500 af card.

To those who have phoned into downgrade: did they attempt to keep you with a fee waiver or anything else remotely approaching $500 in value? If you downgraded, what did you downgrade to? Just some random TYP card?

mia

I downgraded to Premier to preserve outsized credit line without a foreign transaction fee.

joachimm

Downgrade if you want, but just hear me out here, what if they offered $250 in travel credits, 5x on dining and airfare, plus two 4th night free certificates (taxes and fees not included) when you book through the TYP portal?

nall

Long-term Prestige holder, but since Priority clients no longer receive the discounted AF, pondering what to downgrade to. Citi Rewards Plus, maybe? Sounds like I'd at least get 10% extra on the banking TYPs. The (soon-to-be-gone) 25% bonus redeeming those was a nice perk, but that's not worth paying $95 for on its own.

Those bookings no longer receive points, are not eligible for elite benefits, and you can no longer use any special rates. Kind of wipes out the benefits for most chain hotels, and the majority of those benefits can be had for a lower AF.

At least with Citi and Chase, there are plenty of opportunities for category shifting. E.g., going to the movies? Get a gift card for said theater from a grocer/drug store/office supply store/.etc. There are no such opportunities for generating tons of Citi TYP from such purchases unless I'm missing something.