Great Card If
- You fly for business and pleasure
- You spend a lot on travel
Don’t Get If
- You rarely travel
- You want access to a wide variety of airline loyalty programs
Citi Premier® Card — Is It Worth It?
The Citi Premier card is a stellar option for award travelers in large part due to how well-rounded its bonus categories are. With the Citi Premier card, you’ll earn 3x points per $1 at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, airfare, and hotels.
Plus, the Citi ThankYou Rewards Points you earn are transferable, so they can be transferred to some of the top Citi ThankYou Rewards transfer partners, including Avianca Lifemiles, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles, and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
If you’re looking for a great workhorse travel rewards credit card that can really help you rack up points quickly for a reasonable annual fee, then the Citi Premier card would likely be very worth it for you.
While the Citi Premier card is often overlooked, Upgraded Points team members, including Chris Hassan, Social Media and Brand Manager, know the value it can provide:
“I love an underrated card, and for me, that is the Citi Premier card. For only a $95 annual fee, I earn 3x points on airfare, hotels, dining, gas, and supermarkets — and those bonus categories aren’t restricted to the U.S. like many other cards, which means I’m earning no matter where I am. Plus, Citi ThankYou Points are more valuable than most people think, thanks to a healthy transfer partner list that often offers transfer bonuses. This card is a keeper.”
Chris Hassan, Social Media and Brand Manager
Citi Premier Card Top Benefits
Annual Hotel Savings Benefit
To help offset the Citi Premier card’s $95 annual fee, the card offers $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees, when you book through thankyou.com and pay with your card each year. If you know you’ll have at least 1 hotel stay per year that costs $500 or more, then holding the Citi Premier card can be a no-brainer.
Citi Entertainment
Through Citi Entertainment, you can receive special access to tickets, including presale tickets and exclusive experiences for concerts, sporting events, dining, and more. This can be a massive benefit anytime you want to go to an event that is likely to sell out quickly.
Best Ways To Earn and Redeem Your Citi ThankYou Points
Read our guide full of tips to see how to get the most out of the Citi Premier card by earning as many Citi ThankYou Points as possible.
Once you’ve built up a balance, you have quite a few options for redeeming your ThankYou Points. For travel, you can redeem your ThankYou Points for flights through the Citi travel portal or (our preferred method) make direct transfers to Citi’s airline and hotel partners.
Alternative Cards to the Citi Premier Card
If you want a card that rewards you more for everyday spending, you could explore the Amex Blue Cash Preferred card. It has an annual fee of $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95 and an introductory APR on purchases and transfers (see rates & fees).
This card earns 6% cash-back at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $6,000, then 1%) and select U.S. streaming subscriptions, 3% cash-back at U.S. gas stations and transit, and 1% everywhere else.
If you travel frequently, you may want to consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred card‘s higher bonus category of 5x points on travel purchased via the Chase travel portal.
The card also has a superior collection of travel benefits and protections, such as a $50 hotel credit, primary rental car insurance, and trip and baggage insurance.
Read more about these 2 cards here: Citi Premier card vs Chase Sapphire Preferred card
See our comparisons of the Citi Premier card to these popular cards:
UP’s Card Review Methodology
Every card we review is assigned a “U.P. Rating” – our star-based system that encompasses all the key details to showcase a card’s standout features, where it falls short, and how it stacks up for travelers to maximize rewards.
These ratings range from 0 to 5 stars and are determined by carefully weighing crucial factors like:
- Bonus categories
- Benefits and perks
- Quality of associated loyalty programs
- Annual fees and other costs
- Size of the welcome bonus (and relative to the annual fee)
- And several more
You can learn more about how Upgraded Points reviews and rates credit cards.
The information regarding the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
The information regarding the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express, click here.
For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.
