It's been years since we've seen an elevated bonus offer on the sneaky-good Citi Strata Premier℠ Card. If you've been waiting for the perfect time to apply, this might be it … even if it isn't the most straightforward offer.
On paper, the Strata Premier is still offering the same 60,000-point bonus that's been around for a while now. But as Doctor of Credit pointed out, you can earn an additional $100 on top of that by clicking through Rakuten first … plus, an extra $50 on top of that if you're new to the popular shopping portal. Even better, if your account is set up to earn American Express Membership Rewards or Bilt Points, you can turn that cash bonus into 10,000 (or 15,000) transferable points.
Now, that up to 75,000-point sum we referenced in the headline is split into a few different pots. Here's how it works:
- If you're new to Rakuten, you can earn a $50 bonus for signing up and spending $50 in the first 90 days.
- After signing up (or logging in), search for “Citi Strata Premier” or follow this link to earn a $100 bonus from Rakuten when you're approved for the Strata Premier.
- Additionally, you'll earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening with Citi's current welcome offer.
Add it all up, and you've got $150 and 60,000 Citi ThankYou Points if you're new to Rakuten – or $100 and 60,000 ThankYou Points for existing members. But remember: This deal gets even more valuable if you opt to earn Amex Membership Rewards or Bilt points instead of cash back – you could be looking at a total of 75,000 transferable points (split across different programs) when all is said and done.
If you're not eligible for the big, limited-time bonus on the *chase sapphire preferred*, this is a solid alternative. Beyond all those points, the Strata Premier is one of the most well-rounded cards for everyday spending: Earn 3x points on gas (and EV charging), dining, groceries, air travel, and hotels. You'll get an even bigger 10x points per dollar on hotels and rental cards booked through the Citi Travel portal, and 1x everywhere else … all for a low $95 annual fee.
Read on for everything you need to know about the Citi Strata Premier card and why this offer could be worth taking advantage of.
Considering opening a new card? Check out our monthly list of the best travel rewards credit card offers!
Citi Strata Premier℠ Card: Benefits Overview
- Welcome Offer: Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening + earn $100 cash back (or 10,000 Amex/Bilt points) when applying through Rakuten + $50 (or 5,000 points) for new members.
- Earn 3x Citi ThankYou Points for every dollar spent on air travel and hotels.
- Earn 3x Citi ThankYou Points for every dollar spent at restaurants, supermarkets, and gas stations (including EV charging).
- Earn 10x Citi ThankYou Points for every dollar spent on hotels and car rentals when you book through the Citi Travel portal
- Earn 1x Citi ThankYou Points for every dollar spent on all other purchases.
- Save $100 annually on a single hotel stay of $500 or more when you book through the Citi Travel portal.
- Trip delay and interruption, lost or damaged luggage, and MasterRental car insurance.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Annual Fee: $95 (not waived in the first year)
All information about the Citi Strata Premier Card has been collected independently by Thrifty Traveler and has not be verified by the issuer.
Learn more about the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link).
Full Benefits Breakdown
Welcome Bonus Offer
On the surface, you can earn 60,000 Citi ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months. But you can do even better than that by stacking offers from Rakuten.
- Earn $50 (or 5,000 points) when you sign up for Rakuten and spend $50 in the first 90 days (applying for this card doesn't count as spending).
- Earn $100 (or 10,000 points) when you apply and get approved for the Citi Strata Premier through Rakuten's link.
- Earn 60,000 Citi ThankYou Points after spending $4,000 in the first three months.
If you've got your sights set on traveling, earning points instead of cash back through Rakuten will be the better way to go for most. But it won't be the right move (or even possible) for everyone.
- To earn Amex points instead of cashback, you'll need to have a card like the *amex platinum* or the *amex gold*.
- If you opt for Bilt points, you'll need Bilt Silver status in order to get a 1:1 conversion – $1 of Rakuten cashback turns into 100 Bilt points. $1 of Rakuten cash back converts to 50 points for everyday Bilt Blue members.
Even if you opt for cashback instead of points, up to $150 and 60,000 ThankYou points is nothing to sneeze at. That cash bonus would be enough to pay the card's annual fee for the first year and you'd still have plenty of points to play with.
Now, for the big question: Are you eligible? Citi's application rules state you must wait 48 months between earning a welcome bonus and applying for the card again. This means that if you previously held the Citi Strata Premier but it's been four years since you earned a bonus, you may be eligible to get it again.
Just know: Citi can be a bit finicky with their card approvals … like denying applicants for having too low of credit utilization (i.e. not carrying a balance).
Related reading: The Master Guide to Credit Card Application Rules
Annual Hotel Credit
The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card offers an annual $100 hotel credit every calendar year. It's an ultra-lucrative benefit that instantly outweighs the card's $95 annual fee.
But there's a hitch. This $100 hotel credit is only valid when you book a single hotel reservation of at least $500 through the Citi Travel portal. You can't just book any hotel stay and automatically save $100.
The upside is that similar to the Chase Sapphire Preferred's $100 annual hotel credit, it triggers automatically once you make an eligible hotel booking through the Citi Travel Portal.
Put this benefit to use, and it should instantly be enough to justify the card's $95 annual fee. And when you pair it with the 10x ThankYou points you earn on hotel bookings made through Citi's travel portal, you can actually get a pretty good deal on your hotel stay.
Just be warned that hotel bookings through an online travel agency (OTA) like Citi's travel portal won't earn hotel points or elite night credits with the hotel itself. If you have any sort of elite status, I wouldn't expect the hotel to honor your benefits, either.
Annual Fee
The card charges an annual fee of $95, putting it in line with competitors like the *chase sapphire preferred* and the *capital one venture card*.
No Foreign Transaction Fees
You won't be charged foreign transaction fees when using your Citi Strata Premier Card abroad.
This makes it a solid option for travel outside the country. You'll be rewarded with bonus points for the majority of your travel and dining expenses without paying additional fees.
Earning Citi ThankYou Points
Racking up points with the Citi Strata Premier is quite easy thanks to the card's useful bonus categories. The average person should have no problem making this one of their most frequently used credit cards.
Cardholders earn 3x points per dollar spent at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations (and EV charging), air travel, and at hotels on an unlimited amount of spending. That bonus earning makes this card one of the most well-rounded cards when it comes to category bonus spending – especially when you consider the card only has a $95 annual fee.
If you're looking to earn even more points, there's another way. Citi has added an additional bonus category to the Citi Strata Premier Card: Cardholders can earn 10x ThankYou® Points on hotels and rental cars booked through the Citi Travel® portal. Considering points are worth at least 1 cent each when used for travel, you can look at this like getting a 10% discount on all your hotel and car rental bookings.
You'll also earn an unlimited 1x ThankYou Points per dollar spent on all other purchases.
Redeeming Citi ThankYou Points
A stash of 60,000 ThankYou Points is no small sum – but what exactly can they get you? Or more importantly, how far can they take you?
Let's start simple. You can redeem your Citi ThankYou points for gift cards at a bunch of popular merchants … but you probably shouldn't. You can also redeem them for travel through the Citi Travel portal. With each point worth 1 cent, the 60,000-point bonus on the Citi Strata Premier Card is worth a bare minimum of $600 in travel.
But you can do much better by transferring points to travel partners. Citi has a stable of nearly 20 different airline and hotel transfer partners. With a couple of exceptions, ThankYou points transfer to most partners on a 1:1 basis. That means 60,000 Citi points can net you 60,000 airline miles.
Here's the full list of Citi transfer partners.
| Program | Type | Transfer Ratio | Transfer Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air France/KLM | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| American Airlines | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Avianca LifeMiles | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Cathay Pacific | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Emirates | Airline | 1,000:800 | Instant |
| Etihad | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| EVA Air | Airline | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
| JetBlue | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Qantas | Airline | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
| Qatar Airways | Airline | 1:1 | 1-2 days |
| Singapore | Airline | 1:1 | Up to 24 hours |
| Thai Airways | Airline | 1:1 | 3-7 days |
| Turkish Airlines | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Virgin Atlantic | Airline | 1:1 | Instant |
| Accor | Hotel | 2:1 | Within 24 hours (sometimes up to 5 days) |
| Choice Hotels | Hotel | 1:1.5 | Instant |
| Wyndham Rewards | Hotel | 1:1 | Instant |
| The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) | Hotel | 4:1 | Instant |
| Preferred Hotels and Resorts | Hotel | 1:2 | Instant |
We've traditionally considered ThankYou points the clear loser behind both Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, and even Capital One miles – but that's no longer the case. There's plenty of value with transfer partners like Turkish Miles & Smiles, Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Singapore Airlines, and Air France/KLM Flying Blue. And the addition of American Airlines last summer makes the case for earning Citi points even stronger.
For example, if you transferred points to American Airlines, you could book roundtrip flights from nearly any airport in the country (with AA service) to Cancun (CUN) for just 18,000 points and less than $150 in taxes and fees.
You can also find domestic one-way flights through AA for as few as 7,000 miles or transfer points to a partner like Qatar to book something more lavish, like the airline's flashy Qsuites business class. Above all else, there are some great niche uses for ThankYou Points that you won't find with other points programs.
Make sure to check out our post on the best ways to use Citi points.
Bottom Line
Stack Rakuten's bonus on top of the Strata Premier's 60,000-point welcome offer, and you're looking at up to $150 and 60,000 ThankYou Points – or 75,000 transferable points if you route that cash into Amex or Bilt points. That's a solid boost on a card that hasn't sweetened its offer in years, and it's more than enough to cover the $95 annual fee on day one.
There's no telling how long this Rakuten offer will last, so don't delay if this card has been on your radar.
Learn more about the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (for full disclosure, this is not an affiliate link).
