Card benefits change often, and this page may be out of date by the time you read it. Always check the bank’s page and your card’s guide to benefits for the current terms before you rely on a benefit.
The Strata Premier is Citi’s mid-tier travel card: a $95 annual fee, 3x on restaurants, supermarkets, gas and EV charging, flights and hotels, 10x on hotels, cars and attractions booked through Citi Travel, and a $100 discount on one $500+ hotel stay a year.
Its ThankYou points transfer to Citi’s airline and hotel partners, including American Airlines at 1:1, which no other bank’s points reach. Below is how it earns, what the hotel benefit takes, the protections, the new once-per-lifetime bonus rule, and my verdict.
Citi Strata Premier at a glance
- Annual fee: $95; no authorized user fee
- Current public offer: 60,000 points after $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months (as of October 14, 2026, per Frequent Miler)
- Is it the best ever?: No. It has been 75,000 points (in 2025), and since Citi’s bonus is now once per lifetime on this card, the size of the offer you take matters more than it used to.
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Best for: Anyone who spends on groceries, gas and dining and wants points that transfer to American Airlines and Citi’s other partners, especially paired with a Double Cash.
- Skip it if: You’ve ever had a Strata Premier or the old Citi Premier (no bonus for you), or you want lounge access or primary rental coverage in the U.S.
- Bank’s page: Citi Strata Premier on citi.com
Jump to: Highlights · Earning · Credits · Perks · Insurance · Transfers · Application rules · My take · The catch · Keep it? · Offer history · Quick Answers
The highlights
- 3x restaurants, supermarkets, gas and EV charging, air travel and other hotels; 10x hotels, cars and attractions via Citi Travel; 1x elsewhere
- $100 off one hotel stay of $500 or more (before taxes and fees) once per calendar year, booked through Citi Travel
- The Reserve by Citi Travel hotel perks: $100 experience credit, breakfast for two and upgrades when available on Reserve rates
- Points transfer to American Airlines AAdvantage at 1:1 plus Flying Blue, Singapore, Qatar Avios, Turkish, Virgin Atlantic, JAL and more
- Trip delay at 6 hours, trip cancellation, lost luggage (all round trips only), rental coverage secondary in the U.S. and primary abroad, extended warranty and purchase protection
- No foreign transaction fees and no authorized user fee
How it earns
| Category | Rate | Caps and fine print |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels, car rentals and attractions through Citi Travel | 10x | No cap. Flights booked through Citi Travel earn the 3x air travel rate. |
| Air travel and other hotel purchases | 3x | No cap |
| Restaurants | 3x | No cap |
| Supermarkets | 3x | No cap |
| Gas and EV charging stations | 3x | No cap |
| Everything else | 1x | — |
ThankYou points don’t expire while the account is open and are worth about 1 cent each in Citi Travel or as gift cards. Transfers to airline partners are where the value is.
Credits and how to use them
| Credit | Amount | How often | Where / how | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual Hotel Benefit | $100 off | Once per calendar year | One hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) booked through cititravel.com or 1-833-737-1288; applied instantly at booking | Portal only, and package rates (air plus hotel, hotel plus car) don’t qualify. It can’t be combined with other thankyou.com promotions. |
| The Reserve by Citi Travel | $100 experience credit per stay | Per stay | Select a hotel rate offered by The Reserve at checkout on Citi Travel | The hotel decides what the credit covers; breakfast for two, Wi-Fi and upgrades or early/late checkout (when available) come with it. |
Other perks
- What’s The Reserve? It’s Citi Travel’s luxury hotel collection, similar to Amex Fine Hotels + Resorts: book a Reserve rate and you get a $100 experience credit, daily breakfast for two, Wi-Fi, and a room upgrade and early check-in or late checkout when available.
- No authorized user fee, so you can add family members to earn points on the same account.
- Citi Entertainment presales, Mastercard ID Theft Protection, Citi Quick Lock and a free FICO score.
- No lounge access.
Insurance and protections
Green highlights mark where this card is at the top of the cards I review.
| Benefit | What the bank says |
|---|---|
| Trip delay | Top tier: up to $500 per trip after a delay of more than 6 hours, 2 claims per 12 months (6 hours ties the shortest wait of the cards I review, and no other card under $100 offers it; the Sapphire Preferred needs 12) One-way and award tickets: Round trips only: Citi excludes one-way travel with no return (a round trip booked as two one-ways is fine, per NerdWallet). The trip has to be paid entirely with the card and/or ThankYou points, so an award booked with ThankYou points counts, but Citi’s terms don’t mention awards booked with airline miles after a transfer, so I wouldn’t count on those. |
| Trip cancellation / interruption | Up to $5,000 per trip and $10,000 per 12 months (common carrier) One-way and award tickets: Same rule as trip delay: round trips only, paid entirely with the card and/or ThankYou points. |
| Lost or damaged luggage | Up to $3,000 per trip, 2 claims per 12 months ($2,000 per bag for New York residents) One-way and award tickets: Same rule: the fare must be paid with the card and/or ThankYou points, and one-way travel with no return is excluded. |
| Baggage delay | None listed |
| MasterRental car rental coverage | Secondary in your country of residence and primary abroad, for rentals of up to 31 days paid entirely with the card (you must decline the rental company’s collision waiver) |
| Extended warranty and Purchase Assurance Plus | Listed on the card page (limits are in the guide to benefits) |
Citi’s card page lists these protections by name only, so the limits and the round-trip rule come from NerdWallet’s Citi travel insurance guide (updated August 6, 2026) and Frequent Miler’s Strata Premier review; check your guide to benefits before you rely on one.
For how this compares with other cards, see my card travel benefits comparison.
Transfer partners
ThankYou points transfer to Citi’s airline and hotel partners, most at 1:1, including American Airlines AAdvantage (instant), which you can’t reach from Chase, Amex or Capital One. Ratios and transfer times for every partner are in my transfer partners guide.
This card also unlocks full transfers for your other Citi cards: points from a Double Cash or Custom Cash combined into the same ThankYou account transfer at the Premier’s ratios instead of the reduced ones those cards get alone.
Application rules for this card
- The bonus is once per lifetime. Since September 2026 Citi’s terms say the new account bonus isn’t available if you “currently have or previously had” a Citi Strata Premier or a Citi Premier account (it used to be 48 months). Since October 10, 2026 some applicants see a pop-up saying they’re pre-qualified but not eligible for the bonus, but it doesn’t appear for everyone, so keep your own records (details).
- The rule is per card: having the Strata Elite or the no-fee Strata doesn’t block this card’s bonus.
- Citi’s velocity rules apply: generally 1 Citi application every 8 days and no more than 2 in 65 days (Citi rules).
The full rules for every bank are in my credit card application rules guide.
My take
A $95 fee for 3x on restaurants, supermarkets, gas, flights and hotels is one of the best everyday earning structures you can get for under $100, in my eyes. There are no easy credits, so the real fee is $95, unless you’d book one $500+ hotel stay through Citi Travel anyway, in which case the $100 off covers it.
Citi’s transfer partners are underrated for business class (Turkish, Avianca, Flying Blue, Qatar, JAL), and American Airlines at 1:1 is something no other bank’s points do. Paired with a Double Cash, it turns that card’s 2% into transferable points.
Now that the bonus is once per lifetime, I wouldn’t apply at 60,000 if you can wait. In any case, I personally would hate to sign up at 60,000 points when 75,000 was available in the past.
The catch
Citi’s customer service and website lag Chase and Amex, there’s no lounge access, and the rental coverage is only secondary in the U.S. The travel protections require a round trip paid entirely with the card or its points, which is stricter than Chase’s.
The hotel benefit only works on a single $500+ stay booked through Citi Travel, which excludes package rates and won’t stack with other promotions. And since September 2026 you only ever get this card’s bonus once, so taking a weak offer now costs you the better one later.
Keep it after year one?
The fee to me is $95, minus $100 if you’d book a $500+ hotel through Citi Travel anyway. I’d keep it as long as you spend on groceries, gas and dining and transfer points, because it also makes a Double Cash’s cash back fully transferable. If you stop using transfers, ask Citi to move you to a no-fee ThankYou card such as the Double Cash rather than closing it, since points earned on a closed card expire 60 days later (per Frequent Miler).
Offer history
| Offer | Ended |
|---|---|
| 75K after $4K in 3 months (best ever) | 2025 |
Quick Answers
$95 a year as of October 2026, with no fee for authorized users and no foreign transaction fees.
As of October 14, 2026 the public offer is 60,000 points after $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. It has been 75,000 points before.
No, under the terms Citi adopted in September 2026: the bonus isn’t available if you currently have or previously had a Strata Premier or a Citi Premier account.
Yes. ThankYou points from the Strata Premier transfer to American Airlines AAdvantage at 1:1, and the transfer is usually instant.
No. Citi’s coverage requires a round trip (two one-ways that make a round trip are fine) paid entirely with the card and/or ThankYou points.
Last checked: October 14, 2026. Card terms change often, so confirm on the bank’s page before you apply. There are no affiliate or referral links on this site, ever; links go to the bank’s own page.