We posted earlier today with some additional clarifications to the upcoming Citi Prestige changes, some which are positive and some negative. The biggest news was that all of us who are grandfathered with the $350 fee as Citi Priority will NOT keep that – our fee will go up to $495; only those who maintain Citigold or Citi Private Banking will remain at $350.
Many readers have pointed out another huge negative change that Citi made here.
In July 2017, Citi added the ability to book 4th-night-free bookings online. BUT they retained the ability to book it over the phone with Citi Concierge. However, they now snuck by in the fine print that beginning September 1, 2019, Citi Concierge bookings will no longer be an option:
Cardmembers will enjoy a complimentary fourth night with no black-out dates (“Fourth Night”), when booking at least four consecutive nights at any hotel only through Thankyou.com or by phone at 1-800-ThankYou (powered by Connexions) or the Citi Prestige Concierge (the “Citi Prestige Concierge” is Aspire Lifestyles) and subject to additional requirements stated below. Beginning 09/01/19, Citi Prestige Concierge will no longer be available for Fourth Night bookings and bookings must be made either online at ThankYou.com or by phone at 1-800-ThankYou in order to be eligible for the Fourth Night benefit.
When using Citi Concierge, the booking is done directly with the hotel; plus, the full charge shows up on your card and gets refunded later. On the other hand, when booking online or through ThankYou, it’s like booking through an online travel agency. Here’s why that Citi Concierge is advantageous:
- You get hotel points and earn elite status for the stay.
- You can use special rates and corporate discounts.
- Those booking business travel can get reimbursed for the 4th night since the initial charge is for the full amount.
- You get credit card points (3x travel) for the cost of the fourth night since the initial charge is for the full amount.
As some readers note, this change alone is enough to neuter the card for a lot of people. We’ll add this change to the original post.
Keep in mind, you can still book with Concierge until September 1, 2019, plus you can book out beyond that date too.
It also says, “You must pre-pay for your reservation.”. Does that mean you can’t book a flexible rate?
You can book a refundable rate on the thank you.com portal but must prepay the booking. You will receive a reimbursement if you cancel the refundable booking.
Losing Aspire Lifestyles (Citi Prestige Concierge) would be a deal breaker for me, but oddly enough I did *not* see that same fine print. In an email sent to me by Citi this morning:
In big text:
“Complimentary 4th Night
can be redeemed two times per calendar year. Bookings made prior to September 1, 2019 will not count toward your two redemptions for 2019.4” [The 4 at the end is a subscript]
In the (4) subscript:
“4Cardmembers will enjoy a complimentary fourth night with no black-out dates (“Fourth Night”), when booking at least four consecutive nights at any hotel only through thankyou.com or by phone at 1-800-THANKYOU (powered by Connexions) or the Citi Prestige Concierge (the “Citi Prestige Concierge” is Aspire Lifestyles) and subject to additional requirements stated below. The amount due to you for the Fourth Night benefit will be based on the average nightly rate of your stay (excluding taxes and fees). When booked through the Citi Prestige Concierge, you will receive a statement credit for this amount within two billing cycles. When booked through thankyou.com or 1‑800‑THANKYOU, the complimentary night savings will be provided at the time of booking. ”
Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/TE173ux
I’ve had the Prestige pretty much a few months after it launched. I don’t a Citi gold checking. I tried to apply for the checking but they botched my application and it was never opened. However, they somehow believe that I indeed have a gold checking because I have $350 AF.
The email links to the page where it states these terms.
It took a while but I finally found it. You have to click on the “summary of changes” at the bottom of the email and then read the details on the bottom of that linked page. At least we have another 10 months of bookings through the concierge before they turn it off.
This is absolutely horrible. The card gets cancelled as soon as I used up my two free nights next year. So I don’t care as much about being able to stack up discounts and get hotel points, though it’s certainly very nice. What I care about the most is that there is only a faction of hotels available via ThankYou.com compared to what can be booked via Concierge / Aspire Lifestyles. I was going to cancel the card last year because I wasn’t finding any of the hotels I wanted to book on ThankYou.com. Fortunately I read a lengthy thread on FlyerTalk about booking via Concierge. Since then I was able to book virtually any hotel all over the world (Europe, Caribbean, US) and get my 4th night free. It seemed too good to be true, and unfortunately it didn’t last.
The selection of hotel on ThankYou (or the lack of the selection) is the real issue for me.
well, you can thank the abusive expense account consultants for that…
I was excited for the changes originally but this really seals the deal on not getting the new version of the card.
Sad day for Citi.
I try to wait to digest the changes and not have an emotional reaction, but it is hard to see why I would keep the Citi Prestige card at $495 a year without being able to book the 4th night free through the Concierge. Without the terms I could previously stack with the concierge, I expect most of my bookings thru Citi with the fourth night “free” will not be much better than the price I can get for four nights at an equivalent hotel in the same city with discounts. Why I would pay $495 for a card that can’t get me better deals than I can get on other cards I am already paying a sizable annual fee for I don’t know. I’ll have to do more math, but it appears to me that that my wallet may already have everything I need without putting the “new” Citi Prestige card in it.
Such is life…? But to simultaneously remove concierge AND charge card members more for it has really funny optics.
People are so greedy!
You get the 4th night for free and you want all the points from free nights. And you want to charge your employer for your free night??
You get hotel points and earn elite status for the stay.
You can use special rates and corporate discounts.
Those booking business travel can get reimbursed for the 4th night since the initial charge is for the full amount.
You get credit card points (3x travel) for the cost of the fourth night since the initial charge is for the full amount.
No, you don’t get hotel points or your elite benefits.
When you’re in a situation where “4th night free” only applies to the rates listed on the ThankYou.com website, you’re entering territory where you’re missing out on cheaper hotel rates that are publicly available. 4th night free has marginal value at that point.
You are misguided. What’s the use of the 4th night free if you can’t get a good hotel rate? I’ll charge you 50% more per night and give you the 4th night free…then you end up paying more anyway.
And with that any real reason to hold the card vanishes.
Now what if I upgrade checking account citi priority only for the month of AF and downgrade after? I will do it if I can save $145 on AF.
“Here’s why that Citi Concierge is advantageous”
I think there’s one major reason that you’re missing:
ThankYou.com and phone ThankYou agents cannot book a very large number of smaller/boutique hotels, especially outside of the U.S. They are simply not in the system. On the other hand, I have in the past used the concierge to book hotels that don’t even have electronic reservation systems (so the concierge had to do everything by phone).
Yep, found this out with a 50 off promo code a few months ago. Much smaller selection than booking.com
This. I’ve saved many times the AF this past year on hotels that are outside the ThankYou system, all of which had to be booked by the Concierge. And even then it’s been a struggle to get the 4th night refund — submitting hotel folios for verification and waiting and waiting. This is a negative change.
Concierge also has the power to stack on the hotel promotion which makes it far superior than online system, like stacking 3rd night free on top of 4th night free or dining credit etc, also they can directly talk to the hotel staff for special needs. I wouldn’t give up the convenience from what citi claimed over concierge especially when you can just email them and wait for them to respond
Exactly. Probably half my 4NF bookings were simply not available on OTAs.
That’s exactly right. I wouldn’t even say that it’s just smaller and boutique hotels that are missing.I think ThankYou.com hotel selection is missing 90% of the hotels, including some pretty large chains and independent properties. Most hotels won’t be available at all, not even at a bad rate.
Citi prestige confirmed deadweight for me now ;( i’ll most likely renew the 450 since my af hits in late august so that I can have 4th night free credit post for the ones i make before sep and cancel it for prorated af refund after dipping 250 travel credit in jan 2021.
Annual fee is due in dec cancelling. after using the $250 airline credit for next year. Sad to see this happening.