Earlier today, Citi revealed numerous changes coming to the Prestige card, including the option to book 4th-night-free booking online. A lot of people pointed out that this is actually more negative than positive since users won’t get frequent flyer points or other specialty discount rates and benefits that come with cash bookings.
Citi has clarified with Doctorofcredit that those utilizing the Citi Prestige Concierge to book their hotels over the phone will continue to be able to use their frequent flyer accounts to earn miles, as well as other loyalty rates and discounts. The 4th-night-free benefit will post as a statement credit for Concierge bookings, as before.
If a hotel offers discounts for members of certain loyalty or membership programs, these rates can still be applied with the complimentary 4th night benefit when booked through the Citi Prestige Concierge. Also, if cardmembers would like to use their frequent traveler account when booking, they can still do so via the Citi Prestige Concierge.
And Citi clarified further:
Cardmembers will continue to have the option to book with the Citi Prestige Concierge and receive a statement credit.
This is great news! The potential negatives we wrote about in the previous post are still true for those utilizing the online booking option. But we aren’t forced to use the online system. We can use Citi Prestige Concierge, as we’ve done until now, and it’ll all run exactly the same with the fourth night coming in as a statement credit.
Just remember that there are still two negative changes coming to the 4th night benefit on July 23, as we’ve known for a while:
- The fourth-night-free benefit for hotels will be based on average nightly rate instead of the 4th night’s rate
- The fourth-night-free benefit will no longer include taxes
it doesn’t work for special group rates (e.g. you are there for a conference and you get a special discounted rate), right?
well I read online about it not working for some people, but I just confirmed it worked for me.
chuck or any folks,
any way or tip to combine award stay like the hilton’s wknd cert with 2 paid nights & get the credit/rebate for 4th night? TIA
Not that I know of
I would say the averaging of the four nights is at worst a slight negative, since the old method was only an obvious win for those with the flexibility and will to arrange their travel schedule so the 4th night is consistently the most expensive one. For everyone else, the new way is neutral. (The loss of coverage for taxes is an obvious negative, though.)
The new method would have actually saved me money on a recent trip when the 4th night was the least expensive.
Can I get the signup bonus on this card if I cancelled a different thank-you points earning card just one year ago? I’ve never had the Prestige, but I’ve had most of the other cards that earn Thank You points.
Nope. It’s any TYP earning card. I had a Preferred that Citi closed due to inactivity about 13 months ago, and it is preventing me from getting any sign up bonus on any TYP cards until 24 months have passed.
It’s crazy to me that they limit it to any TYP family card – I was ready to sign up for the Prestige, and now I can’t since they have the 24 month per card family rule.
From my understanding, you could still apply for the prestige – it’s just that you won’t be eligible for any signup bonus.
Thanks for the DP on the involuntary closure of the preferred card due to inactivity.
Just wait…
Thank goodness. This is certainly good news. Sure losing the tax reimbursement stinks but that’s the way things go. The average thing is a wash for me as rarely have I had a fourth night that was higher than the other nights.
Very good news, but I can’t see any reason to book this way unless it’s a non-chain and you wan’t a prepaid rate. Still though…
I know it’s probably too soon to know for sure… but theoretically, if someone has both the Premier and Prestige, do you think it would be possible to stack the Premier’s 1.25 cpp hotel redemptions with the additional 4th night free, to get 1.5625 cpp (or something along those lines)? I’m going to assume they will most likely not allow this, but in theory it could be possible, right?
just wait and see. im sure BS citi will fuk it up and create an IT loophole to do magic mike online booking.
Yeah, you’re right… they probably won’t INTEND to make this possible, but since the shitibank IT system is so bad, maybe we’ll get lucky!
Excellent news. Thank you, Doc!
this pretty much concludes the non-announcement of improvement. AKA nothing to see here folks. there has been no changes to the prestige except for the CSR 5/24 team who get 75k bonus…
I think the cash redemption option is an enhancement for some people. But, yeah, certainly nothing groundbreaking.
The saddest part is that the new metal card literally *IS* the best new feature for most people, and that’s pretty pathetic…