The Citi Strata Premier is a terrific option for anyone looking to earn travel rewards on everyday spending. It can work as either a standalone rewards card or as the centerpiece of a Citi card stack. And though the card carries a modest annual fee ($95), its cost can easily be offset via its ongoing rewards, annual hotel benefit and — for the first few years — its generous welcome offer.
Rewards: A great mix for occasional travelers
The Citi Strata Premier boasts a terrific mix of everyday bonus categories on top of its solid rewards on travel purchases.
In the travel category, you’ll earn 10X points on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com and 3X points on air travel and other hotel purchases. This is a decent travel rewards rate for a mid-tier card, with its 10X and 3X rates beating out the travel rewards rates on some competing cards like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card (5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, 2X miles on everything else).
Where the card shines most, though, is with its everyday rewards potential. In addition to 3X points on air travel, you’ll earn 3X points on restaurant, supermarket, and gas and EV charging station purchases. That’s not only a solid everyday rewards rate for a card in the $95-per-year range, but also an exceptional mix of popular everyday categories.
Few travel cards offer the same high rewards rate in all three of these everyday categories. As I noted in my piece on the Robinhood Gold card, credit card rewards tend to follow the “You can only pick two,” rule, but instead of “Good,” “Cheap” and “Fast,” you have “Groceries,” “Restaurants” and “Gas.”
If you want to earn travel points, but don’t actually spend much on travel, this rewards rate and mix of categories may make the Citi Strata Premier a more lucrative standalone option than many competing travel cards.
For example, if you spend about $2,000 per year on air travel, $5,000 per year on groceries, $3,600 per year on dining, $2,400 per year on gas and $8,000 on general purchases, the Citi Strata Premier will offer more value than the popular Capital One Venture card.
Card |
Rewards earned |
Point value |
Estimated value (minus annual fee) |
Citi Strata Premier |
$13,000 at 3X points + $8,000 at 1X points = 47,000 points |
1 cent per point (redeemed for travel via Citi) |
$375 |
Capital One Venture |
$21,000 at 2X miles = 42,000 miles |
1 cent per mile (redeemed for travel via Capital One) |
$325 |
American Express® Green Card |
$10,600 at 3X points + $10,400 at 1X points = 42,200 points |
1 cent per point (redeemed for travel via Amex) |
$272 |
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card |
$2,000 at 4X points + $3,600 at 3X points + $15,400 at 1X points = 34,200 points |
1 cent per point (redeemed for travel via Wells Fargo) |
$247 |
One exception to keep in mind: The Chase Sapphire Preferred® comes out on top in this example even with a relatively low travel spend. However, you’ll need to book travel through Chase, redeem points for travel via Chase and purchase all your groceries online.
As you can see, depending on your spending habits, the Citi Strata Premier can be one of the most lucrative standalone travel rewards cards available.
Welcome offer: One of the best Citi travel card sign-up bonuses to date
The Citi Strata Premier card has debuted with an impressive welcome offer: If you apply via Bankrate, you can earn 70,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in your first three months as a cardholder. That’s worth $700 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com. Your bonus could be even higher if you apply via the issuer’s website.
Based on Bankrate’s latest travel point and mile valuations, which give Citi ThankYou points an average value of 1.6 cents per point based on its transfer partners, we estimate a 70,000-point bonus could be worth around $1,120 in travel.
While this offer isn’t a giant step up from the now-discontinued Citi Premier® Card’s final bonus (60,000 points with the same spending requirement), it’s still solid for a mid-tier travel card.
We also haven’t seen a bonus of 70,000 points or more since this time last year, when the Citi Premier offered a 75,000-point bonus for the same spend. This makes now a good time to apply, especially if you anticipate a lot of spending in the next few months. Plus, the bonus holds enough value to offset the annual fee for at least your first seven years as a cardholder based on its baseline redemption value.
Rates and fees: Annual perk value outweighs annual fee
Like most mid-tier travel cards, the Citi Strata Premier doesn’t carry luxury perks like airport lounge access or flight credits (typically, you’ll have to get a card with a higher annual fee for those benefits). However, the card’s biggest perk holds enough value to completely offset the $95 annual fee on its own.
Once per calendar year, you can get $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when you book through CitiTravel.com. This benefit is applied instantly when you book, so you won’t face any runaround to get your discount.
Assuming you typically book at least one hotel stay of $500 or more each year, this is a terrific value, essentially making the card free to hold. Competing cards also offer airline or hotel credits or discounts, but these are typically less valuable than the annual hotel benefit available with the Citi Strata Premier.
For example, the Chase Sapphire Preferred only offers up to $50 in annual statement credits toward hotel stays through the Chase Travel℠ portal, and the new Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card only carries a $50 annual statement credit for airline purchases (toward a $50 minimum airline purchase). Meanwhile, the Capital One Venture card doesn’t offer any credits or discounts for airfare or hotel bookings.