New Citi Strata Elite: $595 Fee, With Point Transfers to American

Following the debut of the $0-annual-fee Citi Strata Card, the issuer is launching a premium version: the Citi Strata Elite Card.

The card, which has a substantial $595 annual fee, focuses its rewards and benefits on travel, along with high-end experiences and purchases. There’s a sizable welcome offer: Earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. (NOTE: Per Citi, as of this writing, there’s a different offer if you apply in person at a physical Citi retail branch: New customers who approved for the card in those locations can earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.)

Beyond that, the Citi Strata Elite earns the following ongoing rewards:

• 12 points per $1 on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked on cititravel.com.

• 6 points per $1 on air travel booked on cititravel.com. 

• 6 points per $1 at restaurants (including food delivery services on “Citi Nights”) on Fridays and Saturdays between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Eastern Time. Outside of this timeframe, you’ll earn 3 points per $1 in this category.

• 1.5 points per $1 on all other purchases. 

Rewards are in the form of ThankYou points, which you can redeem for cash back, travel, gift cards, purchases at participating retailers and more. Another option is to transfer your points to one of Citi’s transfer partners, but there’s a feature that sets the Citi Strata Elite Card apart: You can also transfer your points to American Airlines’ AAdvantage loyalty program. That’s big news because American hasn’t been a permanent transfer partner for any other card issuer’s rewards programs, including Citi, which issues multiple co-branded cards with the airline.

If you carry multiple Citi-issued cards that are connected to one ThankYou rewards account, you could transfer points from another card to the Citi Strata Elite Card to then transfer to American.

Like other premium cards, the Citi Strata Elite Card offers a coupon book of benefits that could help offset its annual fee if you’re able to make use of them. They include:

• A $300 annual hotel credit for stays of two nights or more that are booked through cititravel.com.

• A $200 annual Splurge Credit for purchases with your choice of two of these brands: 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy, Future Personal Training and Live Nation.

• A $200 annual credit (in the form of two $100 credits) for bookings with Blacklane, a chauffeur service.

Cardholders can also access:

• The Reserve by Citi Travel, a selection of high-end hotels you can book through Citi. You’ll also get free breakfast and Wi-Fi at these properties, along with a $100 experience credit, room upgrades, and early check-in/late checkout.

• Ticket sales and presales for concerts, sporting events and more through Citi Entertainment.

• Cocktail tutorials, videos and courses through the Death & Co lifestyle platform (for those ages 21 and up).

• Mastercard Collection benefits, such as priority reservations at restaurants, and tickets to live events. The Citi Strata Elite is the first card in the new high-end Mastercard World Legend benefits tier.

The Citi Strata Elite card joins a Strata “family” of two other products in the issuer’s portfolio: the Citi Strata Card and the Citi Strata Premier® Card, Here’s a breakdown of what each card offers: