While the Citi Prestige isn’t the behemoth it used to be, it still holds a spot in our wallets, and we still make an earnest effort to squeeze every cent of value out of it each year. As Disney travelers, the value of the Prestige has decreased a lot for us recently, but it still has good—and sometimes enormous—value in the right circumstance. Read on for our 2020 review of the Citi Prestige.
How does the Citi Prestige stack up for Disney travelers?
The Basics of the Citi Prestige
The Citi Prestige is a Mastercard issued by Citi that earns rewards in the form of Citi ThankYou points. The card has an annual fee of $495 and earns 5X points on air travel and restaurants, 3X on hotels and cruise lines, and 1X on everything else. The annual fee will be partially offset by most cardholders by the $250 travel credit.
The major perk of the card, which we’ll discuss in more detail below, is the 4th Night Free benefit, which basically gives you a single night free on up to two hotel stays per year (booked through the Citi ThankYou portal) of four nights or longer.
As of this update, the signup bonus for the card is 50,000 points for spending $4000 in three months, which is a pretty typical bonus for this and similar cards.
The Citi ThankYou Program
Citi ThankYou points are among the most powerful points to have, but they aren't quite as good as Chase Ultimate Reward points, making this card a poor alternative to the Chase Sapphire Reserve in this regard.
You’ll get 1.25 cents per points when using the points for air travel through this Citi ThankYou portal. Otherwise, the points can be redeemed for things like statement credits and gift cards, and you shouldn’t have much trouble getting 1 cent of value per point. But that’s not the best way to use your points…
You'll be best off taking advantage of Citi's transfer partners and redeeming for long-haul, business or first class travel. First class routes can often be found for under 100,000 points (or about $1000 of value at 1 cent per point) for tickets that cost $10,000+. With Avianca LifeMiles as a new partner, you might also use the points for flights on United for under 10,000 points.
If you’re staying at a Disney hotel at Disney World, you can charge all your purchases back to your room, which means you’ll earn 3X points on all those expenses.
5X on air travel and restaurants is certainly a respectable return, and ThankYou is a good program. But this alone probably isn’t enough for most people to get the card…so let’s get to the heart of things.
Citi Prestige 4th Night Free
4th Night Free—if it’s valuable to you, get the card. If it isn’t, skip the card.
4th Night Free is straightforward. When you book a hotel through the Citi ThankYou portal, you’ll receive a discount of 25% on your first four nights. You can use this perk twice per year.
In general, the math here is simple. The annual fee on the card is $495. The travel credit is $250. You need to use 4th Night Free twice for a total of $245 savings to justify the savings. That’s two trips of four nights or more with an average nightly rate of $123. (A single stay average $245 is obviously enough, too.)
I used the perk recently for an expensive stay on a non-Disney trip, saving over $500 on a single booking:
I’ll flag quickly that if you’re not getting the best price in the ThankYou portal, you might not get the savings you expect. Let’s say a hotel goes for $250 in the portal, so you could book four nights at $750, “saving” $250. But maybe that same hotel is available on Priceline for $200 per night, so your savings using 4th Night Free are really only $50.
Or maybe the hotel is at a deep discount on some website for only $150 per night. Then you’re actually losing $150 and your 4th Night Free credit by booking via the travel portal.
Relatedly, if you’re the type who never spends more than $150 per night at hotels anyways, then the perk won’t be great for you. I saved that $500+ noted above because I was already set on that hotel for my trip. Citi happened to offer as good a price as anyone, and my savings were high.
For our readers, Disney is the name of the game. In the past, Disney hotels were included in the ThankYou portal. Now (as of early 2020) it appears they’re gone. That said, you still have plenty of options—like the Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels, Four Seasons Orlando, Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin, and every other hotel near Disney World and Disneyland—where you can get value from 4th Night Free.
So for travelers focused solely on Disney, this card only makes sense if you’re willing to stay at a non-Disney hotel. We definitely think the Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels and the the Swan & Dolphin are worth consideration for any guest. And the Four Seasons Orlando is considered the best hotel in the area. If you’re visiting Disneyland, chances are you were staying at a non-Disney hotel anyways.
The Other Perks of the Citi Prestige
Like other premium cards, the Citi Prestige has a whole host of perks we won't cover here. We will let you know about those most relevant to you, though!
Priority Pass Select
The Citi Prestige comes with Priority Pass Select, a lounge membership that gets you, immediate family, and up to two guests access to lounges at a wide array of airports, including (relevant for Disney travelers) at Orlando - MCO, the international terminal at Los Angeles - LAX, Paris - CDG, Shanghai - PVG, Hong Kong - HKG, and Tokyo - NRT.
Priority Pass gets you access to lounges for free drinks, snacks, and sometimes even showers!
For families this perk can be huge because you escape the chaos of the airport and you and the family can refresh with snacks, drinks, and sometimes full meals and showers.
We use our Priority Pass most commonly at The Club at MCO. It’s a fine lounge, and we can get a meals worth of food and beverage there, but it also is frequently at capacity during peak times. If you’re only visiting once or twice a year, then your odds of getting in aren’t ideal. If you visit frequently enough, though, the early drop off by Disney’s Magical Express means you’ll probably make a few visits to the lounge.
Global Entry / TSA PreCheck Reimbursement
You;re entitled to a $100 reimbursement (once every 5 years, the length of the membership) for signing up for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. We highly recommend Global Entry, it has saved us hours, and we're not exaggerating, on trips arriving in the U.S. Global Entry comes with TSA PreCheck, which you probably know is a good way to skip security lines.
Travel Protection & Insurance
The nitty gritty of this topic could fill more than one post on its own, but the Citi Prestige offers an excellent array of protections in case your flight is delayed or cancelled, your bags are lost, or something happens to you while traveling.
Get This Card If...
Get the Citi Prestige if 4th Night Free makes sense for you. Will you have the one or two trips each year of length four nights or more at non-Disney hotels with a combined average nightly hotel rate of $250 (one trip) or $125 (two trips)? If so, the Citi Prestige can work for you. If not, it’s probably not worth grabbing.