Citi Strata Elite Card 6x Points On Citi Nights Dining: Valuable Or Gimmick?

I personally think this was an _awesome_ idea, for everyone involved (Citi, consumers, and restaurants).

First, from consumer point of view, Friday and Saturday nights are the night to go out. We all know Cheap Thrills by Sia, right? There are reasons why that song mentioned Friday and Saturday and not, you know, Wednesday night. So getting elevated return on the nights you are likely to eat out is good.

(First and a half, if you just use the same card for the rest of the time, it's not bad-bad either; 3pt/$ is decent)

Second, for Citi, Friday and Saturday nights are when people see what others use to pay. Because, again, that's when you go for fancy dates and clubbing. So getting people to use the premium card on those night is the best bang for the bug.

Third, for restaurants (and clubs?), this of course encourages people to spend more.

Win-win-win. What's not to like?

One thing that is an interesting wrinkle is the Eastern Time part, since that means that this would practically apply to breakfast on Sat/Sun in (say) Europe, or back up into lunch in Hawaii (and cover happy hour on the West Coast). It's 8AM-8PM in eastern Australia (Sydney/Brisbane) - of course, all depending on DST and the like.

So you run into some truly weird utility situations, like this being good for brunch/lunch in Europe, all day in Australia, or for lunch/dinner in Hawaii versus the clear "dinner/late night" target in New York.

Moot point for me because a key perk of this card is AA lounge passes.

Since the release of the Citi Strata Elite, AA lounges have had signs out front saying they're not accepting passes.

Yeah it would be great if Citi Nights were 6p-6a LOCAL time.

That being said... Eastern Time is kinda king of the world.

Encouraging people to spend more is another reason I only use my Amex card everywhere even though it earns only 1 point per dollar.

99% of people are incentivized by credit card bonus points to spend more than they organically would.

All lounge providers will restrict day pass use given capacity limitations. It's the same with Alaska and United. Nothing new.

At 1 point per dollar, your earn rate is flaccid.

By capitalizing your name, are you compensating for something?

Okay well the fact remains that the lounge passes from Citi cannot be used, making the card useless.

I have never had a problem accessing Delta Sky Clubs using my Amex Platinum.

Guess what, Lee. I make a lot of money, like actual cash, so I don't have to worry about points.

Projecting much?

And, you're on this blog because . . . ?

INFANTILE

It gets me to pull my card out on a Fri/Sat night instead of using my AmEx Gold card that is my default dining card. The Citi app actually has a little countdown widget that shows when you're in coming up on or in a Citi Night window. Not game changing, but makes it the go to dining card those nights. I've heard others talk about re-loading their Starbucks card during these windows or similar and that seems to work to get a bit more reward for the purchases you would make anyway. Purchasing GCs on premises would conceivably also work. I'm not going to go out of my way with this one, but it adds some value a lot like getting Resy credits by using a qualifying AmEx card at certain restaurants.

If, as you say, you make a lot of money and don't care about points, why don't you simply buy a lounge membership and not worry about day pass preemption? I think LONG AND THICK would agree with me.

My strategy is essentially the same as yours, Ben - Citi Prestige most of the time, Citi Strata for Citi nights. Where we differ is I don't have a question about whether I'm going to carry the Citi Strata, or not, because I'm currently using it for a lot of my "other category" spending.

Why? Two reasons. (1) I've recently redeemed six figures of AA points, so I'm filling the Citi coffers for future AA transfers. (2) I'm not currently carrying a 2x card for "other category" spending, making Citi Strata's 1.5x my best rate.

If it weren't for these 2 things, I'd probably be asking myself the same question as you. In the meantime, my Citi Strata is getting a workout and definitely has a place in my wallet.

I think your argument falls flat. Don't feel hard over abo the lounge access. There other reasons to hold the card.

So, let's say you are in Bali, How would the Weekend Dining Benefits would work? Still East Coast time zone?

@ Love Bali -- Still 6PM to 6AM ET on Fridays and Saturdays, so in Bali you could use it for Saturday or Sunday breakfast or lunch, for example.

Perhaps this is niche, but I dine at a fair number of restaurants that are prepaid (generally tasting menus, etc.). Given that those generally involve large dollar amounts, optimizing them by booking during this window seems like any easy way to maximize this benefit.

Figuring out the optimal card to use for every purchase actually takes the “autopilot” off “1 card for every purchase” & focuses instead on amount/type of spend.

It can - and I think totally is - both a gimmick and valuable.

I have been reflexively turning to my Strata when I go out on Friday and Saturday nights, it's a win win for Citi and me.

If 4 Admirals Club passes are the value prop of this card, it's probably not a very valuable card for you in the first place

I mainly dine out at nice restaurants only on the weekend so it works well for me!

Why not get a $0 doublecash for the 2x?

Honestly, just laziness. It's a solid strategy - I just have to get around to applying for the card.

I'm wondering if that's going to trip some sort of fight over the card fee if it persists (since AA clearly sold the passes to Citi to distribute)...

I don't want to have to calculate time zones just to remember when to use which card in my wallet. I'm sick of credit card perks that assume every customer is in New York City.