Link: Learn more about the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card, Citi Strata Premier® Card, or Citi Strata℠ Card
Citi has an excellent portfolio of cards earning its transferable points currency, with the three primary cards being known as the Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (review), Citi Strata Premier® Card (review), and Citi Strata℠ Card (review).
These are all compelling cards, and in particular, the Citi Strata Elite Card and/or Citi Strata Premier Card are cards that those who are into miles & points will want to consider. In this post, I’d like to go over the details of the welcome offers on these three cards, for anyone who may be considering applying.
In this post:
Three Citi Strata Card welcome bonus offers compared
The trio of Citi Strata Card products are the key to earning Citi ThankYou points for credit card spending. While the Citi Strata Card is a great no annual fee card, the $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier Card and $595 annual fee Citi Strata Elite Card are key to fully unlocking the value of these points, in terms of being able to transfer them to airline and hotel partners at the best rate possible.
No matter which card you decide on, there’s value to complementing it with the no annual fee Citi Double Cash® Card (review), which is one of the best cards for everyday, non-bonused spending. This card earns 2x ThankYou points per dollar spent on everyday purchases (1x points when you make a purchase, and 1x points when you pay for a purchase), so it’s an excellent option for maximizing everyday spending.
With that in mind, let me go over the current welcome bonuses available on the three Citi Strata Card products, plus the basics of the card value proposition. This is a particularly good time to apply for the Citi Strata Elite Card, given the welcome offer that’s available.
No annual fee Citi Strata Card 30K points bonus
The no annual fee Citi Strata Card has a welcome bonus of 30,000 ThankYou points after spending $1,000 within three months.
The primary reasons that you’ll want to consider this card is because of the rate at which it racks up ThankYou points. The card offers 5x points on select Citi Travel purchases, 3x points at supermarkets, on select transit, on gas & EV charging, and on self-select categories, and 2x points at restaurants.
There are a couple of catches. First, the card does have foreign transaction fees, so I wouldn’t recommend using it for foreign currency purchases. Second of all, to unlock the full value of these points, you’ll want to have this card in conjunction with one of the two more premium cards, since that allows you to maximize the value of points when making transfers.
Read a full review of the Citi Strata Card.
$95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier Card 60K points bonus
The $95 annual fee Citi Strata Premier Card has a welcome bonus of 60,000 ThankYou points after spending $4,000 within three months.
I’d argue that this is the best value card in the Citi ThankYou portfolio. For one, the card has an excellent rewards structure, with no foreign transaction fees, and offers 10x points on select Citi Travel purchases, 3x points on air travel & hotels, on gas & EV charging, on dining, and on supermarkets, which is an incredibly well rounded rewards structure.
The card also offers a $100 annual hotel credit benefit, which can help offset the annual fee. Having this card also lets you unlock the full value of ThankYou points, in terms of being able to move points to travel partners at the best ratio possible.
Read a full review of the Citi Strata Premier Card.
$595 annual fee Citi Strata Elite Card 100K points bonus
The $595 annual fee Citi Strata Premier Card has a limited time welcome bonus of 100,000 ThankYou points after spending $6,000 within three months.
This is Citi’s new premium credit card, with a good ThankYou points rewards structure, and it’s one I’ve recently applied for. The card earns 6-12x points on select Citi Travel purchases, 3-6x points on dining, and 1.5x points on everyday spending.
If you’re looking to offset the annual fee, the card offers credits, including an up to $300 annual hotel credit, an up to $200 annual Splurge credit, and an up to $200 annual Blacklane credit. The card also offers lounge access, in the form of a Priority Pass membership, plus four annual Admirals Club 24-hour passes.
It’s particularly worth calling out the excellent first year value on the card, since some of the credits and benefits are tied to the calendar year, rather than being tied to the cardmember year. This means you can get a disproportionate amount of value with your first annual fee.
Read a full review of the Citi Strata Elite Card.
Who is eligible for Citi Strata Card welcome bonus offers?
The good news is that eligibility for the Citi Strata Elite Card, Citi Strata Premier Card, and Citi Strata Card, is super straightforward. Eligibility for all three cards is considered independently, meaning that you’re eligible to be approved for each of the cards over time. Furthermore, you’re eligible for any or all of these cards if you have the Citi Prestige Card (which is no longer open to new applicants).
The major restriction to be aware of is Citi’s typical 48-month rule. With this, the welcome bonus on a card isn’t available to those who have received a new cardmember bonus on that exact card in the past 48 months. The 48 months is based on when you received the bonus on a card, rather than based on when you opened the card.
Let me emphasize that those requirements are considered independently. That’s to say that if you already have the Citi Strata Premier Card, you’d be eligible for the Citi Strata Elite Card (including the welcome bonus), and vice versa.
Read more about Citi Strata Card eligibility.
Bottom line
The Citi Strata Elite Card, Citi Strata Premier Card, and Citi Strata Card, are all excellent cards, which now make up Citi’s primary portfolio of personal cards earning ThankYou points. The good news is that consumers are eligible for all three of these cards, including the welcome bonuses.
You can’t go wrong with any of these cards. Personally, I think the Citi Strata Premier Card is the easiest to justify card in the collection, since it has a reasonable annual fee, great bonus categories, and unlocks the full value of ThankYou points. However, I think the Citi Strata Elite Card can make a lot of sense, assuming you can take advantage of the credits and benefits, plus value lounge access. The card’s welcome bonus is also really compelling.
What’s your take on the value proposition of the three Citi Strata Card products?
This is exactly the right analysis and thank you for saying the quiet parts out loud. Get the Elite for SUB and disproportionate Year 1 value. But live life with the Strata Premier / Strata Regular / DoubleCash. Hits nearly every bonus category one might want and even mostly replaces the CSR travel category with Premier (including 3x on "travel agents") and Regular (3x transit). If you cruise (I do not) can also pick up...
This is exactly the right analysis and thank you for saying the quiet parts out loud. Get the Elite for SUB and disproportionate Year 1 value. But live life with the Strata Premier / Strata Regular / DoubleCash. Hits nearly every bonus category one might want and even mostly replaces the CSR travel category with Premier (including 3x on "travel agents") and Regular (3x transit). If you cruise (I do not) can also pick up a custom cash and get 5x on cruising up to $500/month (pay it off in $500/month increments if you can).
Unless you are an AA captive (and AA Executive Card > Strata Elite anyway for AA purposes), you can also pick up an Amex Platinum whose credits more than justify the annual fee and you get 5x flights + biggest network of lounge access. Unless you are a big weekend eater and really value the 6x points there, the Elite doesn't really offer much. 12x portal is nice, but can replicate that with Rakuten and earning MR points to the Platinum. Use Agoda (which is frequently at 10x points, sometimes higher), pay with the Strata Premier (3x travel agents!), and whammo - 13x portal points. Don't need the Elite for that.
Lost in the shuffle and looking flat and tired is Chase. What a bust. Yes their lounges are great, but in NY their lounges are the exact same places as Amex and soon C1 as well (admittedly you don't need to spend $75k to get guest access to their lounges). It's fantastic travel insurance, but so is the Amex which offers uncapped emergency evacuation regardless of if you even pay with the Amex! Their credits are borderline unusable at this point other than the $300 travel credit (even though the whole conceit of the card was use it for all travel purposes, we'll give you 3x points and $300 off travel, now it's we'll give you $300 off travel, but then only use it for air/hotel? Uh, ok.). Such a wasted opportunity from the banking market leader, and Amex is clearly rubbing salt in their self inflicted wound.
Meanwhile, Citi is delivering solid bonus categories and has really produced a ThankYou point earning machine. Get all 3 and it's 190,000 TY points as well with easy enough to use credits that could get your annual fee down to $0. Citi may have no idea what it is doing on the premium end (hence the 100k offer - clearly it did not achieve what it was hoping to), but it sure is delivering value in the no/low fee card arena.
Well said, Peter. I know we’ve discussed elsewhere on the double, or even triple dip potential, but, at this point, perhaps, the 100K offer and double dip is really a better way. Like, those extra credits in January 2027 may be too much of a tight rope walk. And, if Citi pulls the 100K link, before December, then it’ll have been better to jump sooner than later.
Indeed. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth! Go on, take the money (or 100k points) and run.
Meanwhile C1 is doing exactly what it should be doing. Building a small network of really good lounges. Closed the acquisition of Discover. Growing in many ways (including creative ways - hello C1 cafes in major cities!) and waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. Sure it made some negative lounge guest access changes, but still...
Indeed. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth! Go on, take the money (or 100k points) and run.
Meanwhile C1 is doing exactly what it should be doing. Building a small network of really good lounges. Closed the acquisition of Discover. Growing in many ways (including creative ways - hello C1 cafes in major cities!) and waiting for the right opportunity to pounce. Sure it made some negative lounge guest access changes, but still a very appealing card relationship. It sure helps to have something to offer other than 4 AA lounge passes.
The whole game with the premium cards is playing for HNWIs. Amex clearly isn't going anywhere and, as it demonstrated this September, it's playing for keeps. Chase just shot itself in the foot and has opened the door for someone else to be the second fiddle. Citi clearly isn't prepared to walk through that premium door despite the Strata product launch. And C1 has the most upside potential. Very interested to see what's next from C1 in 2026-2027.
Yet again, I like where your head is at; though, I am often skeptical of 'too good to be true' situations, so my idiom of choice may be: 'beware Greeks bearing gifts.' In all seriousness, there's no shortage of mergers and acquisitions (and attempts to do so) these days (in banking, aviation, elsewhere), so Capital One and Discover closing earlier this year is a big deal in this space. (Ironically, I've never had a card...
Yet again, I like where your head is at; though, I am often skeptical of 'too good to be true' situations, so my idiom of choice may be: 'beware Greeks bearing gifts.' In all seriousness, there's no shortage of mergers and acquisitions (and attempts to do so) these days (in banking, aviation, elsewhere), so Capital One and Discover closing earlier this year is a big deal in this space. (Ironically, I've never had a card with either of them. Bah!) If any of these entities were interested in new lounges at underserved airports (think, AVL, in Ashville, NC, which doesn't have any lounges, yet is building a new terminal), I think there's real opportunity in that, but, maybe they've already done the cost analysis and rejected it. Just saying, if Citi was to enter that foray, they'd probably go for LGA or JFK, because, well, their headquarters is in NYC, and lots of HNWI here, yet, those airports are already saturated, unless they go for the newer terminals at JFK, like 1, or 5/6/7, or 8, which only has oneworld lounges. Anyway, just spitballin' here.
Ha. I've got this great giant wooden horse though...
Discover is a slightly larger card network than Amex, if I remember correctly. Or at least they are roughly similarly sized. It's a not insignificant segment of the market that C1 now controls.
Shocked that there is not an escape lounge in AVL. Also annoyed that at AVL you have to enter your email address to access the airport wifi - always enjoy getting AVL airport...
Ha. I've got this great giant wooden horse though...
Discover is a slightly larger card network than Amex, if I remember correctly. Or at least they are roughly similarly sized. It's a not insignificant segment of the market that C1 now controls.
Shocked that there is not an escape lounge in AVL. Also annoyed that at AVL you have to enter your email address to access the airport wifi - always enjoy getting AVL airport update emails for absolutely no reason.
You have to start somewhere. Open a Citi lounge in JFK T8 and watch everyone get an Elite card so that they don't have to slum it in the Admirals Club (and take the double long escalator / moving walkway under the ramp walk of shame). Build from there.
Those who waited are fortunate. The new 100K link for Strata Elite is legit.
Oh, the irony that even some of the bloggers jumped at the 80K offer (See: Gary Leff).
And, those who were a bit too eager, or too lazy to go into a branch for the earlier in-branch 100K offer, instead used a sketchy application link (from some Chinese website), then a lot of them ended up in a lengthy income verification process.