For quite some time now, we’ve known that Citi would be transitioning to a new travel portal. Citi’s old travel portal was extremely limited, and didn’t accept reservations for hotel stays in the future. Well, that has finally changed, as the new portal has been launched over the weekend.
In this post:
New Citi ThankYou travel portal finally live
The new Citi travel portal has just launched, and it’s named Citi Travel with Booking.com. As you’d guess based on the name, the portal is run in partnership with Booking.com. You can access the new portal at this link, by logging into your Citi account.
The user experience for the new Citi travel portal is mighty similar to the Booking.com experience. You can use the portal to book hotels, flights, rental cars, and even attractions (which is a new addition).
Personally I’m not a huge fan of travel portals in general (I prefer booking flights or hotels direct, unless there’s a strong incentive not to do so). So I haven’t spent a huge amount of time playing around with this portal yet, but my initial impression is pretty favorable, as this seems to be functional and easy to use.
Most importantly, the portal works and accepts reservations for stays far in the future, which wasn’t the case with the old portal.
Benefits of the new Citi travel portal
Aside from the new Citi travel portal actually working, why should you care about this? This is going to be most interesting for those with Citi credit cards who are in the Citi ThankYou ecosystem. Among other things, here are some of the key features of the Citi travel portal:
- You can redeem Citi ThankYou points for one cent each toward purchases through the portal, including for hotels, flights, rental cars, and attractions; this can be done for all or part of a travel purchase, with no minimums
- Some Citi cards offer benefits when booking through the Citi travel portal, and those still apply with the new portal — the Citi Premier Card offers a $100 annual hotel credit for stays of $500+, while the Citi Prestige Card offers a fourth night free on select hotel stays
- For a limited time (through June 30, 2024), select Citi cards are offering up to 10x ThankYou points for hotels, rental cars, and attractions booked through the Citi ThanYou travel portal; flights are excluded for these purposes
Bottom line
Citi has finally launched its new travel portal, which is exciting, as it’s something many have been waiting for. This should make it significantly easier to book travel through Citi, whether you want to take advantage of the fourth night free or $100 hotel benefit, or want to redeem Citi ThankYou points for one cent each toward a travel purchase.
Personally I still don’t find booking travel through this portal to be as compelling as booking through the Capital One travel portal or Chase travel portal. That also largely comes down to the lack of travel protection offered by Citi credit cards, which is an important feature that many travelers value.
What do you make of the new Citi travel portal?
The Citi Prestige 4th night free has value again for those that have the card. The prices were so inflated on the old portal that the benefit was almost totally negated. Add in the 10x earning and it's definitely a winner for me.
When booking an "attraction," the date I selected shows up correctly in the summary of the booking in the upper right corner of the page, but in the billing summary below that, the date is one day prior. This is the case with any booking I try. I don't have confidence that my booking is correct. The people I talk to when I call the support number on the travel portal say that they don't...
When booking an "attraction," the date I selected shows up correctly in the summary of the booking in the upper right corner of the page, but in the billing summary below that, the date is one day prior. This is the case with any booking I try. I don't have confidence that my booking is correct. The people I talk to when I call the support number on the travel portal say that they don't have anything to do with the website and that I need to call Citi. Citi, of course, says that I need to talk to the travel people. Surely I'm not the only one who has had this problem, but the people who I'm talking to seem unaware of this and unable to help.
Can anyone really use $100 off premier benefit and complete the booking? Mine always show an error "Sorry, the booking cannot be processed." during the payment step. However, if I didn't select using $100, it just work. Try to know if it's a universal issue or it's something weird on my account/card. Felt that it's an IT bug and I don't have a lot of confidence on Citi's folks...
I got the same error trying to use my fourth night benefit from the Prestige card.
Did either of you find a workaround for this error.? I get the same thing.
I’m normally a huge Citi fan (Citigold offers some nicer rewards than most other banking programs), but I won’t bother with this. When you book with Citi, you agree to their cancellation terms which is pre-Covid customer-hostile. Does AA allow full refunds and flight credits? Not with Citi! You gotta pay, *even if your ticket was fully refundable.* It’s insane.
I haven’t explored the hotel program, but couldn’t imagine it being customer-friendly if they’re still...
I’m normally a huge Citi fan (Citigold offers some nicer rewards than most other banking programs), but I won’t bother with this. When you book with Citi, you agree to their cancellation terms which is pre-Covid customer-hostile. Does AA allow full refunds and flight credits? Not with Citi! You gotta pay, *even if your ticket was fully refundable.* It’s insane.
I haven’t explored the hotel program, but couldn’t imagine it being customer-friendly if they’re still sporting 2019 policies on the airline side.
Can you utilize the $100 credit on a Premier card and pay with points the rest?
'Powered by RocketTravel'.. what could go wrong?
Poor users, I really feel for them.
The Prestige "4th night free" boast is a bit misleading. After all the opaque taxes & fees are added in, it's closer to a little less than half a night free.
Just booked a 4N stay that netted a total 11% discount vs. direct. It was a hotel I would not get any elite benefits at anyway, so the $ savings made sense. And the temporary 10X point offer does add some value back.
...The Prestige "4th night free" boast is a bit misleading. After all the opaque taxes & fees are added in, it's closer to a little less than half a night free.
Just booked a 4N stay that netted a total 11% discount vs. direct. It was a hotel I would not get any elite benefits at anyway, so the $ savings made sense. And the temporary 10X point offer does add some value back.
In a change from the previous Citi website, you have to cart it, and then proceed to the checkout page before they reveal the 4N savings. Uff da...
The good: More options to book 4th night free.
The bad: Overpriced.
The ugly: Seems some are even more expensive on Citi than Booking.com
At least for the Premier card, can't you redeem points for $0.01/each toward any charge (not just travel)? So the cash-equivalent value of points isn't really higher through the portal then...
I'm more of a Chase guy, so I truly don't know what this means, but I'm dying to find out:
" didn’t accept reservations for hotel stays in the future"
It only accepted retroactive reservations??
The old portal limited reservations to 6/30/23
I actually used it last night and had no idea the Booking.com connection was literally brand new. I was booking a fourth-night free stay with my Prestige card for this summer. I rarely stay anywhere more than 2-3 nights and, with COVID, it has been several years since I used that perk. It definitely worked better than the last time I booked a fourth-night free when I had to call in. I could make a...
I actually used it last night and had no idea the Booking.com connection was literally brand new. I was booking a fourth-night free stay with my Prestige card for this summer. I rarely stay anywhere more than 2-3 nights and, with COVID, it has been several years since I used that perk. It definitely worked better than the last time I booked a fourth-night free when I had to call in. I could make a reservation and pre-pay, with the fourth-night discount included in the pre-pay amount. The rate I paid was higher than I had booked through the hotel's website (it is a non-chain property) so the savings on the fourth-night could not be considered a full fourth night since booking all four nights directly would have been more expensive by about half a night. But, still, it was a solid savings and, along with the annual travel credit and the 5x dining, a big reason I keep the card.
Do flight bookings through the portal count as normal revenue tickets on airlines that qualify for elite status? For example, if I book a United flight through the portal, will I get pqd and pqs in Mileageplus?
Yes
" You can access the new portal at this link, by logging into your Citi account."
Really? That link takes me to the standard Citi login page. I log in, and see absolutely nothing about this new "portal." I've checked (I think) every link on that page, and see nothing new, no link to/no references to/nothing about this "portal".
Can you check again, provide exactly where on the Citi dashboard/summary page to find a link...
" You can access the new portal at this link, by logging into your Citi account."
Really? That link takes me to the standard Citi login page. I log in, and see absolutely nothing about this new "portal." I've checked (I think) every link on that page, and see nothing new, no link to/no references to/nothing about this "portal".
Can you check again, provide exactly where on the Citi dashboard/summary page to find a link to that portal (or just post the portal's actual URL)?
You mention $100 off two or more nights with the premier but your link goes to an article for $100 off $500 or more. Is it 2 nights or $500 or both?
@ mike -- Sorry, that was a typo on my part. Fixed now.
Ben, on Chase's UR portal, there is a clear differentiation between the UR hotel platform and the LHRC hotel platform. Do you see where one would access Citi's LHC hotel platform on Citi's new portal? I don't. There was supposed to be a means to select it but I can't spot it. Thanks.
@ Lee -- I can't find it yet either. I imagine it's maybe still coming?
I just checked - Citi Premier is eligible for 10x points through June 2024 when booking hotels and car rentals.
Was it announced that Citi was going to do this?
What I am finding interesting right now is the increase in opportunities to book hotels through credit card companies and earning 10x points. In addition to this, you have Chase Sapphire Reserve with 10x points, and you have the new Capital One luxury hotel engine,...
I just checked - Citi Premier is eligible for 10x points through June 2024 when booking hotels and car rentals.
Was it announced that Citi was going to do this?
What I am finding interesting right now is the increase in opportunities to book hotels through credit card companies and earning 10x points. In addition to this, you have Chase Sapphire Reserve with 10x points, and you have the new Capital One luxury hotel engine, which gets you 10x points plus some elite style benefits.
When booking independent, boutique, luxury hotels (Four Seasons and the like), this is becoming more compelling versus using things like Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts, travel agents, etc.
Anthony, do the math. 10X and no benefits for a booking on the portal versus 3X plus benefits via CSR's Luxury Hotels and Resorts Collection. The value of daily breakfast plus the welcome amenity plus the $100 property credit plus late check-out plus room upgrade potential is worth way more than the extra 7X. Don't believe me . . . do the math on one of your own bookings. Best of luck.
Lee - good point when it comes to luxury hotels. I didn't take into account the breakfast, amenities, upgrades, etc. Same deal when it comes to Amex FHR.
But what about regular boutique hotels that may not be available with the luxury booking engines?
The thing to do is to first check with the hotel directly. Sometimes a given hotel will have a promotional offer that is not otherwise available via any other booking platform. Sometimes those offers have both a discounted price AND the benefits offered on the luxury platforms. If there's not, then check availability on the luxury platforms. If there's not, then you go for the 10X. Search in that order and you'll do fine.
@ Anthony -- I don't think it was announced in advance, but rather this just coincides with the portal launching. I suspect emails might go out about this as well.
Yes, in theory the 10x points available through a variety of portals could be valuable. As you're hinting at, I think the most value to be had here is for independent, non-luxury hotels, where the opportunity cost of booking this way is the lowest.
OVERPRICED AND SOME HOTEL MUST USE POINTS +$ AMOUNT
HYATT CHURCHILL LONDON 34K POINTS PLUS $438
NO HOTELS OFFERED IN GREECE AFTER APRIL 2023
LE GRAND PARIS 46,899 POINTS PLUS $174
THANK YOU BILL
Being a Citi Prestige card holder does this make the 4th night free benefit better? I hardly ever used it because the Citi portal was priced higher than what I could find elsewhere. Maybe more competitive now?
Markj, I just priced two different rooms at one of my frequented hotels. As to the first room, Citi offered two prices: 1) the same price as the hotel's direct fully refundable rate BUT with a 25 percent cancellation fee and 2) a fully refundable rate that was 17% higher. As to the second room, Citi offered a price that was 17% higher than the hotel's direct fully refundable rate BUT was completely non-refundable. No (stickin') way.
That was my hope, too. Ben can you please weigh-in?
@ Markj -- Things have improved in the sense that you can finally once again book in advance using the fourth night free benefit, which wasn't previously possible. It also appears that the Booking.com platform may give people access to a wider range of hotels.
That being said, I'm still seeing fairly limited value with this benefit, given that you're forgoing points vs. booking direct, and are potentially paying higher rates. I'll keep playing around...
@ Markj -- Things have improved in the sense that you can finally once again book in advance using the fourth night free benefit, which wasn't previously possible. It also appears that the Booking.com platform may give people access to a wider range of hotels.
That being said, I'm still seeing fairly limited value with this benefit, given that you're forgoing points vs. booking direct, and are potentially paying higher rates. I'll keep playing around with it and see if there's some incredible new value I'm missing, but my initial impression is that this is an incremental improvement.
Per my post above, I made a fourth-night reservation last night - non-chain property so I did not lose out on any hotel-specific points - and the rate was higher for the same cancellation conditions. However, with the immediate discount of the fourth night when I booked, I did save, but it was more like the last half-night free! :)