The news: Citigroup unveiled the Citi Strata Elite Card, its new premium card, per a press release.
- Strata Elite’s welcome offer includes up to 80,000 ThankYou points online or 100,000 points for sign-ups at Citi retail branches after spending $4,000 within the first three months.
- The annual fee clocks in at $595.
Strata Elite’s offerings: Like Chase’s Sapphire Reserve and Amex’s Platinum Card, Citi’s Strata Elite is targeting profitable, high volume categories like travel and fine dining—and deepening its partnership with American Airlines to convert more value for its cardholders.
For points:
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Hotels, car rentals, and attractions: 12x points (must be booked through Citi Travel platform)
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Airfare: 6x points (must be booked through on cititravel.com)
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Dining, including restaurant delivery services: 6x points from 6am to 6pm ET Friday and Saturday, 3x points on dining and delivery services at all other times
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All other purchase categories: 1.5x points
For other perks:
Strata Elite also offers an assortment of statement credits totaling $820, which include hotel benefits through Citi Travel, flexible splurge credits, a chauffeur service, and the cardholder’s choice of Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. Adding to its American Airlines partnership, cardholders are also awarded 1:1 point transfers to miles and four airport lounge passes.
The strategy: Citi commands $616 billion in credit card purchase volume in the United States, trailing heavyweights Chase ($1,344 billion) and Amex ($1,168 billion), and only narrowly edging out Capital One ($610 billion) for third place, per WalletHub 2024 data. Thanks to the Discover merger, Capital One now is the largest issuer by loan volume.
Citi understands that Chase’s and Amex’s dominance at the top of the podium is tied to their plush travel benefits, explaining the issuer’s choice to enhance its now-exclusive tie-in with American: Top airlines such as Delta and United are already partnered with Amex and Chase.
Our take: Citi’s revamp of its premium card demonstrates the issuer’s awareness of what it needs to compete against its rivals. For flyers on American Airlines and its airlines partnership program OneWorld alliance, this card can justify high spend use.
However, its rewards package lacks some of the flexibility that its peer card, Sapphire Reserve, holds in travel booking. While Reserve cardholders are more handsomely rewarded when booking through Chase travel platforms, members still receive points for booking travel directly—Strata Elite members lack that privilege.