Although I once signed up for most new travel credit cards that hit the market, I’ve become much more selective over time. Rather than juggling numerous rewards cards like I used to, I now prefer to maximize the cards I already have in my wallet.
But I still jump into new credit card offers when I feel the value is exceptional. Ultimately, that’s why both my husband and I signed up for the Citi Strata Premier(R) Card within the last few months. Citi is a CardRatings advertiser.
Not only does the newly updated card offer a big sign-up bonus that’s relatively easy to earn, but it comes with rewards categories and Citi Strata Premier® benefits I can actually use. The fact that the Citi ThankYou program added American AAdvantage as a transfer partner also played a huge part in my decision. Read on to learn all the reasons the Citi Strata Premier(R) Card earned a spot in my wallet this year, plus how I plan to use it to earn more rewards over time.
5 reasons I signed up for the Citi Strata Premier(R) Card
While there’s plenty to like about the Citi Strata Premier(R) Card, five main factors helped it earn a spot in my wallet. The main benefits that lured me in are the card’s welcome bonus, rewards earning categories, transfer partners, redemption options and annual fee.
A welcome bonus too good to pass up
The Citi Strata Premier(R) Card sign-up bonus is worth signup_reward bonus points when you spend signup_bonus_spend_amount on purchases within three months of account opening. This bonus is on par with what you get with other mid-tier travel credit cards.
This spending threshold requires $1,334 in monthly purchases for three consecutive months in a row, which was manageable for me with regular spending and bills. However, my husband and I did stagger our sign-ups to make sure we could meet the spending requirements on both cards without straining our budget or making purchases we didn’t need.
Bonus rewards categories that fit my spending style
While the welcome offer on the Citi Strata Premier helped me secure $600+ in rewards right off the bat, the card’s earning categories are just as attractive.
This card earns the following:
- 10X points per dollar spent on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked on CitiTravel.com
- 3X points per dollar spent on air travel and other hotel purchases
- 3X points per dollar spent at restaurants
- 3X points per dollar spent at supermarkets
- 3X points per dollar spent on gas and EV charging stations
- 1X point per dollar spent on other purchases
My household spends quite a bit on dining out and groceries each month, as well as gas and all sorts of travel. This means I can easily use these cards for regular spending and bills and earn bonus rewards on the bulk of our purchases.
Transfer partners I can use
Citi ThankYou transfer partners haven’t always been the best, but that all changed when the issuer added the American AAdvantage program in the summer of 2025. This new partner added a huge boost to the program since it lets users redeem rewards for domestic flights on American Airlines as well as international flights on oneworld partners like Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Japan Airlines and Qatar Airways.
The Citi Strata Premier(R) Card also qualifies for the best transfer ratios among Citi ThankYou partners (compared to lower-tier cards like the Citi ThankYou® Preferred and Citi StrataSM Card that get reduced transfer ratios).
Here’s a rundown of all the Citi Strata Premier transfer partners, plus their current transfer values:
- American AAdvantage: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Accor Live Limitless: 1,000:500 transfer ratio
- Avianca LifeMiles: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Cathay Pacific: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Choice Privileges: 1,000:2,000 transfer ratio
- Emirates Skywards: 1,000:800 transfer ratio
- Etihad Guest: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- EVA Air: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Flying Blue: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- JetBlue TrueBlue: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Leaders Club: 1,000:200 transfer ratio
- Preferred Hotels and Resorts: 1,000:4,000 transfer ratio
- Qantas Frequent Flyer: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Qatar Airways: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Singapore Airlines: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Thai Royal Orchid Plus: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Turkish Airlines: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Virgin Atlantic: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
- Wyndham Rewards: 1,000:1,000 transfer ratio
Other valuable redemption options
While having the option to transfer points to airline and hotel partners is one of my priorities when it comes to travel credit cards, I like having some alternatives to choose from. Fortunately, the Citi Strata Premier(R) Card lets users redeem rewards for options like gift cards, shopping and cash back.
Citi Strata Premier® customers can redeem rewards for hotels, airfare and other travel through the Citi portal as well. This makes it possible to redeem for travel directly when transfer partners won’t work, or when you can find a better deal.
Reasonable annual fee
The Citi Strata Premier® annual fee is just annual_fees, which is similar to other mid-tier travel credit cards. This was appealing to me because I’m trying to shed as many higher annual fee cards as I can right now.
And with the Citi Strata Premier® sign-up bonus being worth $600 in gift cards at a minimum and potentially more with transfer partners, paying annual_fees for a year of membership makes financial sense.
Other Citi Strata Premier(R) Card benefits worth talking about
Other Citi Strata Premier(R) Card benefits can be rather valuable over time. Here are some other perks and features you should know about:
- Annual hotel credit: The Citi Strata Premier(R) Card gives cardholders $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more when booked through CitiTravel.com or by calling 1-833-737-1288.
- Built-in travel protections: Cardholders also qualify for automatic travel insurance benefits like trip cancellation and interruption insurance, trip delay coverage, protection for lost or damaged luggage and rental car insurance.
- Consumer protections: The Citi Strata Premier(R) Card gives users extended warranties and purchase protection on eligible items.
- No foreign transaction fees: The Citi Strata Premier(R) Card foreign transaction fee is 0%, meaning you can use this card for overseas purchases without additional charges.
- The Reserve by Citi Travel® access: Cardholders also get access to The Reserve by Citi Travel®, which is a collection of premium hotels that offer added benefits like free breakfast for two and a $100 experience credit.
How I plan to use our Citi Strata Premier® rewards
While I don’t have a concrete plan for the rewards we are currently earning with this card, I assume we will transfer at least some of our points to the American AAdvantage program in the coming months. This should be a no-brainer since we frequently fly with American Airlines to Mexico and the Caribbean, and since we could use rewards to fly within the United States if we needed to. I also like the American Airlines transfer ratio of 1,000:1,000.
If we have any leftover rewards with the program, I will probably redeem them for gift cards. Gift card redemptions offered through the program include dining, shopping and travel options like Airbnb, Home Depot, Red Lobster and Starbucks. Most gift card options also come with a standard redemption value of 1 cent per point, which is the threshold where redeeming for non-travel options makes sense.
The bottom line
While I no longer spend my time chasing credit card sign-up bonuses, I made an exception for the Citi Strata Premier(R) Card. Not only is the welcome offer generous and easy to earn, but the card’s earning categories and redemption options cannot be beat.
Other perks like the built-in travel protections, no foreign transaction fees and the $100 annual hotel benefit add even more value to the offer. And for me, the addition of American AAdvantage as a Citi transfer partner is just icing on the cake.
