Citi Strata Elite First Year Math Turns A $595 Fee Into Roughly $2700 In Travel Value

Some people will find the Citi Strata Elite^SM Card (See rates and fees.) to be a fantastic card for the long-term. But it’s hard to imagine anyone that won’t find this to be incredible for a year.

• Citi has introduced its competitor to Sapphire Reserve, Venture X and Amex Platinum in the premium card space, the Citi Strata Elite^SM Card. It has an initial bonus offer to earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months of account opening. Current Strata Premier and Prestige customers are not excluded.

• Those points transfer to a variety of airline and hotel programs, now even including American AAdvantage. By the way, this card earns AAdvantage miles faster than the American Airlines cards to (even unbonused spend with this card earns 1.5x, versus just 1 mile per dollar with American Airlines cobrands).

• Many of the card’s annual benefits are on a calendar year basis so you have the opportunity to take advantage of them twice in your first cardmember year: the $300 hotel benefit for 2+ night stays booked through Citi Travel; the $200 Splurge credit (take it for American Airlines travel!), and $100 in Blacklane credits twice each year. That’s $1,200 in credits you can reap in year 1 if you’re approved now.

American Airlines Boeing 787-9

If the 100,000 points are worth roughly $1,500 and the credits another easy $1,200 that’s $2,700 during the first year – not even including benefits like Priority Pass (which includes two guests) plus Priority Pass for authorized cardmembers as well; protections like Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption coverage, Trip Delay coverage, and Lost or Damaged Luggage; and four American Airlines Admirals Club passes each year.

Washington National Airport E Concourse Admirals Club

Philadelphia A West Admirals Club

The list of Splurge Credit merchants is 1stDibs, American Airlines (exclusions apply), Best Buy®, Future Personal Training, and Live Nation (exclusions apply) and you have to activate up to 2 merchants at a time prior to purchase, though you can change your selection as you wish. The Blacklane credit is actually $100 January – June and $100 July – December.

Points can be transferred to:

• oneworld: American Airlines AAdvantage, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, Malaysia Airlines Enrich, Qantas Frequent Flyer, Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Star Alliance: Avianca LifeMiles, EVA Air Infinity MileageLands, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus, Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
• SkyTeam: Aeromexico Club Premier, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Non-alliance: Emirates Skywards, Etihad Guest, JetBlue TrueBlue
  
• Hotels: Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club, Accor ALL – Accor Live Limitless, Choice Hotels Choice Privileges, Preferred Hotels I Prefer, Wyndham Hotels Wyndham Rewards

American Airlines Boeing 787-9P Flagship Preferred Suite

Citi Strata Elite^SM Card seems like an easy win for the up front bonus offer, even with the annual fee, especially given the card benefits you’ll reap.

The card has a $595 annual fee, though Citigold customers get $145 of that rebated (Citigold Private Client customers receive the full $595 back the first year, then $145 in subsequent years).

The Citi Strata Elite^SM Card seems like an obvious first year play, and then if you’re going to maximize the travel credits you’ve got a strong value card that transfers to American AAdvantage – just consider putting your unbonused spend on a no annual fee Citi Double Cash card instead to earn 2x points and then paired with a premium card those points now transfer to American AAdvantage.

Citi Strata Elite^SM Card