The New $595 Citi Strata Elite Card: An Early Review

[00:01] premium travel credit card from City are true, and we now have the City Strata video, I want to go over all you need to know about this card, including what's being added as a transfer partner here, as well as what I'm kind of disappointed

[00:15] stuff that honestly I'm kind of underwhelmed by. Now, let's jump right what's going on. And here it is, the City Strata Elite looking pretty nice edges. And as you can see, we have a limited time offer available from the

[00:28] start with this card for 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. Now, a couple of thoughts here on that signup bonus. So, falls in line with some of the other top travel credit cards out there from the

[00:40] other issuers, but it does fall short compared to some of that competition. For example, 80,000 points on the Strata Elite is close to the 75,000 mi that you Capital 1 Venture X after a similar minimum spend in 3 months. But it falls

[00:53] way short of the other offers out there like up to 175,000 points that you can get on the MX Platinum card or even the 100,000 point plus a $500 Chase travel credit offer that's available right now on the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Now,

[01:06] overall eligibility for these offers is something that plays a major role here with each individual issuer. And it's also worth noting that City has a special inbranch offer on the Strata Elite for 100,000 points after the same

[01:19] However, City has a much smaller physical branch network compared to most other banks at somewhere over only 600 branches that are mostly concentrated myself, if I wanted this offer, I would

[01:32] version, which is disappointing to see because I think a lot of other people We've seen other banks do this as well with having special in branch only next here, let's take a look at the other details on this card to see if

[01:45] it's even worth it. Because there is going to be a $595 annual fee, and City $1,500 in value. So, let's see what offset some or all of that fee. First, we've got up to a $300 annual hotel

[01:59] benefit. And with this, it says that each calendar year, you can enjoy up to $300 off a hotel stay of two nights or more when booked through citytravel.com. credits that we've seen from other premium cards lately where they want to

[02:11] versus somewhere else. And the important detail here is that you do have to book trigger this credit. To me, that's a bit frustrating because with the prices of hotels these days, chances are that a $300 credit is not going to be enough to

[02:25] So, I would have just kind of preferred to see this be a general $300 hotel also worth noting that when it comes to deciding if you're going to get good you're booking in an issuers's portal, you have to always check and compare

[02:39] prices outside of it to see what kind of a deal you're getting. There's plenty of portal be exactly the same as booking elsewhere or even cheaper. But in the look at the prices of hotel stays here in the US, I did notice the prices were

[02:54] mileage may vary on this. And if you get this card, you definitely should use aware that with pricing, City is going to have to prove that they're customers happy. Next, there's going to be up to a $200 annual splurge credit

[03:08] where every calendar year you can earn up to $200 in statement credits on your choice of up to two of the following brands. Those brands include First Dibs, American Airlines, Best Buy, Future Personal Training, and Live Nation. They

[03:20] do say that exclusions apply for a few of those, but I went ahead and read some look like those exclusions are too limiting. So, they just kind of lay out might not be eligible. The way it looks like the splurge credit works is that

[03:33] merchants at a time, which then allows you to get up to $200 back per calendar like you could change up those merchants as well if you want to. So, this should long as you think you would actually spend money at any merchant that's

[03:47] also say that splurge credit merchant options are subject to change at any credit merchant is removed from the responsibility to then activate another merchant. So, I just want to point out

[04:00] better with more merchants getting added or getting swapped in. But, we could they start to partner with brands that are a bit too niche. To me, American Airlines, Best Buy, or Live Nation would probably be my best bet for getting good

[04:13] chance that I personally would spend money with at least one of those thing that I do like here so far is that this credit along with the hotel credit annually. So, they're not split up into semiannual or monthly credits, which I

[04:27] that. There's also up to a $200 annual credit for a brand called Black Lane, City says that every calendar year you can earn up to $200 in staving credits when you book with Black Lane, who is a premium global chauffeur service. So,

[04:41] okay, that's kind of interesting. But they go on to say, "Earn up to $100 on through June and up to $100 from July through December." So, there we go. credit, but honestly, I'll take semiannual over monthly credits anyway.

[04:55] people are going to place that much value on this one credit because I are not already using the service within their normal spending habits like they would be with Uber or with Lyft. So, if you get the Strata Elite card, then

[05:07] Lane and maybe see if it's any good. But to me, this isn't a valuable credit at All right, then. Next, with the Strata Elite, you're also going to be getting a membership, which gets you access to over 1500 airport lounges worldwide. And

[05:21] with this membership, you can also bring up to two free guests, but you are not restaurant access here, which I know a lot of people are always on the hunt for However, speaking of airport lounges, the Strata Elite is also going to get

[05:34] you four American Airlines Admirals Club lounge access passes per calendar year. considering there are some really nice Admirals Clubs out there. But there is not traveling alone. So, you can use those four lounge passes for yourself,

[05:47] is 18 or older, then you are going to have to redeem another one of those for example, if I had this card and I was traveling with my wife and we wanted Admirals Club and our home airport in Philadelphia, then what we would have to

[06:01] do is redeem one of those passes for me and another one of those passes for her only get us two visits per calendar year together or four visits for me if I was traveling solo. But City does also say that up to three children under 18 years

[06:14] of age who are traveling with an adult who also redeemed a pass may then also guest. So there is going to be some potential here for families with kids to doing maybe a couple of trips per year as a family. You also get a statement

[06:27] credit of up to $120 every four years as a reimbursement for the application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. So that's pretty standard for a travel along really well with some of the other benefits so far. But next here, let's

[06:41] some interesting things going on there before we get to what I think is the best new development for City with the launch of the Strata Elite card. So for points multipliers, you're going to be able to earn 12x points per dollar on

[06:53] hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through citytravel.com and 6x citytravel.com. You can earn 6x points at restaurants on city nights purchases on Friday and Saturday evenings from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Eastern time,

[07:06] minute. And then you're also going to earn 3x points at restaurants any other time, plus 1.5x points per dollar on all other purchases. Now, for the city travel multipliers, earning 12x on hotels, car rentals, and attractions

[07:18] going to be some pretty high rates that are as good as, if not better, than what their portals. But again, you really have to look at the prices to see if those higher multipliers are going to be worth a potentially higher cost. Not all

[07:31] be more expensive, but really it's a case by case type of thing where again your mileage may vary, but still even if travel is only slightly more expensive, to help offset with some of that. So just do the math whenever you're booking

[07:45] deal. For the restaurant multipliers though, the big development is going to the Strata Elite is going to earn 6x versus the standard 3x at restaurants. As long as you're making those purchases on Fridays and Saturdays from 6:00 p.m.

[07:59] time, I'm kind of worried there are going to be maybe some inconsistencies restaurant purchases are authorized or when they post to your account and how of making sure you're getting 6x back of that stuff. So, we'll see how the

[08:14] time goes on. But in theory, this is kind of a pretty cool new thing for of restaurants for city nights earning 6x, that standard 3x at restaurants is honestly just okay in my opinion since so many other cards already offer that,

[08:29] Strata Premier card, which has much better lineup of points multipliers at 3x across a number of other everyday spend categories. So yeah, I'm not multipliers here on the Strata Elite, and I wish we could have maybe seen at

[08:42] least a 4x category for travel booked outside of City, considering how high the annual fee is. You're also going to earn 1.5x back for everything else. But to me, since you can also just get the no annual fee city double cash card to

[08:54] and then combine your city thank you points from that card with this new strata elite card. That's going to be the better option here in a city setup too impressed with the multipliers here. However, earning City thank you points

[09:07] earn those points in their lineup may be worth it even more now considering a new transfer partner they just announced. And that's because American Airlines is now available for onetoone transfers, which is huge news. American is not only

[09:20] trying to transfer city points to book actual American flights, but they've redemption options for booking other One World Alliance partner award seats for airlines like Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, and

[09:33] more. So, now that City is becoming the exclusive co-brand issuer with American to work out a deal with them to become the only major points currency out there as well, which is a great thing to see. And if anything, this feature alone here

[09:47] appealing now to more people. And this is a great new additional feature, not card holders of the Strata Premiere and the older City Prestige because those transfer partner as well. So yeah, that's great news and it's the one

[10:01] the points and miles world are going to be the most excited about. And then after that, there is just a couple more things to note about the Strata Elite foreign transaction fees on this card and the fact that there's also some ways

[10:13] to get discounts on the 595 annual fee if you're a City Gold client or a City Gold private client. Qualifying City Gold clients can receive a $145 banking relationship annual credit. and then qualifying City Gold private clients can

[10:26] receive a $595 firstear relationship credit and $145 as a credit each year banking relationship with City, then your effective annual fee can come down apply to a select number of people out there. And I don't think the Strata

[10:41] then going to change banking relationships over a simple credit card to what my overall thoughts are with the Strata Elite. So, personally, like I along valuable benefits with American Airlines thanks to their new partnership

[10:56] having American as a transfer partner is what I'm most excited about here because I have the Strata Premier card and I have over 120,000 city points saved up that I can now combine with existing American miles that I have as well. But

[11:09] Strata Elite, I just don't really see enough value here to really get me excited for it or to have it jump up to the top of my credit card rankings. I lot more from a card like this when it launched, especially since other

[11:21] against have been getting all this negative publicity lately with their City would just capitalize on that and then offer something amazing that people card they offered that was a fan favorite until that got discontinued.

[11:35] anything controversial here because they did come in with an annual fee of $595. That's lower than the 795 annual fee of the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the likely increasing $6.99 fee of the MX Platinum. And even though they added

[11:49] they managed to mostly avoid the coupon book trend by not going crazy with it. I think the $300 hotel credit and the $200 splurge credit are going to be decent And from there, it really just comes down to whether or not you want access

[12:03] to American Airlines with the Transfer Partner thing and the four Admirals Club restaurants on Friday and Saturday evenings is also kind of a unique who dine out a lot. But my biggest hold up with getting this card is that for

[12:16] me, City might actually be cannibalizing itself a bit because I think the cheaper $95 per year Strata Premiere is actually still the better choice for most people lot more categories. You still get American Airlines transfers on that

[12:30] also avoiding the headache of the credits that may or may not be worth it for you on the Strata Elite. And then you can still throw in other city cards cache with any strata card to earn even more city points on top of that. So

[12:43] be reacting too negatively with the new city strat elite card because there's not really that much that I would say is polarizing or controversial. But I also to draw people in from other top premium credit cards out there because they also

[12:57] all the other major issuers do nowadays. So they had to lean on Admiral's clubs what you guys think down below in the comments section. Are you going to be checking out the City Strata Elite or how do you think this card now competes

[13:10] there? And also, if you haven't already, then make sure to subscribe down below more details about this new lineup of City Cards very soon. But as always, thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in the next