The year is coming to a close, but I managed to squeeze in one more credit card application to earn miles and points for free travel. My family has a few international trips planned for 2026-2027, so I need all the miles I can get. See my Beginner’s Guide: 7 Steps to Free Travel with Miles and Points.
Citi Strata Elite
I applied for and was approved for the Citi Strata Elite card (non-affiliate link). In the past 24 months, I’ve opened 2 personal credit cards and 2 business credit cards. I was instantly approved for this Citi Strata Elite card.
The annual fee is $595, which I’m not thrilled about. However, the perks during the first year of having this card more than make up for that high fee.
- 100,000 bonus points after spending $6000 in the first 3 months
- 12X points on hotels, car rentals and attractions booked on cititravel.com
- 6X points on flights booked through cititravel.com
- 6X points on Restaurants on Citi Nights on Fridays and Saturdays
- 1.5X points on all other purchases
- $300 annual hotel credit on stays of 2+ nights booked on cititravel.com
- $200 annual Splurge Credit, which can be used on American Airlines, Best Buy and more
- $200 annual Blacklane credit
- Priority Pass Select Membership
- 4 Admirals Club passes
- $120 Global Entry/TSA Precheck credit
- $595 annual fee
The hotel and splurge credits go by calendar year, so I can use those before December 31, 2025 and again in 2026. Using those alone is worth $1000 against my first year’s $595 card fee. One Mile at a Time has more detailed info about the hotel credit and the Splurge Credit for the Citi Strata Elite.
My Plans for the Points and Perks
There’s a good chance I’ll transfer the points to American Airlines for flights. However, Citi has a good amount of transfer partners, including:
Airlines
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Aeromexico
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American Airlines
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Air France/KLM
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Asia Miles
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Avianca
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Emirates
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Etihad
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Eva Air
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JetBlue
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Qantas
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Qatar Airways
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Singapore Airlines
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Thai Airways
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Turkish Airlines
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Virgin Atlantic
Hotels
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Accor Live Limitless
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Choice Hotels
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The Leading Hotels of the World
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Preferred Hotels & Resorts
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Wyndham
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
Congrats! I just applied for this card today (along with the Wells Fargo Choice and then the AmEx Biz plat). I wasn’t sure I wanted to use up my last 5/24 slot, and still don’t know if it was the right call but I was approved so that’s good lol. The WF Choice card went pending and the Amex biz plat was approved using an RSVP code – I was in amex popup jail for a year and was hoping the rsvp code would work.
@Chelsea Congratulations on your approvals! Woohoo!
I was on the brink to apply for citi card, while working on minimum spend for Southwest cards. I couldn’t resist the triple dips and went for it. It got approved. The temporary card number helps a lot in starting the minimum spend.
Congrats, Anges!
congratulations. I have been a citi credit card holder for over 30 years. I was auto approved for strata premier a month ago. Two weeks ago I applied for the strata elite hoping for possible triple dip. I got a request to file an IRS form. I am letting the applicaiton die. If being a client for 30 years and never missing a payment is not enough to be auto approved I am unwilling to go through the shennanigans of filing out some IRS form. Disappointed.
@harv That’s a bummer! I’m actually a bit surprised that I was approved for this card. I’ve applied for other Citi ThankYou cards in the past and was denied.