Last December, I was approved for the Citi Strata Elite card (see this post) back when the bonus was 100,000 points (it’s currently 75,000 points). Despite the card’s $595 annual fee, I’ve already received a lot of value from the card. In addition to the 100k bonus points I earned, I’m cashing in on the card’s list of annual benefits based on the calendar year. I used my $200 splurge credit and $300 hotel stay credit back in December, and they renewed for my use again in January.
My plan was to use the 2026 $300 hotel stay credit towards a hotel in Thailand for my son’s college graduation trip. Since his trip isn’t for 8 more months, I wasn’t in a hurry to book anything just yet.
But then, after signing into my Citi account online, I saw this promo pop up on my screen:
The offer does have some qualifications:
But luckily, I could book a reservation in another guest’s name (my son). So, if I booked a hotel stay through the Citi travel portal before 5/14/26, I’d get $50 off to stack on top of my $300 annual hotel credit. That’s all the motivation I needed to get serious about booking a hotel.
As I’ve mentioned before, my son and a friend are heading to Thailand over winter break. They will be staying in Chiang Mai for the first part and during the New Year’s holiday. After sifting through the available hotels in the Citi travel portal and comparing the prices with Booking.com, I booked them a highly-rated hotel with free breakfast for 4 nights for a grand total of $37 after the promo and credit were automatically subtracted at booking. Woohoo!
If you have a Citi card, check your online account to see if you’ve been targeted for this promotion. If it doesn’t pop up when you sign in, you can check in the “Offers for you” section of the website.
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
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