Citi ThankYou Rewards adds Preferred Hotels & Resorts as new hotel transfer partner

Adding to its already long portfolio of hotel transfer partners, Citi ThankYou Rewards is currently a transfer partner of Preferred Hotels & Resorts. Preferred Hotels & Resorts offers a collection of more than 650 luxury boutique hotels in more than 80 countries.

Now you can Transfer your Citi points to the hotel’s loyalty program, I Like Hotel Rewards, at a 1:4 ratio. This means that for every 1,000 Citi ThankYou Rewards points you transfer, you will receive 4,000 I Refer points.

Currently, Citi is also a transfer partner of four (or five, if Virgin Red Airlines + Hotels) loyalty programs, including:

• Accor Live Limitless (2:1 transmission ratio)
• Choice privilege (transfer ratio 1:2)
• World Leaders Club flagship hotel (transfer ratio 5:1)
• Wyndham Rewards (1:1 transfer ratio)

While I Prefer may not be on your radar, Citi was the first big company credit card bonuses cooperate with customer loyalty program. But is it worth it to switch over and redeem your hard-earned ThankYou Rewards points with Preferred Hotels & Resorts?

Transfer Citi ThankYou Rewards points to Preferred Hotels & Resorts

In 2023, Preferred Hotels & Resorts revives its I Prefer loyalty programmakes it easy for members to track their rewards earnings and book future stays online with points. Although Preferred Hotels & Resorts, part of Preferred Travel Group, has a much smaller portfolio than World of Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott, stay bonus amounts at some hotels start at as little as 15,000 points every night, every year. loyalty program website.

However, when searching for award availability on the Preferred Hotels & Resorts website, only three hotels displayed award prices, even though there are more than 500 hotels participating in the I loyalty program. Preferred. Whether it was an error on the site’s part or not, the unfriendly user experience is definitely something that would prevent me from transferring my Citi points.

But is this a good transition partnership, even taking into account the technological issues? It depends on the room price and the number of points needed to book the room. For example, award rates for stays at Inn by the Sea, a luxury beachfront hotel in Maine, start at 100,000 I Prefer points per night.

To stay two nights in a traditional room in March will cost you $848.48 (including taxes and fees). If I booked this with points, I would pay 200,000 I Prefer points plus $68.38 in taxes and fees. So to book this two-night stay using Citi ThankYou Rewards points, I needed to transfer 50,000 points.

TPG values ​​Citi ThankYou Rewards points at 1.8 cents each in October 2024 valuationmeaning we value 50,000 points at $900. Since the cash price for a two-night stay in a traditional room at this hotel was less than $900, this conversion would not maximize my Citi points.

However, a garden apartment at this hotel will cost $1,032.87 (including taxes and fees) for the same two-night stay. If I booked this room using I Prefer points, it would cost the same as a traditional room: 200,000 points plus $68.38 in taxes and fees. Based on our review, transferring my Citi points to I Like for this conversion would give me good value for my points.

Additionally, if you see a Preferred Hotels & Resorts property that catches your eye, you can book that hotel room using Choice Points. Privilege of choice has partnerships with more than 300 Preferred Hotels & Resorts, allowing Choice members to book reward nights starting at 20,000 points.

Despite this The partnership has experienced a bit of devaluation This summer, you can still find some good deals. In addition, Citi is also the transfer partner of Choice Privileges with a ratio of 1:2; So for every 1,000 Citi points you transfer, you’ll receive 2,000 Choice points.

Related: How to choose a hotel credit card

Best credit cards to earn Citi ThankYou Rewards points

If you want to earn Citi ThankYou Rewards points, here are the cards that offer attractive welcome bonuses:

• Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see exchange rates and fees): Earn 70,000 ThankYou Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. Higher incentives may be available through Citi.com.
• Citi Rewards+® Card (see exchange rates and fees): Earn 20,000 bonus points after you spend $1,500 on purchases with your card within three months of opening your account.

If you keep Citi Prestige® CardYou can also transfer your ThankYou Rewards points to Citi’s airline and hotel transfer partner. However, this card is no longer accepting new applications.

Information about Citi Prestige has been independently collected by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Bottom line

While Citi continues to expand its portfolio of transfer partners, adding I Prefer to its list, the loyalty program’s website is not easy to navigate, with rewards rates only showing a list of three hotels . It must have been a technological mistake, right? Either way, a 1:4 transfer rate is pretty good, but it’s best to compare the cash rate to the number of points you need to redeem your rewards.

As always, TPG does not recommend transferring points without a specific intention to redeem points and without first finding availability on the hotel and/or airline website. Point transfers are irreversible, so the last thing you want to do is get stuck with a bunch of points that you can’t use.