Guide to Citi ThankYou Points

Citi® is one of the largest banks in the United States, and offers customers a robust rewards program known as Citi ThankYou® Points. You can earn ThankYou points with a number of Citi credit cards, which can then be redeemed for travel, gift cards, cash back, shopping online and more.

While you have flexibility to choose how you want to redeem your ThankYou points, some options are admittedly better than others. In this guide, we’ll detail how you can earn ThankYou points from eligible Citi cash-back and travel credit cards, as well as the ways to strategically redeem your rewards for maximum value.

What are Citi ThankYou points?

Similar to American Express Membership Rewards® and Chase Ultimate Rewards®, Citi ThankYou points are a rewards currency offered by Citibank on eligible credit cards. The value of these points will depend on how you choose to redeem your points and even on which card you’re using.

Citi ThankYou points are often referred to as transferable points, as you can transfer them to Citi’s partnering airline and hotel loyalty programs to book award travel directly. Knowing when and how to transfer your points to the right programs can unlock much greater value for your rewards — especially if you’re interested in booking business class flights or luxury hotel nights for a fraction of the cost with ThankYou points compared to what you’d pay in cash.

How Citi ThankYou points work 

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card * The information for the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. is the only card available to new applicants at the time of writing that earns fully-fledged ThankYou points. In other words, Citi Strata Premier cardholders have the capability to transfer ThankYou points earned on the card to the issuer’s full list of airline and hotel transfer partners, along with accessing redemption options such as bookings through the Citi travel portal, cash back, gift cards and more.

Citi also offers three no-annual-fee rewards credit cards that earn ThankYou points. In addition, the only co-branded card available for new applicants is AT&T Points Plus® Card from Citi * The information for the AT&T Points Plus® Card from Citi has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. , which also earns ThankYou points. But with these cards alone, you won’t be able to access Citi’s full suite of transfer partners as you would with the Citi Strata Premier card.

With the Citi Double Cash® Card * The information for the Citi Double Cash® Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. and the Citi Rewards+® Card * The information for the Citi Rewards+® Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. , you’ll only get three transfer options (Choice Privileges Rewards, JetBlue TrueBlue and Wyndham Rewards), and the transfer ratios are less favorable than with the Strata Premier. You’ll get just 0.8 points with JetBlue and Wyndham for each ThankYou point instead of a 1:1 transfer, and 1.5 points per ThankYou point with Choice Privileges instead of a 1:2 transfer.

The Citi Custom Cash® Card * The information for the Citi Custom Cash® Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. alone does not offer access to any of Citi’s transfer partners.

As such, you’ll need to hold the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card * The information for the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. in addition to be able to leverage all of Citi’s transfer partners. But with complementary rewards structures, it often makes sense to carry a couple Citi cards in your wallet.

How to earn Citi ThankYou points

The easiest way to earn Citi ThankYou points is by applying for one of the issuer’s credit cards and earning a welcome offer. But know that you’ll need to carry the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card * The information for the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. in order to be able to transfer your ThankYou points to all the airline and hotel loyalty programs that Citi partners with.

This popular travel rewards card earns 10 ThankYou® points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com, 3 points per $1 on air travel and other hotel purchases, at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations and EV charging stations and 1 point per $1 on other purchases. Although there’s a $95 annual fee, there’s a generous welcome offer of 75,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening.

Plus, with no foreign transaction fees, the Citi Strata Premier is the perfect accompaniment to your international travels.

We’ve also included Citi’s no-annual-fee card options in the table below, as you can combine the ThankYou points earned on these cards over to the Citi Strata Premier Card, then take advantage of the full range of redemption options.

	CITI STRATA PREMIER℠ CARD	CITI REWARDS+® CARD*	CITI DOUBLE CASH® CARD	CITI CUSTOM CASH® CARD
Annual fee	$95	$0	$0	$0
Welcome offer	75,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening	20,000 points after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening	$200 cash back after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening	$200 cash back, in the form of 20,000 ThankYou® points, after spending $1,500 on purchases in the first six months of account opening
Rewards	10 ThankYou® points per $1 spent on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com, 3 points per $1 on air travel and other hotel purchases, at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations and EV charging stations and 1 point per $1 on other purchases	2 ThankYou points per $1 at supermarkets and gas stations for the first $6,000 spent per year and 1 ThankYou point per $1 on all other purchases, plus earn a total of 5 ThankYou points per $1 on hotel, car rentals, and attractions booked on CitiTravel.com through December 31, 2025	2% cash back on purchases — 1% when purchases are made and another 1% when they’re paid off, plus, for a limited time, 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 12/31/24	5% cash back on purchases in a top eligible spend category each billing cycle, up to the first $500 spent each month and 1% cash back on all other purchases. Plus, an additional 4% cash back on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 6/30/25
Foreign transaction fees	0%	3%	3%	3%
APR	21.24% to 29.24% variable APR on purchases and balance transfers	0% intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months from the first transfer and on purchases from date of account opening. After that, the variable APR will be 18.74% to 28.74%. An intro balance transfer fee of either 3% of each transfer or $5 in the first four months of account opening applies. After that, the fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5)	0% intro APR on balance transfers for 18 months. After that, the standard variable APR will be 19.24% to 29.24%. An intro balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3%, whichever is greater, applies to transfers completed in the first four months. After that, the fee will be 5% of each transfer (minimum $5)	0% intro APR for the first 15 months on purchases and from the date of the first transfer for balance transfers within the first four months. After that, the variable APR will be 19.24% to 29.24%. There is a balance transfer fee of 5% of each balance transfer with a $5 minimum
Benefits	Enjoy $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees, through thankyou.com, once per calendar year; access to Citi Entertainment	Earn points faster as they round up to the nearest 10; get 10% points back when you redeem, up to the first 100,000 points redeemed per year; access to Citi Entertainment	Access to Citi Entertainment; free FICO Score	Access to Citi Entertainment; free FICO Score

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Plus, Citi introduced a feature called Citi Shop in January 2024. Citi Shopping is a browser extension, allowing eligible cardholders to get offers and coupons at more than 5,000 merchants when shopping online. In addition to the offer or coupon applied, you’ll earn points or miles according to your Citi card’s rewards structure. Some of the item categories you can find through the program include clothing, beauty products, household items and pet essentials. 

How to redeem your ThankYou points

Citi ThankYou points are versatile and won’t expire as long as you keep your credit card account open. Here’s a list of the ways you can redeem your ThankYou points — in many cases, you can achieve a value of 1 cent per point, such as for most cash-back redemptions and when booking travel through Citi’s portal. But some redemption options will net you less than that, such as using points to shop at Amazon for a value of just 0.8 cents each.

• Gift cards.
• New travel bookings (flights, hotels, car rentals) through the Citi ThankYou portal.
• Shop with Points online at Amazon and PayPal.
• Shop with Points in-store at CVS and Walmart.
• Redeem at eligible bp, Amoco, and Shell gas stations.
• Redeem for statement credit for 1-800-Flowers and Best Buy purchases.
• Cash back (statement credit, direct deposit, check).
• Cover recent purchases for dining, grocery, gas, clothing & department stores, utility, entertainment and drugstores.
• Share with another member with an eligible Citi card.
• Transfer points to Choice Privileges Rewards, JetBlue TrueBlue and Wyndham Rewards, or to the full list of partners if you have the Citi Strata Premier card.
• Donate to charity.

Be aware that if you have only the Citi Rewards+ card, opting for cash back will net you just half a cent per point, unlike the 1 cent per point you can get if you hold a card such as the Double Cash, Custom Cash or Strata Premier. But if you hold one of the other cards in addition to the Rewards+, you can get the full cash-back value for your points.

If you’re looking for outsized value from your ThankYou points, consider applying for the Citi Strata Premier Card to gain full access to Citi’s travel partners. In the next section, we’ll cover how you can transfer ThankYou points to a robust list of airline and hotel loyalty programs.

How to transfer your ThankYou points 

As you can see, there’s no shortage of ways to redeem your Citi ThankYou points. However, the maximum value you’ll receive from your points with the options above is 1 cent apiece. But by converting your ThankYou points to hotel points or airline miles through Citi’s travel partners, you can often find award travel bookings that net you outsized value from your rewards.

We’ve included the full list of transfer partners below, but there are a few standout examples of how this works in practice. If you’re interested in flying business class from the U.S. to Europe, it can often cost you nearly $5,000 round-trip. However, at the time of writing, you could transfer your points to Air France/KLM Flying Blue to book a round-trip business class flight for around 106,000 miles and approximately $600 in taxes and fees. That’s an incredible value of more than 4 cents per point in this scenario.

If you want to save your points, the same principle works for economy tickets, too. At the time of writing, you could book a one-way flight from the East Coast to London on Virgin Atlantic starting at 10,000 Flying Club points and just over $150 in taxes and fees. And, Virgin Atlantic is also part of the SkyTeam alliance, so you can leverage this partnership to book domestic flights on Delta Air Lines, starting at just 7,500 points and $5.60 in taxes and fees one-way.

Finally, Choice Privileges is an underrated hotel loyalty program that deserves a closer look. With a favorable 1:1.5 transfer ratio, this means that 1 Citi ThankYou point converts into 1.5 Choice Privileges points — and things are even better for Citi Strata Premier cardholders, who enjoy a 1:2 transfer ratio, receiving 2 Choice Privileges points for every Citi ThankYou point transferred.

With more than 7,100 hotels worldwide, you can lock in award nights with this hotel chain from just 6,000 to 35,000 points per night (but know that most stays will require 8,000 or more points, and some international locations can require up to 75,000 points).

Citi ThankYou transfer partners

Citi offers a diverse range of airline and hotel transfer partners. You can transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio to most of the partner loyalty programs, with the exception of ALL – Accor Live Limitless (2:1) and Leaders Club (5:1), as well as Choice Privileges, JetBlue TrueBlue and Wyndham Rewards, which offer varying transfer ratios depending on the Citi card or cards you have.

LOYALTY PROGRAM	TRANSFER RATIO
Aeromexico Rewards	1:1
Air France/KLM Flying Blue	1:1
ALL – Accor Live Limitless	2:1
Avianca LifeMiles	1:1
Cathay Pacific	1:1
Choice Privileges	1:2 (Citi Prestige® Card* and Citi Strata Premier cardholders) 1:1.5 (All other eligible Citi cardholders)
Emirates Skywards	1:1
Etihad Guest	1:1
EVA Air Infinity MileageLands	1:1
JetBlue TrueBlue	1:1 (Citi Prestige, Citi Strata Premier and AT&T Access More cardholders) 1:0.8 (All other eligible Citi cardholders)
The Leading Hotels of the World’s Leaders Club	5:1
Qantas Frequent Flyer	1:1
Qatar Airways Privilege Club	1:1
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	1:1
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus	1:1
Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles	1:1
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	1:1
Wyndham Rewards	1:1 (Citi Prestige, Citi Strata Premier and AT&T Access More cardholders) 1:0.8 (All other eligible Citi cardholders) *No longer available for new applicants

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Frequently asked questions (FAQs)