Citi Strata Elite℠ Card review: Elite price and modest perks for light travelers

At first glance, the Citi Strata Elite looks familiar. Likely because it bears similarities to Citi’s discontinued cult favorite, the Citi Prestige® Credit Card*. Compared to the Prestige, some of the features feel turbo-boosted and more upscale. The rewards are higher, the perks lean luxe and the welcome offer is high-value for the right person. The Strata Elite somewhat dodges the coupon book allegations plaguing other premium cards lately with its straightforward perks. This card works well for wealthy infrequent travelers. Those who spend their weekends exploring restaurant cuisine and prefer simple-to-use credits will enjoy this card’s manageable benefits.

While it holds its own in the premium card space, its recurring value falls behind the competition. It’s also missing unlimited lounge access and concierge service that you’d typically expect from a premium travel card. The luxe perks like chauffeur service credits aren’t useful to average earners and the $200 splurge credit feels haphazard in its selection of qualifying stores. Although high-balance Citi customers enjoy a lower annual fee through their banking relationship credits, the Strata Elite almost penalizes people without at least $200,000 in the bank who are stuck paying the full annual fee.

Even with a solid rewards value and healthy welcome offer, the Citi Strata Elite’s first-year and ongoing value still stands below other luxury travel cards. It’s more beneficial for Citigold Private Clients who receive a $595 statement credit toward their annual fee in the first year and $145 statement credit each year after. 

Without the added benefit of having a Citigold banking relationship, you can still earn solid value from the Strata Elite by maximizing the bonus spending categories and taking advantage of its array of statement credits. After earning the welcome offer in your first year, the value of this card declines considerably unless you are earning the statement credits from a Citigold banking relationship.

Here’s how much value you can expect to earn based on our card value rating methodology, which assumes an annual spend of $22,500 and a baseline redemption value of 1-cent per point. These calculations also assume you utilize all the perks offered.

The Strata Elite carries a hefty welcome bonus, high-value transferable points and perks that don’t take a spreadsheet wizard to manage. 

Rewards value: Solid value for your points

If your spending already lands in the bonus categories for the Strata Elite, you could easily accumulate a stash of points that are highly transferable and hold their value well when redeemed for travel purchases. Citi ThankYou Points earned on the Strata Elite card can be transferred to 15 different airline partners and five hotel partners which makes them more valuable than the basic ThankYou Points you’d earn on Citi’s non-premium cards. 

According to Bankrate’s 2025 points and miles valuations, Citi ThankYou Points on the Strata Elite are worth at least 1 cent per point and about 1.6 cents each when transferred to a high-value partner. That’s towards the higher end for points valuations, but doesn’t outdo other luxury card issuers like Chase and American Express.

Benefits: Manageable perks

The laundry list of premium benefits on the Strata Elite is clearly geared towards wealthy customers. Its up to $300 annual hotel benefit, up to $200 annual Blacklane (a chauffeur service) credit, and hefty banking relationship credits for Citigold clients and Citigold Private Clients are just some of the stand-out perks on this card. 

Much like other premium travel cards, Citi is testing out the coupon book approach by dividing the $200 Blacklane statement credit into $100 semi-annual chunks. However, it’s still easy to use and keep track of since there’s only one credit with those timing specifications. Most Strata Elite credits require a simple enrollment or activation to use and are automatically applied once you make a qualifying purchase. Compared to the litany of monthly, quarterly and semi-annual credits with cards like the Amex Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Strata Elite’s credits don’t require a spreadsheet to manage them.

Welcome offer: An exceptional offer for a new card

The limited-time offer of 100,000 Citi ThankYou points after spending $6,000 in the first three months is relatively easy to achieve for this card’s target audience. The spending requirement breaks down to $2,000 monthly over three months and earning that offer brings you exceptional value in your first year of card ownership. Since your Citi ThankYou Points can be worth 1.6 cents each, the limited-time welcome offer could equal an average of $1,600 toward travel when you transfer them to one of Citi’s high-value travel partners.

Limited lounge access, and time-restricted dining rewards make this “elite” card feel more restrictive than rewarding. And unless you’re a high-balance client, you’re stuck paying full price for the annual fee.

Annual fee: Only worth it for the wealthy

The Strata Elite is arguably an improvement on the discontinued Citi Prestige, but the annual fee is $100 higher. And you can forget about adding an authorized user at no charge. Each authorized user added to your Strata Elite card costs an extra $75 a year.

What’s interesting is that Citigold Private Clients who must maintain a minimum combined balance of $1 million receive a full first-year reimbursement of their annual fee as a statement credit along with a $145 statement credit toward the annual fee each year after. Even Citigold clients with a minimum monthly balance requirement of $200,000 get a statement credit of $145 towards the annual fee each year. 

A $595 annual fee is a drop in the bucket for a millionaire, but it’s those without high balances who are paying full price for this card. So it essentially punishes middle-class cardholders who want to enjoy its luxury features, but don’t have the Citi banking balances to snag a discounted annual fee. 

Lounge access: Somewhat limited

While cardholders do enjoy a Priority Pass Select membership with unlimited visits and complimentary entrance for two guests, the card falls short when it comes to American Airlines Admirals Club lounges.

Your access to the American Airlines Admirals Club lounges is limited to four passes per year. You’ll also need to use those passes if you want to bring another adult into the lounge with you, since there are no complimentary guests over 18 years old. Taking your family of four on vacation? You’ll use up those passes between you and your spouse on one trip. Unless you’re willing to pay $79 each for a day pass, you’ll be relegated to using Priority Pass lounges after exhausting your Admirals Club passes for the year.

Meanwhile, almost every other luxury card including the Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® grants the primary cardholder unlimited access to its proprietary lounges. For instance, the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card ($395 annual fee, See Rates & Fees), gives its primary cardholders unlimited complimentary access to Capital One Lounges. So if you’re a frequent traveler from an American Airlines hub, and you want this card for the lounge access perk, you’ll find better options elsewhere.

Dining rewards: Time-restricted

You might be tempted by the potential to earn 6X points on dining and restaurant delivery purchases until you see that it’s only during the hours of 6 p.m. on Fridays to 6 a.m. Saturdays and 6 p.m. on Saturdays to 6 a.m. on Sundays EST. Any other time, you’re earning 3X points on dining. But life doesn’t just happen on Friday and Saturday nights.

You’ll earn fewer points on that Thursday evening dinner reservation, Wednesday happy hour with friends, or Saturday afternoon lunch with your spouse. It’s also worth noting that time stipulations are all based in Eastern Standard Time, so West Coast cardholders will have a window between 3 p.m. to 3 a.m. PT. The time restrictions add a level of difficulty to maximizing your rewards on restaurants unless your dining habits already fit these time constraints. Otherwise, the dining rewards don’t stand out among top rewards cards.

To make the most of the Strata Elite, it’s a smart move to pair it with another Citi card that earns ThankYou Points and boosted rewards rates on the Strata Elite’s non-bonus categories. 

Some of the best luxury travel cards offer higher value than the Strata Elite, but are still plagued by coupon book allegations that cheapen their premium positions. However, these two credit card giants may still come out on top.

The Strata Elite misses the mark for middle-class frequent fliers, but it might still make sense if you're looking for a few American Airlines benefits without being tied to a co-branded American Airlines card. The Strata Elite could be the right choice if: 

• You’re an occasional traveler and live near an American Airlines hub.
• You hold high balances of at least $200,000 each month with Citigold and want to be rewarded for your banking relationship.
• You prefer flexibility over being locked into an American Airlines co-branded card.
• You're a Citi loyalist with another ThankYou Points earning card.
• You prefer simplicity in redeeming benefits.
• You’re a city-dwelling socialite with high spending in restaurants on the weekends.

The Strata Elite is great for occasional travelers who don’t mind the annual fee and want a few American Airlines perks without the commitment of a co-branded card. But if the Strata Elite doesn't quite work for you, these options might serve you better. 

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

Best for mid-tier luxury travel

Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®

Best for American Airlines loyalists

*The information about the Citi Prestige® Credit Card and Citi Custom Cash® Card has been collected independently by Bankrate. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.

We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.

Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest). 

We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review: