The Citi Strata℠ Card (see charges and costs) is a well-liked starter card with no annual charge and an excellent entry level into the Citi ThankYou Rewards ecosystem.
Paying the annual charge on the Citi Strata Premier® Card (see charges and costs) may be price it if you wish to elevate your journey. The cardboard provides larger incomes charges in key bonus classes and higher entry to Citi’s airline switch companions.
Contemplate the next causes as to why it’s best to improve from the Citi Strata to the Strata Premier.
Earn extra ThankYou Rewards factors
As a no-annual-fee card, the Citi Strata earns:
- 5 factors per greenback spent on points of interest, automotive leases and inns booked via Citi Journey
- 3 factors per greenback spent on electrical car charging stations, gasoline stations, choose transit and supermarkets
- 3 factors per greenback spent on an eligible self-selected class (which you’ll change quarterly)
- 2 factors per greenback spent at eating places
Nevertheless, the Strata Premier provides larger incomes charges and barely totally different bonus classes. They embrace the next:
- 10 factors per greenback spent on points of interest, automotive leases and inns booked via Citi Journey
- 3 factors per greenback spent on air journey, EV charging stations, gasoline purchases, inns (booked outdoors of Citi Journey), eating places and supermarkets
The Strata Premier is a extra travel-centric card. It earns extra on choose Citi Journey purchases, plus airfares and inns booked outdoors of Citi Journey. Frequent vacationers might discover the Citi Strata much more rewarding.
Upgrading additionally bumps up bonus-earning on eating places to three factors per greenback spent from 2 factors per greenback spent, which might add up over the 12 months.
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Associated: Do you have to e-book inns via Citi Journey?
Your ThankYou factors are extra helpful
By upgrading the Citi Strata, you possibly can earn extra ThankYou factors and unlock higher worth in your hard-earned factors.
Each playing cards can switch ThankYou factors to Citi’s 22 switch companions, together with high-value choices like American Airways AAdvantage, Qatar Airways Privilege Membership and Virgin Atlantic Flying Membership. The Strata Premier has a slight benefit; it may possibly switch factors to most companions at a ratio of 1:1.
The Citi Strata can solely switch at a ratio of 1:0.7 for many companions. Whatever the companion you are contemplating, the Strata card will all the time have a worse switch ratio than the Strata Premier.
This makes an enormous distinction when contemplating transferring tens of hundreds of factors to safe a sought-after business-class ticket.
When leveraging switch companions with the Strata Premier, you will get greater than 1.9 cents per level (based mostly on TPG’s September 2025 valuations). I constantly get between 4 and 9 cents per level when transferring factors to a companion airline for a business-class redemption.
Associated: Strata, Premier or Elite: How to decide on a Citi Strata bank card
Extra helpful advantages
Even with the $95 annual charge, the Strata Premier provides further advantages that assist justify its value yearly. Two important advantages you possibly can maximize are:
- $100 annual lodge credit score: A $100 credit score as soon as per 12 months for single-stay lodge bookings of $500 or extra (excluding taxes and costs) made via Citi Journey
- World Elite Mastercard advantages: The Citi Strata Premier provides a number of travel-related perks, together with a $5 month-to-month Lyft credit score after taking three rides in a calendar month (supply ends Jan. 31, 2026), a three-month trial of Instacart+ with a brand new subscription and $10 off your second eligible Instacart buy every month (supply ends Jan. 31, 2027) and entry to the Mastercard luxurious inns and resorts portfolio for on-property perks like complimentary breakfast and room upgrades (upon availability)
For the reason that Strata Premier is a extra premium card than the Citi Strata, you additionally get entry to Citi’s curated assortment of inns and can obtain elitelike advantages when reserving via Citi Journey.
As a Strata Premier cardholder, you may obtain the next journey protections:
- Automotive rental protection
- Misplaced or broken baggage safety
- Journey cancellation and interruption insurance coverage
- Journey delay protection
That is extra complete protection than you may obtain from the no-annual-fee Strata card.
Associated: Citi’s Lodge Assortment and The Reserve: Get free breakfast and premium perks
Contemplate making use of moderately than upgrading
Should you really wish to maximize your points-earning, contemplate making use of for the Strata Premier as an alternative of upgrading from the Citi Strata card.
For starters, new Strata Premier cardholders earn 60,000 bonus factors after spending $4,000 within the first three months of account opening. Based mostly on TPG’s valuations, the welcome supply is price $1,140.
Should you improve a Citi Strata card, you’ll not earn a welcome supply. This card’s welcome bonus can also be not accessible when you’ve acquired a brand new account bonus for a Citi Premier or Citi Strata Premier account prior to now 48 months.
You additionally will not be capable of earn it when you’ve transformed one other Citi bank card account on which you earned a brand new account bonus within the final 48 months right into a Premier or Strata Premier card.
So long as you possibly can qualify for the Strata Premier’s welcome bonus, it is price contemplating whether or not making use of for the cardboard is a greater technique than getting it via an improve.
By holding the Strata card as an alternative of upgrading it, you should use the Strata and Strata Premier collectively to maximise points-earning throughout extra classes.
For instance, you possibly can put choose transit and eligible self-selected class purchases on the Citi Strata and all different journey and restaurant purchases on the Strata Premier card.
Backside line
The advantages and incomes potential of the Strata Premier will more than likely outweigh the price of the annual charge and current higher long-term worth than the Citi Strata card.
On the whole, the most effective advantages you may obtain are the flexibility to switch factors to the vast majority of companions at a 1:1 ratio and travel-focused bonus classes.
Consider what’s in your pockets to make sure that you are all the time getting the utmost worth attainable, which can imply an improve is on the horizon.
To study extra, learn our full evaluate of the Citi Strata and Strata Premier.
Apply right here: Strata Premier