Citi Premier Review: Rewards Are Easy to Earn, but Less Valuable to Burn

The $95-annual-fee Citi Premier® Card offers bonus rewards across popular spending categories, so it could make for a good everyday credit card, especially if you do a lot of international traveling.

But it struggles to live up to the status its name suggests, especially compared with other travel credit cards at the same price point. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, for example, carries the same annual fee but its points can be redeemed for travel at a rate of 1.25 cents each, as compared to the 1 cent value you'll get from your ThankYou points.

Because of some drawbacks in key areas, like point values and transfer partners, it's not so much "premier" as it is middle-of-the-road territory.

There is a nice sign-up bonus, plus a yearly hotel credit that can cover the annual fee. But overall, the Citi Premier® Card falls short of the competition.

Citi Premier® Card: Basics

Card type: Travel.

Annual fee: $95.

Sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.

Rewards:

• 3 ThankYou points per $1 spent on air travel and hotels.

• 3 points per $1 spent at supermarkets.

• 3 points per $1 spent at gas stations.

• 3 points per $1 spent at restaurants.

• 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.

Redemption options:

• Redeem for travel booked through Citi. You get 1 cent per point.

• Redeem for cash back. The ThankYou points you'll earn from the card are worth 1 cent each when you redeem them for cash.

• Redeem for gift card purchases, bill payments and more. For many redemptions, points are worth 1 cent each.

• Transfer to one of Citi's partners, mostly international airlines, and at a 1:1 ratio. Through strategic redemptions, you can potentially get more value out of your points this way. If you don't plan on traveling internationally — or don’t want to spend the effort to use alliances to book domestic travel on foreign airlines — this option is somewhat limited. JetBlue is the only domestic carrier.

Interest rate: The ongoing APR is 20.49%-28.49% Variable APR.

Foreign transaction fees: None.

Other benefits:

• $100 annual hotel savings benefit. Terms apply.

How it compares with other Citi travel cards

Among Citi cards that earn ThankYou points, the Citi Premier® Card is a midtier option. The Citi Prestige® Card comes with more premium benefits — and an annual fee of $495 — while the Citi Rewards+® Card comes with an annual fee of $0 and lower ongoing rewards.

Here’s how all three cards compare:

Why you might want the Citi Premier® Card

Triple points in 'the big three' everyday categories

This may be the biggest selling point for the Citi Premier® Card: Its bonus rewards cover three major line items in many household budgets — groceries, dining out and gas. Several cards offer bonus rewards in one or two of these categories, but it's rare to score 3X back across all three. Triple points at supermarkets, in particular, is more than you’ll earn in that category from many premium credit cards, including the Citi Prestige® Card.

» MORE: NerdWallet's best credit cards for groceries

Triple points on airlines and hotels

By offering 3 points per $1 in two of the biggest travel categories, the Citi Premier® Card has an edge on competitors that offer only 2 points per $1 on flights and hotels (and at the same price point).

» MORE: Citi trifecta: Earn 2%-5% on every purchase

Multiple international travel partners = potential for outsize value

You can redeem points for travel through the Citi ThankYou portal, where you can expect a value of 1 cent per point. But you can also unlock higher value for your points if you opt to transfer them to certain airline loyalty programs. For example, as of this writing, you could transfer 172,000 ThankYou points into Singapore’s KrisFlyer program to cover a round-trip flight from New York to Frankfurt, Germany, in one of Singapore Airlines' luxury cabin suites. That same ultra-swanky experience would cost $10,000 if you paid cash.

If you’re willing to hack your way through a few hoops, you can use ThankYou points to find remarkable deals, like 7,500 Turkish Airlines miles one-way in economy to Hawaii (also as of this writing).

» MORE: 4 best Citi transfer partners (and 7 to avoid)

Big sign-up bonus

The bonus on the Citi Premier® Card has fluctuated over time, and for a while it disappeared. The current offer: Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after you spend $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.. That's worth at least $600 in travel and potentially much more if you find a good deal with a travel partner, per above.

Citi Premier® Card: Drawbacks and alternatives

Narrow travel categories

Compared with the Citi Premier® Card, other cards in its class have a much broader definition of what qualifies as "travel." Beyond just plane tickets and hotel stays, you could also earn elevated rewards on things like car rentals, cruises, rideshares, buses, trains and much more — depending on the card. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, for one, has a much broader definition of travel. It earns bonus rewards in a variety of popular spending categories, including dining and travel. It, too, has an annual fee of $95. Or you could opt for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which earns 2 miles back on purchases, travel-related or not, and has a similar annual fee.

Lackluster value for simple travel redemptions

Though points earned with the Citi Premier® Card used to be worth 1.25 cents each when redeemed for airfare through the Citi ThankYou portal, they're now worth just 1 cent each when used that way. This slide really cuts into the value of the card for many. The aforementioned Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card earns points that are worth 1.25 cents each when redeemed for travel (of any kind) through the Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel portal.

Limited choice of well-known or domestic transfer partners

Transferring credit card points to an airline's frequent-flyer program can be quite lucrative, depending on how you redeem. But almost all of Citi's transfer partners are international carriers, making them less useful for those who don't plan to travel overseas or don’t want to dig into complex award charts. JetBlue is the only domestic carrier among the transfer partners. There can be a lot of value to be found from these transfer partners, but it’s not usually low-hanging fruit. You’ll have to do some work to learn the ins and outs of new-to-you airline programs. You can transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio, meaning 1,000 ThankYou Points equals 1,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points.

If you're searching for more familiar transfer partners, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card could again be a better fit. It features a mix of foreign and domestic carriers, including United Airlines and Singapore Airlines, as well as hotel chains such as Marriott and Hyatt. The card earns bonus rewards in a variety of popular spending categories, including dining and travel. As noted, those points are worth more when you redeem for travel via Chase. The card also offers a large sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

Hotel discount may be of limited value

The card offers $100 off a single hotel stay of at least $500 (not including taxes and fees) once every calendar year, when you book through Thankyou.com. That could be useful for some travelers — but do you normally spend $500 or more on a single hotel stay? And are you willing to book it exclusively through Citi?

Lack of travel protections

You might expect a travel credit card to offer some travel insurance to give you some peace of mind on your trip. The Citi Premier® Card used to offer a modest amount of trip cancellation and interruption protection, along with car rental insurance, lost baggage protection and travel accident insurance. But Citi slashed the travel protections on most of its credit cards, including the Citi Premier® Card.

If you're looking for other options, check out NerdWallet's list of best credit cards to have.

» MORE: Citi ends Price Rewind and multiple side perks across all cards

Is the Citi Premier® Card right for you?

For many people, the answer won't be a resounding yes.

It may merit a look if you spend a lot on gas, dining, groceries or certain kinds of travel, as points can add up fast. But those points won’t be as valuable as they once were, and if you want to transfer them, you’ll have to navigate a handful of less-familiar travel partners.

If you're looking to redeem some of your points for cash instead of travel, they are worth 1 cent each. This is comparable to the point value you'll get from other cards in its class.