Citibank's New Prestige Card

[swordspirit]

Even if you are new customer to Citibank, you'll get a 5% bonus (1.47 miles/$) on your miles, so that's slightly higher than ANZ Travel Visa. Not sure why you claim that the rate of earning is lower than ANZ.

[Is 0.07miles/$ better then free limo services? Let take the free limo that ANZ provide for every $1,500 spending. This translate to additional 105 miles under citibank vs $15 value in the limo?]

If you get the 15% bonus (longtime Citibank customer or Citigold customer), you are earning 1.61 miles/$, higher than UOB PRVI Miles (excluding the bonus). Besides, I don't really consider the PRVI Miles a comparable card simply because it is Amex, which means much lower acceptance.

If you spent 50k a year, u get free waiver of annual fee + additional 20k miles. translating to 2miles/$spent. Amex really depends on card user, some people can spend quite a sum using the card. Further, by purchasing airfare or hotels (min $500) you also get free limo services (though not as good as ANZ)

The annual fee for the first year is not waived but you get 25k miles in return, which is considered good value. There is no information about subsequent years. If cannot, just cancel. No big deal.

If you are prepare to cancel after 1 year, no point talking about expiry dates as below. The 25k miles vs the annual fee is lower then that of ANZ.

Finally, it was a huge problem to many that UNI$s and ANZ Miles had expiry dates. This card comes with non-expiry of Citipoints. So there will be some who consider this more attractive than the other two cards.

Will be useful for people who spend quite little. For huge spenders, not really an issue as they may convert quite frequently. A limit to this card is the max 100k miles per conversion. You cannot really go around accumulating before converting.

So, to my original point, the mile earning on this card is great for some people, for whom, limo service may not be important (such as me). For people like me, earning that 0.07 miles/$ more on my transactions is better since the limo perk is irrelevant to me.

Limo perks being irrelevant is rare, unless the company is paying for the transport or when u stay very very near to the airport. Which is actually a separate cost for the company. Further ANZ allow u to transfer the limo voucher.

See above.

 

[lingua101]

Because they are offering more miles/$ than any comparable card in the market?

Put it this way. Assuming you spend $5k a quarter, which gets you the free limo service from HSBC, you are also losing out on 2k miles a quarter by using the HSBC card. If you value 2k miles a quarter more, take the Citibank card. If you value your airport transfer more, take the HSBC card.

You need not have every card in the market. Just pick the one that best fit your spending and usage profile. For some (including me), this card beats the HSBC VI card hands down.

But you also pay more for citi card

 

[Suleyman]

[Is 0.07miles/$ better then free limo services? Let take the free limo that ANZ provide for every $1,500 spending. This translate to additional 105 miles under citibank vs $15 value in the limo?]

If the cardholder does not travel often (or at all), or can claim his taxi fare from his company, then yes, 0.07 miles/$ is better than free limo.

Limo perks being irrelevant is rare, unless the company is paying for the transport or when u stay very very near to the airport. Which is actually a separate cost for the company. Further ANZ allow u to transfer the limo voucher.

Limo perks are only important for people who travel often for work & cannot claim the taxi fare from their company. Do these people exist? Yes! & maybe for them, a card with complimentary limo works for them. But to claim that they form a majority of the market, I think is a bit of a stretch. But, yeah. I get it. The airport transfer is big for you so maybe the Citibank card won't cut it for you.

Anyway, my point is still that there are different cards with different perks to suit different groups of people. Are there cards out there that suck terribly that no one should use? Sure. But this card do have some strengths which will cater to some people's circumstances (such as me).

My guess is that the main target audience is Citigold customers or potential Citigold customers (the CSO who calls back is from the Citigold customer acquisition team). This is why they are enforcing the income requirement, as a proxy to identify the HNIs. For these customers, the relationship bonus (15-30%) will be a draw.

Could they have offered other perks? Sure. But maybe their market research indicates that stuff like free limo have poor ROIs. Look at Premiermiles. It has never offered free airport transfers and yet many still consider it one of the must-haves for mileage cards. I'm sure many who had moved from PM to ANZ Travel Visa or UOB PRVI Miles (or both the cards) did so for the increased miles, not the taxi perks. At least that's certainly the reason I did.

But you also pay more for citi card

True. But I am earning 0.61 miles/$ more for local spend on this card, compared to HSBC VI.

It will be interesting to see how HSBC manages the VI card in the following years. Do note that the renewal bonus was considered a 'promotion' for this year. There is no guarantee that it will continue for subsequent years. At least for Citi Prestige, the renewal bonus is listed as a perk.

 

[swordspirit]

If the cardholder does not travel often (or at all), or can claim his taxi fare from his company, then yes, 0.07 miles/$ is better than free limo.



Limo perks are only important for people who travel often for work & cannot claim the taxi fare from their company. Do these people exist? Yes! & maybe for them, a card with complimentary limo works for them. But to claim that they form a majority of the market, I think is a bit of a stretch. But, yeah. I get it. The airport transfer is big for you so maybe the Citibank card won't cut it for you.

Anyway, my point is still that there are different cards with different perks to suit different groups of people. Are there cards out there that suck terribly that no one should use? Sure. But this card do have some strengths which will cater to some people's circumstances (such as me).

My guess is that the main target audience is Citigold customers or potential Citigold customers (the CSO who calls back is from the Citigold customer acquisition team). This is why they are enforcing the income requirement, as a proxy to identify the HNIs. For these customers, the relationship bonus (15-30%) will be a draw.

Could they have offered other perks? Sure. But maybe their market research indicates that stuff like free limo have poor ROIs. Look at Premiermiles. It has never offered free airport transfers and yet many still consider it one of the must-haves for mileage cards. I'm sure many who had moved from PM to ANZ Travel Visa or UOB PRVI Miles (or both the cards) did so for the increased miles, not the taxi perks. At least that's certainly the reason I did.



True. But I am earning 0.61 miles/$ more for local spend on this card, compared to HSBC VI.

It will be interesting to see how HSBC manages the VI card in the following years. Do note that the renewal bonus was considered a 'promotion' for this year. There is no guarantee that it will continue for subsequent years. At least for Citi Prestige, the renewal bonus is listed as a perk.

I would not deny that gold members earning 15%-30% more miles are clearly benefiting from this, but that is only a portion of card users. Not everybody is gold member and new users will not be getting much benefit as compare to other cards.

Why Citi PM was successful is mainly due to the lack of competition in the past and ANZ and UOB changed the landscape with their cards. I also would not deny that the current miles earning rate is quite attactive. However, the cost of $500+ is not justified. Further the limit of 100k miles conversion is not doing the card justice. With the $500+ annual fee, they could do it better by just waiving all charges on conversion or introduce more perks.

 

[swatchie]

Apparently the 30% bonus for citigold members >10 yrs isn't on miles. It's on the spending.

Read this on another forum.

"Spend $50,000 in a year, receive 15,000 bonus CitiDollars (30% of 50k). In other words, just 6,000 more miles since 2.5 Citi$ = 1 mile. This gives an earn rate of 1.52 miles/$. Less if your relationship bonus is below 30%."

 

[qwertyuiop59]

Apparently the 30% bonus for citigold members >10 yrs isn't on miles. It's on the spending.

Read this on another forum.

"Spend $50,000 in a year, receive 15,000 bonus CitiDollars (30% of 50k). In other words, just 6,000 more miles since 2.5 Citi$ = 1 mile. This gives an earn rate of 1.52 miles/$. Less if your relationship bonus is below 30%."

Wouldn't 30% in miles = 30% in spending/Citidollars?

 

[final1]

Why Citi PM was successful is mainly due to the lack of competition in the past and ANZ and UOB changed the landscape with their cards.

UOB mileage cards i consider uncompetitive (UOB Privi AMEX) because their UNI$ expire in 2 years.

For ANZ Travel, u get 5 years (still acceptable) and for Citi PM and Prestige, you get no expiry at all (ideal).

 

[greddy88]

the cso called me last night..blah blah blah about the benefits.
as some highlighted, imo, it is not very much diff from some other cards, other than the extra points for having long relationship/citigold.
however, that's me... i don't like paying for a card no matter how 'exclusive' it is.
the income requirement is already a deterrent.
if not enough, raise it further, 200k-300k.

they are already earning from the transactions i make, still want to make from me?

had politely rejected her last night.. she's got a sweet cfm voice though

 

[swatchie]

Wouldn't 30% in miles = 30% in spending/Citidollars?

If you spent $50,000, you would get 175K Citi points, which would equate 70K miles. The 30% bonus is on your 50K spend, which would be 15K Citi points, which equates only a bonus of 6K miles. If the 30% is on your miles, you should be getting 21K miles and not 6K.

 

[hwmook]

If you spent $50,000, you would get 175K Citi points, which would equate 70K miles. The 30% bonus is on your 50K spend, which would be 15K Citi points, which equates only a bonus of 6K miles. If the 30% is on your miles, you should be getting 21K miles and not 6K.

$50,000 spending = 175K citi points.
$15,000 spending = 22.5k citi points?

How come your calculation is so different?

 

[swatchie]

$50,000 spending = 175K citi points.
$15,000 spending = 22.5k citi points?

How come your calculation is so different?

The bonus points is a straight percentage of your spending with a 1 to 1 conversion ratio to Citi points. 30% of 50K spending = 15K Citi points, not $. At least that's what I read from the other forum.

 

[rebook]

The bonus points is a straight percentage of your spending with a 1 to 1 conversion ratio to Citi points. 30% of 50K spending = 15K Citi points, not $. At least that's what I read from the other forum.

You are right, it's printed on the card member handbook.

Sort of cheated, even at 30%, and you spend $50k a year, you only get 6000 miles extra. Another way to calculate:

If $50k is purely spent locally, the effective $:miles ratio is 1.52, i.e. one dollar get 1.52 miles

If $50k is purely spent overseas, the effective ratio is 2.12.

I don't think this is good.

 

[swatchie]

You are right, it's printed on the card member handbook.

Sort of cheated, even at 30%, and you spend $50k a year, you only get 6000 miles extra. Another way to calculate:

If $50k is purely spent locally, the effective $:miles ratio is 1.52, i.e. one dollar get 1.52 miles

If $50k is purely spent overseas, the effective ratio is 2.12.

I don't think this is good.

This is quite sucky, especially if you are don't get the 30% bonus. There are better cards out there.

 

[the_ed]

This is quite sucky, especially if you are don't get the 30% discount. There are better cards out there.

agreed. thanks for the heads up on this. quite a downer although it is still slightly better than ANZ Travel and Citi PM card if there is no promotional overseas rate. will edit the opening post to reflect this.

 

[lingua101]

agreed. thanks for the heads up on this. quite a downer although it is still slightly better than ANZ Travel and Citi PM card if there is no promotional overseas rate. will edit the opening post to reflect this.

not to mention that the annual fee is also more expensive and lesser miles. HSBC Visa Infinite gives 30,000 miles at $488

so boycott this card please until they improve the benefit.

i will join if they throw 50,000 miles bonus. I will only max earn extra 15%

 

[operafreak]

I got mine at the launch

Maybe I should have waited for better signup benefits.

 

[operafreak]

The concierge is terrible

Tried using the Mastercard Concierge.

Wanted to see what rates they can get for a flight to Bangkok.

They told me they can only arrange for SQ and quoted me $2k per flight!

When I can get it at $1.2k at the SQ website direct!

C'est terrible!

 

[rebook]

First class?

Tried using the Mastercard Concierge.

Wanted to see what rates they can get for a flight to Bangkok.

They told me they can only arrange for SQ and quoted me $2k per flight!

When I can get it at $1.2k at the SQ website direct!

C'est terrible!

 

[operafreak]

First class?

nope. Business

 

[lingua101]

seem not much news about this card any more