Updated April 7, 2026.

The Facts

• Annual Fee: $595

• Signup Bonus: 75,000 points ($750 in cash or 75K miles of Avianca, Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Flying Blue, JetBlue, etc.) after you spend $6,000 within 3 months of new account opening. Note there is no more first annual fee waiver like before. The signup bonus won't be available if you have received a new account bonus on this card in the past 48 months. Historical best bonus of this card: 100,000 points in 2025 and 2026; 80,000 points in 2025; 75,000 points in 2026.

• Application Landing Page

• Rewards: 12x hotels | car rentals | attractions booked through Citi Travel, 6x airfare booked through Citi Travel, 6x dining on "Citi Nights" (Friday/Saturday 6 PM-6 AM ET), 3x dining any other time, and 1.5x everywhere else

• Best Use of ThankYou Points: ThankYou (TY) Rewards is Citi's rewards program and the points can be redeemed for cash, merchandise, gift cards, and travel, at up to 1 cent per point (note: cash rewards have 1 cent value). In addition, as a premium ThankYou card, Citi Strata Elite offers an enhanced redemption option: you may transfer TY points to miles/points of several frequent traveler programs. Please see our featured review Marriott vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. C1 vs. CR for the programs that allow points transfer to frequent traveler accounts.

• Annual/semi-annual Credits: (1) Annual $300 credit for a hotel stay of 2 nights or more through Citi Travel. (2) Annual $200 Splurge credit each calendar year on your choice of up to 2 of the following brands: 1stDibs, American Airlines, Best Buy, Future Personal Training, and Live Nation. (3) Up to $200 Blacklane credit each calendar year for premium chauffeur service bookings ($100 semi-annually).

• Airport Lounge Access: (1) 4 American Airlines Admirals Club passes every calendar year. (2) Priority Pass Select membership that gives you plus two guests unlimited complimentary access to over 1,800 airport lounges around the world (airport restaurants are no longer covered). Note that Priority Pass doesn't cover American Airlines, United, or Delta but covers Alaska as well as many international lounges. Please see our featured review to learn more about airport lounge access.

• Hotel Privileges: (1) The Reserve by Citi Travel (RBCT), a collection of participating luxury hotels and resorts worldwide, offering daily complimentary breakfast for two, free Wi-Fi, a $100 property-specific experience credit, and subject to availability, early check-in, late check-out and room upgrades. (2) MasterCard Luxury Hotels & Resorts, a collection of 2,000+ luxury hotels worldwide that offer complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, early check-in, late check-out, and a special amenity such as a certain amount of hotel credit up to $100 per stay, free internet, or welcome gift, etc.

• Other Word Elite MasterCard Benefits: MasterCard Travel & Lifestyle Services (offers for hotels, airfare, private jets, airport concierge, car rentals, chauffeured cars, cruise lines, tours, vacation packages, golf, sports and entertainment event tickets, etc.), complimentary ShopRunner membership (free two-day shipping and returns at participating stores), complimentary DoorDash benefits (3 months of complimentary DashPass membership & $5 off first two orders per month through 9/30/2022), monthly $5 Lyft credit after 3 rides each month, 5% discount for every HelloFresh order, $5 rewards for every $20+ Fandango purchase, the Dining Program (special amenities at participating restaurants), the Nightlife Program (exclusive access to and recognition at participating night clubs), Priceless Cities, Priceless Surprises, Priceless Causes, Priceless Golf, 24/7 World Elite concierge service, MasterCard Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection (up to $800 for a stolen or damaged phone as long as you charge your monthly cellphone bills to the card), MasterCard ID Theft Protection, etc.

• Other Benefits: (1) Waived foreign transaction fees. (2) Up to $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck applicaiton fee every four years. (3) Citi Entertainment - special access to entertainment, sports, dining, and virtual events, in terms of presale and preferred tickets, exclusive offers, etc. (4) Access to dining experiences with The Supper Club® with tickets available for purchase to events hosted in major U.S. cities. Access to tutorials from Death & Co® with their online learning platform, Fashioned.

• History: Citi introduced Strata Elite in mid 2025 after years of not offering a high-end ThankYou card.

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The Math
We consider the $200 Splurge credit an annual fee reducer thanks to good options like American Airlines and Best Buy. With an effective annual fee of $395, you gain perks such as $300 hotel credits (which requires a stay of at least 2 nights), airport lounge access, hotel privileges, over the $95 Strata Premier. With that, Strata Elite offers an even stronger earning structure of 12/6/3/1.5. For quite a while, we haven't seen an high-end card other than Venture X that offers more than 1x return on general spending. Strata Elite is a powerhouse for both bonus categories and general spending when leveraging ThankYou's miles/points transfer feature.

To see how Strata Elite competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex Marriott Brilliant, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United Club, Citi Strata Elite, Citi AA Executive, Capital One Venture X, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, HSBC Elite, and MasterCard Black Card.

The Conclusion
With an impressive 12/6/3/1.5 earning structure, Citi Strata Elite is currently ranked #3 Best Credit Card for Reward and also as one of our Top 10 Best Credit Cards.