Earlier today, Citi revealed numerous changes coming to the Prestige card, including the option to book 4th-night-free booking online. A lot of people pointed out that this is actually more negative than positive since users won’t get frequent flyer points or other specialty discount rates and benefits that come with cash bookings.
Citi has clarified with Doctorofcredit that those utilizing the Citi Prestige Concierge to book their hotels over the phone will continue to be able to use their frequent flyer accounts to earn miles, as well as other loyalty rates and discounts. The 4th-night-free benefit will post as a statement credit for Concierge bookings, as before.
If a hotel offers discounts for members of certain loyalty or membership programs, these rates can still be applied with the complimentary 4th night benefit when booked through the Citi Prestige Concierge. Also, if cardmembers would like to use their frequent traveler account when booking, they can still do so via the Citi Prestige Concierge.
And Citi clarified further:
Cardmembers will continue to have the option to book with the Citi Prestige Concierge and receive a statement credit.
This is great news! The potential negatives we wrote about in the previous post are still true for those utilizing the online booking option. But we aren’t forced to use the online system. We can use Citi Prestige Concierge, as we’ve done until now, and it’ll all run exactly the same with the fourth night coming in as a statement credit.
Just remember that there are still two negative changes coming to the 4th night benefit on July 23, as we’ve known for a while:
- The fourth-night-free benefit for hotels will be based on average nightly rate instead of the 4th night’s rate
- The fourth-night-free benefit will no longer include taxes
