MileValue is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.

Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.


The Citi ThankYou® Premier Card comes with 40,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Those 40,000 points are now worth $500 toward airfare, hotels, cruises, and car rentals (25% more.)

I went into my thankyou.com account to search for car rentals, and the results showed a 1.25 cents per point valuation.
Screen Shot 2015-05-27 at 2.39.14 PM

It’s fantastic that Citi made car, hotel, and and cruise redemptions more valuable, but I don’t expect to use this new benefit. Here are two easy ways to get way more than 1.25 cents of value from your ThankYou Points:

  1. Open the Citi Prestige® Card in addition to your Citi ThankYou® Premier Card. Combine the ThankYou Points earned on each card into a single account. From that account, you can redeem points like cash toward any airlines’ flights (1.33 cents) at a higher rate than 1.25 cents per point.
  2. Transfer ThankYou Points earned on the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card to 12 airlines at a 1:1 rate. I value Singapore miles, Air France Flying Blue miles, and Virgin Atlantic miles all at well over 1.25 cents each. Check out the top redemptions you can make with ThankYou Points transferred to miles in those programs.

Bottom Line

The Citi ThankYou® Premier Card now offers 1.25 cents per point toward car rentals, hotel bookings, and cruises. That’s a 25% increase!

That makes the 40,000 point sign up bonus worth $500 in car rentals, hotel stays, or cruises. It makes the 3x category bonus on travel and gas worth 3.75% back toward car rentals, hotel stays, or cruises. And it makes the 2x category bonus on dining and entertainment worth 2.5% back toward car rentals, hotel stays, or cruises.

However, I don’t plan on using this enhancement. My ThankYou Points from my Citi ThankYou® Premier Card are combined with my points from my Citi Prestige® Card, so I can get 1.33 cents per point toward the purchase of flights. Or I can transfer my points to Singapore, Air France, and Virgin Atlantic miles and book sweet spot awards.

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.

With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!


Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

The comments section below is not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all questions are answered.