- The
Citi Premier® Card 's 3x bonus categories include restaurants, supermarkets, and gas stations. - It also earns 3x on airfare and hotels, making this a great card whether you're home or traveling.
- You can access Citi's airline transfer partners or redeem points for travel, cash, or other rewards.
- Read Insider's guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.
During the pandemic, many of us are spending more on groceries, restaurant takeout, and fuel for road trips until we feel safe flying again. Many banks have acknowledged this with limited-time credit card promotions and benefits designed to reward changing cardholder spending habits.
Those are customer-friendly moves, but what happens when those promotions run out or spending thresholds are met?
There's already a card with quarantine-friendly categories built-in, but it's often overlooked in favor of flashier travel rewards credit cards. The
If you find yourself ordering a lot of takeout, buying more groceries than usual, or making more trips for gas nowadays, the
The Citi Premier® Card is the "one and done" card of 2021
There aren't many cards that always reward you for spending at restaurants, supermarkets, and gas stations, despite the fact that these are popular categories this year. Some cards have limited-time bonus categories, but there are often spending caps or other restrictions to navigate.
In fact, there are only a couple of other popular rewards credit cards I know of that compare, but they earn rewards that are less flexible to use. For example, the
These three categories are tailor-made for getting through the rest of the pandemic. Instead of having to remember categories across multiple cards, you can stick with the
Get a head start with the Citi Premier® Card 60,000-point welcome bonus
The
You'll notice Citi shares some of the same partners as Chase Ultimate Rewards (including JetBlue, Air France-KLM Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic, and Singapore Airlines), and Amex Membership Rewards (including the airlines we just mentioned plus Avianca and Qantas). If you're used to transferring your points to any of these partners, it's business as usual with the Citi ThankYou program.
You can even use Citi ThankYou points from your
There's no pairing to think about, either — unless you want to
Chase has great no-annual-fee cards, like the
You won't have to think about this, or juggling multiple cards, with the
But while Chase wants you to "level up" to use your points, Citi makes it easy to start at the top and fill gaps later. And if you don't want other cards, no problem. The
It's not Chase, Amex, or Capital One — and that's a good thing
Every transferable points program has its pros and cons, but you can't go wrong with diversity. Citi ThankYou points are no easier or harder to use than other types of points. They're just different and have their own best uses.
It's a strong primary program to focus on, as well as a good backup program. Most folks would be fine to maximize the
I've always found strong value in the Citi ThankYou program, but I also keep a points balance with Chase and Amex. It's good to mix things up.
The Citi Premier card will come in handy post-COVID for your travels
When you get back to traveling, the
The card also has no foreign transaction fees, so it's great to carry when you travel abroad. And there's also a $100 discount per calendar year on a single hotel stay of $500 or more, excluding taxes and fees, when you book through Citi.
I don't use this benefit because it cancels out perks and bonus points from elite status at hotel chains like Hilton or Marriott. But I'd consider using it for a boutique hotel or in a place where chain hotels are sparse or too far from where I want to be. Even if you don't use this benefit, the excellent bonus categories are well worth the annual fee.
Keep it simple and play the long game
When other promotions run out, you don't want to accidentally use those cards for gas, dining, or grocery shopping and miss earning bonus points for your purchase.
Instead of worrying about promotion end dates and spending caps, you could use this time to meet the spending requirements to earn the
Harlan Vaughn is a freelance writer who has written about credit card rewards, personal finance, points and miles, and travel loyalty programs for nearly a decade.
