Citi Strata Premier Card Refresh Survey: Annual Fee May Rise to $195, Benefits Would Change Significantly

Citi has sent a survey to some Strata Premier cardholders about a possible refresh of this card. The details vary slightly across different versions of the survey, but the core changes are the same: the annual fee may increase from the current $95 to $195, with several new cardholder benefits added. Below is one version of the proposed changes:

The new structure reworks the earning rates across spending categories. The main change is essentially a higher cap for Citi Nights.

• 10x points: Hotels, car rentals, and attraction tickets booked through the Citi Travel portal.
• 4x points: Airfare booked through the Citi Travel portal.
• 4x points: Dining during “Citi Nights” (Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. ET). This benefit would have an annual cap, and spending above $25,000 per year would no longer earn at this rate.
• 2x points: Dining at all other times outside the Citi Nights window above.
• 3x points: Flights and hotels booked directly through airline or hotel websites.
• 3x points: Eligible transit purchases, including car rentals, ferries, commuter rail, subways, taxis/rideshares, passenger rail, bridge and road tolls, parking lots, bus lines, and more.
• 2x points: Grocery stores and gas stations/EV charging stations.
• 1x points: All other purchases.

To justify the higher annual fee, this version also adds several statement credits and perks:

• TSA PreCheck / Global Entry credit: Up to $120 every four years toward the application fee.
• Splurge credit: $100 per year in targeted spending credits (eligible merchants have not yet been specified).
• Airport lounge access: 2 single-use airport lounge passes per year.
• Hotel credit (choose one of two options):
  • Book a hotel stay through Citi Travel for at least 2 consecutive nights and receive a $150 credit (split into two semiannual $75 credits); or
  • Book a hotel in The Reserve Collection through Citi Travel for at least 2 consecutive nights and receive a $200 credit (split into two semiannual $100 credits).
• Dining credit: $100 in statement credits at participating partner restaurants (split into two semiannual $50 credits).
• Digital wallet bonus: Earn 300 bonus points each month after making 5 or more purchases with a digital wallet.
• Hotel elite-style benefits: When booking participating hotels through Citi Travel, you can receive daily breakfast for two, complimentary Wi‑Fi, and an experience credit of up to $100.

My take is that, no matter what, the annual fee is probably going up. After all, the comparable AMEX Gold already increased its annual fee to $325 and is now in a clearly higher tier. Citi will likely follow the same playbook by adding more credits and raising the annual fee.

Right now, this card is still an excellent transferable-points card with very strong overall value, and it could even work as a one-card setup for putting nearly all your spending on it. Even if the benefits change, existing cardholders would likely receive them automatically. If you think this card is a good fit, you may want to apply before the annual fee goes up. That way, you could potentially get the old annual fee with the new benefits. If you do not want to keep it into year two, you could always downgrade it or convert it to another Citi card, such as Double Cash.