FINALLY! - Citi launching Citi Prestige with Visa Infinite

[trippin_the_rift]

This looks identical to the select card 18 months ago. Very underwhelming

 

[Franko Costa]

Anyone tried upgrading from a signature to a select card before? do they still call HR etc to check income?

Reason I ask is that, I was a long time AMEX Plat EDGE user and older AMEX's before that and I signed up to the platinum charge card online and got approved instantly. So does it happen at citibank??

I don't quite meet the min income....

I upgraded from Singature to the Select and didn't have any income check

 

[albyd]

Similarly I upgraded from platinum to select. Had a credit limit much higher than select minimum at the time. Took a little time to get them to agree to the product transfer but didn't need to prove income and new credit check etc.

I agree new card is Select 12 months ago with a few small extras. Glad they didn't "enhance" it this time.

Prestige looks and sounds more gaudy than Select for those that are into that sort of thing.

 

[k3nnis]

Did you do it online? If you did does it tell you straight away you have been approved?

Also how long did you hold the signature card for before applying?

Wonder if the 80000 amex play charge is better for $1200 or the prestige for $700.....

I upgraded from Singature to the Select and didn't have any income check

 

[albyd]

Haven't had the Amex platinum charge card in a while but from the rewards perspective I think the Prestige is the better card (Amex challenging earn rate with Visa acceptability and lower incidence of surcharges).

 

[Franko Costa]

Did you do it online? If you did does it tell you straight away you have been approved?

Also how long did you hold the signature card for before applying?

Wonder if the 80000 amex play charge is better for $1200 or the prestige for $700.....

I called up and got them to upgrade to Select. I didn't ask for points, but used this to ask for 1st yr fee to be waived

 

[k3nnis]

Yeah I would much rather the fee waived if possible

 

[leyy]

I think these changes/enhancements are great. I don't know what the big fuss is about.

Earn rates are the same, annual fee is the same. More benefits with HH gold / Golden circle Jade/ Comp hotel night + other various benefits.

Does anyone have the list of the 80 premium hotels for the comp night?

Also does anyone know if there are any additional benefits for Visa Infinite (Visa Infinite does not have a page yet for Australia as this is obviously their first Infinite card in Australia) previously Visa signature cards had pretty good luxury hotel benefits similar to the Amex Platinum Charge card Fine hotels resorts program.

I am sure that we may get some more benefits from VISA Infinite in the future

I think thinking of applying for this card in addition to the Citi Signature Free for Life card, hopefully we can still get the 70,000 bonus points (I would go with QF points) once the QF points land in my QF account I would change to Citibank premium rewards as 70k QF points is better value than 70k citi points.


$150,000.00 min income requirement is huge, I believe this is the highest requirement for any australian credit card prior to this citi select was $120,000 and AMEX plat charge is currently $100,000

I am lucky I got a promotion this year so I am over the income requirement

Will look at applying in the near future.


cheers,

 

[ermen]

What they need is a Visa fine dining booking concierge like what amex plat charge has...
i am sure restaurants will be much happier taking visa too as the merchant fee is less?

 

[Hammando]

And this is why we wait for the product info, as opposed to bothering to ask Citi staff anything...

Everything I was told and relayed here was correct. (Except my error on the Shangri La membership level)

 

[Schnuz]

Found this on the Citibank website: citibank.com.au/citiprestige

 

[Kimster]

Thanks for the link Schnuz. The return from some benefits are great.
The free airport limo at twice a year saves me at least $250 on costs and the meet and greet is another $200. This complimented with free hotel stay should outweigh any annual fees - although I have never paid the annual fee for select yet.
There is a mention of relationship bonus (30,000 points), but the caveat is they mention it is for new customers to Citi Prestige who are also CitiGold. Not sure whether customers upgraded straight to Prestige from Select are considered "technically" new.
I see the above plus the points/miles earn ratio should see everyone on top of the card's annual fee.

Found this on the Citibank website: citibank.com.au/citiprestige

 

[tharaka]

This changes the game a bit..

4th night free sounds like unlimited per year! and 1 night free is on top of that!
Chauffeur and Airport meet and greet adds some good value too.

What this card really lacks is Lounge access in Australia!

 

[diningdecadence]

an Australian call centre would be pretty good - citi reps - read this!!!

 

[ted123]

a game changer for sure

 

[albyd]

I have spoken to an Australian call center from time to time for Select during Australian business hours. It's hit and miss. Having said that I've generally found Citi's offshore staff better than many other offshore call centers I've dealt with.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Found this on the Citibank website: citibank.com.au/citiprestige

This changes the game a bit..

4th night free sounds like unlimited per year! and 1 night free is on top of that!
Chauffeur and Airport meet and greet adds some good value too.

What this card really lacks is Lounge access in Australia!

Wouldn't most people with this card already have lounge access one way or another? Airline status or flying in a premium cabin.

Also the premium plaza coming to Sydney will likely be Priority pass.

The 4th night free is loyalty marketing at its finest. Most hotels (especially business) have an average nightly stay of under 2 nights per visit. So if someone stays for 3 the hotel is already ahead and the 4th night is thrown in to make you feel like its some kind of special deal. It's not.

The thing with programs like this is to give benefits that are not really benefits because the customer will either be too lazy to use it or they already have the benefit through other means.

The other thing that I had a giggle at is the relationship bonus for being loyal. Yet only available to new customers...

 

[Keith009]

I have the current Signature fee-free. I did the sums and whilst the Prestige card has, on the surface, a strong value proposition - I'd only be interested in the higher Points earn and can't justify the extra $700 outlay a year. As mentioned above, for a number of reasons, I won't be using enough of the benefits to justify the fee. However as I'm predominantly a leisure traveller, most of my hotel stays are at least 4 nights so if they had Ws in the 4th night free benefit it may make me re-consider.

It does look a lot better than the AMEX Platinum when you consider the difference in fees. But all things considered I'm happy with my Platinum Edge/Signature/Altitude Black combo and can't see any reason just yet to change to Prestige. I'd just look out for a future fee waiver or 'upgrade your card at your current fee' type promo at which point I can get rid of the Altitude Black.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Great effort by all contributors to date - but I think we should really wait and review the actual benefits when they are announced.

You guys are aware of a couple of T & C's as they now appear:



And:



Benefits may only be available when your hotel / flight bookings made through Citi Concierge - but again we will need to wait and check full T & C's - personally I am never likely to book this way so no benefit in these to me - but of course YMMV.

 

[Yoz]

Hilton gold status is certainly a good benefit. Don't have any experience of Shangri-la hotels but free buffet breakfast is a good inducement. Emirates transfer rate is frankly appalling and not worth bothering with.

HHonors Gold is probably the least valuable thing on that list because it's often available for free through Hilton promotions.

On top of that despite the fact it should've expired I seem to have been left on HHonors Gold. I'm not complaining but it's a little sad that the Doubletree in Langfang is gone. Not sure how many times I'll be staying at a Doubletree with that property gone