Who Is the Expedia+ Credit Card From Citi Good For?
Expedia credit cardholders can capitalize on the its rewards program aptly called Expedia+. There are several benefits that can be useful for a cardholder who books their travel via Expedia. You get instant +Silver status that lets your earn more points for bookings, and some additional perks depending where you apply for the card.
Sign-Up Bonus:
Terms, including the sign-up bonus and some benefits, differ depending where you apply for the card. If you apply on the Citi website, you’ll get a $50 statement credit after the first purchase and 10,000 Expedia+ points after spending $1,000 in three months. If you apply on the Expedia website, you’ll get 15,000 points but no statement credit.
Points Earned
- 3 points per $1 spent on Expedia purchases, including flights, hotels, activities and vacation packages
- 1 point per $1 spent on other purchases
What Do Your Points Get You?
You can use Expedia+ bonus points to book any kind of travel, from car rentals to flights, hotels and vacation packages. Keep in mind, however, that while you can still earn miles for points redemption, hotels might not give you any points for booking via a travel agency, and they might also refuse to give you status benefits that would be yours for booking directly. This is not a problem with airlines’ frequent flyer programs where you will always earn and receive status recognition.
Usage Perks:
- No annual fee
- Sign up bonus
- Decent earning scheme maximized when booking via Expedia
- +Silver status benefits
- Special bonuses for Expedia Rate and +VIP Access hotel stays
Usage Quirks:
- Mediocre redemption opportunities
- Low sign-up bonus
- Can’t transfer points
How Far Do Your Points Go?
The Expedia redemption scheme is a bit complicated. You get different values depending what you book. Flights, for example, are far from lucrative. You will be getting the value around 0.6 cents per point. Booking hotels is slightly better; 3,500 points will buy you a $25 booking coupon, which makes your redemption worth about 0.7 points per dollar. The best redemption, however, would be booking a +VIP Access hotel. The same 3,500 points would get you a $50 coupon, which makes it a respectable redemption at 1.4 cents per point.
Additional Cardholder Benefits:
- Citi Price Rewind
- Damage and theft purchase protection
- Apple Pay
- Personal Concierge Service
- Extended warranty protection
- Travel accident insurance
- Auto rental collision damage waiver
- Trip cancellation insurance
- Lost luggage protection