Citi ThankYou Rewards adds Preferred Hotels & Resorts as new hotel transfer partner

21.10.2024 - 22:21 / thepointsguy.com

Adding to its already lengthy portfolio of hotel transfer partners, Citi ThankYou Rewards is now a transfer partner of Preferred Hotels & Resorts. Preferred Hotels & Resorts offers a collection of over 650 luxury boutique properties in more than 80 countries.

You can now transfer your Citi points to the hotel's loyalty program, I Prefer Hotel Rewards, at a 1:4 ratio. This means that for every 1,000 Citi ThankYou Rewards points you transfer, you'll get 4,000 I Prefer points.

Currently, Citi is also a transfer partner of four hotel loyalty programs (or five, if you count Virgin Red Airlines + Hotels), including:

While I Prefer may not be on your radar, Citi is the first major credit card rewards currency to partner with the hotel loyalty program. But is it worth it to transfer to and redeem your hard-earned ThankYou Rewards points with Preferred Hotels & Resorts?

In 2023, Preferred Hotels & Resorts revitalized its I Prefer loyalty program, making it easier for members to track their rewards earnings and book future stays online with points. Though Preferred Hotels & Resorts, which is part of Preferred Travel Group, has a much smaller portfolio compared to World of Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott, award stays at some hotels start at just 15,000 points per night, per the loyalty program's website.

However, when searching for award availability on the Preferred Hotels & Resorts website, only three hotels displayed award prices, even though there are over 500 hotels participating in the I Prefer loyalty program. Whether it's a mistake on the website's end or not, a non-user-friendly experience is definitely something that would deter me from transferring my Citi points.

But is this a good transfer partnership, even when factoring out the tech issues? It depends on the room rate and the cost of points needed to book. For example, award prices for a stay at the Inn by the Sea, an oceanfront luxury property in Maine, start at 100,000 I Prefer points per night.

For a two-night stay in a traditional room in March, you would pay $848.48 (including taxes and fees). If I were to book this with points, I would pay 200,000 I Prefer points plus $68.38 in taxes and fees. Therefore, to book this two-night stay with Citi ThankYou Rewards points, I would need to transfer 50,000 points.

TPG values Citi ThankYou Rewards points at 1.8 cents per point, per our October 2024 valuations, which means we value 50,000 points at $900. Since the cash price for a two-night stay in a traditional room at this hotel is less than $900, this redemption would not be maximizing my Citi points.

However, a garden suite at this property would cost $1,032.87 (including taxes and fees) for the same two-night stay. If I were to book this room with I