Citi’s Thank You Points program has rolled out a new transfer partner, Preferred Hotels and Resorts’ I Prefer program. The transfer ratio of 1:4 is enticing, but availability is sparse at this moment.
Interestingly, Citi Thank You Point (TYP) holders could previously book Preferred Hotels and Resorts in a more roundabout way: by transferring TYP to Choice Privileges at a 1:2 ratio and booking Preferred Hotels through the Choice Privileges program.
This partnership makes booking Preferred Hotels more direct… theoretically. The trick with the I Prefer program is that as of the time of writing, award availability seems to be very limited.
How to Book Hotels with I Prefer Rewards:
The I Prefer program, Preferred Hotels and Resorts’ own loose loyalty program, allows members to book the Preferred Hotels and Resorts properties with points, if availability exists.
The I Prefer program allows members to utilize points in three ways.
Book participating member hotels using exclusively points
This option allows members to substitute I Prefer points for cash if member hotels allow. I must stress, though, that this option appears to be EXTREMELY limited as of the time of writing. The only properties that I have been able to show a points-only booking option are attainable as follows:
- Pull up the directory of Preferred Hotels’ properties by searching for all hotels. You can do this by hitting the “Find Hotels” button on the landing page without inputting details.
- Below regional filters, there’s an option to “Show Rates”. Clicking here gives you three options: Cash, Points + Cash, and Points. Choosing “Points” allows you to see hotels that appear to be bookable exclusively with points.
If I search for availability in the May 2025 timeframe, I can find the property available for cash or points at a rate of $642 per night including taxes and fees, or 100,000 I Prefer points and $34 per night.
At these rates, your I Prefer points would be worth 0.6 cents per point, but remember that Citi’s transfer ratio is 1:4, meaning that you would be getting 2.4 Cents per Citi Thank You Point.
This is promising, but I must stress that I cannot find almost any other properties that are bookable exclusively with points. Three out of the Preferred Hotels and Resorts’ 614 cash-bookable hotels is approximately 2% of properties.
Book participating member hotels using Points and Cash Rates
Many more hotels in the portfolio are bookable with Points and Cash rates: as of the time of writing, 214 / 614 (34.8%) of the portfolio hotels are bookable with points and cash rates. Availability varies, but in scouting a few properties, the typical points + cash combination reduces the cash necessary for the stay by approximately 25%.
See the example below, booking Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica, CA.
In this case, I Prefer points are reducing the cost of the stay by $212 in exchange for 30,000 points, or 0.71 CPP. Again, with the transfer ratio of 4 I Prefer points per Citi Thank You Point, this would represent just over 2.8 CPP value for your Citi Thank You Points. That’s also a serious value, but may not be of interest to everyone due to the significant cash outlay that is still required.
(Bad Option) Exchange I Prefer Points for Certificates
In speaking with customer service representatives with the I Prefer program, I learned that it’s also possible to purchase certificates that can be exchanged for cash value for services like dining and spas at Preferred Hotels and Resorts by using I Prefer points. This is theoretically enticing due to the flexibility compared to the extremely limited number of properties bookable solely with points, however the economics are not strong: It’s possible to book a certificate for $20 cash value with 10,000 I Prefer points. That’s a rate of 0.2 CPP. Even factoring in the 4x multiple from Citi’s transfer ratio, that still puts our value below 1 CPP, so we’d be better off redeeming for cash. This is not a viable use of points.
Summary:
Citi rolled out a new transfer partner that has no other direct transfers from US credit card programs, which is exciting. However, the lack of points-bookable options and the high cash costs associated with the larger number of properties bookable on points + cash rates puts a damper on my excitement at the moment. I’ll be watching the site eagerly though in case more properties become bookable over time. In that case, this could be a seriously good use of Citi Thank You Points in the future.