Citibank "4th night free" perk

[MonteCristo]

Hi all. Does anyone have experience using the Citibank "4th night free" perk?

Pointhacks has an article about it - and says it can be used for all hotels on hotels.com, and subsequently keeps saying 'hotels, hotels, hotels'.

The Citibank T&Cs also mention 'hotels'.

However, hotels.com also has other 'properties' that are more Airbnb'y. Eg: self-serviced, seemingly standalone homes and apartments. Possibly just semantics.

Has anyone successfully used the "4th night free" perk to book a non-traditional hotel booking via Citibank? Could make for decent savings on longer trips that move around a lot.

 

[edgecrusher]

if you have the prestige Mastercards, it’s property’s on Expedia, not hotels.com.

Just booked one.

 

[micky214]

if you have the prestige Mastercards, it’s property’s on Expedia, not hotels.com.

Just booked one.

Did you call to book?

 

[edgecrusher]

Did you call to book?

I emailed the initial request, had to call them to confirm I was a cardholder, then did several back and forth over email before I was required to call to make payment.

 

[Steady]

Did you call to book?

When I booked mine, I found what I wanted on Expedia, phoned up, 5 minutes later all finished

 

[MonteCristo]

Thanks both!

Sounds like a goer. Pity they don't allow bookings more than 6 months in advance .

 

[edgecrusher]

Yeah mate it’s a no brainer, more back in your pocket than using Shopback/Cashrewards.

You do pay full up front and get a reimbursement on your card 2/3 weeks later.

 

[sharp]

As an interesting note, it seems to only apply to properties where you pay upfront - I got knocked back trying to book a hotel where it was only possible to pay on arrival

 

[ltwo]

seems to me like Citi Concierge use the US site in USD (expedia.com rather than .com.au) and then convert to AUD for their quote.

for the hotel that I'm looking at in SIN, this works out more expensive than the Expedia AU AUD rate.

almost wipes out the entire 4th night free benefit vs booking direct.

Citi Concierge: $1441 - $303 = $1138
Expedia AU direct: $1296 (probably about $1200 with cashback etc)
Expedia US direct: US$986 which is ~A$1461
Hotel direct: $1362

Still a slight saving but could be better if they use the Expedia AU rate!

 

[MonteCristo]

Interesting. Thanks folks. Will have to come armed with some sums ahead of time.

Or go with Plan A and use Airbnb!

 

[bellroy26]

Has anyone tried booking for multiple 4-night consecutive stays but on different cities?

Like for example I'm looking at:

October 10-14: Milan
October 14-18: Venice
October 18-22: Florence
October 24-28: Rome

I was reading the terms & conditions, and while I note that there is a 7-day window between bookings, I couldn't quite figure out if this is about making the booking (i.e book for Milan dates today then for Venice dates next week) or the booking dates (i.e. I am only eligible for Milan and Rome since they have 7 days in between).

 

[ltwo]

It's 7 days between stays. Doesn't make sense to be 7 days between making the bookings.

 

[ecst]

Has anyone tried booking for multiple 4-night consecutive stays but on different cities?

Like for example I'm looking at:

October 10-14: Milan
October 14-18: Venice
October 18-22: Florence
October 24-28: Rome

I was reading the terms & conditions, and while I note that there is a 7-day window between bookings, I couldn't quite figure out if this is about making the booking (i.e book for Milan dates today then for Venice dates next week) or the booking dates (i.e. I am only eligible for Milan and Rome since they have 7 days in between).

I just spoke to them today on this very topic, it only applies for stays within the same city, eg Milan hotel #1: 10-17th Oct, then Milan hotel #2: 17-21st Oct

Your itinerary above is perfectly fine

 

[ecst]

also found out they use an Expedia-linked booking system called "Switch", which has a potentially different interface

I tried getting some clarification on a particular hotel I was looking at - booking directly with the hotel and via Expedia only listed non-refundable bookings (Agoda had refundable listings) and the lady mentioned it goes back to what the listing on Switch indicates, whatever that is... ...

 

[bellroy26]

I just spoke to them today on this very topic, it only applies for stays within the same city, eg Milan hotel #1: 10-17th Oct, then Milan hotel #2: 17-21st Oct

Your itinerary above is perfectly fine

Thanks for the information @ecst this definitely will be a great benefit to use for my upcoming trip

 

[Formal Hall]

also found out they use an Expedia-linked booking system called "Switch", which has a potentially different interface

I tried getting some clarification on a particular hotel I was looking at - booking directly with the hotel and via Expedia only listed non-refundable bookings (Agoda had refundable listings) and the lady mentioned it goes back to what the listing on Switch indicates, whatever that is... ...

Yes I have just encountered this - they no longer use expedia.com.au, but switchfly, a whitelabel OTA which has far fewer options. Means there is no longer an obvious way to search price and availability online, which is a big downgrade compared to just a few months ago.

I think availability might align with what is available on the avios hotels portal, given it is listed as a customer on the switchfly website - would love someone to confirm though!

 

[ecst]

Yes I have just encountered this - they no longer use expedia.com.au, but switchfly, a whitelabel OTA which has far fewer options. Means there is no longer an obvious way to search price and availability online, which is a big downgrade compared to just a few months ago.

I think availability might align with what is available on the avios hotels portal, given it is listed as a customer on the switchfly website - would love someone to confirm though!

thanks @Formal Hall - this is very useful as I am about to look up prices for a month-long trip coming up!

 

[Airbumps]

Yes I have just encountered this - they no longer use expedia.com.au, but switchfly, a whitelabel OTA which has far fewer options. Means there is no longer an obvious way to search price and availability online, which is a big downgrade compared to just a few months ago.

I think availability might align with what is available on the avios hotels portal, given it is listed as a customer on the switchfly website - would love someone to confirm though!

This is interesting and something I'll be watching. The simplicity of being able to refer to expedia.com.au was great and allowed you to know exactly what you were dealing with. I don't know I like the idea of not having visibilty of costs and availability before I call them...

 

[N860CR]

I think you still can. I had two instances where they couldn’t find what I was seeing but sending a screenshot from Expedia seemed to fix it (and the booking came from Expedia).

The booking will, however, be made in the agents own Expedia account so you’ll have no control over it (and they oddly earn your points)

 

[deeps]

Does anyone have any experience where booking directly with the hotel is a fair bit cheaper than Expedia? Will Citibank allow that or am I stuck with the Expedia rate?