Earlier this week, I listed down all the benefits I received via my Citi Prestige India Credit Card last year. Many requested were unaware that the 4th night benefit could be redeemed online, and requested to elaborate on how the Citi Prestige 4th night free works. This is a valid for Citi Prestige India primary cardholders where a minimum of 4 consecutive nights are required to be booked to get the one night free. I used it last year and this is how it works.
I logged into the Visa promotions website, selected India as the country of issue for my card. The page then directed me to a third party OTA, Hotels.com website. After this, I could search on the website just like on any other OTA. Once I finalised my preferred hotel, I applied the coupon code VISAFREE1, typed in my Citi Prestige India card number and a discount of 25%, i.e. average price of 4 nights, was applied automatically.
The one thing to keep in mind is that the discount reflects only when you select a 4-night stay. For example, I had a six nights stay in Tokyo last year. When I applied the code to the 6-night stay, I got a prompt saying that the coupon is not eligible.
I then split my reservation into 2 parts. The first one, a consecutive 4-night stay and then I booked 2 nights separately. That way I got the 25% discount on my first reservation.
The other thing to bear in mind is that any reservation made by using the free night coupon code is not eligible for the Hotel.com loyalty program.
On the whole, while you can always call up the concierge to send you hotel options and prices, this is an easy and a faster way to look at hotels and book them yourself instantly.
Have you used the Citi Prestige 4th Night Free benefit on your Citi Prestige Credit Card?
The link takes you to hotels.com but can’t book 4th night free with code visafree1. However citi internally uses hotels.com only and only those hotels which are on hotels.com can be booked for 4th night free through citi concierge. Like Marina bay sands is not available on hotels.com, so citi concierge can’t book it
Had booked using the discount code on hotels.com in March. Worked fine. Now the link does not work?
Is it still possible to book online on some site or through concierge only?
Quick question – The concierge wants the info of the card for booking over the phone – the hotels.com link doesn’t work anymore (the T&C says it has to be booked thro’ concierge only now -https://in.hotels.com/booking/coupon_terms_conditions.html?couponName=c..CJ5CHm9X7IUlv5mpHR1N4g..). Has anyone booked this way? I was a bit worried sharing expiry and cvv over the phone (to a human, not an automated system). Concierge says that’s the only way…Any views?
The link for online hotel booking no longer works, Visa’s infinite description website for India is also now 404, https://www.visa.co.in/infinite/ Are they sunsetting this stuff in India?
The Visa Promotions link is no longer active. Can we do it directly at hotels.com? I have registered my card with Visa India.
The only other option is to use the prestige concierge, but I usually like to do my research and then call them for actual booking if online option is not available.
Looks like the link to the Visa Promotions page no longer works, anyone have the updated one?
does this mean this benefit can be enjoyed by the addon card holder as long as the payment is made thru primary card .
@apurva – Yes, as long as you pay on your Prestige card.
Thanks for sharing this, Ajay. Surprisingly, the Concierge has no idea on this. They still maintain they it can only be booked by calling them.
Guess, Citi wants to keep this as a secret.
I wonder, why?
@Soumya, it is inconsequential to have a discussion. Maybe Citi want’s to share it, maybe they don’t. It does not matter. As long as you know what you have to do going forward. Cheers!
I have used the 4th nigh benefit for booking Hyatt hotels in 2016. And I got the Hyatt nights credit as well. Has this changed over last 2 years that we no longer get loyalty benefits?
Yes. Earlier Citi used to book through a GDS and had direct partnerships with over 900 branded Visa network hotels. That partnership has now been restricted to 2 usages per year per cardmember and is only accessible by US cardholders. For Asia, Citi partnered with Hotels.com and continued the benefit without interruption. In US, they had to stop issuing the card.
With Asian Hotels.com partnership, it is like booking through an OTA so you don’t get points. Some hotels will still give you the other status benefits if you have one.
@Manu, I’ve used it back in the day as well. When Citi changed their concierge service from Ten to something else, all systems were realigned, and hence you now don’t get the loyalty benefits.
1+2+3 days = ~25K
4th day is 24k+
Booking 4th day separately would have saved a lot??
Throw some light
@Pradeep you have to book 4 consecutive nights to get the 25% discount. So, the only 2 combinations possible in this case were 1+2+3+4 or 3+4+5+6.
Thanks for the info.. i have a few questions though…do we get hotel night credit and/or loyalty benefits if we book using this benefit? Is there a restriction to how many times i can use it in a year? Can we book using phone say if i wanna combine with a hotel promotion(example 5th night free)?
@Vishal you don’t get any loyalty benefits, and hence you cannot combine it with a hotel promotion as well.
I took 4th night free at Taj Bekal, but I was not able to get a GST bill from the hotel or hotel.com in that case I would have got a GST credit of 28%
This is pure love for miles and points
First to comment then , & now. Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who was living under a rock. Thanks for sharing. Makes things much easier for stays that long.