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Are you looking to maximize your points? Citi ThankYou Rewards, one of the five major programs with transferable points, has added a new transfer partner.
As of Monday, The Leading Hotels of the World's Leaders Club hotel rewards program has become Citi's 18th transfer partner, allowing those with the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card (see rates and fees) and the Citi Prestige® Card to transfer their ThankYou points to Leaders Club at a 5:1 ratio. LHW has a prestigious collection of independent luxury hotels in 80 countries with properties such as the Ritz Paris, Ritz London, La Mamounia Marrakech and Le Sirenuse on Italy's Amalfi Coast.
Here's what you need to know about transferring ThankYou points to LHW.
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How to transfer Citi points to Leading Hotels
Even at a 5:1 transfer ratio, in our test searches, transferring Citi ThankYou points to LHW can sometimes be a great way to maximize your points. LHW uses dynamic pricing for its award stays, and you can check the number of points required for a night during the booking process on lhw.com. You must sign up for a free LHW account before running award searches. Once you're logged in, click "View with Points."
In most of our test searches, you'll get between 6 and 8 cents per point for LHW redemptions. That translates into between 1.2 and 1.6 cents per ThankYou point. For reference, TPG values Citi ThankYou points at 1.8 cents apiece.
You can book hotels with lower rates for under 10,000 LHW points per night. This includes luxury hotels like Halekulani, The Setai Miami Beach, The Knickerbocker and Nobu Hotel Miami Beach.
Is it worth transferring your Citi ThankYou points to Leaders Club?
That said, we'd only recommend transferring your ThankYou points for a specific redemption with at least 9 cents per point in value. Otherwise, you'd be redeeming your points below our valuation.
Still, in our tests, transferring your ThankYou points to LHW provides a better return on your points than simply redeeming them in the Citi portal at a fixed rate of 1 cent per point.
Related: The ultimate guide to Citi ThankYou Rewards
Bottom line
If you want to use your ThankYou points for a stay at a Leading Hotel, you can now transfer your points to the program at a 5:1 ratio. This will provide a better redemption than redeeming your points in the ThankYou portal at a fixed rate of 1 cent per point. For reference, Citi added Accor as a transfer partner in May.
