- A heavy, metal design has become almost a must for high-end credit cards, from the Chase Sapphire Reserve to the American Express® Gold Card.
- The Citi Prestige Card had a metal design before, but it's been updated to be even heavier: 18 grams, up from approximately 12 grams.
- The card's benefits, like a fourth night free on paid hotel stays, won't be changing, but it's clear that the metal credit card trend isn't going away anytime soon.
The Citi Prestige Card is getting a design upgrade. The highest-end personal credit card from Citi is already made out of metal alloy, but it will now get considerably heavier: 18 grams, up from about 12 (according to websites like The Points Guy that have weighed the most popular premium rewards cards). The Amex Gold, in comparison, weighs just under 15 grams, while the Platinum Card® from American Express is one of the heaviest cards at 18.6 grams.
If you apply for the Citi Prestige card going forward, you'll get the new, heavier design in the mail when you're approved for an account. If you're already a Citi Prestige card holder, you'll get the new design when your current card expires.
4th Night Free and other benefits aren't changing
The heavier metal card design is the only change in store for the Prestige card at this time - even the card's design isn't changing beyond getting heavier. Other benefits, like 5 points per dollar on air travel and restaurants and a fourth night free on paid hotel stays booked through ThankYou.com, are staying. The card continues to offer a sign-up bonus of 50,000 Citi points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months, and those 50,000 points are worth $850 based on The Points Guy's subjective valuations.
The Prestige got an update on the benefits side in early 2019, adding the 5x bonus categories and cell phone protection as well as introducing some limitations to its 4th Night Free benefit (the cap of two bookings per year is new - you used to be able to book unlimited 4th Night Free stays but that will change in September). The annual fee also increased from $450 to $495.
Metal credit cards have reached peak popularity
It's a phenomenon we can probably attribute to one of the first ultra-popular rewards credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: Over the last few years, we've seen credit card issuers eschew plastic in favor of metal for their card designs. By Credit Card Insider's count, there are more than 20 metal credit cards currently available, from the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card with no annual fee to the Amex Centurion card that's invite-only and comes with a $2,500 annual fee.
And heavy designs aren't all card issuers are experimenting with; Amex took things a step further by offering a limited-edition rose-gold version of its Amex Gold card in late 2018, and it was so popular that the issuer had trouble keeping up with demand. Amex even brought back the rose-gold edition of the Gold card for a limited time recently to coincide with an update to the card's benefits.
A unique design is a plus, but benefits are what keep card holders happy
Offering a unique design is a smart attempt to stand out in a sea of competitive card offers, especially for credit cards that charge considerable annual fees. But while a card that looks great in your wallet and feels satisfyingly hefty in your hands is intriguing, actual benefits like points-earning rates, annual statement credits, and purchase protection probably go a longer way in keeping card holders happy, and willing to pay the annual fees.
For example, while I recently did a personal credit card inventory and decided to close or downgrade a few cards, I continue to hold the Citi Prestige thanks to the 4th Night Free benefit, which easily gets me more than $500 in value from a single hotel booking. And the rose-gold Amex Gold isn't just sitting pretty in my wallet; I use it to earn 4 points per dollar at restaurants and get up to $10 toward Seamless and GrubHub each month.
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