Citi Expedia+ Card and Citi Expedia+ Voyager Card Review (discontinued to new applications)

Updated August 27, 2016.

The Facts
Citi Expedia+ Card
  • Annual Fee: None
  • Signup Bonus: 15,000 points after spending $1,000 within 3 months of new account opening.  Historical best bonus of this card: 15,000 points.
  • Rewards: 3x Expedia purchases, 1x everywhere else.
  • Other Benefits: (1) Complimentary Expedia +silver status, which is normally achieved by staying 7 nights or spending $5K at Expedia hotels each calendar year, offers exclusive amenities at +VIP Access hotels, 10% bonus points on all Expedia bookings, and 250 bonus points for each +VIP Access hotel stay.  (2) Accelerate to +gold status by earning 1 Elite Qualifying Hotel Night for each $2,500 spent on the card.
Citi Expedia+ Voyager Card
  • Annual Fee: $95
  • Signup Bonus: 25,000 points after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening.  Historical best bonus of this card: 25,000 points, or 20,000 points plus a $100 statement credit.​
  • Rewards: 4x Expedia purchases, 2x dining and entertainment, 1x everywhere else.  You also earn an anniversary bonus of 5,000 points when you spend at least $10,000 in the prior year.
  • Other Benefits: (1) $100 annual airline incidental credit.  (2) Complimentary Expedia +gold status, which is normally achieved by staying 15 nights or spending $10K at Expedia hotels each calender year, offers complimentary upgrades at +VIP Access hotels, 30% bonus points on all Expedia bookings, 250 bonus points for each +VIP Access hotel stay, etc.  (3) waived foreign transaction fees with an embedded EMV chip.
  • Protection: Citi Expedia+ Voyager offers the second highest level of consumer and travel protection among Citi cards.
  • Best Use of Expedia+ points: Expedia+ Rewards is the loyalty program of Expedia.com.  +VIP Access hotels are over 2,000 select hotels worldwide that offer exclusive amenities to Expedia elite members.  The value of Expedia+ points differs on how you redeem them: 0.6 cent per point for flights, 0.7 cent per point for hotels, and 1.4 cents per point for +VIP Access hotels.  Our valuation for Expedia+ points is around 1 cent a piece.
  • Other Facts: both Expedia+ cards may be offered as MasterCard, World MasterCard, or World Elite MasterCard.

The Math
Citi Expedia+ vs. Citi Expedia+ Voyager: when you make use of the $100 airline credit, you will surely come out ahead with the Voyager card, which offers 5,000 points anniversary bonus, increased rewards, and complimentary +gold status.  If you can't use the $100 airline credit, the Voyager card is still a better card if you value 5,000 bonus points and +gold status more than the $95 annual fee.

The Conclusion
Expedia+ Voyager Card is most likely a better between the two Expedia+ cards, and offers great perks for Expedia members.  However, for general spending, either card will be beaten by a 2% cashback card such as Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Visa.