Comparison between American Express Platinum Card & Citi Prestige Credit Card

American Express Platinum Card and Citi Prestige Credit Card are two super-premium credit cards offered in the Indian credit card market by American Express and Citibank respectively. So, in this post, we discussed American Express platinum vs Citi prestige credit cards. Simply read on.

Being premium credit cards, both American Express Platinum Credit Card and Citi Prestige Credit Card, apart from an attractive reward rate, also offer many add-on benefits like complimentary airport lounge access, complimentary membership of premium hotel loyalty programs, complimentary stay vouchers from luxurious hotels, and many more.

Both these cards come with a hefty membership fee- while American Express Platinum Credit Card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 60,000 per annum (plus GST), which is one of the highest in the Indian credit card market, you have to pay Rs. Rs. 20,000 annually for Citibank Prestige Credit Card membership.

As both AmEx Platinum Card and Citibank Prestige Credit Card offer very similar benefits, in this article we will be comparing the two cards in terms of reward rate, add-on benefits and annual fees. Before we give you a pointwise comparison between the two cards, it is better to first list out the key features of both cards.

American Express Platinum Card

As mentioned earlier, the Platinum Card by American Express is a super-premium credit card by the card issuer. With an annual fee of Rs. 60,000, it is one of the credit cards with the highest membership fee in the Indian credit card market. Some of the key features of the American Express Platinum Credit Card are as under-

• It is a Charge Card, i.e., it does not come with a predefined credit limit- the credit limit varies based on the spending behavior of the customer.
• You get 1,00,000 Membership Rewards Points and gift vouchers worth Rs. 45,000 from Taj, SeleQtions, and Vivanta Hotels as a welcome benefit on joining the card membership.
• You earn 1 Membership Rewards Point per Rs. 40 spent with the card except on fuel, utility and insurance transactions.
• You earn up to 5 Membership Rewards Points per Rs. 100 spent on fuel.
• The card earns you 3X Membership Rewards Points on all spends abroad and 5X Membership Rewards Points via Reward Multiplier.
• You also get unlimited domestic airport lounge access and international lounge access at over 1,200 airport lounges including Centurion Lounges, American Express Lounges, Priority Pass Lounges, Escape Lounges, Delta Sky Club Lounges.
• The card also entitles you to an up to 50% discount at over 1,800 premium restaurants in India and complimentary membership of the EazyDiner Prime.
• You also get a global 24×7 concierge service for assistance regarding hotel/flight booking.
• As an American Express Platinum cardholder, you get a complimentary upgrade to a higher tier of leading hotel loyalty programs including Taj InnerCircle Silver Tier, Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards, Radisson Rewards Gold Status, and Hilton Honors Gold Status.
• You can also avail of a discount of up to 25% at Taj, Vivanta and SleQtions hotels and many other complimentary benefits worth Rs. 37,000 at 5-star hotels including guaranteed 4 PM late check-out, room upgrades at check-in (if available), daily breakfast for two, WiFi, or a special amenity at each property worth USD 100.
• You also get pre or post-departure fine dining up to USD 100 per person on overnight Platinum Luxury Rail Journeys in Europe with your American Express Platinum Credit Card.
• You are also entitled to a comprehensive insurance cover including insurance against personal air accidents (worth Rs. 5 crores), loss of check-in baggage, passport, or other documents (worth Rs. 50,000), overseas medical expenditure (worth USD 50,000) and wallet protection (worth Rs. 15 lacs).
• Apart from the insurance benefits, you also get an emergency hotel and travel assistance worth Rs. 2 lacs with your American Express Platinum Card.
• The card also entitles you to complimentary access to over 30 golf courses in India and 50+ golf courses worldwide every year.

Citi Prestige Credit Card

The Citi Prestige Credit Card is also a super-premium credit card by Citibank. The card comes with a membership fee of Rs. 20,000 per annum and being a premium credit card, just like the American Express Platinum Card, also offers a plethora of additional benefits like complimentary airport lounge access, insurance benefits, concierge service, and many more. Some of the salient features of the Citi Prestige Credit Card are-

• 2,500 Bonus Reward Points and vouchers worth Rs. 10,000 from Taj Group or ITC Hotels at the time of joining the card membership as a welcome benefit.
• You earn 1 Reward Point per Rs. 100 on domestic spends and 2 Reward Points per Rs. 100 on international spends with the Citi Prestige Credit Card.
• The Reward Points earned on the Citi Prestige Credit Card can be redeemed for adjustment against cashback, partner airlines’ AirMiles, hotel loyalty programs and Citibank’s catalog of products and vouchers (1 Reward Point = Re. 1 or services worth Re.1).
• Citi Prestige Credit Card also entitles you to a complimentary Priority Pass membership and unlimited complimentary lounge access at domestic and international airports across the world.
• You get a 3 + 1 complimentary night stay at any hotel around the world with Citi Prestige Credit Card on making the hotel booking using the card’s concierge service.
• You get 4 complimentary rounds of golf annually at over 15 premium golf destinations across the country.
• The card also entitles you to a comprehensive insurance cover including a cover against accidental death in an air accident (worth Rs. 5 crores), overseas medical insurance cover (worth Rs. 10 lacs) and a lost card liability cover (worth USD 50,000).

Quick Comparision

The following table gives a quick comparison between the American Express Platinum Credit Card and the Citi Prestige Credit Card-

The Verdict

As you can see, both American Express Platinum and Citi Prestige Credit Cards, being two of the top-end credit cards in the Indian credit card market with hefty membership fees, offer some of the best in class privileges like unlimited complimentary lounge access at both domestic as well as international airports, complimentary vouchers from 5-star hotel chains, comprehensive insurance cover, and many other add-on benefits.

However, as American Express Platinum Credit Card comes with a much higher membership fee of Rs. 60,000 per annum, it also offers many extra privileges like complimentary vouchers and discounted rates at Taj, Vivanta and SeleQtion hotels.

Also check: American Express Platinum Travel Vs Citibank PremierMiles Credit Card