Mandarin Oriental Gift Cards Now Available With Citi ThankYou Points

I previously wrote about paying for hotels and incidentals with Citi ThankYou points by redeeming them for lodging certificates. The Citi ThankYou Rewards portal makes gift cards available for certain hotel chains and you can redeem your points at once cent each (that is, 10,000 points = $100).

New Mandarin Oriental Gift Cards

Citi ThankYou has recently added a new set of hotel gift cards to its Lodging Certificates availability: Mandarin Oriental Gift Cards. Right now, they come in denominations of $250 (for 25,000 points) or $100 (10,000 points). I’ve personally never stayed at a Mandarin Oriental, but it’s a very nice chain. The number of hotels is relatively small, with a majority in Asia, and a handful in Europe and the US. You can check out their locations in their nice little Mandarin Oriental Locations Map.

Mandarin Oriental properties tend to be quite expensive so it would still take quite a large number of points for a stay. However, what I like about these gift cards is that they’re not limited to just hotel stays. You can use them for restaurants, spas or drinks at their properties even if not staying there. We ordered a $100 gift card to go have some nice drinks at the Mandarin Oriental at Columbus Circle in NYC!

Just keep in mind they can’t give change so it’s best to order a smaller denomination $100 gift card than a larger denomination $250 one if you’re just going for drinks, restaurant or spa.

Using Citi ThankYou Points

I’ve been redeeming many of my Citi ThankYou points for Hyatt lodging certificates and using them to settle the hotel bills that include the stays, restaurant dining and even incidentals. In Hawaii last December, we used Hyatt certificates to pay for dinner at Morimoto at the Andaz Maui at Wailea and for dinner and kayak tours booked through the hotel at the Grand Hyatt Kauai.

Hyatt certificates have generally been available when I’ve needed them. However, the Marriott and Ritz Carlton certificates previously available through the portal seem to have disappeared months ago. That said, I really have no knowledge of how long Mandarin Oriental gift cards will be around. They may be a new fixture or they may disappear tomorrow.

Another thing to keep in mind is that this may not be the best use of Citi ThankYou points. Those with the Citi ThankYou Premier card can redeem points for flights at 1.25 cents each and those with the Citi ThankYou Prestige card can redeem points at 1.33 cents each for flights or 1.6 cents each for American Airlines and US Airways flights. I personally have plenty of Citi ThankYou points right now so I love new opportunities to use them!