Costco VISA Travel and Rick Steves

It does for my VISA card ( not Citibank/Costco) so I can’t see why it wouldn’t .

It doesn't matter whose Visa card you are using - the "Costco" Visa card issued by Citi, or any other Visa-branded credit card. It should use whatever the merchant code is set to (by the merchant) for Visa transactions.

So, it should be the same as anyone else has ever seen when charging a Rick Steves tour on their Visa card.

Note that the merchant codes used by Visa, Mastercard and Amex may not be consistent across the different types of credit cards. And it's quite possible that different parts of Rick Steves' business may code differently if the business is segmented (eg, if you buy a guidebook or travel accessory, that might code differently than if you charge a tour).

Someone who has paid for a Rick Steves tour recently with a Visa card (any Visa card) can easily check their bank statement to see how it's listed (I do not have any such charges to check).

I think the point of the OP's question is that the Costco Visa has different reward levels for different types of purchases. RS has a discount for cash payments ( or is it a surcharge for credit?) , but if the MCC is "Travel" the reward level offsets the difference RS has between 'cash' and 'charge' payments.

RS offers a discount for cash. However, a 3% cash back or a direct travel credit can be higher than RS cash discount.

I have charged 4 different tours to my VISA over the years and it has always been considered “travel” by my credit card company.

Thank you, Carol
That is what I was looking for. Rick Steves offers a 2% discount for paying in cash, but the Costco VISA offers a 3% rebate for "travel." I didn't know whether a Rick Steves tour would qualify.

My tour payment last month on Chase VISA posted as “travel” and a purchase from his web store ( purse) posted as “shopping”

One other thing to consider is our VISA offers many travel protection items if you pay for your travel with the card. That can help if you run into delays etc.

Thank you all, this is so much more helpful than Customer Service at Citi for Costco!

Can’t speak to RS, but rental cars show up in the rental car category and airfare shows up as Air Travel. My Citi Costco statements don’t show a generic “travel” category. The categories seemed to be more specific.

I don't have a Citi Costco card, but FWIW, my recent tour payment on my Capitol One Quicksilver cash back Visa is listed as the category "other travel" as billed by Rick Steves Tours.