HSBC India has been actively expanding its presence by launching new credit cards, refreshing existing ones, and opening new branches nationwide. In line with this momentum, HSBC has introduced the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card, a travel-focused offering designed for frequent travelers.
The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card allows cardholders to seamlessly transfer reward points to various hotel and airline loyalty programs instantly. Here’s everything you need to know about the newly launched HSBC TravelOne Credit Card.
Overview
| Type | Travel Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | 2% to 7.2% |
| Forex Markup Fee | 3.5%+GST |
| Best for | OTA Travel Spends |
| USP | Uncapped redemption |
HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is best suited for travellers with focus on airmiles and hotel loyalty programs, primarily Accor.
Fees
| Joining Fee | 4,999+GST |
| Welcome Benefit | 3,000 Points (after spending 1L in 90 days) |
| Renewal / Annual Fee | 4,999+GST |
| Renewal Benefit | – |
| Renewal Fee waiver | 8L INR annual spend |
The welcome benefit of 3K points does not cover the joining fee unless you redeem it for Accor, which is quite unfair!
However, if you’re interested in downloading the HSBC mobile app and spend 10K INR in first 30 days of opening credit card, one can also get below:
- 1,000 INR cashback
- 3,000 INR postcard voucher
- 3 months Eazydiner Prime Membership
Note that this is not a standard offering but an “introductory offer”. Except for the decent cash-back, rest are irrelevant for the card and only makes it look unnecessary.
Design
The global design of the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card looks decent, but the true appeal will depend on the production quality and finish in India. Only then can we judge how it holds up in reality.
Interestingly, the Mastercard logo resembles the one typically seen on Mastercard Elite cards, yet the card is on the Mastercard World platform.
Rewards
| SPEND TYPE | Reward Points | REWARD RATE (Points/Miles) | REWARD RATE (Accor) | MAX. CAP (PER MONTH) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Spends | 2 / 100 INR | ~2% | ~3.6% | – |
| Airlines, Travel aggregators & Forex Spends | 4 / 100 INR | ~4% | ~7.2% | 50K Points (12.5L spend) |
A key differentiator between the Axis Atlas and HSBC TravelOne cards is that HSBC awards points on spends made through travel aggregators like MMT, Cleartrip, and others. This is particularly beneficial for hotel bookings, as one can double-dip with other offers.
Excluded spends for rewards:
- Utilities (4900), insurance (6300, 5960), jewellery (5944, 5094)
- Education and government (9399, 8299, 8220, 8211, 8241, 8244, 8249, 9222, 9402, 9211, 9405), tax payments (9311), real estate agent and managers (6513), bail and bond payments (9223)
- Financial institutions (6010-6012), non-financial institutions (6051), money transfers (4829), e-wallets (6540)
- Fuel (5541, 5983, 5172, 5542, 5552)
The exclusions are even more compared to Axis Bank’s list and excluding Utilities/insurance/jewellery is quite unfair.
I wish banks put a cap on these categories instead of just ignoring them altogether, speaking of which, it’s done beautifully on ICICI Emeralde Private Credit Card. It will be nice if more banks follow this, so that non-abusers are unaffected.
Milestone Benefit
| SPEND REQUIREMENT | MILESTONE BENEFIT | Reward Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Lakhs | 10,000 Points | 0.8% |
The milestone benefit enhances the base reward rate of the card from 2% to 2.8% (or 5% for Accor), which looks quite lucrative.
However, I wish they had introduced multiple milestones – perhaps an additional milestone at 6L spend. A single milestone feels limiting, almost like flying to Europe only to visit one country. Where’s the adventure in that?
Redemption
- Transfer points to airline/hotel partners (most at 1:1)
- Partners list: Airline & Hotel partners (below)
- Points transfer duration: Instant or 1 day for most partners
It’s good to see long list of partners. That said, as you might know, Accor is the only partner that straight away gives good value.
While there are no cap on redemptions at the moment, chances are it might show up anytime.
It looks like HSBC has come up with a superior points transfer system for HSBC TravelOne Credit Card unlike the existing age-old form filling system which takes over a week to process.
I wish that the bank brings this facility to HSBC Premier Credit Card as well, perhaps they would, because they were saying that HSBC Premier has “20+ partners” post the HSBC card re-fresh, which is not true in reality so far.
Lounge Access
| ACCESS TYPE | VIA | LIMIT |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Mastercard | 6 / Year |
| International | Lounge Key | 4 / Year |
While it doesn’t come with guest access, the good thing is that there is no spend requirement for the lounge access, which makes sense for a 5K fee card.
Forex Markup Fee
- Foreign Currency Markup Fee: 3.5%+GST = ~4.13%
- Net Return: Rewards – Markup Fee = 4% – 4.13% = – 0.13%
While forex spends offers higher reward rate, the net return is in negative because of the higher forex markup fee.
For a travel card, it would been better if the markup fee was lower, in the range of 2% which would make sense with the accelerated rewards.
Features & Benefits
- 15% off at Yatra, Cleartrip, EaseMyTrip & Paytm
- 10% off on Zomato
- Buy 1 Get 1 on movies (200 INR off) on District App.
- 20% off on duty-free via the AdaniOne app or website
- Golf benefit via Mastercard Golf Program
- USD 20,000 purchase protection every year.
Should you get it?
Well, it depends on a couple of factors.
- If your spends are under 15 Lakhs, chances are Axis Atlas Credit Card is a better choice with 50% more rewards as that of HSBC TravelOne Card.
- If your spends are higher than 15 Lakhs and don’t prefer to get multiple Axis Atlas or Axis Magnus in family, then perhaps HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is a good option.
- If you wish not to go beyond HSBC, spends are higher and don’t prefer to get into expensive cards or perhaps not eligible for them, then HSBC TravelOne card is a decent option.
So if you look at the above, it’s obvious that the target segment is super small as long as the potential cardholder is aware of Axis Atlas Credit Card & AMEX Platinum Travel Credit Card, as both offer superior return on spend compared to HSBC TravelOne Credit Card.
However, do note that Axis might Axe the Atlas into half, anyday. So HSBC TravelOne might shine by then, but not now.
Bottomline
HSBC TravelOne Credit Card in India is a decently rewarding card in the segment but it’s aggressive competition doesn’t make it feel like one.
It looks like the card has been carefully designed with Axis Atlas in mind but that doesn’t help because it couldn’t better the Atlas.
A better welcome benefit, an additional milestone, a better forex markup and better handling of exclusions/special categories would have made the card a super hit. But as that didn’t happen, let’s hope HDFC Bank brings one of that kind.
What’s your thoughts on the newly launched HSBC TravelOne Credit Card? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.