SBICard recently introduced a miles-focused credit card lineup to tap into the growing demand among frequent travellers, driven by the Axis Magnus effect. Among the three variants, the top-tier offering is the SBI Miles Elite Credit Card.
Here’s everything you need to know about SBICard’s first range of credit cards that allow point transfers to a wide network of airline and hotel partners.
Overview
| Type | Travel Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | 1% to 4.7% |
| Forex Markup Fee | 1.99%+GST |
| Best for | Travel spends |
| USP | Lounge access based on spends |
To apply, You’ll need to open the link on desktop (not mobile), click on “start apply journey” and click on “change card” and choose “SBI Card Miles Elite”.
Fees
| Joining Fee | 4,999 INR+GST |
| Welcome Benefit | 5,000 Travel Credits (on 1L spend in 60 days) |
| Renewal Fee | 4,999 INR+GST |
| Renewal Benefit | – |
| Renewal Fee waiver | Spend 15L INR |
Asking cardholders to spend ₹1L in just 60 days for a ₹5K fee card feels quite high for the segment, especially considering the fact that it takes over a week to receive the card in hand.
Even after meeting the spend requirement, the welcome benefit barely justifies the ₹5,900 joining fee.
It would be more reasonable if SBI offered 6,000 Travel Credits instead of 5,000 to make the signup more appealing.
Design
While there is nothing much to complain or praise, I think the colours could be little more vibrant even with the existing design, as it looks bit dull both indoors and outdoors.
Rewards
| SPEND TYPE | EDGE MILES | REWARD RATE (Miles at 1:1) |
|---|---|---|
| Regular Spends | 2 / 200 INR | 1% |
| Travel Spends | 6 / 200 INR | 3% |
A 1% reward rate on regular spends is extremely underwhelming, especially when the competing Axis Bank Atlas Credit Card offers 4% returns, even higher with select redemptions like Accor, which is not the case with SBI Miles Elite Credit Card.
However, the reward rate on travel spends is relatively decent. Not only that, it also covers wide variety of MCC’s used for travel, including OTA’s, Tolls and public transports like taxis.
Exclusions for rewards:
- Utility, Insurance, Education
- Rent, Wallet, EMI
Redemption
There are multiple options to redeem these points, as below:
- 1 Travel Credit = Upto 1 for Air Mile / Hotel Point (partners list)
- 1 Travel Credit = ₹0.50 for Travel Bookings
- 1 Travel Credit = ₹0.25 for Shop & Smile Product Catalogue
Redeeming for airline/hotel partners is the only way to get a decent value, other options give extremely poor value. Not to mention that not all redemption partners are at 1:1 ratio.
Speaking of redemption partners, the list is quite good but the transfer ratio is quite poor with most of the partners.
Some worthy & popular partners with good transfer ratio are as below:
- Airlines: Air Canada, Air France-KLM, Cathay Pacific, British Airways (all at 1:1)
- Hotels: Accor (2:1), Shangri La (6:1)
The SBI Miles Elite Credit Card offers a solid list of hotel partners. However, the conversion ratios for points could be improved to make it more competitive.
That said, it’s good to see that SBI Miles Elite Credit Card is part of the recent 10% Bonus miles Promo on Cathay Pacific. So if more such transfer offers kicks in, the card might get some traction.
Milestone Benefit
| SPEND REQUIREMENT | MILESTONE BENEFIT | Reward Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Lakhs | 20,000 Travel Credits | ~1.7% |
Milestone benefit on SBI Miles Elite Credit Card is certainly pretty good as you get almost 1.7% return on 12L spend.
So the effective reward rate on 12L spend is 2.7% on regular spends or 4.7% on travel spends which looks good.
But a single milestone feels limiting, almost like flying all the way to Europe only to visit one country. Where’s the adventure in that?
Lounge Access
| MEMBERSHIP TIER | Primary | Primary + Guests (Spend based) |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | 2/Qtr | Upto 15 |
| International | 2/Qtr | – |
- Get 1 extra domestic lounge access vouchers for each 1L spend, upto 15
- A Voucher Code will be sent via SMS and E-Mail within 120 days of customer becoming eligible. To redeem, customer needs to apply the Voucher and update travel details on Lounge Key.
The international airport lounge access limited to 2 per quarter is inferior for a 5K fee card. I wish more cards comes with no quarterly limit, like HDFC Regalia Gold.
While the spend linked lounge access vouchers are new and noteworthy, it makes no sense to wait for 4 months to use it, hence making it practically useless for most cardholders.
And not to mention, the given link to redeem those lounge vouchers doesn’t work for many months now.
Features and Benefits
- Loss of check-in baggage up to ₹ 72,000
- Delay of check-in baggage ₹ 7,500
- Loss of travel documents up to ₹12,500
- Baggage damage cover up to ₹5,000
Hands on Experience
I applied for the SBI Miles Elite Credit Card few months ago to experience the card and to see some fresh design after a long time.
The 5,000 Travel Credits arrived within a few weeks of completing the ₹1L spend. However, the points transfer portal was initially buggy, requiring a day to function properly.
Once fixed, I transferred points to Accor, and the points reflected within two days—similar to how Axis Bank processes transfers.
Should you Apply?
I took the SBI Miles Elite Credit Card assuming that there would be some backup card to earn Aeroplan/Accor points beyond the cap on Axis Magnus Burgundy.
But now that HSBC TravelOne card is there to serve that purpose with better benefits, I think SBI Miles Elite doesn’t do any justice going forward.
But if you find HSBC Cards limited by serviceable areas or if you’re interested in the milestone benefit to earn rewards on wide range of categories, SBI Miles Elite Card may come handy.
To apply, You’ll need to open the link on desktop (not mobile), click on “start apply journey” and click on “change card” and choose “SBI Card Miles Elite”.
Bottomline
SBI Miles Elite Credit Card, the first miles-focused offering from SBICard fails to stand out for most cardholders in this segment unless they’ve already maxed out rewards on the more lucrative Axis Atlas Credit Card.
As a result, it remains rarely seen in circulation and is likely to stay that way unless SBICard enhances its value proposition or Axis Atlas undergoes devaluation.