HSBC TravelOne credit card is the new entrant in the Indian airlines/hotel loyalty credit card space. More and more card issuers are launching credit cards focusing on airmiles and hotel loyalty transfer partners. Let’s see the features of the HSBC TravelOne credit card and how the card stacks up against the existing options.
HSBC TravelOne Credit Card
Features
Annual Fees: Joining/Annual fee of 4999+GST. The fee is waived on yearly spending of 8 lakhs.
Rewards and Benefits:
Welcome/Annual Benefits
- The below welcome benefits are only available if you apply for the HSBC TravelOne credit through the HSBC mobile app
- Spend 10k in the first 30 days you get INR1000 cashback, INR3000 voucher of Postcard Hotel and 3-month EazyDiner Prime membership.
- You get 3000 bonus reward points on spending 1 lakh in 90 days. This welcome offer is available for everyone.
Reward Points
- Regular reward points (2% reward rate): 2 reward points for every 100 spent.
- Accelerated reward points (4% reward rate): 4 reward points for every 100 spent on flights, travel aggregators and foreign spends. Accelerated reward points are capped at 50k points per month. You earn a base reward rate after that.
- Milestone Rewards (0.8% reward rate): 10000 reward points on spending 12 lakhs in a year.
- You can transfer reward points in a 1:1 ratio to 20+ airlines/hotel loyalty programs.
- Exclusions: Long list of exclusions, education and government, e-wallets, financial institutions, fuel, insurance, jewellery, money transfers, real estate agents and managers, tax payments, utilities.
Other Offers
- Lounge Access: 6 domestic lounge and 4 international lounge visits free.
- 15% off on bookings through Yatra, EaseMyTrip, PayTM Travel and ClearTrip; 11% off on StayVista; 20% off on Duty-Free
- 10% off on Zomato
- Buy One Get One on movie tickets on the District app from Zomato, twice a month capped at 200 per ticket.
Thoughts on the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card
Positives of the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card
Base reward rate of 2% and accelerated reward rate of 4%
The HSBC TravelOne credit card offers a healthy base reward rate of 2% on most spends and a 4% reward rate on accelerated categories.
Further, the 4% reward rate applies to spending on travel aggregators such as MMT, Yatra, GoIbibo, Booking.com etc. This is where HSBC TravelOne’s credit card scores above the Axis Atlas(Apply Now). You get a 4% reward rate with HSBC TravelOne against 2% with Axis Atlas. However, given the transfer ratio, you get the same miles with both cards. SBI Miles(Apply Now) also gives accelerated reward points for spending on travel aggregators, but the reward rate is lower than HSBC TravelOne credit card
Good list of transfer partners
HSBC TravelOne credit card offers the option to transfer points to over 20 airlines/hotel loyalty programs. The USP here is that HSBC offers instant transfer or at max transfer within 24 hours. This could be of great help when you are running short of a few miles and need them instantly.
Below is the list of transfer partners and the conversion ratio
Reward point calculations are in the customer’s favour
The reward point calculations are immensely in the customer’s favour. This is how the HSBC calculations work, 1 reward point is awarded for every qualifying transaction of INR50 spent. In case the purchase amount is not in multiples of INR50, the balance amount will be carried forward and added up with the next transaction for awarding of points. When a purchase transaction is refunded or reversed the rewards posted to the card account will be reversed.
Below is the illustration from the bank’s website (link here)
Negatives of the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card
A long list of exclusions
HSBC TravelOne credit card has a long list of exclusions, already mentioned above. What’s surprising is that even common spending categories such as utilities, and insurance are excluded. The bank could have set a monthly cap on spending or points on these categories like HDFC Bank, but a blanket exclusion is not in good taste.
Only one milestone at 12 lakh spend
The HSBC TravelOne credit card has only one milestone at 12 lakhs spent in a year. You get 10k reward points on spending 12 lakhs in a year, translating into a mediocre 0.8% reward rate. HSBC should have offered multiple milestones here say 5lk, 10lk and 15lk to make the product more attractive. Even Axis Atlas has multiple milestones that make the product proposition quite attractive.
Should I get this card?
The answer is a bit tricky here. The positives of the HSBC TravelOne credit card are a decent reward rate, an accelerated reward rate on travel aggregators and forex spends, and 20+ transfer partners. Negatives are that airmiles/hotel loyalty conversion is poorer than Axis Atlas, the exclusion list is longer than Axis Atlas and only one milestone benefit.
However, there can be case made for HSBC TravelOne for the users who can spend 15 lakhs on Axis Atlas and able to max out the Amex Trifecta cards but still have large spends left. They can think of applying for the HSBC TravelOne credit card. Not sure how big this population is.
Further, a section of users fed up with the Axis circus of blocking reward points on its whims and fancies, reversing reward points on transactions done ages back etc. can also evaluate the HSBC TravelOne credit card.
Also, given that HSBC only services limited cities in our country and generally has tight underwriting practices, the product feature should last longer than other credit card products.
As for me, I am not applying for this one yet and sticking to my strategy for 2025, which is to juice out my HDFC Diners Black Metal(Apply Now), Axis Atlas(Apply Now) and the Amex Trifecta(Apply Now) right now.
So, are you applying the HSBC TravelOne credit card? What’s your view about this card? Do share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Image courtesy: HSBC India The article was published/updated on 23rd Feb 2025.
Disclaimer
In the interest of full disclosure, Credit Cardz may earn a referral bonus for anyone that’s approved through some of the links in this post. However, opinions and views expressed here are of the author's alone and not those of the bank, credit card issuer, or anyone else and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
