HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card is one of the best credit cards in India today. With 3.3% of default reward rate and 33% of accelerated reward rate using 10X program, Diners Club Black beats any other card in the market.
Starting 1st November 2019, HDFC Bank has introduced new benefits on Diners Club Black Credit Card making it even better. New benefits include memberships to Club Marriott, Zomato Gold, Amazon Prime, MakeMyTrip Double Black, Times Prime etc. Apart from memberships, new annual and monthly benefits have also been introduced. Let’s delve into details about all new changes introduced by HDFC Bank in this article.
- Design
- Annual Memberships
- Annual Benefits
- Monthly Benefits
- Dining Benefits
- Lounge Access
- Wellness Benefits
- Bottomline
Design
First and foremost, HDFC Bank has refreshed the design of the card with a prominent marking of “Black” at the front. The new design is aesthetically pleasing to eyes and overall adds to the premium look of the card.
Also HDFC Bank has enabled contactless payments on this card which was not available earlier. This certainly adds to the convenience in paying for transactions less than Rs. 2,000.
Annual Memberships
Following new memberships have been introduced with HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card:
- Club Marriott
- Forbes Digital subscription
- Zomato Gold
- Amazon Prime
- MakeMyTrip Double Black
- Times Prime
Above annual memberships are part of welcome benefits and can be availed upon completing the first transaction within the first 90 days from card open date for cards issued from 1st November 2019.
Existing HDFC Bank Diners Club Black customers can avail complimentary annual membership benefits by:
- Achieving annual spend milestone of Rs. 8 Lakhs at the time of card anniversary on their existing Diners Black card
or they can avail the complimentary annual membership benefits immediately by:
- Upgrading to a new HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card with joining/renewal fees of Rs. 5000/-. The upgrade can be done via NetBanking or PhoneBanking after 1st December 2019.
- Upon achieving a spend milestone of Rs. 2.50 Lakhs in the period Aug 2019 to Oct 2019 or Nov 2019 to Jan 2020. The card will be eligible for new Diners Club Black upgrade after 1st December 2019 under current pricing of existing card.
Annual Benefits
Complimentary annual memberships from the above partners are provided to card members who achieve an annual spend milestone of Rs. 8 Lakhs at the time of Card Anniversary. Customers eligible for annual membership benefits will be communicated on HDFC Bank registered Mobile Number via SMS and Email ID within 30 days from the date of card anniversary.
Card members will continue to get renewal fee waiver on achieving a spend of Rs. 5 Lakhs in a year. However complimentary membership would be provided only after spending Rs. 8 Lakhs in a year.
Monthly Benefits
Card members can select two of following vouchers on achieving a monthly spend of Rs. 80,000:
- Ola Select membership
- BookMyShow voucher worth Rs. 500
- TataCLiQ voucher worth Rs. 500
Customers eligible for Monthly Milestone benefit will be communicated on HDFC bank registered Mobile Number via SMS and Email ID within the following month with instruction on how to avail it.
That’s additional 1.25% reward rate in addition to 3.3% regular reward rate making overall reward rate of 4.55% which is simply amazing. This reward rate is even better than HDFC Bank’s most premium card, HDFC Bank Infinia Credit Card.
Dining Benefits
- 2X rewards on weekend dining
- Minimum transaction: Rs. 150
- Maxcap on weekend dining reward points: 2,000
This an awesome benefit and pushes the reward rate to 6.6% similar to Infinia. However availability of 2X rewards only on weekends and maxcap of 2,000 is little disappointing.
Thanks Chintan for providing the detailed T&C.
Lounge Access
- Unlimited domestic and international airport lounge access for both, primary and add-on, card members
Earlier the lounge access was available only for primary card member, but with this update, HDFC Bank has extended the benefit to add-on card members too which is a good news.
Wellness Benefits
- Exclusive discounts at Spa, Salon, Gym, Resorts etc.
| Category | Partners |
|---|---|
| Spa/Salon | Tattva Spa, Enrich Salons & Academy, VLCC, O2 Spa, Four Fountains De-Stress Spa, Jean Claude Biguine |
| Spa Resort | RedEarth Kabini, Tree of Life, Kairali- The Ayurvedic Healing Village, Shreyas Retreat Bangalore, Neemrana Fort Palace Rajastan, Tijara Fort Palace Rajastan, NaturOville Vedic Retreat Rishikesh |
| Fitness | Cult.fit, Anytime Fitness, Kris Gethin, Golds Gym |
| Nutrition | Calorie Care, Gympik, Healthie, Grow Fit |
| Doctor Consultation | DocsApp |
The discount and benefits varies across partners and more information can be found at official website.
Bottomline
The is a fantastic move by HDFC Bank and the new offerings make Diners Club Black Credit Card even better. The monthly milestone benefits pushes the reward rate even higher.
However, one thing is clear, HDFC Bank is trying to convert all existing life time free card members to paid ones. Also there is no mention of 5,000 reward points one used to get on renewal. If this omission is not by mistake, then basically you are paying for those yearly memberships in form of annual fee for card. However, before jumping the gun, let’s wait for more clarity and communication from HDFC Bank.
Let me know your views on these additional benefits on HDFC Bank Diners Club Black Credit Card in comments below.
