HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card is a premium offering from HDFC Bank. Though this card competes with HDFC Bank Regalia First Credit Card, it provides better reward rate than the latter. The Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card not only allows accelerated reward points accumulation using SmartBuy 10X program, but also allows exchange of those points with air miles of multiple airlines. Hence this card is apt for those who travel a lot and like to earn & burn Air Miles.
HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card sports a purple background with card details engraved in golden color. The card looks attractive and feels premium in hand.
Eligibility Criteria
Surprisingly the eligibility criteria for HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card is very relaxed.
- Age: 21 to 60 Years for salaried, 21 to 65 Years for self employed
- Salaried: Net Monthly Income > Rs. 30,000 per month
- Self Employed: ITR > Rs. 3.6 Lakhs per annum
HDFC Bank is generally very strict about the eligibility criteria for issuing new cards. However, the exceptions can be made based on your relationship with bank.
Fees
HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card comes with following fees:
- Joining fee: Rs. 1,000 + GST
- Renewal fee: Rs. 1,000 + GST
Renewal fee is waived off if spend in previous year is more than Rs. 1 Lakh. Also first year fee is waived off if you have a good standing relationship with HDFC Bank.
Features
HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card targets frequent flyers and hence it’s features are tailored to attract them.
Welcome & Annual Benefits
- 1,000 welcome reward points, ~ Rs. 1,000
- 1,000 renewal reward points, ~ Rs. 1,000
It’s quite evident that HDFC Bank compensates for joining and renewal fee on this card by providing bonus reward points.
Reward Points
- 1 reward point ~ Rs. 1 if redeemed for Air Miles
- 1 reward point = Rs. 0.50 if used for booking hotels and air tickets at dedicated portal
- 1 reward point = Rs. 0.20 if redeemed for cash
- 1 reward point ~ Rs. 0.20 if used for redeeming from reward catalogue
- 4 reward points per Rs. 150 spent, 2.6% reward rate for Air Mile redemption, 1.3% reward rate on booking hotels and air tickets at SmartBuy
- 10X rewards on Smartbuy (Amazon, Flipkart, Hotels & Flights)
- Monthly cap on reward points: 5000 bonus reward points on Smartbuy
- Reward points can be converted to Air Miles across British Airways Executive Club (Avios), Jet Airways (JPMiles), Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer Miles) or Club Vistara in 1:1 ratio
10X rewards, though temporary, keeps on getting extended every month. Also HDFC Bank recently imposed new restriction on flight and hotel bookings wherein HDFC Diners ClubMiles card members can redeem only upto maximum of 70% of booking value through reward points. Rest needs to be paid via Credit Card which is a bummer.
Airport Lounge Access
HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card provides complimentary access to domestic as well as international airport lounges.
- 6 complimentary access to 700+ airport lounges worldwide in a calendar year
- Lounge access is complimentary for both primary and add-on card members
Unlike other cards, you can just swipe your HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card for international lounge access. No need to carry those extra Priority Pass/ Dreamfolks DragonPass.
Concierge
24/7 Concierge Services for following requests:
- Dining Referral and Reservation Assistance
- Flower and Gift Delivery Assistance
- Car Rental and Limousine Referral and Assistance
- Hotel Referral and Reservation Assistance
- Business Services
- Courier Service Assistance
Protection
- Air Accident Cover of Rs. 1 Crore
- Emergency Medical Expenses Cover of up to Rs. 25 Lakhs
- Credit Liability Cover of up to Rs. 9 Lakhs
- Travel Insurance Cover of up to Rs. 50,000 on baggage delay (Capped to $10 per hour restricted to 8 hours)
Other benefits
- Low Foreign Currency Markup of 3% + GST
- 1% cashback on international transactions using Global Value Program (annual fee of Rs. 199)
- 15% discount at partner restaurants
Drawbacks
Though HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card is a very good entry level card for Air Mile enthusiasts, it suffers from some drawback too.
- No milestone benefits: The milestone benefits have been omitted from this card which is quite sad. Introduction of milestone benefits would make this card even more attractive and encourage people to spend more.
- Restriction on reward point redemption for flights and hotels: The recently imposed restriction on flight and hotel bookings wherein HDFC Diners ClubMiles card members can redeem only upto maximum of 70% of booking value through reward points is a bummer. I don’t understand the strategy behind imposing this restriction and it doesn’t makes any sense to me.
- International acceptance: Both Diners Club and RuPay utilize Discover network for payment processing. In recent times, NPCI has been pushing really hard for increasing the acceptance of RuPay in India. This has lead to increase in acceptance of Diners Club Cards too. However, the acceptance of Diners Club Cards is not so great outside India. You always need to carry a backup Visa/MasterCard which is troublesome.
Verdict
The potential to earn 26% reward rate in form of Air Miles using 10X Program makes this card really desirable. Low foreign currency markup of 1.99% and access to international airport lounges indeed makes this card really exciting. However recently imposed restriction on reward point redemption for flights and hotels is a significant set back.
I would suggest this card to those who are not able to get hold of super premium credit cards and are stuck with entry level cards like HDFC Money Back, Diners Rewardz etc. This card not only has better reward rate than these, but also moves them a step closer to the super premium cards like HDFC Diners Club Black.
Would you recommend HDFC Diners Club ClubMiles Credit Card to others? Let me know in comments below.
