Get 20,000 Bonus Miles with New HSBC TravelOne Credit Card - Instant Point Transfers to 12 Airline and Hotel Partners (More to Come!)

HSBC has a new general spend credit card for the Singapore market and it comes with 20,000 bonus points (awarded in the form of 50,000 HSBC Reward points) in the first year when you pay the annual fee, charge at least S$800 in qualifying transactions, and also provide consent to receive marketing and promotional materials from HSBC. The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is a fantastic general spend credit that offers 1.2/2.4 miles per dollar on local- and foreign-currency spend respectively. It also currently converts to 12 airline and hotel partners, making it the best card in Singapore right now in terms of points flexibility.

Click HERE to apply for the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card!

What You Need to Know about the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card

• 1.2/2.4 miles per dollar on SGD/non-SGD spend

• Four lounge visits per calendar year via DragonPass (which also gives you access to Plaza Premium Lounges)

• Extensive list of transfer partners (12 at the moment, HSBC aims to bring this over 20 by end-2023)

• Instant points transfer, or up to one business day

• 20,000 bonus miles (applicable to new and existing customers)

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20,000 Bonus Miles

The greatest draw to the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card has got to be the 20,000 bonus miles (applicable to both new and existing HSBC customers) that you will get upon satisfying the following conditions:

1. Apply for the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card before the end of 31 August 2023

2. Pay the annual fee of S$194.40

3. Charge at least S$800 by the end of the following calendar month (from the date of approval)

4. Opt-in to marketing communications from HSBC

By choosing to apply for the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card with the 20,000 bonus miles (with annual fee payment), you are essentially making the decision to purchase miles at a cost of 0.97 cpm. Obviously, the value of miles can vary quite a bit, depending on how you use them but you can very easily extract 2-3 cents worth when you are looking at just straightforward redemption using KrisFlyer miles. As mentioned earlier, the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card currently has 12 transfer partners and therefore, depending on your upcoming travel plans, you may even wish to convert these miles into a different frequent flyer program (or hotel loyalty program) to extract more value out of them.

Greater Points Flexibility with 12 Transfer Partners

Less is not always more when it comes to transfer partners - points are simply worth more in nature when they can be converted into a wider range of transfer partners. Most reward currencies that Singapore banks offer convert primarily to Asia Miles and KrisFlyer Miles. Even though this is not necessarily a bad thing for someone who is just starting out, there is obviously greater value in other programs on selected routes. For example, if you wish to fly directly from Singapore to Tokyo on Singapore Airlines in Business Class, it will cost you 52,000 and 70,000 KrisFlyer Miles with a Saver and Advantage redemption booking respectively. On the other hand, if you are willing to do a short layover in Taipei and fly on EVA Air in Business Class, it will only cost you 25,000 Infinity MileageLands Miles (with a slightly higher tax/fee component) from Singapore to Japan.

Airline Partners

• KrisFlyer (Singapore Airlines)

• Infinity MileageLands (EVA Air)

• Asia Miles (Cathay Pacific)

• Avios (British Airways)

• Frequent Flyer (Qantas)

• Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)

• Lotusmiles (Vietnam Airlines)

• Etihad Guest (Etihad Airways)

• AirAsia Points (AirAsia)

Hotel Partners

• Marriott Bonvoy

• IHG One Rewards

• Accor Live Limitless (ALL)

Point conversions made from the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card have a minimum transfer quantity of 25,000 HSBC Reward points (equivalent to 10,000 miles) and they can be made in 5 reward point denominations following that. This means to say that you may choose to convert 25,005 HSBC Reward points to a preferred partner of your choice if you like - this reduces the impact that orphan points have on your entire suite of cards. At the time of writing, 25,000 HSBC Reward points convert into 10,000 miles or points across the 12 different partners. There is typically a S$43.20 annual fee for the HSBC Mileage Programme (which allows card members to enjoy unlimited transfers) but this fee is waived through 31 December 2023.

Plaza Premium Lounge

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (Main Terminal)

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Lounge Visits

The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card comes with four lounge visits each calendar year on the Dragon Pass network (which means you will be able to access Plaza Premium Lounges which are no longer participating in Priority Pass). Since the lounge benefit is awarded on a calendar year basis, applying for the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card in June 2023 (or anytime this year) will essentially give you up to eight visits (with the payment of a single year's annual fee):

• 4 Lounge Visits (to use from June - December 2023)

• 4 Lounge Visits (to use from January - May 2024)

You will get to enjoy the lounge visits regardless of whether you choose to renew the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card in 2024.

General Spend

The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is a decent general-spend credit card (I have written about the differences between general- and dedicated-spend credit cards previously) that offers 1.2 miles per dollar on eligible SGD-spend and 2.4 miles on eligible non-SGD spend. There is no minimum spend required, and no cap to the number of miles you can earn on this card which is fantastic for those looking to consolidate all their expenses on just one card. Now the opportunity cost of earning 4 miles per dollar obviously adds up over time and depending on the absolute value of your spend, this may be either an advantage or disadvantage of the card. For example, if you typically spend S$5,000 per month in non-SGD transactions, you might think that a card like the UOB Visa Signature Card (whch offers 4 miles per dollar on foreign currency transactions) might be better but the reality is this:

• UOB Visa Signature Card: 9,200 Miles (4.0 x S$2,000 + 0.4 x S$3,000)

• HSBC TravelOne Credit Card: 12,000 Miles (2.4 x S$5,000)

Some credit cards might look great on paper but it really depends on your spending habits - I typically book flexible rates for hotel stays so I tend to have a lot of in-person non-SGD spend. The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card also awards HSBC Reward points more generously as a minimum spend of S$0.50 is required to earn points (as compared to banks like OCBC and UOB which award points in S$5 blocks).

It is now a great time to apply for the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card and once your card is approved in June 2023, you will have plenty of time (until 31 July 2023) to hit that S$800 minimum spend requirement. All customers who apply for the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card using any one of the links in the article will also receive a S$30 cash bonus on top of the usual rewards.