HDFC Diners Club Miles Vs Diners Privilege – Should You Upgrade?

By | January 19, 2020

HDFC Bank recently launched this new Diners Privilege credit card that’s similar to HDFC Diners Clubmiles in reward rate and with benefits similar to HDFC Diners Black. So its obvious that you’re confused as to whether you need to upgrade your Club Miles to Diners privilege or not.

This article is here to sort that out. But before we get into that, I assume you’ve read the reviews of both. If not, do check out the above links and go through once. Once done, you just need to ask yourself these questions,

  • Do you need Diners Black badly but stuck with Diners Club Miles?

If so, then its obvious that you need to upgrade your Club Miles to Diners Privilege and increase your chances as Diners Privilege is positioned between Black & Club Miles.

  • Can you spend 3L a year to be eligible for waiver?

If not, its better to stay with Club Miles as it needs you to spend only Rs.1L for the annual fee waiver.

  • Do you convert your reward points to Airmiles at 1:1 with Clubmiles?

If so, better stay with Club Miles, as Diners Privilege converts as 2:1. Or maybe you can simply transfer all points to airmiles and then upgrade.

  • Do you love 10X Rewards?

If so, you get better max. cap (only for Diners Partners), which is 10,000 for Privilege & 5000 for Clubmiles (may change anytime). But remember that it doesn’t help if you’re into Airmiles.

  • Do you need more rewards?

As Diners Privilege comes with Monthly Milestone & Yearly Milestone benefit, you can expect 1% more returns as long as your monthly spends are in ~40K range. That’s about Rs.6000 extra value a year. So yes, upgrade.

  • Do you need Golf Privileges?

If yes, then close your eyes and get it, as I don’t see any credit card with Golf benefit at this fee range.

  • What about the Club Miles to Privilege Rewards transfer ratio on upgrade?

Its 1:1 as I see it on the upgraded card I did on one of my family accounts.


So there you are! It totally depends on your needs & the spend pattern, as always when it comes to credit cards.

That said, as everyone needs an “upgraded” life, its better to upgrade to Privilege in most cases. However, if Airmiles transfer is your thing or if you think spending 3L a year is tough, then you should probably stay with Club Miles.

Hope that helps you to make a wise decision. Does it? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

35 thoughts on “HDFC Diners Club Miles Vs Diners Privilege – Should You Upgrade?

  1. Abhi

    With the recent increase in MDR, acceptance of Dinersclub has gone bad. Initially I used to see 95% or more times DCB working. But now declining is getting more frequent. Maybe the terms with RuPay has also changed as I see machine accepting RuPay but declining DCB. OLA has stopped accepting it for rides leave alone they starting it for postpaid. With Amex people are atleast aware and tell you we dont accept AmEx. But Diners, you need to see a declined msg first then pull out another card.

    Reply
    1. abhi jaiswal

      how did you get to know about the MDR change? On my chargeslips, the application is almost always RuPay, but the transactions go through

      Reply
      1. Shivi

        You need to be a merchant to realise/know about MDR change. I am in the hotel industry and as rightly noted by Abhi, we have stopped taking Diners card. Not only me, a few thousand hotels in our association/group in our state have stopped taking Amex and Diners. The increase in MDR happened in November/December.

        Reply
  2. Vc

    Hi Sid,

    Do you know the max bonus points points per month on smart buy for Clubmiles vs privilege ? Clubmiles is 5000 but couldn’t find any information for privilege on hdfc’s website.
    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Its 5K.

      “Maximum Reward points that could be earned on Infinia Credit Card is 25000 per calendar month on your credit card.
      or Maximum Reward points that could be earned on Diners Black Credit card is 15000 per calendar month on your credit card.
      or Maximum Reward points that could be earned on other Diners variant or Regalia variant Credit card is 5000 per calendar month on your Credit Card.
      or Maximum Cashback that could be earned on using other HDFC Bank Credit Cards or Debit Cards is of Rs.1000/- per calendar month.”

      Reply
      1. Ameya

        Hi Sid,
        I was waiting for this clarity. I have a Regalia and despite being eligible for LTF DCB via the alumni offer, my application was declined.
        I think, Diners Privilege is the next best thing for me with the same cap on bonus reward points via 10X.

        Reply
  3. Gopal

    Axis select credit card gives 6 golf games per year( India only),the fee is Rs.3000 plus GST. There is no option for fee waiver.You will get 9 golf games per year and 12 complementary priority pass lounge access if your spend is above 3,00,000 in the previous calendar year.SBI prime gives 4 complimentary golf games per year ( master card variant only).You will get the annual fee waiver,if you spend more than,3 ,00,000 in the previous calendar year.These are the cards that come close to Diners privilege card,in terms of the annual fee and golf games you get.But with Diners privilege you are getting,8 golf games per year(including games outside India),and some useful memberships.Axis select card is unique,because you can book 3 golf games,at a time( even on consecutive days).I don’t know about any other card having that advantage( most cards need at least 3-5 days,to book another golf game,after you book one).

    Reply
  4. mayank sharma

    I was able to upgrade from Club miles to Privilege and was expecting the membership fee charged in the first statement. To my pleasant surprise, there was no charge. Anybody else has had the same experience? I have an HDFC bank salary account though.

    Reply
    1. Ashish Nikhare

      Hmm. Same here. Upgraded to Privilege, but no joining fees added in statement ! Completed 1 year of Clubmiles in Jan 2020. May be annual spends for last 1 year of Clubmiles were more than 3 lakhs, thats why ! However, cannot say anything about HDFC. Waiting for next month statement to check joining fees added or not.

      Reply
  5. Chindi Chitranna

    Is there any joining fee if I upgrade from Diners Premium to Privilege?

    Reply
  6. Anuj

    I currently have jet airways card with 3.75L limit, and need an upgrade. Not sure if i should get regalia or dinners. Can a diners primary and The add-on car holder swipe the card in same international lounge? I’ve read that regalia’s primary and add-on priority pass can’t be used together..

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      You are misinformed about Regalia & its PP not getting accepted together!

      Reply
  7. Romil

    Can somebody throw light on how to upgrade from Club Miles to Privilege ?

    Reply
  8. Maulesh Patel

    Hi, Sid thanks for your valuable time to provide such a nice information. Now I have diners club miles card since 1 yr and my credit limit has reached to 3lacs now from 1.25 lacs earlier. My per month expense is about 25 k . My take home salary is 50 k per month. My ultimate goal is diners black . So what should I do next? Should I stay with dinner club miles or should I try to upgrade to dinner previledge or regalia? And how? Thanks

    Reply
  9. Lokesh

    Which card should be used while travelling abroad for lowest charges/max rewards? Diners club vs Amex ?

    Reply
  10. Praneeth

    With CIBIL score 767 can I be eligible for Hdfc bank credit card?
    Please share some information on this
    Thank you.

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Ask bank. Cibil score is not an absolute parameter for getting any card. There are other considerations which decide whether or not you get a credit card and it varies from one branch/bank/location to the other.

      Reply
  11. Akash

    Hi Sid, please do a comparison of Diners Privilege with Regalia as well if you get time. I think there are a lot of people like me who are confused between the two. TIA!

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Nothing to get confused about. Read write ups of both the cards n compare n decide. It’s as simple as that.

      Reply
  12. Krishna

    I tried upgrading to diners club black through alumni offer, but got rejected. i tried reaching the phone banking and they said there is no option to upgrade. Which premium card is better, i am not a fan of hdfc customer care.

    Reply
    1. Shivi

      Depends on your lifestyle. There’s HDFC, SBI, Axis, ICICI, Yes And Indus to choose from.

      Reply
    2. Prashant Gupta

      If you are an alumni from one of the institutes from the list the you should get DCB LTF as my DCB also was converted from charge card to LTF card.

      Reply
    3. Nita

      Limit: 4.5 L
      Diner club miles
      Since its discontinued could i technically ask for a replacement saying my card is damaged and they will have to upgrade me to another variant since they have discontinued club miles
      Has any one tried this?

      Reply
  13. Jagath

    With clumile if u spent on vistara cv points you can get up to 2x return as u get 1cv points for every reward point.dat u can redeem.bt with privilege 2 reward points equal 1 cv point.if u r into airmiles than clubmile is far better option as u can get double.

    Reply
    1. Arnab Chaudhuri

      Clubmiles is discontinued.
      If in that product page, any card like clubmiles is not listed, then that product is no longer available for fresh applications.

      Reply
  14. kailas VB

    Hi friends, I’ve Regalia first CC form feb 2020 with limit 1 lakh .i want to upgrade In Regalia ,so what should be CC limit for upgrading in Regalia ?

    Reply
    1. Arnab Chaudhuri

      You have to wait for six months with good spends. Then you have to send the up-gradation form to chennai and attach ITR or salary as regalia requires 2.5L+ credit limit. Suggest you dont take any emi’s and spend atleast 50k a month if u can. Mention CC limit increase and card upgrade both in the form.

      Reply
  15. mayank sharma

    Don’t know where else to let my frustration out. I am a diners privilege card user and for the last two months i had been meeting their monthly milestone benefits criteria. This means I was eligible for a 500 BMS voucher. HDFC being HDFC they are giving out BMS vouchers with less than 30 days validity. this means i was unable to use the vouchers for April and May due to the lockdown. if you are eligible for these benefits, make sure that you look at all possibilities before choosing.

    Reply
    1. Arnab Chaudhuri

      Why don’t you choose tata cliq. I bought a philips trimmer using those.

      Reply
  16. Vivek

    Hi friends. i have an refalia first card, using it since 2 yrs. My present limit is 8.3L. should i upgrade to regalia card or diners club? will i have a option to continue using this card and also ask the bank for any diners club card? please suggest.

    Reply
  17. pulkit

    how does Intermiles HDFC Platinum card fares in comparision to HDFC Diner Club Miles card? Can you share some opinion

    Reply

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