HDFC Launches All New Dedicated Rewards Portal for Premium Credit Cards

By | May 19, 2021

As you might already know, HDFC Bank has been intimating some of the existing credit card holders about the upcoming changes to their Rewards portal.

This is now live and you can navigate to the credit card reward points redemption portal via Privileges Tab on HDFC Smartbuy page. Here’s everything you need to know about the new portal,

New Design

The new portal is divided into 3 different sections/designs: Infinia, Diners, Regalia

With new portal gets the new design which is good but at times I also feel its too much of design. Often web designers forget that “Design is how it works” and not how colourful it is.

Apart from the design, I wish they rather went for a new dedicated domain name. Linking it to Smartbuy just confuses people.

Speaking about the rewards portal, I like the Yesbank’s rewards portal that allows you to change the card type and navigate accordingly.

Apart from that, Amex is also improving the rewards portal day by day, except that they don’t allow us to earn points easily.

Hdfc Rewards Portal – Infinia
Hdfc Rewards Portal – Diners Club
Hdfc Rewards Portal – Regalia

Earning Points Simplified

While most of us are good at navigating the smartbuy page to earn 10X points, beginners are not really aware of this process. So HDFC added all those links directly to “Shop & Earn” page which saves a lot of time and confusion.

Redeeming Points gets Tricky

Now you can do the Catalogue redemptions like iPhone or Bose headphones in few clicks. But that doesn’t mean you should do it as the points value drops as worse as 50%.

So the the redeeming points section is primarily there to distract you. Yet, not many would be aware of it, so I guess HDFC Bank would enjoy more catalog redemptions going forward. Means, more savings to the bank.

Apart from these, it looks like there are new limitations and rules for mid-range cards. Have a look at the Faq section for more.

Bottomline

While the new design is bit fresh, good & responsive, I don’t see much of an advantage. Rather I see it as a way for the bank to consolidate multiple portals into one for simplicity. And yes, you do get more options, yet they’re not so useful for many.

What’s your take on HDFC’s new rewards portal? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

70 thoughts on “HDFC Launches All New Dedicated Rewards Portal for Premium Credit Cards

  1. Pranav641

    Pls tell me what will happen to the website which earlier we infinia members used to book flights,d2h,hotel and getting 2x points on partial transaction through credit card,will it continue or not
    Also need to ask if i do partial payment half through credit card and half through points wil i get 10x or 2x or 1 x reward point on smartbuy page

    Reply
    1. Ravi

      I think you will get 10x for the difference amount paid by card.

      Reply
      1. Rakesh

        Ideally yes, as the portal is still smartbuy and it should give us 10x !

        Reply
    2. Sree

      Thro smartbuy it’ll be 10x points for the balance amount paid using your card

      Reply
    3. A2Z

      Nothing has changed except the website
      They have just brought all card redemptions options under one roof
      You would earn 2x only as before as that’s their intended feature
      As Sid said bringing it on Smartbuy is only going to create confusion

      Reply
      1. sahil

        This is my confusion too. I used to use smartbuy for bookings and once I hit the 25k cap I would switch to Infinia’s regular portal. So if i have hit the cap and book something will i get 2x on balance amount without any cap?

        Reply
      2. Pranav Sharma

        Just asked cust care they said 10x points will be there ,

        Reply
      3. A2Z

        Update :
        HDFC CC has confirmed that any spends on Smartbuy portal while doing redemption of points & paid partially by card then we shall get 10x points
        Even when booked flight by partial redemption of points & rest by card then merchant name showed as SMARTBUY

        Reply
        1. sahil

          My question is different. I have already hit the smartbuy cap of 25k this month, if i now book a flight through the portal do i get the 2x capless points i used to get via infinia concierge website or not?
          The infinia concierge worked as a separate entity and team that provided 2x points i.e 6.6% on all travel spends WITHOUT any cap. Since smartbuy and infinia concierge have merged now how do the capless spends work? I have called HDFC twice over this and they are clueless and say they will revert from the marketing team but no response.

          Reply
    4. MT

      On the older infinia portal , i had got 2x points when i had booked tickets via points+card system because infinia t&cs mentioned any transaction on the infinia portal accrues 2x points … no idea on the new portal , best to ask the infinia team

      Reply
  2. Binay

    Have they got any way to check transaction points.
    I havent still received my points I lost to booking Jet flights. 50K

    Reply
    1. MT

      Call customer care , they have information on point credits in your account

      Reply
  3. anshul

    Have applied for diners black & living in a tier-2 city having no relation with HDFC. Cibil of 810, hope they pass my application.
    Have a big purchase to make, hoping for some help from the forum with diners black 🙂

    Reply
    1. Mouli

      Now it depends on your ITR as you don’t have any existing relationship
      You can open a FD for a huge amount

      Reply
  4. Ankur Mittal

    They have added convenience charges in flight bookings.

    Reply
  5. Chintan

    Now as the portals are merged, can we use multiple voucher in same booking, one generated from DINERS and one REGALIA.

    Reply
    1. abhijeet

      No . INfact you cannot use more than one voucher even if it generated from same card ( regalia or DCB )

      Reply
  6. OP

    With moving to single website, I am concerned if HDFC website will able to handle user traffic.
    Already got slow response even for simple log-in.

    Reply
    1. Siddharth Post author

      Traffic shouldn’t be an issue. My guesses, the site needs to interact with Bank API’s to fetch the reward point balance, which would take time as I noticed as well. Rest operations must be smooth. Yet, I wonder why our login was slow. 😐

      Reply
  7. MT

    Well well well… looks like Yes Bank CC dept is copying HDFC CC dept , check out Yes cart , 5 X points on amazon , flipkart myntra and tata cliq

    Reply
  8. DR.HARDIK PATEL

    So what about existing smartbuy and diners club website login? Can we purchase through smartbuy and diners website login to redeem points as we do earlier? Or we must use this new integrated website compulsory? And how to login this new site for redeeming the points? Please anyone reply fast about this…i have DCB. Thank you so much…

    Reply
  9. Pranavcoolsharma

    Now hdfc has a dedicated smartbuy page for infinia , dinners, regalia cards where we can redeem points .
    Pls tell me what will happen to the website which earlier we infinia members used to book flights,d2h,hotel and getting 2x points on partial transaction through credit card,will it continue or not
    Also need to ask if i do partial payment half through credit card and half through points wil i get 10x or 2x or 1 x reward point on smartbuy page

    Reply
  10. Anubhav Tyagi

    Only Amex does a good job with its redemption, HDFC just doesn’t understand UI/UX for digital products even though their cards have a better-earning rate.

    So, now I am expected to use the smartbuy portal for shopping and bookings (to get the 10x rewards benefit) plus redeeming my points (which now has more options than just flights and hotels).

    Then there is Payzapp portal as well which also gives 10x rewards benefits I believe. But the 110x rewards on partner merchants (zomato, bigbasket, etc) are limited to Diners cards only. Plus these rewards are not credited instantly, it takes upto 10 days at times, all this is a bit confusing tbh.

    Reply
  11. Maulin

    There is also a new redemption option called “experiences” where you can redeem points for day tours and tickets to tourist sites in many famous cities. That is a nice option. Now you can book an entire vacation through credit card points. I didn’t see the conversion rate for that.

    Reply
    1. RM

      Used the infinia protal for flight and hotels booking yesterday. Trust me, the experience now is way better than the earlier slow portal. A step in the right direction, though still a lot needs to be better.

      Reply
  12. Chintan

    checkout “EXPERIENCES” tab in SHOP & EARN, it has good tourist options around the world that too at good prices

    Reply
    1. Chintan

      under experiences tickets can be purchased with Reward Points, that too at par. I haven’t made any booking yet, but looking forward to it.

      Reply
  13. NITIN ARORA

    Hi Siddharth

    I have a query, the flipkart link in the tab of main smart buy page is still active. So I will get 10x points on my regalia if I buy through the main tab of flipkart on home page of smart buy site and do I have to login to smart buy site before proceeding to flipkart tab for 10x points.

    Thanks
    Nitin Arora

    Reply
  14. AJ

    Since this change, I am noticed that Exclusive Offers from Diners Black site are also removed. Earlier I used to find partners with 5x offers at this page. Looks like they are bringing parity between Diners and Infinia. May be reducing Diners privileges.
    What else has changed? Others please comment.

    Reply
  15. Sahil

    So got finally clarity from Infinia helpdesk that 2x without cap is not stopped. Once u hit the 25k smartbuy limit, all bookings are 1x. This is a big blow to Infinia users. Devaluations of sort, I Hope Hdfc doesn’t do more such tricks.
    For now I’m shifting all airline bookings to my citi Premier Miles that gives 4.5% return (without any cap??). Is there any other card that give better returns.

    Reply
  16. NITIN ARORA

    Hi all
    If I take Flipkart EMI through smart buy for my Regalia shopping. Then my 10x points will be divided across my EMI tenure and I will not hit my monthly cap of 5000 points?

    Reply
    1. Ramesh Kumar

      Yes, but reward points credit is based on whether 10x reward is applicable for that month. For example, if you buy purchase product on EMI for 6 months(from June to November) and currently 10x on Smartbuy offer valid till June 30th, so you’ll get 10x as per 1st month principal EMI amount. Let’s assume they revoked the 10x offer on September 30th, then you won’t get 10x for the last 2 months EMI.

      Reply
  17. Krishnakumar C

    You buy 3 tickets for Rs. 100 each ( Rs. 300 in total) using DCB/Infinia and get Rs. 33.33 back for each transaction as points. Thus your fourth ticket for Rs. 100 is free. You paid Rs. 300 for tickets worth Rs. 400. Thus a discount of Rs. 100(25%) on tickets worth Rs. 400. If the points were allowed to be adjusted with credit card bill, then only we get 33% reward rate, else it is 25%. This is where HDFC is smart. In the same way, 10x reward rate for regalia is ~11% and regalia first is ~7.5%. Similarly, Infinia/Diners black reward rate on normal spends is 2.5%.

    Reply
    1. Prashant Gupta

      Krishnakumar in large transactions it does not matter…..its only if you do very low value transactions.

      Reply
    2. Chintan

      I didn’t get you, which tickets are you talking about, is it hypothetical

      Reply
    3. Ajay

      This is not right calculation. In first example you get 100 reward points on a spend of 300 RS. These reward points can be redeemed at value of 100 RS. So, a 100 RS discount on 300 RS spend which is 33%. You are making a typical error in profit-loss sums which we solve in maths.

      Reply
      1. Krishnakumar Chandrasekaran

        When you redeem reward point and use it on ticket, you don’t get cashback on the new ticket. If you could have adjusted the reward points against credit card bill, you would have spent for the ticket from your card itself. You would have got 33% cashback in this ticket booking too. Since this is not allowed in HDFC, effective savings drop to 25% from 33%.

        Reply
        1. Krishnakumar C

          My point is if you purchase ticket using reward points, you don’t get rewards on that purchase. This reduces the effective savings.

          Reply
          1. Prashant Gupta

            The savings is still 33%…….Its given fact that one is booking ticket free from rewards points. Thats not a right justification. How can one earn points on reward points ticket booking.

          2. Pranav sharma

            You have rewards for rewards 😅😂

          3. Praveen Katiyar

            The point which Krishnakumar is making is comparing cards that give reward points vs discount.
            If reward rate is same, Cards giving discount (or cards that adjust reward against bill) are better than cards giving reward points.
            Reward points decreases the effective reward rate, as reward points when used does not accrue any reward points.
            The same analogy can be used if we see ICICI Amazon pay card, on shopping of Rs. 10000 on 5% partner I get Rs. 500 back as Amazon pay balance. Suppose I again shop using this. So I pay Rs. 10000 for shopping of Rs. 10500, thus effective savings of 4.76% as against 5%.

          4. Chintan

            Yea it is right that you save 33% on first 3 tickets, but what @Krishnakumar says is correct, the effective discount you receive is of 25%.
            If bank were giving you these money in cashback then you would have got 33% discount on the fourth ticket too.

  18. Mickey

    I just used my Regalia First Rewards to book flights online on the SmartBuy portal. It was fast and easy, no need to call concierge. Options given were Yatra, Cleartrip and Via. Redemption rate was 1 RP = 30 paisa for a domestic ticket. Nothing was paid in cash. Received ticket and confirmation instantly

    Rs 99 + GST is charged separately per redemption.

    It was a good and quick procedure

    Reply
  19. OP

    Booked ticket with Diners Black,
    1. Rs 99 + GST is charged separately per redemption which was not there in old portal.
    2. Could not find a way to same passenger list, need to input name every time.
    3. Even after log-in Smartbuy, had to log in again in card section with same user id and password.

    Reply
    1. Ravi

      Read Terms and conditions, it is clearly mentioned that Infinia and Black holder won’t be charged Rs. 99 for redemption. You can raise a complain based on that.

      Reply
    2. Tanmay

      I too was charged 250 Rs convinence fee on international flight booking via DCB. Plus international hotel booking does not work, keeps searching indefinitely.

      Reply
  20. Nikhil

    @Siddharth, any idea if HDFC is doing away with the Diners Premium and Rewardz cards for new applicants and keeping just the ClubMiles and Black? Even on this new portal the only options that come under Diners products are ClubMiles and Black. As for the main HDFC credit card product page and the HDFC Diners micro-site, the Apply button has disappeared since a while for the Premium and Rewardz variants.

    And come to think if it, ClubMiles does look like an amalgamation of the Premium and Rewardz cards, when one looks at the rewards and fee structure!

    Reply
  21. Aman Bindra

    Had a bad start with the experience on this new portal. Booked ticket to London (Return ) and got order confirmation but the order is still pending. Been 12 hours and no PNR is generated. Customer care keeps asking for more time. Its funny how such a big institution can treat transactions like this.

    Money is already deducted from my card

    Reply
  22. Varun

    Hi I have one query related to shopping on Amzon using smartbuy portal.After login into Smart buy Diners page ,I click to amazon and fill in phone number and last 4 digits of card .It takes me to App if i use it over phone.
    Will i get reward point for this transaction

    2nd Scenario

    If i use incognito mode over phone I am taken to webpage of Amazon
    In this case Will i get rewards point for transaction

    3 rd Scenario
    If i login through laptop and follow the process
    Will I get reward points and by when will the points get credited

    I have Diners Club Black Cards

    Reply
    1. Pankaj Gupta

      you will get reward points in all 3 scenarios. But remember to empty your cart in your amazon account before you initiate login through smartbuy, because if you pay for anything already present in your cart before you reach amazon account through smartbuy, it is not eligible for 10x reward points

      Reply
    2. Neo

      Varun,
      I think for scenarios 2) & 3) you will get the 10X points. regarding the timelines, HDFC says max 90 days but i did some smartbuy txns recently and got the points within 3-4 days. However, points for txns done in April /early May are still pending.
      Best to check with HDFC cc .They seem to have clarity on what transactions points have been posted etc

      ~Neo

      Reply
    3. ManzB

      I suggest to use it thru laptop/ desktop using web browser to be on the safe side. I think using to access via mobile takes to the App and they may not be able to track the link.

      Reply
    4. A2Z

      @Varun

      Avoid first scenario as at times transactions done via App are not tracked
      There is high possibility HDFC Smartbuy missing those

      Better do it either via incognito or laptop via web version of Amazon

      Reply
  23. Nihar Das

    Its funny they didn’t have a search option in the catalogue redemption section in the new rewards portal, such simple things are missed !

    Reply
  24. Atishay Jain

    Any update regarding the 10x reward points 1st July onwards. Currently all the accelerated rewards mechanism applicable only uptil 30th June as per website

    Reply
    1. Abhijit

      The 10X reward points upper limits have been changed. For Regalia it was 25000 points per month which is now reduced to 5000 per month.
      Only Infinia card has 25000 points limit.

      Reply
  25. Abhijit

    Thumbs down for the new HDFC portal. Its more confusing. Lastly I tried booking a flight with my Regalia points but the portal was repeatedly taking me to payments page and not points redemption page.
    Overall, bad experience and not satisfied with this ‘so called’ new interface.

    Reply
    1. Tanmay

      Same experience here with hotel bookings. Also has anyone spoken to smartbuy DCB concierge? They insist on sharing 13 numbers out of total 14 on the credit card, when their own OTP mail mentions their executive never ask for credit card details. When I refused to share, they refused to help. Is it safe to share partial CC number with smartbuy concierge? Is there any escalation matrix to complain about this?

      Reply
      1. Rakesh

        Unfortunately, they asked everyone and its because of their stupid new smartbuy system, it demands 13/14 for diners and 13/16 for non-diners cards. we just feel insecure due to the fact that only 1 digit is left to tell to concierge !

        Just to be on safer side, disable International transactions on diners as no need of otp for diners for Intl transactions !

        Reply
    2. Kapil

      tried booking a flight with my Regalia points it says the card is not enabled and I need to contact customer service to proceed. Anyone got this error msg? How to resolve it, customer care asked for screenshot and said they will need 7 days to revert

      Reply
  26. Archit Manoj

    Hey sid,
    I would like you to make a post on study abroad payment option since there are various travel card and credit card out there.
    Btw would suggest me to carry my fathers yes first business credit card add on since it’s markup charge is 1.75% in comparison to travel card which offer 2%.

    Reply
  27. Rohit roy

    Hi all
    I would like to know whether payzapp registration is must to get 10x points and 5x debit card points. Previously we could redeem debit card points from net banking. Now in terms and conditions it says we will not get points if we don’t register it. I have never used payzapp because of bad review. It looks like hdfc is forcing people to install payzapp.

    Reply
  28. Varun

    10x on smartbuy is still on.But what about 10x on Partners.There is no update on website

    Reply
  29. akash singh

    is regalia first card eligible for smartbuy regalia section, when i enter my card details it says ‘enter a valid regalia card number”, also is regalia first eligible for 10x on pazapp and smartbuy as i see regalia variants in terms and conditions but not sure if regalia first is counted as regalia variant?

    Reply
  30. Joseph

    How to generate voucher for redeeming flight ticket. Earlier there was an option of generating voucher , I dont see that now.

    Reply

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