HSBC India has been actively expanding its presence by launching new credit cards, refreshing existing ones, and opening new branches nationwide. In line with this momentum, HSBC has introduced the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card, a travel-focused offering designed for frequent travelers.
The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card allows cardholders to seamlessly transfer reward points to various hotel and airline loyalty programs instantly. Here’s everything you need to know about the newly launched HSBC TravelOne Credit Card.
Table of Contents
Overview
| Type | Travel Credit Card |
| Reward Rate | 2% to 7.2% |
| Forex Markup Fee | 3.5%+GST |
| Best for | OTA Travel Spends |
| USP | Uncapped redemption |
HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is best suited for travellers with focus on airmiles and hotel loyalty programs, primarily Accor.
Fees
| Joining Fee | 4,999+GST |
| Welcome Benefit | 3,000 Points (after spending 1L in 90 days) |
| Renewal / Annual Fee | 4,999+GST |
| Renewal Benefit | – |
| Renewal Fee waiver | 8L INR annual spend |
The welcome benefit of 3K points does not cover the joining fee unless you redeem it for Accor, which is quite unfair!
However, if you’re interested in downloading the HSBC mobile app and spend 10K INR in first 30 days of opening credit card, one can also get below:
- 1,000 INR cashback
- 3,000 INR postcard voucher
- 3 months Eazydiner Prime Membership
Note that this is not a standard offering but an “introductory offer”. Except for the decent cash-back, rest are irrelevant for the card and only makes it look unnecessary.
New Cashback offer: Get additional 3,999 INR cashback when you apply for your card by 31 December 2025 and spend INR25,000 in the first 30 days.
*** Additional 3,999 INR cashback Offer Ends by 31st Dec 2025***
Design
The global design of the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card looks decent, but the true appeal will depend on the production quality and finish in India. Only then can we judge how it holds up in reality.
Interestingly, the Mastercard logo resembles the one typically seen on Mastercard Elite cards, yet the card is on the Mastercard World platform.
Rewards
| SPEND TYPE | Reward Points | REWARD RATE (Points/Miles) | REWARD RATE (Accor) | MAX. CAP (PER MONTH) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Spends | 2 / 100 INR | ~2% | ~3.6% | – |
| Airlines, Travel aggregators & Forex Spends | 4 / 100 INR | ~4% | ~7.2% | 50K Points (12.5L spend) |
A key differentiator between the Axis Atlas and HSBC TravelOne cards is that HSBC awards points on spends made through travel aggregators like MMT, Cleartrip, and others. This is particularly beneficial for hotel bookings, as one can double-dip with other offers.
Excluded spends for rewards:
- Utilities (4900), insurance (6300, 5960), jewellery (5944, 5094)
- Education and government (9399, 8299, 8220, 8211, 8241, 8244, 8249, 9222, 9402, 9211, 9405), tax payments (9311), real estate agent and managers (6513), bail and bond payments (9223)
- Financial institutions (6010-6012), non-financial institutions (6051), money transfers (4829), e-wallets (6540)
- Fuel (5541, 5983, 5172, 5542, 5552)
The exclusions are even more compared to Axis Bank’s list and excluding Utilities/insurance/jewellery is quite unfair.
I wish banks put a cap on these categories instead of just ignoring them altogether, speaking of which, it’s done beautifully on ICICI Emeralde Private Credit Card. It will be nice if more banks follow this, so that non-abusers are unaffected.
NEW: HSBC introduces Accelerated rewards which gives Travel One card a nitro boost.
Milestone Benefit
| SPEND REQUIREMENT | MILESTONE BENEFIT | Reward Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 12 Lakhs | 10,000 Points | 0.8% |
The milestone benefit enhances the base reward rate of the card from 2% to 2.8% (or 5% for Accor), which looks quite lucrative.
However, I wish they had introduced multiple milestones – perhaps an additional milestone at 6L spend. A single milestone feels limiting, almost like flying to Europe only to visit one country. Where’s the adventure in that?
Redemption
- Transfer points to airline/hotel partners (most at 1:1)
- Partners list: Airline & Hotel partners (below)
- Points transfer duration: Instant or 1 day for most partners
It’s good to see long list of partners. That said, as you might know, Accor is the only partner that straight away gives great value.
While there are no cap on redemptions at the moment, chances are it might show up anytime.
Lounge Access
| ACCESS TYPE | VIA | LIMIT |
|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Mastercard | 6 / Year |
| International | Lounge Key | 4 / Year |
While it doesn’t come with guest access, the good thing is that there is no spend requirement for the lounge access, which makes sense for a 5K fee card.
Forex Markup Fee
- Foreign Currency Markup Fee: 3.5%+GST = ~4.13%
- Net Return: Rewards – Markup Fee = 4% – 4.13% = – 0.13%
While forex spends offers higher reward rate, the net return is in negative because of the higher forex markup fee.
For a travel card, it would been better if the markup fee was lower, in the range of 2% which would make sense with the accelerated rewards.
Features & Benefits
- 15% off at Yatra, Cleartrip, EaseMyTrip & Paytm
- 10% off on Zomato
- Buy 1 Get 1 on movies (200 INR off) on District App.
- 20% off on duty-free via the AdaniOne app or website
- Golf benefit via Mastercard Golf Program
- USD 20,000 purchase protection every year.
Should you get it?
If you’re looking for a travel credit card with points transfer ability, then HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is indeed an amazing option.
Given that Accor ran a wonderful 50% points transfer offer recently, it’s becoming one of the best credit cards to hold in 2025 and beyond.
*** Best Travel Credit Card ***
Bottomline
- Cardexpert Rating: 4.5/5
HSBC TravelOne Credit Card in India is a wonderfully rewarding card in the segment , thanks to the recent introduction of Accelerated rewards.
With the ability to transfer points to airline/hotel partners and surprising points transfer offers, it’s a rewarding card to have for travellers.
What’s your thoughts on the newly launched HSBC TravelOne Credit Card? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
I had a query, I did a transaction on hsbc hopper portal with hsbc travel one credit card on 29 June & it got settled on 30 June. The points got credited on 01 July. Will these accelerated reward points be considered for the month of June or July.
ARE Hospital spends in the excluded category in HSBC travel one card ?
I got card in Feb end, today 1000 cashback got credited. But strangely I’m not getting any points.
On calling customer care, they say it takes 45 days from transaction to get the reward points.
Anyone having similar experience?
With hsbc, points usually gets credited with transaction settlement, travel one have big exclusion list, are you sure you are spending on eligible category?
I have used card on various category, including booking flight on Indigo website. Still have ‘zero’ points, since Feb end.
I upgraded my card to Travel one and for 2 months didnt get any points and after many escalations received base points and didnt receive bonus points for travel category
Sid, You may need to append the Airport transfer feature which is a big USP of this card and may impact in overall rating too.
Can i make rent payments using Travel One card and get points?
No, utilities is one of the exclusions
From Jan 1 2026 no 3000 points are given. So for 6000 joining fee only 1000 INR cashback is practical. Remaining 2 benefits are useless.
However, if you’re interested in downloading the HSBC mobile app and spend 10K INR in first 30 days of opening credit card, one can get below:
1,000 INR cashback
3,000 INR postcard voucher
3 months Eazydiner Prime Membership
I applied for the HSBC TravelOne and received the card. Hope the 50% bonus points transfer offer for Accor comes again.
Recently got the card and loving it. Spent more than Rs1 lac in about 10 days. The day I hit 1 lac, 3000 points were immediately credited next day. The price guarantee is so good. Booked a hotel and found lower price on goibibo, called the helpline when they checked they immediately transferred Rs1500 in wallet. The app is good, with instant reflection of transactions and points posting next day which can be immediately used. Have done lots of forex Tx also as they are running 3.5% cashback of forex charges so effectively earning 4% points or 8% on Accor. Have to do some international booking on airline sites, this will surely help in minting some Accor points 😀.
What about the HSBC Taj Credit Card?
It’s great for those who spend about a lakh with Taj hotels.
Interestingly all three prominent travel cards including Amex PT, Atlas, and Travelone have the same annual fee of 5K +gst , but their reward rates vary highly.
1:5 for sanhri la and i read somewhere you can transfer sanhri la to qatar avios at 1:1. Correct me if i am wrong.
It’s 5:1 and not 1:5
because 1 One Shangri-La Circle point = ~5 INR
I have only tax payments to make on credit card of 30 Lacs should I take your private consultation?
Depends. You can explore HDFC BizBlack Credit Card and decide if you need a consultation.
Biz Black, HSBC Premier and Amex Plat Travel is public information. If you have any better rewards rate idea for Taxation ~30Lacs let me know and I’ll take premium consultation