Best Use of Atlas Reward points

[raviemailid]

Okay, so you have done the expense and collected reward points (or miles as Atlas prefers to call) in your kitty. How best can you utilize it? For the beginners, there are two ways of using the miles -

1. Go to https://edgerewards.axisbank.co.in/lms/home and use your miles to get gift coupons. The reward rate typically is 5:1, meaning 5 points for 1 rupee of gift voucher. Some may be good, some bad, but it is never 1:1. This is also the portal to see all your RPs and see which transaction is giving you how much.
2. Go to https://traveledge.axisbank.co.in/TE/home, where you'll go for your extra flight and hotel booking miles and use the points and miles transfer section to convert your miles to other hotel and flight chains. You can convert your miles to 1:2 here, meaning 1 mile is equal to 2 points for the respective hotel/flight. This is what we all end up doing.

But the problem here is that all the hotels and flights don't treat their points on an equal term. So 1 point of FlyingReturns doesn't mean 1 rupee while booking a flight. (it'll mean less).

Most of the flight partners give lower value of 1 point except maybe KrisFlyer and ClubVistara (people can correct me here). My advice is to never convert your miles to airline points. It gives you a very poor return. Also, those airline points can only be used for your own travel as the points are tied to the airline ID.

The benefit is actually in transferring to a hotel and among all the hotel Accor works the best and IHG and Marriott Bonvoy are the worst. ClubITC give you a fair 1:1 value of points and room cost. So if you have 5000 miles, you'll get 10000 points when transferring to Club ITC and if you're trying to book a room worth 10k, you can use all of your points and book it. This ratio is 1:0.5 in IHG and Bonvoy, resulting in a very poor value. I have 10k points in IHG and I am looking forward to ways to utilize it better.

Accor give you 1:1.8 value on your points. So if you send 5k miles to accor, you'll get 10k points. And each point is equal to 1.8 rupee so you can use 10k points to book hotel room worth 18000.

So from all the analysis so far - ACCOR works best, followed by ITC. Rest all are worthless, resulting in Atlas points to be meaningless unless you want to use it for these two partners.

 

[SM24]

1. Worthless to transfer to airlines
2. Points can be used only for self.

Not true, in most scenarios, for most airlines.

It can be tough to get Re 1 value per point for economy class, mostly.

Business class Rs 2 upwards is mostly a given, if you know how to play the points and miles games well.

 

[Wealth is my birth right!]

Okay, so you have done the expense and collected reward points (or miles as Atlas prefers to call) in your kitty. How best can you utilize it? For the beginners, there are two ways of using the miles -

1. Go to https://edgerewards.axisbank.co.in/lms/home and use your miles to get gift coupons. The reward rate typically is 5:1, meaning 5 points for 1 rupee of gift voucher. Some may be good, some bad, but it is never 1:1. This is also the portal to see all your RPs and see which transaction is giving you how much.
2. Go to https://traveledge.axisbank.co.in/TE/home, where you'll go for your extra flight and hotel booking miles and use the points and miles transfer section to convert your miles to other hotel and flight chains. You can convert your miles to 1:2 here, meaning 1 mile is equal to 2 points for the respective hotel/flight. This is what we all end up doing.

But the problem here is that all the hotels and flights don't treat their points on an equal term. So 1 point of FlyingReturns doesn't mean 1 rupee while booking a flight. (it'll mean less).

Most of the flight partners give lower value of 1 point except maybe KrisFlyer and ClubVistara (people can correct me here). My advice is to never convert your miles to airline points. It gives you a very poor return. Also, those airline points can only be used for your own travel as the points are tied to the airline ID.

The benefit is actually in transferring to a hotel and among all the hotel Accor works the best and IHG and Marriott Bonvoy are the worst. ClubITC give you a fair 1:1 value of points and room cost. So if you have 5000 miles, you'll get 10000 points when transferring to Club ITC and if you're trying to book a room worth 10k, you can use all of your points and book it. This ratio is 1:0.5 in IHG and Bonvoy, resulting in a very poor value. I have 10k points in IHG and I am looking forward to ways to utilize it better.

Accor give you 1:1.8 value on your points. So if you send 5k miles to accor, you'll get 10k points. And each point is equal to 1.8 rupee so you can use 10k points to book hotel room worth 18000.

So from all the analysis so far - ACCOR works best, followed by ITC. Rest all are worthless, resulting in Atlas points to be meaningless unless you want to use it for these two partners.

ITC is a valid point and true to have that luxury either stay or lunch buffets
Not all airmiles we can say non profit.
There are small hacks like booking tickets by award then using 1 tier upgrade vouchers to business class for ex
Thanks for the article btw

 

[SSV]

Okay, so you have done the expense and collected reward points (or miles as Atlas prefers to call) in your kitty. How best can you utilize it? For the beginners, there are two ways of using the miles -

1. Go to https://edgerewards.axisbank.co.in/lms/home and use your miles to get gift coupons. The reward rate typically is 5:1, meaning 5 points for 1 rupee of gift voucher. Some may be good, some bad, but it is never 1:1. This is also the portal to see all your RPs and see which transaction is giving you how much.
2. Go to https://traveledge.axisbank.co.in/TE/home, where you'll go for your extra flight and hotel booking miles and use the points and miles transfer section to convert your miles to other hotel and flight chains. You can convert your miles to 1:2 here, meaning 1 mile is equal to 2 points for the respective hotel/flight. This is what we all end up doing.

But the problem here is that all the hotels and flights don't treat their points on an equal term. So 1 point of FlyingReturns doesn't mean 1 rupee while booking a flight. (it'll mean less).

Most of the flight partners give lower value of 1 point except maybe KrisFlyer and ClubVistara (people can correct me here). My advice is to never convert your miles to airline points. It gives you a very poor return. Also, those airline points can only be used for your own travel as the points are tied to the airline ID.

The benefit is actually in transferring to a hotel and among all the hotel Accor works the best and IHG and Marriott Bonvoy are the worst. ClubITC give you a fair 1:1 value of points and room cost. So if you have 5000 miles, you'll get 10000 points when transferring to Club ITC and if you're trying to book a room worth 10k, you can use all of your points and book it. This ratio is 1:0.5 in IHG and Bonvoy, resulting in a very poor value. I have 10k points in IHG and I am looking forward to ways to utilize it better.

Accor give you 1:1.8 value on your points. So if you send 5k miles to accor, you'll get 10k points. And each point is equal to 1.8 rupee so you can use 10k points to book hotel room worth 18000.

So from all the analysis so far - ACCOR works best, followed by ITC. Rest all are worthless, resulting in Atlas points to be meaningless unless you want to use it for these two partners.

I will bring an expert here ..
Here comes the Rockstar of the magnonomous order... @drsel .. a true Burgundy Magnus star ..

 

[drsel]

I will bring an expert here ..
Here comes the Rockstar of the magnonomous order... @drsel .. a true Burgundy Magnus star ..

What he said is absolutely spot on

 

[SSV]

What he said is absolutely spot on

okay.. I didn't even read it..as I dont have premium cards..
I thought you will pitch in your views.. thanks for stopping by

 

[drsel]

Okay, so you have done the expense and collected reward points (or miles as Atlas prefers to call) in your kitty. How best can you utilize it? For the beginners, there are two ways of using the miles -

1. Go to https://edgerewards.axisbank.co.in/lms/home and use your miles to get gift coupons. The reward rate typically is 5:1, meaning 5 points for 1 rupee of gift voucher. Some may be good, some bad, but it is never 1:1. This is also the portal to see all your RPs and see which transaction is giving you how much.
2. Go to https://traveledge.axisbank.co.in/TE/home, where you'll go for your extra flight and hotel booking miles and use the points and miles transfer section to convert your miles to other hotel and flight chains. You can convert your miles to 1:2 here, meaning 1 mile is equal to 2 points for the respective hotel/flight. This is what we all end up doing.

But the problem here is that all the hotels and flights don't treat their points on an equal term. So 1 point of FlyingReturns doesn't mean 1 rupee while booking a flight. (it'll mean less).

Most of the flight partners give lower value of 1 point except maybe KrisFlyer and ClubVistara (people can correct me here). My advice is to never convert your miles to airline points. It gives you a very poor return. Also, those airline points can only be used for your own travel as the points are tied to the airline ID.

The benefit is actually in transferring to a hotel and among all the hotel Accor works the best and IHG and Marriott Bonvoy are the worst. ClubITC give you a fair 1:1 value of points and room cost. So if you have 5000 miles, you'll get 10000 points when transferring to Club ITC and if you're trying to book a room worth 10k, you can use all of your points and book it. This ratio is 1:0.5 in IHG and Bonvoy, resulting in a very poor value. I have 10k points in IHG and I am looking forward to ways to utilize it better.

Accor give you 1:1.8 value on your points. So if you send 5k miles to accor, you'll get 10k points. And each point is equal to 1.8 rupee so you can use 10k points to book hotel room worth 18000.

So from all the analysis so far - ACCOR works best, followed by ITC. Rest all are worthless, resulting in Atlas points to be meaningless unless you want to use it for these two partners.

How would you compare ITC cheapest hotels with Vistara economy class (booking for yourself and spouse and child)?

 

[SSV]

Okay, so you have done the expense and collected reward points (or miles as Atlas prefers to call) in your kitty. How best can you utilize it? For the beginners, there are two ways of using the miles -

1. Go to https://edgerewards.axisbank.co.in/lms/home and use your miles to get gift coupons. The reward rate typically is 5:1, meaning 5 points for 1 rupee of gift voucher. Some may be good, some bad, but it is never 1:1. This is also the portal to see all your RPs and see which transaction is giving you how much.
2. Go to https://traveledge.axisbank.co.in/TE/home, where you'll go for your extra flight and hotel booking miles and use the points and miles transfer section to convert your miles to other hotel and flight chains. You can convert your miles to 1:2 here, meaning 1 mile is equal to 2 points for the respective hotel/flight. This is what we all end up doing.

But the problem here is that all the hotels and flights don't treat their points on an equal term. So 1 point of FlyingReturns doesn't mean 1 rupee while booking a flight. (it'll mean less).

Most of the flight partners give lower value of 1 point except maybe KrisFlyer and ClubVistara (people can correct me here). My advice is to never convert your miles to airline points. It gives you a very poor return. Also, those airline points can only be used for your own travel as the points are tied to the airline ID.

The benefit is actually in transferring to a hotel and among all the hotel Accor works the best and IHG and Marriott Bonvoy are the worst. ClubITC give you a fair 1:1 value of points and room cost. So if you have 5000 miles, you'll get 10000 points when transferring to Club ITC and if you're trying to book a room worth 10k, you can use all of your points and book it. This ratio is 1:0.5 in IHG and Bonvoy, resulting in a very poor value. I have 10k points in IHG and I am looking forward to ways to utilize it better.

Accor give you 1:1.8 value on your points. So if you send 5k miles to accor, you'll get 10k points. And each point is equal to 1.8 rupee so you can use 10k points to book hotel room worth 18000.

So from all the analysis so far - ACCOR works best, followed by ITC. Rest all are worthless, resulting in Atlas points to be meaningless unless you want to use it for these two partners.

Thanks for sharing.. will be very useful info for everyone...

 

[bs77]

I guess transferring to accor is better,
Apart from hotel and restaurant meals which gives rs 1.8 per point.

it also have 1:1 transfer ratio to some airlines -6 airlines.

 

[drsel]

I guess transferring to accor is better,
Apart from hotel and restaurant meals which gives rs 1.8 per point.

it also have 1:1 transfer ratio to some airlines -6 airlines.

All restaurants & meals at any of the Accor hotels will value the points at 90 Paisa
This gives an indication of the real worth of the points.

 

[bs77]

All restaurants & meals at any of the Accor hotels will value the points at 90 Paisa
This gives an indication of the real worth of the points.

I have always paid restaurant bill with room bill and it's charged at same points ratio 2000points 40 euro equivalent.

 

[drsel]

I have always paid restaurant bill with room bill and it's charged at same points ratio 2000points 40 euro equivalent.

That's the smartest thing to do.
don't eat at a restaurant unless you are staying in the hotel and tell the restaurant to add it to your room bill

 

[ccrnc]

Most restaurants in 5stars have huge discounts on Zomato/Dineout/EazyDiner. 40-50% is often the norm via these apps on this class of eateries. I personally prefer to settle restaurant bills through them and save the points for further stays.

 

[coolguy1]

Bonus tip:

Don't read point 1.

Only read and use point 2.

 

[Wealth is my birth right!]

Most restaurants in 5stars have huge discounts on Zomato/Dineout/EazyDiner. 40-50% is often the norm via these apps on this class of eateries. I personally prefer to settle restaurant bills through them and save the points for further stays.

Yes
The star hotel restaurants if we book by those apps they r not taking points for bill payments
That 40 or 50% discount i think its from our payment only hotels offer commission to apps

 

[eldraco]

Me (who uses only cheap AirBnbs for stays): Nuh-uh.

 

[raviemailid]

Not true, in most scenarios, for most airlines

Thank you for response SM24, please help me with those scenarios and the airlines. I really want to be able to use the Atlas miles for my family trip in September but no scenario and no airline seemed like a worthy 1:1 return. Any help here will help lot of atlas users.

Business class Rs 2 upwards is mostly a given, if you know how to play the points and miles games well.

If hotels allow allowed better utilisation of points for booking suite rooms only and not for the standard rooms, then the points would not be truly the worth what they are. Accor allows 1.8 for any room booking and that IMO is great value, if it was only for suite rooms costing 30-40k then there is a fair question on whole atlas 4% value.

 

[raviemailid]

How would you compare ITC cheapest hotels with Vistara economy class (booking for yourself and spouse and child)

Atlas miles can be used for only your flight booking, not for family. If you do points +cash, terrible reward, if you do direct points, then 2 Vistara points is equal to 1 rupee (approximately), you pay roughly 1022 rupee of taxes extra. Hotel is straight forward- you book the room for family with your points and you get 1:1 return. Not as good as Accor, still good.

it also have 1:1 transfer ratio to some airlines -6 airlines.

The transfer of miles from Atlas to respective airlines miles is same 1:2, however all airlines treat the value of miles differently and I haven’t seen a scenario yet where 1 airline point is 1 rupee.

There might have been some scenarios and airlines where it might be true, I am hoping @SM24 above or any other user of Atlas or frequent airlines miles user helps us with those scenarios and airlines. I have Club Vistara and FlyingReturns account domestic and Qatar, and Emirates internationally. Will love to explore using points over airlines with value.

 

[bs77]

Qantas del to helensiki 24500 miles one way

areoplan will take you del to Milan / frankfurt for 25000 miles one way
Almost all days of September

Tax amount is under 5000rs

Just bought for myself few days back one way from awards and return by revenue on gulf air( which ever is most economical)
25000 points departure + 26000rs for return revenue ticket

 

[raviemailid]

Qantas del to helensiki 24500 miles one way

So you do have a chance of 1:1 benefit of airlines points while booking International flight. This is helpful, thank you. Domestic, the rewards sucks,