HSBC Enters the Game – Accelerated Rewards Travel Portal Now Live!

[wr8_utd]

Whoever has been facing this issue with HSBC travel portal not visible- is it when you've upgraded from a previous card to travel one ? I have hit this issue on an upgrade and have seen multiple posts highlighting the same.
I've also read on other threads that after the ticket is raised, usually it starts working in 5-6 business days.

Yes, it is post the upgrade for me. It was absolutely fine when I had the visa platinum earlier but the minute I've upgraded it, I'm unable to access the portal.

 

[neo.puneet]

Same for me, i upgraded and it's not working. It used to work fine earlier. I have got the card on aug 26 i guess and it's not working since then. I also transacted twice but haven't received any reward points yet in the last 13 days.

 

[a7c]

If one already has the HSBC Premier credit card, should one also get the HSBC TravelOne Credit card? Because one may hit the limit of monthly accelerated points if booking international tickets for a whole family quite easily. Whereas if one has both the cards, one may utilise the Premier card for booking flights, and the TravelOne card for booking hotels, or vice-versa, according to personal choice and selection of flight and hotel costs, so as to remain within the cap of the 18,000 accelerated reward points monthly.

Of course, this scenario only applies if the monthly accelerated reward points cap of 18,000 points applies per card and not per person (for those who may have both the cards), and one has a sufficiently high credit limit in both cards so as to be able to book both flights and hotels while still staying within the limits of monthly accelerated reward points of 18,000 points, which is common to all the cards of HSBC.

Any update on this scenario?

 

[idharkyadekhraha]

Folks, I am regretting a bit after getting the Premier card. Two reasons-
A. The price difference between flight tickets on Smartbuy and iShop is around 10–20% (with HSBC being higher), which largely offsets the incremental rewards
B. The site is accessible only from mobile on a mobile browser. UI is okay and UX is something they definitely need to work upon

 

[ash_m]

Folks, I am regretting a bit after getting the Premier card. Two reasons-
A. The price difference between flight tickets on Smartbuy and iShop is around 10–20% (with HSBC being higher), which largely offsets the incremental rewards
B. The site is accessible only from mobile on a mobile browser. UI is okay and UX is something they definitely need to work upon

If SmartBuy flights are also priced lower, I guess the price should be lower on the airline website as well. Is there some limit or condition not allowing you to claim refund for the difference with HSBC as per their feature?

 

[wr8_utd]

I do feel they might be working on a more permanent solution for this because now, when I try access the travel portal, it doesn't even go to the page anymore where it says you're logged off. It just says we cannot access your details the minute I click on redeem reward points.

 

[wr8_utd]

Folks, I am regretting a bit after getting the Premier card. Two reasons-
A. The price difference between flight tickets on Smartbuy and iShop is around 10–20% (with HSBC being higher), which largely offsets the incremental rewards
B. The site is accessible only from mobile on a mobile browser. UI is okay and UX is something they definitely need to work upon

I'd used the Travel Portal and the prices are definitely consistently higher compared to other portals. I think its only hotel bookings where you will more than recover your costs and be profitable because even with the increased prices (I checked for Tokyo and Rome), the Accor rewards make it worth it. This is, ofcourse, if you do frequently travel and use Accor. I feel otherwise, Atlas is definitely the better option.

 

[abhisek08]

I do feel they might be working on a more permanent solution for this because now, when I try access the travel portal, it doesn't even go to the page anymore where it says you're logged off. It just says we cannot access your details the minute I click on redeem reward points.

Yes, just a while back I removed and reinstalled the app (while hoping it magically got fixed 🙂) , its no longer taking us to the same error , attached screenshot of the error now.

 

[neo.puneet]

A. The price difference between flight tickets on Smartbuy and iShop is around 10–20% (with HSBC being higher), which largely offsets the incremental rewards

is the flight price exactly the same as shown on hopper app?

I checked on hopper as i am unable to open the travel portal and found the flights to be expensive as well compared to google flights. I think I would also regret getting the Travel One card. It seems the issue is with the Hopper and not necessarily HSBC but they are at fault as well choosing Hopper when there are other better alternatives.

 

[wr8_utd]

Yes, just a while back I removed and reinstalled the app (while hoping it magically got fixed 🙂) , its no longer taking us to the same error , attached screenshot of the error now.

Yup, same error! I do feel that given the sheer number of complaints they must be receiving, they're probably working on a fix which explains it not opening the travel portal at all. One can hope!

is the flight price exactly the same as shown on hopper app?

I checked on hopper as i am unable to open the travel portal and found the flights to be expensive as well compared to google flights. I think I would also regret getting the Travel One card. It seems the issue is with the Hopper and not necessarily HSBC but they are at fault as well choosing Hopper when there are other better alternatives.

They definitely should have used a better third party partner and I also find that when you try to book rooms for more than 2 people, it doesn't give you a combination of room options like any aggregator would give. That being said, like I said in an earlier post, it seems a great option for hotels as even with the higher pricing, if you do use Accor, the rewards are really high. I only took it because I do frequently use Accor.

 

[ash_m]

is the flight price exactly the same as shown on hopper app?

I checked on hopper as i am unable to open the travel portal and found the flights to be expensive as well compared to google flights. I think I would also regret getting the Travel One card. It seems the issue is with the Hopper and not necessarily HSBC but they are at fault as well choosing Hopper when there are other better alternatives.

AFAIK Hopper is quite popular in US and few other countries. So I don't think it is a bad collaboration, especially in terms of these reward portals as well there should be some diversification and competition in the market.

I guess what matters is whether that 36/32 percent return (on Accor) substantially negates this increased fare or not. Like if returns on flight booking comes down to just 20 percent then you have got several other options - book with upfront discount using card offers on OTAs, or if you have Infinia/EPM then book over their portals.