I'm not trying to be provocative, just genuinely puzzled about why this card is held in such high regard and so many people seem to think it's some kind of endgame card.
Just to break the benefits down:
1. 3.3% reward rate on regular spends (with a whole bunch of exclusion categories). This is hardly best in class, even if you take the Magnus party to be over.
2. Unlimited Priority Pass. Meh. Been there, got that.
3. Get one night's stay free on a two-night paid stay (at best available rate, I assume). Decent, but limited to ITC hotels. Ditto for the buy one-get one on buffets. Also, few five-star buffets are all that great, and I don't think most ITC restaurants make that cut. I'd rather take the Magnus Eazydiner 40% off up to Rs 1000 at a large number of restaurants (of which a large number are very good) once a month instead.
4. Club Marriott membership. Overrated and you end up spending a fair amount if you try to optimise this membership. And its for just the first year.
5. "Global Personal Concierge". Yeah, right. Bollocks. I think just about every so-called credit card concierge available in India below the level of the Amex Centurion one, probably, is rubbish.
6. "Metallic card". Ergo, a heavier wallet. A truly stunning benefit.
7. Forex mark-up of just 2%. Cancelled out by the lack of a points accelerator on forex spends.
8. Good Food Trail Programme. I do not know what this is and don't care enough to find out.
9. Overseas travel insurance. Appreciated, but you need to yell at them to actually get a valid policy document
10. Smartbuy travel portal for accelerated rewards. I'd rather book directly with airlines and hotels because when things go wrong, you're most likely screwed if you've booked with an OTA, particularly those like Yatra and whoever, who are Smartbuy's vendors. But yeah, I can see this is a solid benefit for those who don't mind booking via OTAs. Though with the caps on points earning per day/transaction, the rewards are not as good as they used to be.
11. Gyftr voucherswhatever blah. Okay. A valuable benefit.
I don't know if I've missed something major, but if you look at that list, it's wildly disproportionate to the awestruck talk this card inspires. Truly a marketing case study of demand created by artificial scarcity and social media buzz. If the restrictions about how many points you can earn a day did not apply and the terms and conditions were the same as they were some 3 years ago, this card would be a clear winner, but the way it is now, I don't think it is quite that?
Just to break the benefits down:
1. 3.3% reward rate on regular spends (with a whole bunch of exclusion categories). This is hardly best in class, even if you take the Magnus party to be over.
2. Unlimited Priority Pass. Meh. Been there, got that.
3. Get one night's stay free on a two-night paid stay (at best available rate, I assume). Decent, but limited to ITC hotels. Ditto for the buy one-get one on buffets. Also, few five-star buffets are all that great, and I don't think most ITC restaurants make that cut. I'd rather take the Magnus Eazydiner 40% off up to Rs 1000 at a large number of restaurants (of which a large number are very good) once a month instead.
4. Club Marriott membership. Overrated and you end up spending a fair amount if you try to optimise this membership. And its for just the first year.
5. "Global Personal Concierge". Yeah, right. Bollocks. I think just about every so-called credit card concierge available in India below the level of the Amex Centurion one, probably, is rubbish.
6. "Metallic card". Ergo, a heavier wallet. A truly stunning benefit.
7. Forex mark-up of just 2%. Cancelled out by the lack of a points accelerator on forex spends.
8. Good Food Trail Programme. I do not know what this is and don't care enough to find out.
9. Overseas travel insurance. Appreciated, but you need to yell at them to actually get a valid policy document
10. Smartbuy travel portal for accelerated rewards. I'd rather book directly with airlines and hotels because when things go wrong, you're most likely screwed if you've booked with an OTA, particularly those like Yatra and whoever, who are Smartbuy's vendors. But yeah, I can see this is a solid benefit for those who don't mind booking via OTAs. Though with the caps on points earning per day/transaction, the rewards are not as good as they used to be.
11. Gyftr vouchers
I don't know if I've missed something major, but if you look at that list, it's wildly disproportionate to the awestruck talk this card inspires. Truly a marketing case study of demand created by artificial scarcity and social media buzz. If the restrictions about how many points you can earn a day did not apply and the terms and conditions were the same as they were some 3 years ago, this card would be a clear winner, but the way it is now, I don't think it is quite that?
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