The new welcome bonus offer for the HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® is here and it provides up to 80,000 bonus HSBC Rewards points for new cardholders. This is 20,000 less than the offer that was in the market for quite a few months. If history repeats itself we won't see that 100K offer return until the fall especially with this offer being marketed as ending on October 31, 2022.. On top of the new 80,000 point bonus is also a first year annual fee rebate for the primary cardholder. Once you have those 80,000 points they are worth $400 towards any travel! Since Quebec doesn't allow the first year free waiver the offer there is a whopping 110,000 points worth $550 towards travel but you do have to pay the annual fee so you end up with $401 in travel value.
The bonus outside of Quebec is awarded as follows:
- Welcome bonus of 20,000 points* ($100 travel value)
- Earn 40,000 points* when you spend $6,000 within 6 months of account opening ($200 travel value)
- Earn 20,000 points* as an anniversary bonus ($100 travel value)
and the card's purchase earn rates are as follows:
- 6 points per eligible dollar spent on all eligible travel spending - This earn rate is only awarded on the first $50,000 spent in this category annually
- 3 points per dollar spent on all other spending
The 80,000 points bonus once achieved are worth $400 in travel rewards but in fact you will have at least 98,000 points as you would be earning a minimum 3 points per dollar on the $6,000 in required spend. For travel redemptions with HSBC you actually book travel on your own and then redeem points against the charge once it posts to your account. This is the kind of flexibility we love but this card isn't just a travel points card, it is actually a Hybrid Card. This means points can also be converted to partners outside of HSBC Rewards. In this card's case, they can be transferred to British Airways Executive Club, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and this new welcome bonus is very attractive for those people looking to boost their accounts in these frequent flyer programs.
The points convert as follows:
- 2.5 points to 1 British Airways Executive Club Avios
- 3 points to 1.35 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Miles
- 3 points to 1.2 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
This means the sign up bonus is worth up to 32,000 Avios (39,200 if you take into account the spending) in British Airways' Executive Club which if you have followed us for sometime now know that is a good amount for a lot of various redemptions. And with the news of Qatar Airways Privilege Club officially moving to Avios as its loyalty currency and allowing direct 1:1 transfers from British Airways, the HSBC World Elite Mastercard can play a big part in earning Avios to redeem on Qatar Airways! It only takes 70,000 Avios to redeem for a one way Qatar Airways Qsuite business class award flight between Montreal and Doha so with this bonus and some spending on the card you can easily get to that number. In fact, chances are you can get there even sooner as HSBC typically offers a bonus once or twice per year when you convert your HSBC Rewards Points to British Airways Executive Club! And if history repeats itself we should be seeing that bonus by this summer.
Recommend reading: HSBC World Elite Mastercard Review
The sign up bonus and conversion options aren't the only good feature about this
card however. One of its best selling features is that it has No
Foreign Transaction
fees which saves you 2.5% on average on all non-C$ purchases. It also
comes with a $100 annual travel enhancement credit (to use
on bag fees, seat selection etc) and like most World Elite Mastercards
in Canada it has airport lounge access membership via DragonPass, free
Boingo WiFi and more.
Recommend Reading: No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards for Canadians & The Ultimate No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Card Portfolio
The points can also be redeemed for many other non-travel
items like merchandise, experiences, gift cards, HSBC financial
products and even for any purchases made on the card. HSBC calls this
last option their Cash Back Rebate and is 25,000 points for a $75
statement credit. That works
out to a 0.9% to 1.8% return (based on 3 points for everyday spending
and 6 points for travel) and also makes the welcome bonus of 80,000
points worth $240 for cash back rebates.
Click here to learn more about and/or apply for the card.
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®/TM Mastercard and World Elite are registered trademarks, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. Used pursuant to licence
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