Infinia Infinia worthiness

[VGisHere]

I went through Infinia Metal Card review and noted some points.

Pros -
1. Unlimited lounge access (domestic, international) for both primary, add-on (up to 3) card holders! (Big pro, need not keep track or multiple cards)!
2. Unlimited Golf games/coaching (not sure how many people actually claim, but would still keep it)!
3. Some ITC hotels tie-up benefits!
4. Insurance cover (definitely worthy)


Reward Rate Structure -
1. 3.3% RP on normal/every transaction.
Redemption - 1% for statement credit, 1.65% for smartbuy shopping, 3.3% for Smartbuy (Apple, Tanishq, Flights, Hotels) + AirMiles conversion.

2. 33% RP for flights/hotels on Smartbuy.
Redemption - 10% for statement credit, 16.5% for smartbuy shopping, 33% for Smartbuy (Apple, Tanishq, Flights, Hotels) + AirMiles conversion.

3. 16.5% RP for Smartbuy (Amazon, Gift voucher)
Redemption - 5% for statement credit, 8.25% for smartbuy shopping, 16.5% for Smartbuy (Apple, Tanishq, Flights, Hotels) + AirMiles conversion.

4. 9.9% RP for Smartbuy (Flipkart, Train booking)
Redemption - 3% for statement credit, 5% for smartbuy shopping, 9.9% for Smartbuy (Apple, Tanishq, Flights, Hotels) + AirMiles conversion.


Cons -
1. High Fees (12.5k + GST) = Rs. 14750
2. Welcome/Renewal Benefit = 12.5k points (recovered only if used on Smartbuy for Apple/Tanishq/Flights/Hotels OR Airmiles conversion) (big con)
3. Capping of payment up to 70% of the price with RPs
4. Very high NRV eligibility criteria (filters out big chunk)
5. Capping for Smartbuy transactions (15k per month) (so if you book hotel/flights for 45k, that's it!)
6. Forex markup - 2% + GST (higher than bunch of cards in market)
7. High fee waiver criteria (10L)
8. Capping for insurance transactions (5k per day, i.e., 1.5L spend)
9. Rent payment RP (Not eligible) + charges 1% extra
10. Redemption capping - 1.5L RP for flights/hotels; 50k for Tanishq per month; 50k against statement balance


So, after all these Cons, I'm wondering why are some people still going for Infinia card?
Is it only the unlimited domestic/international lounge access for self and add on card holders?
Or am I missing something basic here?
What strategies do people use to maximise benefit out of this card?
For people holding Axis Magnus, does this card make sense at all (except for lounge access)?

 

[djaz]

Can i use infinia card or the associated PP card to swipe for additional guests without any charge? or is it only for self?

 

[CMG]

Can i use infinia card or the associated PP card to swipe for additional guests without any charge? or is it only for self?

No. Guest access is chargeable.

 

[Syed abdur raoof]

For paypal payments , paying in INR or USD which method is more benificial ?

 

[nithin1992]

For paypal payments , paying in INR or USD which method is more benificial ?

Paying in USD is more beneficial most of the times

 

[Syed abdur raoof]

Paying in USD is more beneficial most of the times

Thank you. what will be the reward rate if i pay in USD?

 

[mojo_jojo123]

For infinia LTF, one needs to be IITian or IIMian, the offer is running rit now.

One can get axis magnus for free if they have a salary account with axis and monthly salary credit is 3L and above.

What happens if we close salry account post getting magnus? Doest stays LTF?

I think Alumni offer is only for Diners Club black and not Infinia

 

[mojo_jojo123]

Smartbuy is the easiest no non-sense platform to use. Whatever flight/hotels you can book on cleartrip/MMT, you can book headache-free on Smartbuy with 70% points. Unlike airmiles with imagnus, which are a game that requires 10s of hours to research and execute correctly to book tickets/hotels.

The reward rate is low, but sometimes the benefit is something that you cannot get with miles. Recently I couldn't get vistara tickets via CV points because the CV points seats were sold out, but I could easily get the same tickets on smartbuy. So it's good to have infnia as backup card, especially for large spends after the 1L milestone. Nothing beats magnus until 1L of course.

smartbuy prices are always higher when compared to skyscanner .. also smartbuy charges convenience fee which is not there in skyscanner

 

[NikhilTravelLover]

smartbuy prices are always higher when compared to skyscanner .. also smartbuy charges convenience fee which is not there in skyscanner

Agreed.

There many types of individuals with many preferences. Not a single method is best for anybody.

1. Who likes rewards points game, will think that smartbuy is the best way to use. They dont bother to paying extra penny.
2. People like me and you will compare many platforms to get the best deal and save money.
3.Some fly pvt jets, so they are don't know anything.😄

Personally, I think it's up to us to choose between many methods and take the best way.

P.S.-I wish I could belong to no. 3.🤪😁

 

[sxchzy]

so one should compare the extra money being paid at smartbuy against the value of accelerated reward points being received
which brings more value
decide accordingly

 

[shuperman]

smartbuy prices are always higher when compared to skyscanner .. also smartbuy charges convenience fee which is not there in skyscanner

The way I look at valuing the Infinia reward points is two ways:
1. Based on my analysis, the extra we pay on smartbuy in general will not be more than 15% of the total value and 10% being more common. Let us assume the overhead as 15% which means we should reduce the value of reward points by 15% to judge its actual value.. assuming i get 16.5% RPs on all the accelerated spends and 3.33% on regular spends, the adjusted returns (16.5 - 15%) is still 14% for accelerated spends and 2.83% for regular spends which is still better than almost all cards (Only exception being Burgundy Magnus)
2. It is the most flexible card in redeeming the reward points on flights without the complexity of airmiles maze which everyone are not comfortable with

 

[navam]

So my most recent experience while booking a flight to mumbai was the smartbuy rates were > 30% more compared to mmt. So no amount of points were gonna cover it.

 

[shuperman]

So my most recent experience while booking a flight to mumbai was the smartbuy rates were > 30% more compared to mmt. So no amount of points were gonna cover it.

has never seen that.. can you give more context to your search like is the travel date near or far from when you searched? Was that the same across all the carriers? or any particular route you saw this?

 

[navam]

has never seen that.. can you give more context to your search like is the travel date near or far from when you searched? Was that the same across all the carriers? or any particular route you saw this?

I posted about it here - https://www.technofino.in/community/threads/smartbuy-infinia-flight-prices-are-insane.18200/

Only checked del to bom route, return flight.

 

[bonheur]

smartbuy prices are always higher when compared to skyscanner .. also smartbuy charges convenience fee which is not there in skyscanner

Never had this experience somehow, and I've had my fair share of Smartbuy bookings (mostly flights). On top of that, Smartbuy isn't an aggregator anymore as it used to be and has partnered with Cleartrip, Yatra, Easemytrip and Goibibo as OTA, and the SB prices for me always match the price on these individual portals. So I have honestly no idea what you guys are on about.

 

[mojo_jojo123]

no one can beat skyscanner + sbi Cashback CC

 

[sourpai]

Even I have found Smartbuy flight prices to be at par with all other OTAs. Infact, since smartbuy aggregates all 4 OTAs, you can check, compare and book the lowest price with a specific OTA among 4. By this way I have actually found lower fares on goibibo on smartbuy couple of times compared to other OTAs

Only difference is the convenience fees as direct OTA bookings have some card offers to offset the convenience fees. So for me value of Infinia points is around 0.9 - 0.92 per point (which is what I got almost every time)

 

[NikhilTravelLover]

Even I have found Smartbuy flight prices to be at par with all other OTAs. Infact, since smartbuy aggregates all 4 OTAs, you can check, compare and book the lowest price with a specific OTA among 4. By this way I have actually found lower fares on goibibo on smartbuy couple of times compared to other OTAs

Only difference is the convenience fees as direct OTA bookings have some card offers to offset the convenience fees. So for me value of Infinia points is around 0.9 - 0.92 per point (which is what I got almost every time)

Nice info.
Just to ask, how about hotel prices in smartbuy? Are those inflated or comparable with others?

 

[sourpai]

Nice info.
Just to ask, how about hotel prices in smartbuy? Are those inflated or comparable with others?

Hotels is a mixed bag. But I still use it when the final price difference between OTAs and Smartbuy is <10%. 80-85% of the times I found the price difference to be less than 7-8%. I am anyways willing to discount Infinia points at 0.9 so it works for me.

In one instance while booking Grand Mercure Mysuru, I found the smartbuy pricing to be better than Accor member rate (half board rate). So search and take a call

I think where Infinia and other OTAs also fail to some extent is the member special rates on some hotel chains. In these cases, the difference can exceed 10%

 

[rohitpgarg]

5 star hotels have the same rates in smartbuy.

For others, smartbuy is 10-15% more, but it gives 33% points back, so.....

 

[mojo_jojo123]

Hotels is a mixed bag. But I still use it when the final price difference between OTAs and Smartbuy is <10%. 80-85% of the times I found the price difference to be less than 7-8%. I am anyways willing to discount Infinia points at 0.9 so it works for me.

In one instance while booking Grand Mercure Mysuru, I found the smartbuy pricing to be better than Accor member rate (half board rate). So search and take a call

I think where Infinia and other OTAs also fail to some extent is the member special rates on some hotel chains. In these cases, the difference can exceed 10%

btw how was Grand Mercure Mysuru stay ,, is it worth ?