Smartbuy is generally costlier travel website for flights, and computation of reward rate is wrong (Excluded Infinia/DCB)

[card-shard]

Lots of discussion on this forum & youtube focuses on 1:1 redemption of smartbuy for flights/hotels, and this is used to compute reward rate.
However, based on my experience, SMARTBUY based purchases aren't cost effective, and your end paying more than other online portals (EMT, Paytm, MMT).
So your reward rate effectively becomes lower than generic computation.

Smartbuy shows slighly higher price for flights in most cases, and then you can't apply any additional coupon codes/direct cashback offers from website.
If you could've purchased flight ticket from paytm for 10k (with additional card based offers), you often end up paying 12-13k on smartbuy (70% reward point + 30% pay & 99+ redemption charge for few card variants)
So if you get 25k rewards on spending 5L, you may think that rewards rate is 5%, but since you purchase a ticket by paying extra amount than paytm/MMT direct booking. Effective rate of rewards goes down to 2-4%.
(Additional headache, if you've to reschedule/cancel smartbuy based bookings)

Same goes for Apple products. On flipkart/Amazon you can get lower list price + card based discount. However list price of same products on smartbuy is higher, & no option to get diff card based discounts.
(No experience with travel bookings as compared to direct MMT/Yatra bookings.)
I guess same holds true for reward redemption portals of Amex & others.
If we ignore Infinia+smartbuy returns, I guess for any other HDFC card, EFFECTIVE returns are absymally low on smartbuy.

In my limited knowledge, SBI cashback / Millenia are best value for money cards (or any combination of Amazon + Ace + Airtel + Flipkart) for middle class people.

 

[card-shard]

I guess this is true if you have credit cards from all banks to make use of bank specific offers.

Till a year ago or so I used to always compare smartbuy prices with mmt (never bothered with other portals) and when using just the generic non-bank specific codes, I have never ever seen the kind of difference you talk of (10k vs 12k-13k). More often than not the offers would be for less preferred payment modes- emi, mobikwik/airtel wallets, kotak/idfc card. And unless you have cards from all banks and accounts in all wallets (vast majority certainly don’t), you won’t be able to always utilize these offers. I certainly was not able to.

Maybe I should be checking other portals too. But in my experience smartbuy has always proven to be superior when compared to mmt.

EMT/Flipkart/Paytm mostly have platform offers as well, eg: FLYFK coupon on flipkart to get additional discount.
ICICI has flight discount offers on makemytrip on every tuesday for quite some time.
You can also get few LTF cards to avail these offers/online sale offers: ICICI Platinum, AXIS Neo, etc...
10k vs 12-13k will come into effect, if you are booking long distance flights, return flights etc.

Never seen smartbuy price drastically higher than any OTAs.

I buy tickets on smartbuy only if I have 70% points to redeem. If you don't have points, cleartrip/yatra always have some credit card or the other that give 10-12% discount

My point is not about 70% points to redeem. My point is about the percentage at which you get those reward points on your spends.

 

[card-shard]

Credit card selling "premium" cards generally use "anchoring effect" to sell pricey cards.
They make use of higher prices on airports/premium hotels, eg: lounge (which is 800+tax/per person @ most domestic terminal - if paid in person).
And give few access per person free, based on certain spend criteria. Which makes people feel that they are getting good deal.

Card companies buy these access in bulk maybe @ 100-200/person from lounge companies.
First they "anchor" people on a higher price point thing (even when the actual cost is peanuts for them), and then they tell customers that if you spend certain amount in a month/quarter, they can few lounge accesses "free".
People then start playing that game, because of the anchoring effect.

People can search more for "anchoring technique" used by companies.

I see better value in getting 3-5% direct cashback cards, and offer shop for flight/hotel bookings on travel websites, and not be tied to a specific brand or smartbuy. But wiling to change opinion, if I am missing something in my assessment.

 

[anotheruser]

This would always be a debatable topic. Depends on card you hold and trip cost and number of people.
Skyscanner seems cheaper for single person most of the time but only for few of aggregators it aggregates. I have seen prices increase when I make it 2 people.
Also, card discounts are mostly limited for around a limit of 1k (mostly) which is easier to hit when you book for 2 or more people which is not the case for smartbuy.
From my experience , smartbuy prices are not always are on higher side.Its a hit and miss.
And, smartbuy is just an option amongst multiple options that are there. Book from wherever feels cheaper to you. i dont think anyone would blindly just buy from smartbuy.

 

[Slayer]

Never seen smartbuy price drastically higher than any OTAs.

+1 and nowadays OTAs are not even offering any decent discounts except on particular days of the week with a particular banking partner

This would always be a debatable topic. Depends on card you hold and trip cost and number of people.
Skyscanner seems cheaper for single person most of the time but only for few of aggregators it aggregates. I have seen prices increase when I make it 2 people.
Also, card discounts are mostly limited for around a limit of 1k (mostly) which is easier to hit when you book for 2 or more people which is not the case for smartbuy.
From my experience , smartbuy prices are not always are on higher side.Its a hit and miss.
And, smartbuy is just an option amongst multiple options that are there. Book from wherever feels cheaper to you. i dont think anyone would blindly just buy from smartbuy.

I would like to add that many people do not like to create accounts on OTAs due to the amount of spam and promo communications the person would receive and remembering and saving passwords, what smartbuy offers is basically what amzn or flopkart flights does

At the end some people value time over saving 2-3% more in real world value and these are the same people for whom HNI or super premium cards are aimed at

 

[card-shard]

@Slayer @anotheruser
My point is not abt convenience (please re-read the post, if needed).

It's just about "computed" reward rate of reward point like 1.5% (regalia), 3.3%(DCB/Infinia), upto 16% (DCB/Infinia+Gyftr) claimed by ppl here or on YouTube.
I am saying people in actual terms don't get that much returns.

 

[shrewdoc]

So it means 16% off on flights and hotel is just for name ?
Actula return is near to ACE and SBI Cashback of 5% ?

I totally agree... The 16.6% return I get with with DCB on smartbuy is effectively only 3-5% as other platforms give anywhere between 10-15% instant discount with bank offers

Best way is to redeem for Apay vouchers at 0.5 OR 1:1 for Tanishq vouchers (wife happy to life happy)

Or Miles transfer is also a good alternative.

Just booking via Smartbuy is a GIMMICK.

 

[sousnake]

I guess this is true if you have credit cards from all banks to make use of bank specific offers.

Till a year ago or so I used to always compare smartbuy prices with mmt (never bothered with other portals) and when using just the generic non-bank specific codes, I have never ever seen the kind of difference you talk of (10k vs 12k-13k). More often than not the offers would be for less preferred payment modes- emi, mobikwik/airtel wallets, kotak/idfc card. And unless you have cards from all banks and accounts in all wallets (vast majority certainly don’t), you won’t be able to always utilize these offers. I certainly was not able to.

Maybe I should be checking other portals too. But in my experience smartbuy has always proven to be superior when compared to mmt.

That is why I prefer to have atleast low level card of all banks preferably ltf. You never know which one gives you better discount.
Recently booked 2 flights with 12% discount - 1 with AU & 1 with HSBC on Paytm.

 

[sousnake]

@Slayer @anotheruser
My point is not abt convenience (please re-read the post, if needed).

It's just about "computed" reward rate of reward point like 1.5% (regalia), 3.3%(DCB/Infinia), upto 16% (DCB/Infinia+Gyftr) claimed by ppl here or on YouTube.
I am saying people in actual terms don't get that much returns.

Correct, 3.3% is not possible ideally.
Also Infinia becomes lot better compared to dcb as you earn points faster on gift cards. (16% vs 10%). DCB should be back up card not primary.

 

[NeoOnWheels]

Its all hit and miss - Mumbai to Kochi 1 passenger

 

[pranavcool]

I just checked 12% sbi code on cleartrip and smartbuy with conv fee, still i only pay 1400 with points taking into consideration and for direct with sbi i am paying 4500. How how smartbuy flights is only 5-10%

 

[sourpai]

To each of his/her own.

Smartbuy is not going to be cheap always. the trick lies in finding the right combination serving your needs to extract full point value. Do check below comparison.

There is no such thing as blanket conclusion

MMT Website:

Smartbuy Portal

 

[anotheruser]

@Slayer @anotheruser
My point is not abt convenience (please re-read the post, if needed).

It's just about "computed" reward rate of reward point like 1.5% (regalia), 3.3%(DCB/Infinia), upto 16% (DCB/Infinia+Gyftr) claimed by ppl here or on YouTube.
I am saying people in actual terms don't get that much returns.

Yeah, my point was also not about convenience.
And when someone say 12% -20% off on card , please do mention upto what amount also.
It holds well for 10k around price range.
And I am not supporting smartbuy as I myself have seen Missing flights and useless customer support but I have realised all aggregator of aggregators have similar support as they dont have direct integrations with airlines and mostly caching at their end cant do much as to how price comes up.
They should improve their services but again discount/offers are always relative. What may suit me might not suit you and vice versa.
I do believe 2 cards standout which are tata neu infinity via tata neu and icici amazon pay with Amazon prime but again have their own restrictions

 

[anotheruser]

To each of his/her own.

Smartbuy is not going to be cheap always. the trick lies in finding the right combination serving your needs to extract full point value. Do check below comparison.

There is no such thing as blanket conclusion

MMT Website:

Smartbuy Portal

Precisely. Offers themselves are upto individual. What suits one may not suit other.

 

[gamersgzb]

Best way is to redeem for Apay vouchers at 0.5 OR 1:1 for Tanishq vouchers (wife happy to life happy)

Or Miles transfer is also a good alternative.

Just booking via Smartbuy is a GIMMICK.

Can you explain how it is 1:1 for tanishq voucher?
I see 1:0.5 ... Thanks

 

[card-shard]

I just checked 12% sbi code on cleartrip and smartbuy with conv fee, still i only pay 1400 with points taking into consideration and for direct with sbi i am paying 4500. How how smartbuy flights is only 5-10%

You are missing whole point of % of reward computation on YOUR SPENDS.
I hope someone can explain it to you 😑

 

[pranavcool]

Can you explain how it is 1:1 for tanishq voucher?
I see 1:0.5 ... Thanks

For infinia only

 

[anotheruser]

Can you explain how it is 1:1 for tanishq voucher?
I see 1:0.5 ... Thanks

its for infinia only

 

[shrewdoc]

Can you explain how it is 1:1 for tanishq voucher?
I see 1:0.5 ... Thanks

I don't know as I don't have Infinia. Its what their website mentions:

 

[pranavcool]

You are missing whole point of % of reward computation on YOUR SPENDS.
I hope someone can explain it to you 😑

In your post you writing only 5-10% profit only, infinia like cards are just to use points as flight booking not getting cb or so.

 

[Googix]

It depends on finding the right flight. Say once i booked flights from chennai to bangalore with Smartbuy, where the cost is same with flight cost + convenience fees and after discount in other portals. In this case, i'm ok with booking in smartbuy, since i will get 16.6% rewards.
Most other times, almost always other portals will offer discount on full convenience fees, so its preferable to book with other portals.

But for redemption on flights, i find smartbuy superior. There are not award tickets but rather a cost ticket, so u won't have issues like recently across vistara award ticket issues. Even for award tickets, you have to pay taxes and other charges as additional.