What are HSBC Premier credit card points worth?

HSBC Premier recently added a lot of new airline transfer partners to its two credit cards, and introduced hotel transfer partners for the first time.

They are not standing still either. Yesterday we reported that EVA Air has quietly been added as the 12th HSBC travel transfer partner.

With such a large number of redemption partners now available, the HSBC Premier credit cards are a real alternative – or partner – to an American Express Membership Rewards card if you are looking for points with multiple transfer partners.

On that basis, I thought it was about time we did a similar article to our Membership Rewards one which looked at the most – and least – valuable ways to use HSBC Premier credit card points.

As a reminder, if you sign up for free to HSBC’s Premier current account (£75,000 income and a HSBC investment product required) you are allowed to apply for the free Premier credit card and the paid-for Premier World Elite credit card.

The two HSBC credit cards earn as follows:

• the free HSBC Premier card, reviewed here, earns 1 HSBC point per £1 spent, which translates to 0.5 airline miles or hotel points. There is no sign-up bonus.

• the £195 HSBC Premier World Elite card, reviewed here, earns 2 HSBC points per £1 spent, which translates to 1 airline mile or hotel point. There is a sign-up bonus of 80,000 points, worth 40,000 airline miles or hotel points, albeit this is spread over two years.

This article looks at the benefits of the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard.

Who are the HSBC Premier credit card travel partners?

Following the introduction of new partners in July 2022, you can now choose from:

Airline partners:

• Avios via British Airways Executive Club (oneworld)
• AsiaMiles via Cathay Pacific (oneworld)
• Emirates Skywards (no alliance)
• Etihad Guest (no alliance)
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands (Star Alliance)
• Finnair Plus (oneworld)
• Flying Blue (SkyTeam)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer (oneworld)
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (Star Alliance)
• TAP Miles&Go (Star Alliance)

Hotel partners:

• IHG One Rewards
• Wyndham Rewards

What is the transfer rate?

2 HSBC points will get you 1 airline mile or 1 hotel point. There is no minimum transfer.

Annoyingly, it is not possible to make points transfers via the HSBC app. You need to log in to the HSBC UK website using your HSBC Premier details.

Transfers to most, possibly all, partners are instantaneous which is very rare in the UK market. This is valuable if you see a reward flight available and want to lock it in before it disappears.

What are the alternatives if you don’t want travel points?

The main alternative to redeeming your HSBC Premier credit card points for airline miles or hotel points is to redeem for shopping vouchers.

1,500 HSBC points gets you £5 of vouchers. Retailers include Amazon, Costa, M&S, John Lewis and Tesco.

The only other ways to spend your points are ordering wine from a very limited selection at Laithwaites (at a similar valuation as the shopping vouchers) or having trees planted in your name.

What are HSBC Premier credit card points worth?

Remember that you earn 1 HSBC point per £1 spent on the free credit card and 2 HSBC points per £1 spent on the World Elite credit card.

0.625p per point (my target) – Avios, if HSBC continues its annual bonus

In the next paragraph I will look at why I value airline miles at 1p. However, for the last few years, HSBC has run an annual transfer bonus to Avios averaging 25%.

If this continues – and there was no sign of one this August, which is when they often appear – it would increase the value of an Avios transfer by 25%. This takes you from 0.5p (see below) to 0.625p.

0.5p per point (my target) – airline miles

My last piece on valuing Avios points is here and HSBC points transfer into Avios or various other airline schemes at 2:1.

It is impossible to tie down a tighter range because of the number of different airline partners and the various ways (upgrade, long-haul, short-haul, economy, premium) you can redeem.

My personal spreadsheet of the last 8.5m Avios I have redeemed shows that I got an average value of 1.2p.  This is based on what I would personally have been prepared to pay for the flights I took, which may be far different from what you would have paid.

Across Head for Points, we use 1p as our general value of an airline mile. As long as you don’t redeem for long-haul economy flights, this is usually achievable.

0.4p per point (guaranteed) – Nectar points via Avios

In early 2021, the supermarket loyalty scheme Nectar become a partner with Avios. You can convert 50,000 Avios points per month to Nectar, at a rate of 250 : 400.

Because a Nectar point has a fixed value of 0.5p when spent at Sainsbury’s, eBay or Argos, it means that 1 Avios can be turned into 1.6 Nectar points worth 0.8p.

As long as you shop at Sainsbury’s, eBay or Argos, you can get 0.4p per HSBC point, guaranteed.

To do this, you convert your HSBC points to Avios and then transfer them to Nectar. This article explains how to convert Avios into Nectar points.

0.33p per point (guaranteed) – shopping vouchers

1,500 HSBC points gets you £5 of shopping vouchers. You can pick from a range of UK retailers include Amazon, Costa, M&S, John Lewis and Tesco.

This works out at 0.33p per HSBC point.

It is difficult to see why you would want to do this given that you can convert into Avios and then on to Nectar and receive 0.4p per point. This gets you 20% more value.

Redeeming your points for cases of wine from Laithwaites gets you a similar 0.33p, give or take.

0.2p per point (my valuation) – IHG One Rewards points

The hotel transfer ratios stink.

The exchange rate from HSBC to hotel points is 2:1 – the same rate as used for airline miles. This is shocking value because, using a very broad generalisation, airline miles are worth 2x-3x what hotel points are worth.

I value an IHG One Rewards point at 0.4p. This means that 2 HSBC points gets you 0.4p of IHG One Rewards points, which is just 0.2p per HSBC point.

You should absolutely avoid this route. The only possible reason would be if you desperately needed some IHG One Rewards points quickly, because the transfer to IHG from HSBC points is instantaneous.

You will notice that I haven’t discussed Wyndham Rewards. This is because the chain has a very small presence in Europe and it is unlikely that you would be collecting or redeeming its points if you are UK based.

Conclusion

All in all, HSBC’s reward package is now much improved following the addition of the new airline and hotel partners in July 2022.

HSBC Premier has, overnight, established itself as the clear leader in the Visa / Mastercard space for anyone who wants a ‘convertible currency’ that could be moved to multiple travel rewards schemes.

The best transfer option is, in our view, a frequent flyer programme. This should allow you to maximise the value of your points, although this is easier if you already have an existing balance in a programme which puts you nearer to a high value reward.

If this isn’t for you, I recommend transferring to Avios points and then on to Nectar points. This route gets you 0.4p per HSBC point (a 0.4% return on spend on the free card and 0.8% on the paid card) to spend as Nectar credit in Sainsbury’s, Argos and on eBay.co.uk.

We do not recommend redeeming for shopping vouchers or hotel loyalty points. The value is far lower than taking the Nectar route.

Our full review of the free HSBC Premier credit card is here.

Our full review of the HSBC Premier World Elite credit card is here.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – October 2023 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.