HDFC Diners Club Privilege Credit Card Review

At a joining fee of Rs. 2,500, the card offers the following subscriptions plans upon spending Rs. 75,000 within the first 90 days or upon paying the joining fee.

As clear from the table above, the welcome value benefits surpasses the joining fee charged on this card.  Additionally an advantage over and above this benefit is that the complimentary annual memberships can be availed upon achieving annual spend milestone of Rs. 5 lakh at the time of card anniversary. Thus, the welcome benefit offers benefit around dining, shopping, travel, and online news subscriptions. This can be a great option and you can start saving from the very beginning itself.

If you spend Rs. 40,000 in a month with your HDFC Diners Club Privilege Credit Card , you will get an additional voucher of Rs. 500. You can choose vouchers from the following brands-

• Ola Select Membership
• TataCliQ
• BookMyShow
• Cult.fit Live

The fact that you get a monthly benefit is in itself a  good point, as most cards either offer quarterly or yearly milestone benefits. The drawback here is that you need to spend a lot to avail the milestone benefits. Had the amount been lower, it could have been one of the best benefits offered by the card. 

The reward points offered by HDFC Diners Club Privilege Credit Card are satisfactory but not great when compared to other premium credit cards of the same category. The reward points can be earned in the following manner:

• 4 Reward Points on every Rs. 150 spent
• 2X Reward Points on Weekend Dining
• Up to 10X rewards on spends via Smart Buy

Though the reward offered on this card is decent, yet the silver lining here is that the rewards can be redeemed against multiple categories such as product catalogue, airmiles, flights and hotel bookings, and cash back. Note that 1 Reward Point= Rs. 0.50 in case of flight & hotel bookings via Smart Buy or Air Miles redemption, however, 1 reward point= up to Rs. 0.35 in case of product catalogue and Rs. 0.25 for redemption against cashback.

One good thing about this rewards program is that you can book stay in international hotels as well using this card. A number of airline service providers are linked with the Frequent Flyer Program under which you can redeem reward points to pay for 70% of the flight tickets. However if you are not satisfied with the reward points offered by the card, you can surely have a look at the other premium credit cards from popular banks.

The airport lounge benefit provided by the card is one of the best benefits available. You get 12 complimentary airport lounge access to more than 1000 lounges in India and worldwide. The unique feature here is that this benefit can be availed by both primary and add-on cardholders in a calendar year. Click here for the list of lounges. 

Additionally, you also have the option to convert your accumulated reward points into air miles where 1 reward point = 50 paise/ 0.5 Air Mile. The reward points can be used to book a stay in hotel or flight tickets under Frequent Flyer Membership, hence if you are somebody who frequently travels, this card could be a good choice.

With this credit card, you can avail 2 complimentary golf games per quarter across the finest courses in the world. 

Click here for list of Domestic Golf Courses/ Click here for list of International Golf Courses.

Following are some of the additional benefits offered by the card-

HDFC Diners Club Privilege Credit Card is a premium credit card with benefits aimed towards those who lead a luxurious lifestyle. You should go for HDFC Diners Club Privilege Credit Card if:

• You would be able to achieve a monthly spend of Rs. 40,000 and would like to avail vouchers from BookMyShow, Ola Cabs, Tata Cliq or cult.fit Live
• You would like to avail complimentary Annual Membership of Zomato Pro, Amazon Prime, MakeMyTrip Black, Times Prime and BigBasket Star.
• You would be able to spend Rs. 5 lakh annually to avail the complimentary memberships.
• You are inclined towards golf, as the card offers 2 complimentary golf games per quarter across the finest courses in the world.
• You are fine with low AirMile conversion rate, where 1 Reward Point= 0.5 AirMile,  or up to 0.35 Airmile in case of product catalogue or 0.20 against cash back.
  

With a number of benefits, HDFC Diners Club Privilege credit card has some limitations as well. You should not go for this card if:

• You love to watch movies a lot. You can alternatively opt for RBL Popcorn credit card
• You do not want to pay the relatively higher annual fee of Rs. 2,500 + GST. You can check other credit cards with annual fee up to Rs. 2,500.
• You want cashback on online spends. In such a case, you can opt for Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card, Flipkart Axis Bank credit card or Standard Chartered DigiSmart Credit Card.

HDFC Bank Diners Club Privilege Credit Card offers an overall reward rate of 2.55% (1.25% accelerated rewards rate + 1.3% regular rewards rate). With this card, you will get benefits in the form of monthly vouchers and annual memberships (Monthly vouchers are dependent on achieving monthly spend of Rs. 40,000). Access to complimentary Golf games twice per quarter will also entice Golf lovers. All-in-all if you are a frequent traveler and spend much on international transactions and are willing to pay a higher annual fee of Rs. 2,500, this card could be a great choice for you.