HDFC Regalia Credit Card Review: An All-Rounder Card for Shoppers & Travellers

Note: This is an old post. Some of the benefits on this card may have changed. Please refer to this page for the latest information.

HDFC Regalia Credit Card is one of the most popular credit cards by HDFC Bank. It is counted in the premium cards category as well as in the travel category. HDFC Bank promotes it as a card made to suit luxury needs of the customers.

Exclusive Dining Benefits with Zomato Gold Membership

HDFC Regalia Credit Card offers double the benefits on dining- through a complimentary Zomato Gold Membership and through the Good Food Trail Dining Program.

Under the free Zomato Gold Membership, cardholders can avail:

• 1+1 offer on food; or
• 2+2 offer on drinks

More than 4,000 restaurants across the country have partnered with Zomato to offer the benefits under this program.

This offer is active from 20th March 2019. For this free membership, cardholders should be fresh or upgraded to Regalia Credit Card on or after this date. Moreover, the cardholder must have spent Rs. 75,000 within the first 90 days of card activation.

In addition to this, HDFC also offers discount on dining at their partner restaurants under the Good Food Trail Dining Program. Click here to know more about this program and for the list of partner restaurants of HDFC Bank.

Premium Lounge Visit with Free Priority Pass Membership

Travel in style with a free Priority Pass Membership on your HDFC Regalia Credit Card. You can access more than a thousand Priority Pass Lounges across the world where you can not only take rest but also enjoy light refreshments or use complimentary facilities like phone, fax, conference rooms and internet. However, you must remember that only the membership to this program and the international visits (up to the maximum cap) are free, other visits will be chargeable at the following rates:

• US $27+GST for lounge visits within India per person per visit
• US $27+GST for international lounge visits per person per visit after exceeding the maximum number of visits
• US $27+GST for guest visits apart from primary and add-on cardholder
• Foreign currency conversion rate will also be applicable

Unlike most other lounge access credit cards in India, Regalia card also extends the complimentary benefit to the add-on cardholder. However, the primary and add-on members can together avail 6 international lounge visits in a calendar year.

Apart from this, you can also enjoy free access to domestic airport lounges under the Visa/Mastercard Lounge Access Program. 12 domestic lounge visits can be availed in calendar year.

Splurge and Earn with an Excellent Rewards Programme

Although splurging too much on your card is not advised, you will earn good rewards on all your purchases with the Regalia card. 4 Reward Points for every Rs. 150 are offered by HDFC Regalia Credit Card. The accumulated reward points are valid for 2 years from the date of accrual.

Reward points can be redeemed for:

• Gift vouchers and merchandise from HDFC’s rewards catalogue
• Travel bookings on HDFC Smartbuy website

However, there is a drawback here. You do not earn any points on fuel transactions, easy EMI and e-wallet loading. If you convert retail transactions into SmartEMI, the accrued points will be reversed. Insurance transactions will also earn a maximum number of 2,000 points for each transaction.

Looking for a premium Credit Card? Get HDFC Regalia Credit Card for Premium Lifestyle Benefits

Multiple Opportunities to Save Money on Travel

HDFC Regalia Credit Card has correctly been assigned to the category of travel. It makes travel cheaper and convenient for you in multiple ways. In addition to the free lounge access that we have mentioned earlier, the card also offers:

• Travel Concierge Service

You can take help from their travel concierge service for flight booking, hotel room booking or even for booking movie tickets. The 24X7 multilingual services make it perfect for people from all regions of India.

• Exclusive Travel Booking Portal

HDFC Bank has designed an exclusive portal for their Regalia cardholders where you can use the accumulated points directly for airline ticket booking or for hotel stays. The redemption value is Rs. 0.50 for every reward point.

Comprehensive Insurance Covers

On your Regalia Credit Card, you can also get insurance covers for:

• Air accident death of up to Rs. 1 Crore
• Emergency hospitalization cover of up to Rs. 15 Lakh
• Credit liability cover of up to Rs. 9 Lakh

Note that all of these benefits are only eligible for the primary cardholder. To avail the air accident cover, tickets should be booked using the Regalia card.

Should you get this card?

HDFC Regalia credit card would be a great choice for you, if you answer 7 out of these 10 questions in positive:

1. Is your monthly income above Rs. 90,000? (This should definitely be a YES to be eligible for Regalia credit card).
2. Are you a frequent traveler and prefer flights over other modes of transport?
3. Do you put most of your routine expenditure on your credit card?
4. Do you like to dine out at least twice a week?
5. Are you interested in availing airport lounge access facilities?
6. Do you visit foreign countries multiple times in a year?
7. Are you fine with paying an annual fee of Rs. 2,500?
8. Are you interested in being a part of HDFC Bank’s elite circle?
9. Would you be able to spend Rs. 5 Lakh to Rs. 8 Lakh in a year to avail milestone benefits?
10. Do you want to get an add-on card on your primary Regalia credit card?

Drawbacks of HDFC Regalia Credit Card

With HDFC Regalia Credit Card, there are certain things to be wary of:

• There is an annual fee of Rs. 2,500 so even if you don’t use your credit card, you will have to pay this amount.
• There are no reward points on fuel transactions and there is no convenience fee waiver.
• The Zomato Gold membership can be availed only on reaching the set spending milestone within the set time period. If you don’t, you will lose this benefit.
• The Priority Pass Membership can also be availed only on reaching the set spending milestones.
• Under the Priority Pass Program, only the membership and a limited number of international visits are free. Apart from that, you will have to pay for visits.
• The insurance cover is not applicable to NRI Regalia Credit Card holders.

Bottom Line

HDFC Regalia Credit Card is the best for you if you would like to earn excellent rewards on all your purchases and at the same time get travel and dining benefits. There are very few credit cards in the market that offer a combination of these and Regalia is one of them.