India variant only. With Axis Atlas paused for new applicants, this is the card people are calling the best travel card you can still get.
Now that the Axis Atlas has stopped accepting new applications, the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card has become the most flexible credit card for earning miles that one may apply for in India without any problems. The card earns reward points based on how much you spend and converts them at 1:1 ratio to a wide variety of airlines and hotels while retaining one thing which Axis gave up in April 2026, an easy access to Accor hotels.
This HSBC TravelOne Credit Card guide includes all you should know about the reward categories, caps, transfer partners, fees, offers, eligibility, and problems people usually have when applying for the card.
What the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card Is (India Variant Only)
Now, a key point to note. There is a TravelOne credit card issued by HSBC in different countries, but the terms differ across regions. This article focuses on the TravelOne credit card offered in India only. The ratio at which the TravelOne Indian card converts to the loyalty program at Accor Hotels is 1 to 1, while the TravelOne credit card in Singapore offers 5 to 1 conversion, hence be careful not to confuse figures on foreign sites. The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is an airline-independent travel credit card that operates under the Mastercard World Elite platform. It does not limit you to any specific airline because it rewards you with HSBC Reward Points.
HSBC TravelOne Credit Card Features at a Glance:
| Feature | Detail (India variant) |
|---|---|
| Card type | Airline-agnostic travel card, Mastercard World Elite |
| Joining fee | Rs 4,999 plus GST (about Rs 5,899) |
| Annual fee | Rs 4,999 plus GST, waived on Rs 8 lakh spend from year two |
| Reward currency | HSBC Reward Points |
| Base earning | 2 points per Rs 100, no cap |
| Travel and forex earning | 4 points per Rs 100 (accelerated) |
| Travel with Points portal | Up to 12 points per Rs 100 on hotels |
| Redemption | 1 point = 1 air mile or hotel point for most partners |
| Transfer partners | 15 airlines and 5 hotels, over 20 in total |
| Transfer speed | Instant for most, from the app, no transfer fee |
| Forex markup | 3.5 per cent, zero forex offer runs periodically |
| Lounge access | 6 domestic and 4 international visits a year |
| Airport transfers | 4 complimentary chauffeur transfers a year |
| Age eligibility | 18 to 65 salaried, 25 to 65 self-employed |
How You Earn Reward Points on HSBC TravelOne Credit Card
The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card earns on three levels. The base rate applies everywhere eligible with no cap. A higher rate applies to travel and foreign currency. The highest rate applies when you book through HSBC’s own Travel with Points portal on the Rewards Marketplace.
| Spend type | Points per Rs 100 | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Hotels via HSBC Rewards Marketplace | 12 points | 18,000 a month |
| Flights via HSBC Rewards Marketplace | 8 points | 18,000 a month |
| Car rentals via HSBC Rewards Marketplace | 4 points | 18,000 a month |
| Flights, travel aggregators, foreign currency | 4 points | 50,000 a month |
| All other eligible spends | 2 points | No cap |
However, there are two caps that should be recalled. Firstly, the acceleration for travel and foreign currency transactions is limited to 50,000 per month and, secondly, acceleration in the Rewards Marketplace is limited to 18,000 per month, after which purchases become regular again. It should be noted that this refers to 12 points on hotels and 8 points on flights via portal, but not to larger numbers that are sometimes cited. Using Travel with Points service, where payment is made partly in points and partly with the card, allows getting the value of points up to approximately 12 per cent.
Where You Can Transfer Your Points
The transfer list is the headline strength of the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card. Reward points move to 15 airline programs and 5 hotel programs, mostly at a clean 1-to-1 ratio.
Airline partners at 1 to 1 include:
- Air India Maharaja Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, British Airways, Qatar Airways.
- Etihad Guest, Air France KLM Flying Blue, Japan Airlines, Thai Airways.
- Turkish Miles and Smiles, United MileagePlus, Qantas, Air Canada.
- EVA Air, Hainan Airlines, Vietnam Airlines. AirAsia is the exception at 1 point to 3 AirAsia points.
Hotel partners include:
- Accor ALL, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards, and Wyndham Rewards at 1 to 1.
- Shangri-La Circle at 5 points to 1, a partner few other Indian cards offer.
Why the Accor Transfer Gives Almost Double
While most of Indian travel cards have a long period of time and also transfer fee for transferring of the points, the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card transfers the points from the HSBC India app without a transfer fee. Transfers to most airlines and hotels occur instantaneously or within 1 working day.
However, there are some exceptions, when the transfers occur within 5 days (Air India, Hainan), 10 days (Japan Airlines) and 3 days (Intermiles). Besides, there is no yearly limitation on the number of points you are able to transfer to partners, while in Axis transfers are divided in terms of Group A and Group B with limitations
1. Instant Transfer Feature:
The forex markup is 3.5 per cent, which is too high considering a travel card and the main weakness of the card. However, the good news is that the offer of 0 forex markup occurs on this card several times per year as a registration-based one. In order to use it, you need to make just one registration through the SMS HSBCFX to the provided number and 3.5 per cent markup on foreign transactions will be returned in cashback in a certain time frame. These offers are refreshed and prolonged throughout the whole year, thus, if you plan any foreign spending, find out if the current window is active and register before travelling.
2. Zero Forex Markup Offer:
The exclusion list of the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is quite long and it would be better to cross-check with your personal expenses. There are no reward points for the spending on fuel, utilities, rent, insurance, education, government and tax payments, e-wallet loads, gold and jewellery, money transfers, financial institutions, real estate, bail and bond payments, cash advances and fees and charges.
The positive nuance in it is that most of these expenses are taken into account towards the waiver of Rs 8 lakh annual fee, despite the lack of earning reward points.
3. Where the Card Does Not Give Points:
The exclusion list on the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is long, so it is worth checking against your own spending. No reward points are earned on fuel, utilities, rent, insurance, education, government and tax payments, e-wallet loads, gold and jewellery, money transfers, financial institutions, real estate, bail and bond payments, cash advances, and fees and charges. One useful nuance: most of these still count toward the Rs 8 lakh annual fee waiver even though they earn no points, so they can help you clear the waiver while doing nothing for your points balance.
4. Airport Transfers and Lounge Access:
A feature usually available only in much more expensive cards, HSBC TravelOne Credit Card provides 4 free chauffeur-driven airport transfers annually (one per quarter) via Ecos Mobility in a premium SUV. There are a couple of conditions: the service is available only for primary cardholder, is applicable only after 45 days since issuing the card, has to be booked in advance approximately 72 hours and is applicable in a limited list of cities with limited distance per trip, so you need to find out the list of the current cities and distance limit beforehand.
Regarding the lounges, you have 6 domestic and 4 international visits per year through the HSBC lounge program (in 50+ lounges) and LoungeKey respectively without any minimum spend requirement.
Buy One Get One and Other Lifestyle Offers:
Beyond travel, the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card carries a useful set of lifestyle offers.
- Buy one get one on movie tickets, up to Rs 200 off the second ticket, twice a month, through District by Zomato.
- Up to 15 per cent off on flights and hotels at Yatra, EaseMyTrip, Cleartrip, and Paytm Travel, plus a Goibibo promo.
- Dining savings through EazyDiner, and up to 20 per cent off at select duty-free stores.
- Purchase protection of up to USD 20,000 a year, provided through Mastercard.
Joining Bonus and Other Bonuses
The welcome offer on the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is basic but not negligible. Make a purchase amount of Rs 10,000 in the first 30 days of your card being opened, and you get Rs 1,000 as cashback, Postcard Hotels voucher worth Rs 3,000, and also receive a 3-month long EazyDiner Prime membership. In addition, applying for the card online through video KYC in the current offer period gets you a basic Amazon eGift voucher. Moreover, get 10,000 reward points on spending an annual total of Rs 12 lakh.
There is one point to verify: the previous welcome offer of earning 3,000 reward points on an annual spend of Rs 1 lakh in 90 days has reportedly been discontinued since January 2026, even though some pages may mention the same, so ensure that it is indeed valid. In addition, the Postcard voucher can be redeemed only if you stay at a Postcard hotel.
Fees and Fee Waiver
The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card charges a joining and annual fee of Rs 4,999 plus GST, which comes to about Rs 5,899. From the second year, the annual fee is waived if you spent Rs 8 lakh or more in the previous year. That waiver threshold is realistic for a frequent traveller, and since most excluded categories still count toward it, hitting Rs 8 lakh is easier than it looks. The forex markup is 3.5 per cent unless the zero forex offer is active.
Eligibility Including Self-Employed:
A meaningful change is that self-employed applicants can now apply for the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card, where the card was long seen as salaried-friendly only. The broad criteria are below, though HSBC keeps a strict internal approval process on top of these.
- Salaried: aged 18 to 65, with a minimum income of about Rs 6 lakh a year.
- Self-employed: aged 25 to 65, with a minimum income of about Rs 12 lakh a year.
- Resident of an eligible city, with PAN, identity proof, address proof, and income proof.
- Self-employed approvals are still tougher, and holding an HSBC savings relationship clearly improves the odds.
Cities Where the Card Is Available
The HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is made available exclusively to citizens residing in a few select cities, and that is probably one of the most popular reasons for application rejection. The present list is approximately inclusive of Delhi NCR, Gurgaon, Noida, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Kochi, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Baroda, Indore, Lucknow, Nagpur, and Surat. In case your address/PIN code is not located in any of the serviced areas, then your application will be rejected irrespective of your income level or scores.
Common Issues People Face, Including Rejection
There is usually the case where applicants are initially turned down but subsequently approved, hence it is important to identify common challenges and solutions.
- City and pin code: This is the most common challenge that causes rejection of applicants who apply from locations that have no service coverage.
- No preexisting relationship: Some have reported being approved for credit after getting an HSBC savings account, mostly self-employed individuals.
- Having a thin or young credit history, having a poor score, and multiple card applications are among some of the challenges that increase chances of rejection.
- Incompletion of video KYC can delay and even reject the application which was previously approved.
The solution commonly suggested is to clean up your profile, establish an HSBC banking relationship and wait for any recent hard inquiry to expire before reapplying.
How It Compares With Other Cards:
| Feature | TravelOne | Axis Horizon | SBI Miles Elite | Axis Atlas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | Rs 4,999 | Rs 3,000 | Rs 4,999 | Rs 5,000 |
| Travel earn | 4 / Rs 100 | 5 / Rs 100 | 6 / Rs 100 | 5 / Rs 100 |
| Transfer ratio | 1:1 | 1:1 | 1:1 | 1:2 |
| Transfer partners | 20 plus | 20 plus | Fewer | 20 plus |
| Annual transfer cap | None | 5,00,000 | Varies | 1,50,000 |
| Accor transfer | Yes, 1:1 | No | Yes | No |
| Instant app transfer | Yes | No | No | No |
| Forex markup | 3.5 pct | 3.5 pct | Varies | 3.5 pct |
| New applications | Open | Open | Open | Paused |
The pattern is clear. For flexible transfers, instant movement, no annual cap, and the only easy Accor route left, the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card leads. Axis Horizon is cheaper and gives more lounge visits, but cannot match the Accor value or the instant no cap transfers.
Who Should Get HSBC TravelOne Credit Card
- Frequent flyers who want flexible miles across many airlines rather than loyalty to one.
- Anyone who wants the Accor hotel route at roughly Rs 2 per point, which Axis no longer offers.
- People who book travel through aggregators or HSBC’s own portal can use the accelerated rates.
- Spenders who can cross Rs 8 lakh a year to waive the fee and who live in a serviced city.
It is a weaker fit if most of your spending is fuel, rent, utilities, insurance, or education, since those earn nothing, or if you spend heavily abroad and cannot rely on the zero forex window, where the 3.5 per cent markup will hurt.
Our Rating Out of Five:
Balancing its best-in-class transfer flexibility, the Accor advantage, and instant no-cap transfers against the 3.5 per cent forex markup and a long exclusion list, the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card earns a strong 4.5 out of 5. For a new applicant who wants flexible air miles in India today, there is no better option.
| Category | Score | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Reward flexibility | 5 / 5 | 20 plus partners, mostly 1:1 |
| Transfer experience | 5 / 5 | Instant, no fee, no annual cap |
| Travel benefits | 4 / 5 | Lounges plus chauffeur transfers |
| Forex and fees | 3 / 5 | 3.5 pct markup, offer dependent |
| Overall | 4.5 / 5 | Best flexible miles card you can apply for |
Final Verdict on HSBC TravelOne Credit Card
For anyone serious about travel rewards who cannot get the paused Axis Atlas, the HSBC TravelOne Credit Card is the card to hold. The instant app transfers, the huge partner list with no annual cap, and the nearly double Accor value put it ahead of everything in its bracket. Go in aware of the three catches: the 3.5 per cent forex markup unless you register for the zero forex window, the long list of categories that earn nothing, and the city restriction that trips up many applicants. Clear those, spend on travel and through the portal, and this card delivers the best flexible miles value available to new applicants in India.
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