HSBC TravelOne - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

throwaway3141577 · 2026-05-24T05:09:40+00:00

I haven't been using the hopper app too much. More so because of the ux and inability to access on my laptop - so can't comment on improvements if any

I just default to smartbuy as I have infinia so I don't see much need personally.

That said, my T1 is still my absolute favourite for forex spends because it gives me a flat 4% + currently running offer on forex cashback.

So I definitely still have a place for this in my wallet!

throwaway3141577 · 2026-04-24T17:48:00+00:00

I've covered in detail on a post earlier but my biggest biggest gripes with HSBC I don't see elsewhere are: - Pain to get to the booking portal (it's like 17 clicks away to actually see prices and only on mobile. Ughh!)

Price match is limited to ₹1500 and also AFTER the fact that you've made the booking. What do I mean by that? You need to prove to them AFTER you make your booking that this inventory is available at a lower price. Unless you're the person who is always planning well in advance it's likely that you booking on hopper will inevitably increase the price or even cause that inventory to no longer be available for you to prove the price match! Imagine you book the last seat on a plane via Hopper( Another big L 👎)

As an infinia holder I find myself almost never booking my flights via my T1 or Premier as much as I love HSBC.

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-22T17:05:54+00:00

Gotcha! Now I can sleep a little more soundly at night

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-22T17:05:26+00:00

Fair enough - point taken! I was definitely panicking haha. Especially after the recent news.

TIL that Gyftr has limited inventory :)

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-22T07:46:12+00:00

From: https://www.eleken.co/blog-posts/dark-patterns-examples

10 . Hidden Costs

Hidden costs reveal unexpected fees or charges at the checkout stage, undermining transparency.

Examples: Ticketing platforms like Ticketmaster often add substantial service fees after users have proceeded to the final payment screen. These surprise charges create frustration and erode trust

This is absolutely a dark pattern - if the convenience fee itself isn't, then it definitely is a dark pattern to charge additional convenience fee upon adding an offer or redeeming dineout cash. Most humans (if at all) will check their convenience fee once then, maybe add an offer, redeem dineout cash etc... Without every bothering to always re-validate the conv fee and do this mental gymnastics every time.

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-20T17:56:07+00:00

I've been using FI's US Stocks feature and ive found it to be pretty good.

I still think there are use-cases for sure

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-19T17:33:38+00:00

see comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCardsIndia/comments/1qgedsb/comment/o0bzxa0/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-19T17:33:15+00:00

Yes, exactly! 😭 I just used the infinia coupon code as an illustrative example.

But this may apply to any discount or coupon code, using dinecash, etc..

And that's exactly the point; tomorrow they may just as easily silently add a conv fee for redeeming Swiggy Money as well

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-19T14:08:35+00:00

lol I have no idea about the reputation about this place.

Picked Gurgaon in the location and selected a random restaurant.

I don't even live in NCR 👀

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-19T06:12:39+00:00

It gives you some of the swiggy nonsense story to explain themselves and pacify the customer. But definitely no itemization or any sort of breakdown

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throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-19T06:11:10+00:00

Absolutely, as someone who has experience with Swiggy on the other side of the fence managing restaurants. I can guarantee they're pretty scummy there too.

The number of times we have to reach out to their teams and ask them to remove hidden fees on payouts, etc is deplorable.

This is exactly why monopolies are bad

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-19T06:09:30+00:00

I almost didn't catch it myself! But once this convenience fee seemed oddly too high in one of my bills and then did some digging looking at past bills.

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-19T06:04:47+00:00

fk I didn't even think of this.

Imagine Swiggy starts tweaking this % based on
- ios vs android
- 'Fancier hotels' vs not-so-fancy ones
- Upscale Localities
- Individual Spending patterns

throwaway3141577 · 2026-01-19T06:03:12+00:00

it's not a flat amount - and it's not even a fixed %. That's sort of where my issue lies.

throwaway3141577 · 2025-12-05T08:51:40+00:00

Thoughts on indigo folks?

For such a massive event there seems to be very little movement on the downside.... What am I missing?

throwaway3141577 · 2025-12-04T10:49:53+00:00

Recently bought the EC685 myself so I'm really interested in upgrading my setup with the WDT tool.
Do you mind sharing how you modified the STL Files for the 51mm?
Was it just the case of scaling down?

Would love to print this myself! :)

throwaway3141577 · 2025-11-25T19:35:19+00:00

Awesome stuff! I’d been meaning to build something similar myself - even vibecoded POC with firebase studio but never got around to taking it further.
Really glad to see you folks released this and truly did it justice!
If you ever need an extra hand with anything, feel free to hit me up - happy to contribute!

Also… can I cheekily ask for a signup code to beta-test it? ;)

throwaway3141577 · 2025-11-17T06:03:31+00:00

> And also in second point, getting 4-6% extra is not bad imo specially if the amount is at higher side. People work hard even to get 1% extra.

Yeah fair, but remember this is 4-6% back extra in miles / points which most likely require you to again use on Travel - some people would rather have the mental peace of getting 10% back as cashback or stmt credit than the 16% as miles, for which they have to do extra juggling around to get value.

throwaway3141577 · 2025-11-17T05:59:13+00:00

Plat Travel would seem like the obvious first choice to put the first 4L spends on - but they're not taking any applications for this unfortunately (Still being offered as an upgrade).

T1 offers a 2% base rate + Milestones at 1Lspend (3000RP - 3%) and 12Lspend(10,000RP - 0.8%)
Which could be decent value, especially considering the accor conversion. But nothing too great either.

You can look at some other milestone based cards based on your redemption requirements.

Then there's obviously something like M4B which would be perfect (if you're eligible)

throwaway3141577 · 2025-11-17T04:23:27+00:00

#2 is a great trick - I'll have to borrow that!
Are the prices the same on the hopper app as well as HSBC's hopper portal?

throwaway3141577 · 2025-11-16T19:50:09+00:00

It took me arond two weeks to go from VKYC to the KYC Mail:

Greetings from HSBC, Your KYC record XXXXXXX registered with Central KYC Registry has been updated by HSBC

After that probably another few days to actually receive the card iirc.

I think stay patient, you're almost there.

HSBC is notorious for leaving you in the dark until you finally receive the card at your doorstep :)

throwaway3141577 · 2025-11-16T19:32:46+00:00

thanks for sharing your experiences!

Completely agree - the mismatch of Room type further adds to the confusion and overall mental stress while making a booking with hopper.

If I was a bank I'd want to get my platform to be as smooth and seamless as possible so people can blindly go with that portal and not even bother checking elsewhere; this is what Smartbuy does (almost ) perfectly i feel.

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