HDFC Diners Black Credit Card Review

 Reward and Benefits

• Base Reward Rate:3.3% reward rate (5 reward points on 150 spent. Value of 1RP=INR 1). No reward points for fuel, wallet load and EMI (EasyEMI and SmartEMI) spends. From January 2023 onwards, no reward points on rent payments too.
• Accelerated Reward Rate: 2x-10x RPs on HDFC SmartBuy, i.e. 6.6%-33.3% reward rate. However, SmartBuy reward points accrual has monthly and daily caps, which may limit the reward rate.
• 2x RPs on weekend dining. 2x reward points on dining on weekends. Not applicable to Swiggy/Zomato spending. There is a cap of 1000 reward points per day.
• Milestones:
  • Monthly milestone: 2×500 i.e INR1000 vouchers from Tata Cliq, Ola etc on monthly spends of 80k or more.
  • Annual milestone: Annual membership of Amazon Prime, MMT Black, Club Marriott, Forbes and Times Prime.
• Lounge Access: Unlimited domestic and international lounge access for primary and add-on cardholders.

Eligibility criteria of HDFC Diners Black

HDFC Diners Black is relatively easier to get. While the bank’s website says, you need a 1.75lk monthly salary; most people who have this card have much lower monthly salaries. However, if you have an HDFC Bank credit card with a credit limit of 5lk+, especially Regalia, you can simply write to customer care for the upgrade.

Positives of HDFC Diners Black

3.3% reward rate

The base reward rate of 3.3% is among the best in the industry. Only HDFC Infinia and StanC Ultimate have this kind of reward rate.

Unlimited lounge access

This credit card offers unlimited lounge access both at domestic and international airports. Unlimited lounge access is available to all add-on cardholders too. Further, the icing on the cake is you don’t need a separate Priority Pass card for lounge access. Your credit card is enough.

Smartbuy benefits

Similar to HDFC Infinia, the HDFC Diners Black credit card also gives 2-10x accelerated reward points on purchases made on the SmartBuy portal. Hotel booking gives a 33.3% reward rate, while flight booking thru the portal gives a 16.5% reward rate.

Gift vouchers bought on SmartBuy give a ~10% reward rate (3x reward points).  These brand vouchers in turn can be used for many daily purchases. You can buy gift vouchers from Amazon, Flipkart, Croma, Vijay Sales, Tata Cliq, Reliance Smart, BigBasket, Blinkit, Swiggy, Zomato, Ola and many more. (Full list here). Even train ticket booking on IRCTC will give a nearly 10% reward rate.

Milestone benefits

The milestone benefits of HDFC Diners Black are pretty straightforward. Spend 80k in a calendar month and you will get vouchers worth 1000 every month. Thus, theoretically, if you spend 80k every month for 12 months you will get vouchers worth 12,000. Moreover, your annual fee will be waived as annual spending will be more than 5lk.

Similarly, on annual spends of 8lk, you get memberships from Amazon Prime, MMT Black, Club Marriott, Forbes and Times Prime. From these, Amazon Prime, MMT Black and Forbes are genuinely useful. 

2x on weekend dining