Here’s why the HSBC World Elite^MD Mastercard^® is one of the best cards in Canada!

Here are the benefits of this credit card:

• 6 points per dollar for travel purchases (flights, hotels, Airbnb, all-inclusive, etc.)
• 4 points per dollar for grocery, gas or drugstore purchases
• 2 points per dollar for all other purchases (including Costco)
• You can use your points on any travel expense charged to your Card
• $100 Annual Travel enhancement credit
• Three airline partners to transfer your points
• No foreign currency conversion fees
• Mastercard Airport Experiences Provided by LoungeKey
• Unlimited Wi-Fi access through Boingo
• 10% discount with Expedia and Agoda
• 31-day Worldwide Emergency Travel Medical insurance
• Baggage Delay or Loss insurance
• Flight Delay Insurance
• Trip Cancellation and Trip Interruption/Delay insurance
• Car rental insurance
• Purchase Assurance and Extended Warranty Insurance
• Mobile Device Insurance
• Price Protection
• Accepted everywhere, including Costco

With the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^®, you can get:

• 6 points per dollar for travel purchases (or 3%)
• 4 points per dollar for grocery, gas or drugstore purchases (i.e., 2%)
• 2 points per dollar on all other purchases, including Costco (i.e. 1%)

This makes the HSBC World Elite^MD Mastercard^MD one of the best credit cards for travel purchases, but also for everyday purchases. Few cards offer 3% on travel and 2% on everyday purchases such as groceries, gas stations or pharmacies.

I use it for all my travel purchases, as well as most everyday purchases. And of course abroad!

Using HSBC Rewards points for travel rewards will be one of the best possible uses of your points earned by the Mastercard^MD HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^®.

110,000 HSBC Rewards points have a value of $550 in travel rewards.

To redeem your HSBC Rewards points, simply charge any travel purchase to your Mastercard^MD HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® (and earn 6 points per dollar on that purchase).

Then you can go to the HSBC Rewards portal to apply your points on your travel purchases and get a statement credit. This is what we do in our family to rent apartments on Airbnb or reduce our flights’ cost to visit our family in France!

Here, for example, is the purchase of an Air Transat ticket between Montreal and Nice on my HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^®:

Or for Airbnb or Hotels.com purchases like in New Zealand during our round the world family trip:

To redeem HSBC Rewards points, it works with a chart starting at 25,000 points ($125):

Therefore, you will need to have a minimum of 25,000 points to get a statement credit. With 110,000 points, you will have $550 available in statement credit!

And when it comes to “travel,” you don’t have to leave Canada to take advantage of it!

This could be for example:

• An apartment or cottage rental on Airbnb
• Airline or train tickets to travel in the country
• A car rental
• And much more!

Here are some examples of recent purchases that have been categorized as travel on my Card:

In Canada, few institutions offer the ability to convert travel points into airline loyalty programs.

HSBC Rewards is a partner with three airline loyalty programs:

• Asia Miles – Cathay Pacific
• Krisflyer – Singapore Airlines
• Executive Club – British Airways

Here is the HSBC Reward Points to miles conversion ratio:

If you want to convert 130,000 points into miles, here’s what you could get:

And you could also use the British Airways Executive Club program to book flights with American Airlines.

From Montreal, you could go to Miami with not that many points.

Here is an example of a direct flight between Montreal and Miami for 11,000 Avios miles and $64:

Or you could book a Reward Flight with the Krisflyer program for travel on Singapore Airlines in Economy, Business or even First Class!

Great benefit of the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^®: an annual $100 travel privilege credit. This credit is available upon subscription to the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® and is then renewed on the account’s anniversary date.

Taking this annual credit into account, the fee for your HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® is virtually reduced from $149 to $49. Unbelievable for a World Elite Card! So you can keep it year after year.

To use this credit, just:

• Book a flight
• Buy extras for seats, luggage
• buy airport lounge passes
• Make a booking on Expedia

After that, you will have 60 days to use your Annual Travel enhancement credit on it. You can apply it on several small transactions like this:

HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® holders enjoy 12 free 90-minute annual accesses to Wi-Fi offered by Boingo (over one million access points worldwide). There is no data limit for these accesses.

To take advantage of this free benefit, simply register at this address, providing your HSBC World Elite^MD Mastercard^MD number.

Then, you will have a Boingo account you can use worldwide. Boingo usually charges US$14.99 per month for this!

Swiss, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines are among the few airlines that offer Boingo on board their aircraft. I have already been able to use it on board and in many airports and public places. Here again, saving money by just holding this card.

HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® holders receive a 10% discount on prepaid hotel bookings on Expedia or Agoda.

To benefit from this, you will need to register:

• On Expedia’s website
• On the Agoda website

Last but not least, HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® holders enjoy a complimentary DragonPass membership for airport lounges.

However, there will be a charge of US$32 per person for each visit. You can, of course, use your annual $100 Travel enhancement credit to cover it.

At the “World Elite Mastercard” level, the HSBC World Elite^MD Mastercard^MD offers a large number of insurances, particularly for travel.

In terms of travel medical emergency insurance, the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® provides coverage of up to $2,000,000 per insured person:

• the primary cardholder
• Spouse
• dependent children

Coverage extends to 31 days per trip for people under age 65. And 21 days per trip for people over 65 years old.

For baggage delay or loss insurance, the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® provides coverage of up to $1,000 per insured person.

It covers:

• Loss or damage
• Theft
• Burglary
• fire or transport hazards

There is also coverage of up to $200 per trip to purchase necessary items if your luggage is delayed at your destination for more than 6 hours.

Reimbursement of up to $250 per day to a maximum of $500 total (2 days) per trip for all insured persons travelling on the same trip for certain necessary and reasonable expenses if the confirmed scheduled flight is delayed by 6 hours or more

In terms of trip cancellation, interruption and delay insurance, the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® Mastercard^® provides cover for up to $2,000 per insured person ($5,000 per trip) provided that 75% of your eligible expenses of your trip have been entered on the map.

This includes all non-refundable expenses (prepaid trips) in the event of cancellation, as well as costs incurred for the change of ticket or the cost of a ticket to return home early.

In terms of vehicle rental insurance, the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® provides coverage for up to 31 days, provided that 75% of the rental cost has been charged to the card.

This includes collisions or damage up to the full value of the damaged or stolen rental vehicle, as well as towing or loss of use charges. Car Rental insurance also includes Personal Effects and Car Rental Accidental Death and Dismemberment insurance coverage.

This saves about twenty dollars per day of rental, which is far from negligible!

Be careful, like all the other credit cards providing car rental insurance, liability insurance is not included.

With Hotel/Motel Theft Insurance, the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® protects you against theft of most personal items from a hotel or motel room, up to $1,000 per occurrence.

When it comes to mobile device insurance, the HSBC World Elite^MD Mastercard^MD offers coverage of up to $1,000 if your mobile device is lost or stolen, or suffers accidental damage or mechanical breakdown.

When you purchase a new personal item with the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® and find the same item offered at a lower price within 60 days of your purchase, the difference in price will be refunded to youup to a maximum of $500, subject to a maximum amount of $1,000 per Account per calendar year.

Finally, in terms of purchase insurance and extended warranty, the HSBC World Elite^® Mastercard^® provides 90 days’ coverage from the date of purchase in the event of loss, damage or theft.

Extended Warranty coverage automatically doubles the original manufacturer’s warranty for up to one additional year when you use your HSBC World Elite Mastercard to purchase most items.

The HSBC World Elite^MD Mastercard^MD is a card I like for several reasons:

• No foreign transaction fees
• Points redemptions flexibility (either used in travel credit or transferred to airline partners)
• The fact that it is a Mastercard, it is accepted everywhere (including at Costco)
• Its ability to earn points for travel purchases(6 points per dollaror 3% )
• Its earning rate for all everyday purchases such as at gas stations, grocery stores or pharmacies(4 points per dollar or 2%)

In addition, there is a 10% discount for hotel reservations on Expedia and Agoda as well as free access to Wi-Fi via Boingo.

It’s a card I keep because its annual $100 Travel enhancement credit largely offsets the annual fee.

During our family trip around the world, we used it a lot to save on our foreign currency transaction fees and to redeem points for Airbnb rentals!