HSBC Rewards points offer several good redemptions, both for those who want it to be more simple and those who want it to be more valuable. HSBC points are among the best for higher-income travelers, because they’re easy to earn in this situation.
We’ll have lots more content, tips, and guides on all the major rewards programs (including HSBC, Avios, Aeroplan, American Express, Marriott, TD, CIBC, RBC Avion, etc.) for the fall very soon…
But here we’ll just look at 16 good redemptions for HSBC Rewards points.
Basics of earning HSBC Rewards points
As with all good rewards programs, it’s obviously with credit cards that you’ll earn lots of HSBC Rewards points.
More specifically with credit card welcome bonuses obviously (if you don’t know that, read the basics of travel rewards).
| Best credit cards for HSBC Rewards |
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| HSBC World Elite® Mastercard® |
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| Bonus: no welcome bonus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WELCOME BONUS (  VALUATION)
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| Rewards: ≈ $100 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Card fee: $149 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Best for: 0 pts + $100 annual credit and no FX fees |
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| HSBC +Rewards™ Mastercard® |
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| Bonus: no welcome bonus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WELCOME BONUS ( VALUATION)
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| Rewards: $0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Card fee: $25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Best for: 0 pts + low interest rate and no min. income |
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| HSBC Travel Rewards Mastercard® (excl. QC) |
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| Bonus: no welcome bonus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WELCOME BONUS ( VALUATION)
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| Rewards: $0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Card fee: $0 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Best for: 0 pts + no annual fee and no min. income |
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| Terms and conditions apply. Flytrippers editorial opinion only. Financial institutions are not responsible for maintaining the content on this site. Please click "See More" to see most up-to-date information. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best credit cards for HSBC Rewards |
WELCOME BONUS ( VALUATION) |
Best for |
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Card:
Bonus: no welcome bonus
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Rewards: ≈ $100
Card fee: $149
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0 pts
+ $100 annual credit
and no FX fees
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Card:
Bonus: no welcome bonus
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Rewards: $0
Card fee: $25
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0 pts
+ low interest rate
and no min. income
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Card:
Bonus: no welcome bonus
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Rewards: $0
Card fee: $0
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0 pts
+ no annual fee
and no min. income
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Right now, the HSBC World Elite Mastercard has an increased offer that is one of the best free welcome bonuses ever seen in Canada (for non-Québec residents only; the offer is a bit different in Québec).
It ends August 31, 2023! It’ll give you 98,000 HSBC Rewards points very easily for free (although you should always look at the net value as the fee alone is completely irrelevant, if you know how to do math).
The HSBC +Rewards Mastercard and the HSBC Travel Rewards Mastercard give a few tens of thousands of points, but honestly there are quite a few better options for those who don’t earn the income required for the HSBC World Elite Mastercard. These other HSBC cards may be worth adding as a 2nd application on the same day though (if you already have old accounts and a good credit score).
Basics of redeeming HSBC Rewards points
Whatever the rewards program, there are 2 types of redemptions:
- More simple redemptions
- More valuable redemptions
You can read the basics about the 2 types of reward that exist for more details.
HSBC Rewards points can be redeemed in both ways:
- More simple redemptions
- Fixed value
- 0.5¢ per HSBC point
- For any trip
- Booked on any site
- More valuable redemptions
- Variable value (and unlimited value)
- ≈ 0.6¢ per HSBC point
- For specific reward flights
- With partner airline programs
The more simple redemptions are very straightforward and allow you to book any trip, if you don’t want to rack your brain and want rewards that are flexible.
The more valuable redemptions are great for some specific flights in economy class and all flights in business class, if you want to maximize the value of your points and want to be more flexible.
But unlike most rewards programs, there is less of a difference between the value of more simple redemptions (fixed value of 0.5¢ per HSBC point) and the value of more valuable redemptions (Flytrippers Valuation of ≈ 0.6¢ per HSBC point).
Of course, as with all rewards programs, you should never redeem your HSBC points for anything other than travel, so I won’t even mention these terrible options in an article about good redemptions.
16 good redemptions for HSBC Rewards points
Here are 16 concrete examples of good redemptions for HSBC Rewards points.
1. Redemptions for any trip booked on any site
It’s a good redemption if you prefer the more simple type of rewards redemption.
It literally can’t get any simpler than this redemption of HSBC points: points can be applied to any travel expense booked on any site. No restrictions at all.
It obviously has a fixed value, which is limited: HSBC Rewards points are always worth 0.5¢ per point this way.
It can never give you more value than that, but you have the absolute flexibility to book whatever you want (including lodging with Airbnb, Vrbo, Marriott Homes & Villas, and Sonder which is harder to get with points).
For example, redeeming 98,000 HSBC Rewards points will always give you $490 in discounts on travel expenses, very simply.
2 to 14. Redemptions with the British Airways program (Avios points)
It’s by far the best redemptions for those who want to maximize the value of their HSBC points.
The British Airways program gives you a lot of options (but still far fewer than the Aeroplan program). As with all good airline programs, the number of points required is fixed, but seats are obviously limited to offer those great fixed prices.
So the seats that are available on the flights that are available with Avios points (flights on the oneworld airline alliance and a few other partners) can be an excellent points redemption (depending on the price in cash).
Avios points are particularly valuable for direct flights (whereas it’s often only the distance flown that matters). So valuable for all direct flights to/from the hubs for oneworld airlines. In Canada, that means mostly from major airports, but Avios points are also great to move around in other countries.
HSBC Rewards points are worth ≈ 0.6¢ per point this way at our Flytrippers Valuation that’s conservative, but they can also be worth double that. The potential value is literally unlimited. It all depends on the redemption chosen and the price in cash.
HSBC Rewards points are transferable to the British Airways Avios program at a rate of 25 to 10, which means 98,000 HSBC Rewards points would become 39,200 Avios points (usually every year there’s a 30% transfer bonus that would give you even more points for free).
Avios points are worth ≈ 1.5¢ per point, hence the Flytrippers Valuation of ≈ 0.6¢ per HSBC point.
Here are just a few examples of good redemptions of Avios points (one-way prices):
- 11,000 points: medium distance in North America
- Toronto-Miami
- Vancouver-Phoenix
- 9,000 points: short distance in North America
- Toronto-New York
- Montreal-Chicago
- Calgary-Seattle
- 70,000 points: long distance to the Middle East in the world’s best business class
- Montreal-Doha
- Seattle-Doha
- 9,000 points: short distance from Miami to the Caribbean
- Miami-Barbados
- Miami-Antigua
- 4,000 points: short distance in Europe
- Madrid-Morocco
- Dublin-Netherlands
- 6,000 points: short-distance in Asia or Australia
- Kuala Lumpur-Phuket
- Hong Kong-Taipei
You can read the 13 good redemptions for Avios points for more details while you wait for our much more comprehensive guide.
15. Redemptions with the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program
It’s the same principle, but the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program has fewer good redemptions.
We’ll cover it in more detail later. But sometimes it’s better to redeem Asia Miles points instead of Avios points. It’s rare, but it happens (especially in business class). The thing is British Airways and Cathay Pacific are both in the oneworld airline alliance, so it’s almost all the same flights available.
HSBC Rewards points are worth ≈ 0.41¢ per point this way at our Flytrippers Valuation that’s conservative, but they can also be worth double that. The potential value is literally unlimited. It all depends on the redemption chosen and the price in cash.
HSBC Rewards points are transferable to the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program at a rate of 25 to 8, which means that 98,000 HSBC Rewards points would become 31,360 Asia Miles points. You can top this up with RBC Avion points, which are also transferable to Cathay Pacific (and American Express points as a last resort).
Asia Miles points are worth ≈ 1.3¢ per point, hence the Flytrippers Valuation of ≈ 0.41¢ per HSBC point.
16. Redemptions with the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program
It’s the same principle, but the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program has even fewer good redemptions.
It’s because Singapore Airlines is in the same airline alliance as Air Canada (Star Alliance), and Air Canada’s Aeroplan points are so easy to earn in large quantities in Canada, so transferring to Singapore KrisFlyer points are rarely a good redemption of HSBC points.
HSBC Rewards points are worth ≈ 0.47¢ per point this way at our Flytrippers Valuation that’s conservative, but they can also be worth double that. The potential value is literally unlimited. It all depends on the redemption chosen and the price in cash.
HSBC Rewards points are transferable to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer program at a rate of 25 to 9, meaning that 98,000 HSBC Rewards points would become 35,280 KrisFlyer points.
KrisFlyer points are worth ≈ 1.3¢ per point, hence the Flytrippers Valuation of ≈ 0.47¢ per HSBC point.
Want to get more content about rewards redemptions?
Summary
Good redemptions for HSBC Rewards points allow you to get any trip to make it more simple, or to get specific reward flights to make it more valuable. Don’t miss the detailed guide soon.
What would you like to know about good redemptions of HSBC Rewards points? Tell us in the comments below.
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