In August 2023, the first-ever hotel co-branded credit card came out of India, with a collaboration between HDFC Bank, Marriott Bonvoy and Diners Club. This credit card was pioneering, but somewhere in the fine print, there were gotchas that HDFC Bank and Marriott have been working hard to fix since launch.

Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card improvises

The Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card offers onboarding and renewal benefits. The benefits include 10 Elite Nights credited to your Marriott Bonvoy account and one Free Night Award, which can be used for up to 15,000 points redemption (or, combined with Marriott Bonvoy points from your account, for up to 30,000 points redemption).

The initial timelines for these awards to be deposited to your account were as follows:

• Please allow up to 12 weeks after paying the Joining Fee or Annual Membership Fee or fulfilling the relevant spending thresholds for your Free Night Award to be automatically deposited into your Marriott Bonvoy Member Account.
• 10 Elite Night Credits will be credited to your Marriott Bonvoy Member Account within 60 days after receipt of your payment of the Joining Fee.

All good, except the joining fee would be levied on the customer’s card on the 90th day from card issuance, which meant that the joining benefits would arrive up to six months after the card was issued to you.

Improved timelines are now live.

Over the weeks following this introduction, Marriott Bonvoy and HDFC Bank have worked together to improve the timelines for crediting customer benefits. This started with granting benefits to existing customers who had already waited over 60 days for their benefits to be credited.

On December 15, 2023, everyone who was already a Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card customer received their benefits (as long as the card was activated). The Elite Night Awards and the Free Night Award were credited to the accounts.

Also, HDFC Bank has now updated the Terms & Conditions. For all the cards issued on or after December 1, 2023, the joining fee would be levied on the 45th day from card issuance, compared to 90 days earlier. Also, the renewal fee for all the cardholders will be levied in the 1st month of the anniversary year.

• All the cardholders will be credited with their joining/renewal benefit of 1 Free Night Award within three weeks of doing their first spend transaction, effective December 15, 2023. From there on, the milestone benefits will also be credited within three weeks of achieving the milestone spend.
• The 10 Elite Night Credits will be credited to the Members’ Marriott Bonvoy Account within three weeks after doing the first spend transaction on your card. Each year after that, 10 Elite Night Credits will be credited within three weeks after renewal
  of the card and doing the first spend transaction.

This is an excellent improvement to the card and a job well done from both sides (the chain and the bank) to make it easier for the customers to use. I’m already a customer, and if you’d like to apply for the Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card, you should apply here. For INR 3000 plus taxes, this is a keeper for anyone who likes to do business with Marriott and is based in India.

Bottomline

When you sign up for the Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card, you will get your Free Night Credit within three weeks of activating the card by doing the first spend transaction. This is a great card, and with the improved benefits delivery, you can enjoy your free night sooner than the earlier, long-drawn process of getting the free night in your account.

What do you think of the changes to the new Marriott Bonvoy HDFC Bank Credit Card?

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