HSBC Just Played A Masterstroke For All Accor Users

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Hi everyone, welcome to my channel.

[00:00:01]Today I wanted to create this short episode as an update to the ongoing rumors that are circulating across the credit card community that Accor can soon be removed or devalued for the HSBC credit cards and the panic is real because after the recent fiasco from the Axis Bank in April 2026, the overnight removal of the transfer partners like Marriott, Accor and Qatar Airways, it was a complete shock and a utter heartbreak for many of the Axis credit card holders and a similar rumor has also started last evening and people were saying that HSBC can also start the same thing and they can either devalue the transfer ratios or may remove the transfer partner Accor from their ecosystem. But HSBC has just announced something unthinkable. I mean, this is an absolute delight and it was just announced today. So, for the people who did the panic transfers based on the influencers that has created a panic in social media regarding overnight removal of their Accor transfers is now maybe regretting because HSBC has kind of announced the opposite of it. They have announced a promotional bonus. But it's not all that bad. Let me first explain why the panic came in and let me just brief you about why Axis really removed their transfer partners and what was the devaluation all about. So, in the midnight of 2nd April 2026 without any time for users to react, Axis straightforward removed Accor, Marriott Bonvoy and Qatar Airways from the transfer partner ecosystem. So, there was completely a big shock and a pain for the people who were kind of stacking their points in the Axis credit cards because these are kind of very critical transfer partners and Axis just removed it overnight without any notice.

[00:02:04]And this was very heartbreaking for many of the Accor fans because there there are very few cards in India which supports the Accor transfers. And why Axis has to do these things? Because of the weakening Indian INR rupees, right? The Axis being an Indian bank had has to buy these points from the pool of Accor and there is a difference in the currency exchange compared to what it was 3 years back to now, because the currency has kind of depreciated 24% when we compare it with the euro. And Accor value of 2,000 points comes to around 4,400 given Indian rupees has weakened and euro has become stronger. Now, bank has to buy all these points in euros from the Accor central pool and given the lower purchasing power of the Indian rupees, the forex pressures are high and Axis may be feeling the heat. But the way they did these thing is completely not recommended because they did it overnight. At least give 1 week time for the consumers to take some actions, right? Like Amex did the devaluation for their card, they didn't do it overnight, right? They gave a 1-month time for the people to decide and take the necessary steps whatever they felt was right. But Axis just removed it. Axis being the largest buyer of these all Accor points had had the majority of the pressure on the cost side. That's why maybe they took this step, but the way they implemented it is not really good and really left a bad impression on Axis consumers. So, given all these things and the people who has already suffered the Axis fiasco, they were all afraid that if SAS we see also does the same thing, what will happen to their points? Because since yesterday evening, even I'm getting feeds that there could be chances that HSBC devalues their card for the Accor redemptions. Then I did some numbers and what I felt was there could be chances that HSBC could do the devaluation, but may not be now.

[00:04:16]These are some stats that I have downloaded from the internet, right? And what I see that most of the developed market has a ratio of 2:1 for the travel one card, but in India it's 1:1. And Indian currency overall has gone down compared to the global currency. So, there could be chances that HSBC may devalue the Accor redemption, but not now because at post this Axis fiasco, HSBC's market is growing given most of the users who were using Axis cards for the Accor redemptions or the international hotel redemptions are now switching to HSBC. So, HSBC may not leave this thing on the table and they may be supporting the users to come to the HSBC ecosystem and grow their market share. And for that matter only, just couple of hours back, they have announced something like all Accor bonus point festival. It took everyone by surprise because in the credit card community, in the social media, everyone was talking about just that there could be a devaluation, there could be a transfer partner removal. But my only point to anyone who is listening this episode is don't panic specially with the global banks because they would give at least a month's time or a one week two week time for you to digest that news and take that step. It won't be like a Axis Bank kind of a thing which they did overnight, right? HSBC is a global bank and it's a quite a big bank and it will not take such big steps overnight. But for the people who did the panic transfer, it's not bad at all because at least you got 100% value, right? Instead of any devalued redemptions that could have happened or if the overnight transfer partners would have gone off, you would have felt more pain. Currently, it's just a 50% or a 30%. We don't know what would be the transfer bonus, but it is a limited harm that you are feeling now because you are thinking like you did the transfer, but I didn't got the bonus. But at least you could do the transfers, right? And my request to anyone who are into credit card communities, don't do these panic transfers at least if you are holding a global card because chances are you will get a good amount of time to make those decisions. With that, thank you all. I hope you liked my video. Please subscribe to my channel and put your comments in the comment section if you have any questions or queries. Thank you all. Have a good weekend. Bye.