Earning additional miles on your credit card when booking a hotel stay is up there in many people’s minds lately, with over 200 hotels (from super budget to super luxury, and most things in between) now open for staycation bookings across Singapore.
One booking option offering bonus miles with several credit cards in Singapore is Agoda, the locally-based online travel agent now part of the giant Booking Holidays group, whose brands include Booking.com, Kayak and OpenTable.
While most of our readers are concentrating their hotel bookings locally for now, many of these deals are good for worldwide stays well into 2021, including some fully refundable rates, so it’s also a good time to consider locking in competitive rates for next year, when some semblance of travel normality should start returning.
Citi PremierMiles
Up to 7 mpd
Whether you’re holding the longstanding Citi PremierMiles Visa or the newer Citi PremierMiles Mastercard, you’ll earn 7 miles per dollar spent on overseas Agoda hotel bookings, or 6.2 miles per dollar locally.
Citi Miles earning under this promotion is as follows:
| Earn rate per S$1 spent | |||
| Normal | Bonus | Total | |
| Local Spend (SGD) |
1.2 mpd | 5 mpd | 6.2 mpd |
| Overseas Spend (FCY) |
2 mpd | 5 mpd | 7 mpd |
You’ll earn the normal Citi Miles accrual within a few days of your transaction, while the bonus Citi Miles will be credited within two months of your departure from the hotel.
| Book by: | 31st January 2021 |
| Stay by: | 30th June 2021 |
Eligibility:
- Bookings made via the dedicated site only.
- Selected merchant (pre-paid) hotels only, of which Agoda is the party receiving and handling the payment.
- Valid for hotels with the “Promo Eligible” tag on the room types search results page.
Bookings are via the dedicated link:
DBS Altitude
Up to 10 mpd
DBS has a fantastic miles earning offer for its Altitude cards when used to book Singapore staycations between now and the end of 2020, with 10 miles per dollar spent, capped at your S$5,000 monthly allowance on flight and hotel transactions with this card.
International properties (outside Singapore) can be booked at a 7 miles per dollar accrual rate, however unless you are already overseas that’s unlikely to be much use between now and 31st December 2020.
Miles earning under this promotion is as follows:
| Earn rate per S$1 spent | |||
| Normal | Bonus | Total | |
| Singapore Hotels | 3 mpd | 7 mpd | 10 mpd |
| Overseas Hotels | 3 mpd | 4 mpd | 7 mpd |
You’ll earn the normal DBS Points accrual the month following your transaction, while the bonus DBS Points will be credited within two calendar months after the end of the promotion period (i.e. by 28th February 2021).
| Book by: | 31st December 2020 |
| Stay by: | 31st December 2020 |
Eligibility:
- Bookings made via the dedicated site only.
- Selected merchant (pre-paid) hotels only, of which Agoda is the party receiving and handling the payment.
- Valid for hotels with the “Promo Eligible” tag on the room types search results page.
- Enter the country code and mobile number registered with DBS at the box indicated during booking stage.
Bookings are via the dedicated link:
DBS Woman’s Cards
Up to 10 mpd
DBS has a very similar earning offer for its Woman’s cards as it does for the Altitude cards for Singapore staycations booked between now and the end of 2020. You’ll still get 10 miles per dollar spent, though the cap is lower at S$1,000 per month for the Woman’s card and S$2,000 per month for the WWMC.
International properties (outside Singapore) can be booked at a 6 miles per dollar accrual rate with the Woman’s card or 8 miles per dollar for the WWMC, however unless you are already overseas that’s unlikely to be much use between now and 31st December 2020.
DBS Points earning under this promotion is as follows:
| Earn rate per S$1 spent | |||
| Normal | Bonus | Total | |
 Singapore Hotels |
2 mpd | 8 mpd | 10 mpd |
 Singapore Hotels |
4 mpd | 6 mpd | 10 mpd |
| Overseas Hotels |
2 mpd | 4 mpd | 6 mpd |
| Overseas Hotels |
4 mpd | 4 mpd | 8 mpd |
You’ll earn the normal DBS Points by the end of the month following your transaction, while the bonus DBS Points will be credited within two calendar months after the end of the promotion period (i.e. by 28th February 2021).
| Book by: | 31st December 2020 |
| Stay by: | 31st December 2020 |
Eligibility:
- Bookings made via the dedicated site only.
- Selected merchant (pre-paid) hotels only, of which Agoda is the party receiving and handling the payment.
- Valid for hotels with the “Promo Eligible” tag on the room types search results page.
- Enter the country code and mobile number registered with DBS at the box indicated during booking stage.
Bookings are via the dedicated link:
OCBC 90N / Voyage
7 mpd
OCBC’s latest Agoda offer is for 6 miles per dollar for local (SGD) bookings and 7 miles per dollar for overseas (FCY) bookings, on both the 90°N card and the Voyage card.
Travel$ or Voyage Miles earning under this promotion is as follows:
| Earn rate per whole S$5 spent | |||
| Normal | Bonus | Total | |
| Local Spend (SGD) |
6 | 24 | 30 (6 mpd) |
| Overseas Spend (FCY) |
10.5 | 24.5 | 35 (7 mpd) |
You’ll earn the normal Travel$ or Voyage Miles within a few days of your transaction, while the bonus Travel$ or Voyage Miles will be credited within two calendar months of your departure from the hotel.
| Book by: | 31st July 2021 |
| Stay by: | 31st December 2021 |
Eligibility:
- Bookings must be made through the dedicated website in order to qualify for the promotion.
- The Promotion is applicable for prepaid bookings only and does not apply to bookings which are paid at the hotel / destination.
Bookings are via the dedicated links:
UOB PRVI Miles
6 mpd
All three of UOB’s PRVI Miles cards earn 6 miles per dollar spent on Agoda hotel bookings.
Miles earning under this promotion is as follows:
| Earn rate per whole S$5 spent | |||
| Normal | Bonus | Total | |
| Local Spend (SGD) |
UNI$3.5 | UNI$11.5 | UNI$15 (6 mpd) |
| Overseas Spend (FCY) |
UNI$6 | UNI$9 | UNI$15 (6 mpd) |
You’ll earn the normal UNI$ accrual within a few days of your transaction, while the bonus UNI$ will be credited within three months of your departure from the hotel.
| Book by: | 31st December 2020 |
| Stay by: | 30th June 2021 |
Eligibility:
- Bookings made via the dedicated site only.
- Selected merchant (pre-paid) hotels only, of which Agoda is the party receiving and handling the payment.
- Valid for hotels with the “Promo Eligible” tag on the room types search results page.
Bookings are via the dedicated link:
‘Promo Eligible’ hotels
With the exception of the OCBC offer, these miles earning deals are only applicable for hotels and room rates displaying the ‘Promo Eligible’ tag in the Agoda search results.
Bookings made without this tag, or where payment is made at the hotel directly, will only earn at your card’s base rate, with no bonus.
As mentioned, the OCBC offer is the exception, with all Agoda rates earning the applicable bonus provided pre-payment is made to Agoda and not the hotel directly.
Note: Don’t confuse ‘Promo Eligible’ rates with non-refundable rates. There are plenty of fully refundable options with bonus miles earning, probably essential for international travel into 2021 for example. In this case your refund will be processed by Agoda if required.
Other cards to consider
Some credit cards in Singapore don’t have a specific Agoda promotion but do still earn miles at their bonus rate for travel transactions under the Agoda Merchant Category Code (MCC 4722).
Pro Tip: MCC 4722 also includes the likes of Expedia, Booking.com and Trip.com.Here are some options you might want to consider.
| Card | Earn rate |
 HSBC Revolution |
4 mpd First S$1,000 monthly online travel spend including MCC 4722. Combined cap with other online and contactless bonus spend. |
 KrisFlyer UOB |
3 mpd All online travel transactions at Agoda (among others), with no cap, subject to a minimum S$500 spend on SIA Group related transactions charged in your card membership year. |
 Citi Lazada |
2 mpd Travel transactions under MCC 4722, capped at S$2,250 spend per statement cycle but combined with other 4 mpd / 2 mpd bonus spend (i.e. S$2,250 cap assumes your only bonus category spend in a statement cycle is Travel). |
Another benefit of these cards is that you’ll be able to earn the bonus level for any Agoda booking, without being restricted to “Promo Eligible” rates. Just remember Agoda will still need to be the party receiving payment and handling the transaction. Payment directly to the hotel does not apply.
If cashback is your thing, there are also Agoda offers for credit cards issued by the following banks, some of which have Singapore staycation bonuses.
| Card Issuer | Discount | Link | |
| Staycations | Worldwide | ||
 |
6% off | 6% off | |
 |
20% off | 7% off | |
 |
15% off | 7% off | |
 |
12% off | 6% off | |
 |
7% off | 7% off | |
 |
7% off | 7% off | |
 |
7% off | 7% off | |
 |
7% off | 7% off | |
Note that for the HSBC Revolution, KrisFlyer UOB credit card and Citi Lazada card these discounts are stackable with the enhanced earn rate for travel transactions, provided you are booking a “Promo Eligible” rate under one of the bank discount links.
For example an Agoda staycation at a “Promo Eligible” property booked under the HSBC 12% discount offer and paid for with your HSBC Revolution card will also earn 4 mpd (subject to your monthly $1,000 spend cap in the bonus category).
Other Agoda credit card bonus miles rate offers listed in this article with their own landing page (e.g. Citi PremierMiles up to 7 mpd) are not stackable with the cashback offer for all credit cards in the above table.
Don’t forget to shop around
As we always say when booking through an Online Travel Agent (OTA), do be sure to check out the best available rates for your preferred properties and compare with Agoda’s rates before booking.
While it may be worth spending slightly more for the miles you’ll receive (our personal upper cap is a cost of 1.9 cents per mile), don’t pay over the odds.
Staycation benefits may not be available
Most of the hotels now open for staycation bookings in Singapore have some form of deal on offer when you book direct. You won’t necessarily get the best rate, nor the additional staycation perks, if you book through Agoda.
While up to 10 mpd is a very attractive deal, make sure you’re not paying over the odds for the miles (not too much anyway) and not losing out on benefits you would value more, like dining credits, free parking, etc., which may outweigh the miles value for your chosen property if a good staycation deal is on offer when booking directly.
Status benefits many not be available
You should also note that you won’t get any points or status credits in the hotel loyalty scheme for your Agoda booking. Effectively you are sacrificing those for the frequent flyer miles instead.
This makes Agoda and other similar OTAs more useful if you’re staying at an independent property, or at a chain you don’t bother collecting points / status with.
Some hotels will still recognise and award your status benefits during your stay, even if you book via an OTA like Agoda, but many won’t.
Summary
It’s great to be able to earn up to 10 miles per dollar on hotel bookings through Agoda using some DBS credit cards at the moment, however if you don’t have one of those all is not lost.
There are generous bonus miles offers with several other credit cards in Singapore currently on offer, many of which are good for worldwide stays well into 2021. These include deals for the Citi PremierMiles, OCBC Voyage and UOB PRVI Miles cards.
In most cases you’ll have to book through dedicated links and will be restricted to ‘Promo Eligible’ rates.
Remember as always to shop around before committing to an Agoda booking to make sure you’re getting a good deal, especially with a range of staycation offers available for Singapore hotels.
(Cover Photo: Stella Island)