If you’re holding the popular HSBC Revolution card in Singapore, which offers 4 mpd earning on a range of useful categories for up to S$1,000 spend each month, unfortunately there’s some bad news – with the bank trimming its list of eligible transactions from early next year.

This will see spend at travel agencies and tour operators like Expedia, Airbnb and some hotels excluded from bonus miles earning.

If any of your bonus spend with this card regularly falls into these categories, that’s a significant factor you need to be aware of from next year, since you’ll need to divert that spend to another card to avoid earning next to no miles at all.

Excluded MCCs from 1st January 2024

From 1st January 2024, transactions within the following Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) will no longer earn 10X bonus points (4 mpd) with the HSBC Revolution card, but instead will revert to this card’s standard unattractive 1X points (0.4 mpd) rate.

The final calendar month in which you will be able to tap the card’s 4 mpd rate for spend in this category is therefore this month – December 2023.

From 1st January 2024, the exclusion of MCC 4722 will unfortunately mean no more 4 mpd earning with this card for online spend at the likes of:

• Agoda
• Booking.com
• Expedia
• Hotels.com
• Kayak
• KKday
• Klook
• Pelago
• Traveloka
• Trip.com

In more bad news, the exclusion of MCC 7011 means no more 4 mpd on the likes of:

• Airbnb
• Smaller hotels (e.g. Capella, Raffles)
• Some larger hotels (e.g. JW Marriott Singapore)

Larger hotel chains are usually not affected (for example the Ritz-Carlton Singapore codes under MCC 3710, which is still on HSBC’s inclusion list), but do be aware this isn’t always the case.

As you can see with the JW Marriott Singapore example, MCC 7011 is used (it’s quite a large hotel, and is part of a chain!).

It becomes increasingly complicated overseas too – the Westin in Singapore might still be included, for example, while the Westin Bangkok potentially isn’t!

Unless you are certain of the MCC your chosen hotel uses for payment processing, it may be best to avoid using the HSBC Revolution card from January 2024 onwards, just in case it falls under MCC 7011.

New bonus earn list for HSBC Revolution cards

Here’s a rundown of the latest eligible MCCs for online and contactless purchases that will earn at the 4 mpd rate for the first $1,000 of monthly spend using the HSBC Revolution card from 1st January 2024.

Non-eligible spend, or any amount over the S$1,000 calendar month cap, will earn at the basic 0.4 mpd rate.

Travel-related including Airlines, Car Rental, Lodging, Hotels, Motels, Resorts, Cruise Lines and Travel Agencies
Eligible MCCs	Example Merchants
3000 to 3350 3351 to 3500 3501 to 3999 4411, 4511	Singapore Airlines, Scoot, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Jetstar, Hertz, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Royal Caribbean
Department Stores and Retail Stores
Eligible MCCs	Example Merchants
4816, 5045, 5262, 5309, 5310, 5311, 5331, 5399, 5611, 5621, 5631, 5641, 5651, 5655, 5661, 5691, 5699, 5732, 5733, 5734, 5735, 5912, 5942, 5992, 5999 5944 to 5949 5964 to 5970	Amazon, Isetan, Marks & Spencer, Takashimaya, TANGS, Timberland, Mothercare, H&M, Zara, Pandora, Tory Burch, Uniqlo, ASOS, Skechers, Foot Locker, Zalora, Apple, Dell, Best Denki, Harvey Norman, Gain City, Courts, Qoo10, Cotton On
Supermarkets, Dining and Food Delivery
Eligible MCCs	Example Merchants
5411, 5441, 5462, 5499, 5811, 5812, 5813, 5814	7-Eleven, Cheers, Cold Storage, Little Farms, Deliveroo, Foodpanda, FairPrice, Sheng Siong, GrabFood, WhyQ
Transportation and Membership Clubs
Eligible MCCs	Example Merchants
4121, 7997	Comfort, Grab, Gojek, TADA, Ryde, Fitness First, True Fitness, Sentosa Islander

Dining in hotels takes a hit

As you may recall, one of the big advantages of using the HSBC Revolution card for contactless payment is not only the ability to earn 4 mpd on dining at restaurants and bars (MCC 5812, 5813 and 5814), but to also benefit when dining in hotel restaurants too.

That’s because this card currently includes hotels (MCC 3501 – 3999 and MCC 7011) in its bonus earn category, so even if the restaurant processes payment under the hotel MCC (they usually do in our experience), you’ll still get 4 mpd.

That’s obviously no longer the case from 1st January 2024 onwards, with the big MCC 7011 concern looming when dining in a hotel restaurant – which would get you just 0.4 mpd, not 4 mpd!

Again, unless you are sure that the MCC is still on the inclusion list, it may be better to use another miles-earning card when dining in hotel restaurants, rather than tap this one.

Which cards still earn bonus miles for affected MCCs?

You can still earn bonus miles with MCC 4722 and MCC 7011 merchants with some other cards on the market in Singapore, subject to their required payment methods and monthly caps.

Cards earning bonus miles
for MCC 4722, 7011

Card	Earn rate	Spend Cap per calendar month
UOB Lady’s	6 mpd	S$1,000 (Lady’s) or S$3,000 (Lady’s Solitaire) Subject to Travel being chosen as one of your bonus categories
DBS WWMC	4 mpd	S$2,000 Online spend only (e.g. a fully prepaid online hotel booking)

If you know (or are concerned) that your HSBC Revolution card won’t earn 4 mpd for these affected spend categories from 1st January 2024 but you don’t hold one of these cards to use as an alternative, just use your best general spend accrual card for the transaction (even 1.2 mpd is still three times better than 0.4 mpd!).

The HSBC Revolution remains a solid product

This upcoming change for the HSBC Revolution card does take the shine off the product slightly, but unless your primary use of this card was for travel agency and hotel bookings, it’s unlikely to shift the needle so much to make you want to cancel.

The card retains some excellent flexible ways to earn 4 mpd for up to S$1,000 of monthly spend at merchants like Singapore Airlines (online), Deliveroo (online), Foodpanda (online) and Cold Storage (online or contactless in-store).

With groceries potentially making up a large portion of monthly spend, some people find it’s worth having the Revolution card just for this category alone, especially given that it also includes Redmart and Amazon Fresh orders.

Flight and hotel bookings made online are also still included, while transportation with the likes of Grab and Gojek is eligible.

The card also benefits from no annual fee ever, a S$30k income requirement, miles earning from transactions as low as S$0.50 and three-year points validity.

For all the details, see our recently-updated full review of this card, which still gets a 4.5-star rating from us.

Despite the removal of MCC 4722 and 7011 from January 2024, it’s hard to see that most cardholders in Singapore can’t continue to find a good usage case for this card, but of course do remember not to transact in the affected MCCs once the change comes into effect next month.

From 1st January 2024, you’ll no longer earn 4 mpd with your HSBC Revolution card on travel agency and selected accommodation spend, including Expedia, Airbnb and typically a range of smaller hotels, like Capella.

The news certainly takes the edge off this card, since those are useful bonus miles earning categories, though alternatives still exist in the market.

Crucially, most cardholders will find that there are still compelling use cases for the HSBC Revo, even after this change kicks in.

(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)