u/True_Salt4661

Okay so I am posting something like this for the first time. Since my parents are also looking, I thought, why not.

Just a little context,
I have dated only once in my whole life, during college 1st year, got cheated within 6 months, never had guts to try again. Never used any dating apps, so practically zero experience in dating, which is considered red flag nowadays, so if thats the case, nows the time to stop reading.
Also shy and introvert by nature, prefer staying home over clubbing. Love travelling though, covering all countries before i die is what on my bucketlist.

Age: 30
Caste: Hindu Brahmin. Pahadi.
Height: 5'11
Weight: Chubby - working on that.
Salary: ~1.3lpm. Govt job, so its transferable.
Language: Hindi and English

Looking for:
Someone who is Loyal and Faithful. No past/little experience, I hope you wont judge and understand my reasoning because of my experience.
Family oriented and religious.
Well pretty much thats it.
My type ( not necessarily quality to have, but can be bonus if have ): Nerdy, short height (yes!).

So I recently came across a whatsapp channel who is providing these deals ( not naming it since its not a sponsored post ).

So the deals provided were better than what I was getting with my Accor+ rate, along with that free breakfast ( I am Gold, so I wont get if I book myself ) + $100 hotel credits.

Is there any catch? Am I missing anything?
If I get these additional perks everytime, and on better rates, and I would earn accor points too with my stays, then is booking yourself is actually you overpaying?

How do you guys book always?
Is it always like this? Or just book by yourself?

Any drawback/disadvantage associated with this which maybe I am not seeing?
Seems to me like I could have had better vacations with extra perks, and by paying lesser, and in the same time earning loyalty points too, if I did booking via this route always.

Currently confused about which bank to choose for a new salary account from a pure rewards / future CC ecosystem perspective.

Current situation:

• Net salary: ~1.3L/month currently
• Expected: ~1.8–2L/month in next couple of years
• Already have salary account in SBI
• Main goal is rewards extraction + smoother approval path for premium/super premium credit cards later
• Don’t really care much about banking benefits of the account itself

Banks I’m considering:

1. HDFC Obviously strongest CC ecosystem overall and easiest path towards premium cards if salary relationship is there. But seeing so many discussions around Infinia devaluation lately makes me wonder if the ecosystem peak is already behind us.
2. Axis Was attractive earlier because of Accor ecosystem etc., but now Accor is gone and Axis is also infamous for sudden devaluations. Not sure whether Magnus for Burgundy / future products will remain worth it long term.
3. ICICI Current cards don’t seem that exciting compared to HDFC/Axis, but some people say ICICI has huge long-term potential because of scale + premium banking push.
4. HSBC I was interested because their cards look underrated for certain categories, but they literally rejected even a normal savings account earlier because they don’t have a branch in my state.

Extra context:
I currently have HSBC T1, though technically our pincode changed now so not even eligible anymore. If they don’t cancel it themselves, obviously I’m not surrendering it 😅

So overall:
If you were starting fresh today with the goal of maximizing future premium CC opportunities + rewards ecosystem over the next 5–10 years, which bank salary account would you choose and why?

My main aim is Travel redemptions. I usually do around ~2 foreign trips a year, and 3-5 domestic trips. Annual expenses ~10-12L range as of now( family expenses combined ). I don't really need a CB card.

Hey everyone,

So I got the Accor Explorer today, and it’s now valid till May 2027.

After purchasing it, I realized that reaching Platinum probably isn’t realistically doable now. Seems like I should’ve started from January itself, ideally along with the Accor Brazil subscription program.

From what I understand, everything resets to zero on 1st January every year. So I believe all the extra status points and status nights I earn from now onward will reset to zero, right? But my Gold status should still continue till May 2027 because of Explorer.

What happens after May 2027 though? Does my Gold tier completely reset after the Explorer expires? Or do I still retain Gold status for the rest of 2027? or just downgrade to Silver?

Also, any suggestions on how to maximize value from here?
Would it make sense to start the Accor Brazil subscription from January and then renew Explorer again later?

One more thing, if I somehow manage to achieve Platinum status, what happens once my Explorer membership expires? Do I fall all the way back to zero/basic tier? Or would I simply drop back to my previous tier, i.e. Gold?

Thanks in advance for the help!