u/fahad7teen

I’m sitting on ~1 lakh HDFC Regalia Gold points and want to squeeze out maximum value from them for my upcoming Saudi trip.
What’s the smartest way to redeem them?
• Flights or hotels?
• Which transfer partners are actually worth it?
• Any hidden sweet spots I shouldn’t miss?

I'm buying a MacBook Air M5 (16GB/512GB) from iCrest (Apple Authorized Store) for ₹1,12,700. It's an offline POS transaction, full payment (no EMI).

The price is already under the store's anniversary offer, and I'm also getting a 6% student discount on the old MRP. Because of this, there are no bank/card discounts, GST billing isn't an option, and no other offers can be clubbed.

Current card stack:
- HDFC Regalia Gold
- HDFC Tata Neu Infinity
- HDFC Swiggy
- ICICI Sapphiro
- Amazon Pay ICICI
- ICICI MakeMyTrip
- SBI SimplyCLICK

I know it's a fairly basic setup, but it's what I have for now. Given that there are no instant discounts to factor in, which card would you use purely to maximize rewards/points/cashback on this ₹1.12L offline swipe?

Have around 76k neu coins sitting in my tata neu infinity card, want to know what's the best use to spend them, was planning to buy macbook air, but now with inflated prices it doesn't make sense for me, tanishq has some ridiculous markups on gold, with high deductions upon selling too, other than this what is the best use for them? or am I better off buying electronic goods from croma with these coins?

This is my second attempt at getting my HDFC Regalia Gold upgraded to DCB Metal.
The first time, HDFC requested income documents for evaluation, but I chose not to pursue the income-based route. Instead, I wanted my request to be considered based on my overall relationship with the bank and my card usage.
My profile:
5+ year relationship with HDFC

Preferred Banking

Regalia Gold + Tata Neu Infinity + HDFC Swiggy

1 Preferred Account & 2 Current Accounts

Credit limit: ₹4.85L

Over ₹22L card spends in the last 6 months

Excellent repayment history with no missed payments

I raised a fresh upgrade request and even escalated it to the Grievance Redressal Cell. They acknowledged my request and promised a response by 23 June, but that deadline passed without any update. I then escalated the matter to the Principal Nodal Officer, and it's been complete silence ever since.
At this point, I'm not even sure whether my profile is actually being reviewed or if my emails are simply being ignored.
Has anyone experienced something similar with HDFC? Do they actually consider upgrades based on spending despite a credit limit below ₹5L, or am I just wasting my time chasing this? Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Need some clarity from people who’ve used Accor transfers from HDFC Regalia Gold

I currently have around 53k Regalia Gold points and I’m planning to transfer them to Accor ALL points.

From what I understand, the conversion works out roughly in a 2:1 ratio during transfer/value calculation. My main question is:

If I use Accor points to book a hotel stay, can I make the reservation for someone else entirely?As in:

They check in using their own ID

I’m not travelling / not present at the hotel

Booking is done fully using my Accor points

Has anyone here done this successfully? Any restrictions or hotel-level issues I should know about before transferring the points?