Review: the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard credit card

This is our review of the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard credit card.

It is part of our series of articles looking at the major UK loyalty credit cards and discussing whether or not they are worth applying for. These articles are linked to the relevant sections of the ‘Credit Cards‘ area in the menu bar. Our other UK airline and hotel credit card reviews can be found here.

Key link: HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard application form

Key facts: £290 annual fee, card only available to HSBC Premier current account holders

The representative APR is 100.2% variable, including the annual fee.  The representative APR on purchases is 29.9% variable.

Reward credit cards generally have high interest rates and are not suitable for anyone who does not pay off their full balance each month. If you do not clear your balance, you should look for a non-rewards credit card with a low interest rate.

This article was updated on 1st April 2025, and all of the information is correct as of that date. Ignore the original publication date shown.

About the HSBC Premier World Elite card

The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is issued by HSBC.

There are two versions of the card. This review covers the more generous premium version. There is also a free version called the HSBC Premier Mastercard which I review here.  You cannot have both versions of the card at the same time.

It is a bit of an oddity amongst all of the other credit cards covered in this series for two reasons.

The first is that the airline and hotel rewards programme is a sideshow to the rest of the card.

The second is that the card can only be obtained if you have a HSBC Premier bank account.

HSBC Premier has tough eligibility criteria.  See here and scroll down to see the criteria.

As well as opening a HSBC Premier current account, you must ALSO have £100,000 invested with HSBC, either in a savings account or via an investment product.

Alternatively, you qualify if you earn over £100,000 and pay your salary into your HSBC Premier account.

What is the HSBC Premier World Elite sign-up bonus?

The sign-up bonus is decent, although it used to be twice as high before the September 2024 changes.

You can earn 20,000 Avios or other airline miles or hotel points.

You will receive 40,000 HSBC points, which convert into 20,000 Avios or other airline miles or hotel points, if you spend £2,000 within your first three months.

The bonus points will arrive within 60 days of hitting the £2,000 target.

There is an airport lounge benefit

You will receive free, unlimited, access via the Priority Pass scheme to 1,400 airport lounges.

No free guests are allowed into the lounges. However, you can get a supplementary card for your HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard for a £60 annual fee and the holder can access lounges with it.

The HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard is not clearly better than American Express Platinum if you want a card with airport lounge access. It is cheaper (£350 for the HSBC card with one supplementary card vs £650 for Amex Platinum) but the Amex Platinum package has far more benefits – Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium, MeliaRewards Gold, Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Eurostar lounge access, £400 per year of dining credit etc (see my American Express Platinum review for details).

If you have children, note that there is no way of getting a child into an airport lounge for free with this card. You are forced to pay the £24 guest charge, because a child cannot be made a supplementary cardholder on your credit card account. With the Priority Pass issued by American Express Platinum, children can get into lounges for free – you get two cards and each is allowed one free guest.

The Priority Pass issued by HSBC is slighly better than the American Express-issued version in one respect. Many airport restaurants give an £18 food and drink credit to Priority Pass holders, but American Express opts out of this benefit. HSBC cards can access it. This article shows you the UK airport restaurants you can use.

If you have a Limited Company, the Capital on Tap Pro Visa credit card offers an identical Priority Pass benefit for a similar fee (£299) – read our Capital on Tap Pro Visa review here. It also comes with Radisson Rewards VIP status.

What other benefits are there?

You can take advantage of fast track security at selected airports. Gatwick, Luton and Stansted all participate, amongst others – see here for details.

There are also hotel discounts with Agoda and Expedia. We don’t place much value on these as rooms booked via these sites are usually more expensive than ‘member’ rates if booking direct. They also do not earn hotel points or allow you to receive any elite benefits you would be due.

What is the HSBC Premier World Elite annual fee?

£290.

There is no fee for the HSBC Premier bank account which you also need to hold, as long as you meet the eligibility criteria above. If you currently pay for a ‘packaged’ current account with another bank you may save money by moving across.

What do I earn per £1 spent on the card?

HSBC Premier World Elite rewards scheme gives 3 HSBC points for every £1 spent in the UK and 4 points for every £1 spent abroad. Each point is worth 0.5 airline miles or hotel points. This means that you earn 1.5 airline miles per £1 for UK spend and 2 miles per £1 for foreign spend.

You can transfer your HSBC Premier points into the following airline schemes:

• Asia Miles
• British Airways Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• EVA Air Infinity MileageLands
• Finnair Plus
• Flying Blue (Air France KLM)
• Qantas Frequent Flyer
• Qatar Airways Privilege Club
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• TAP Miles&Go

There are also two hotel partners:

• IHG One Rewards
• Wyndham Rewards

Do HSBC Premier points expire?

Yes.

There is a ‘hard’ three year expiry. By ‘hard’, I mean that your points will expire three years after they were earned, irrespective of whether you are still earning. It is different to the Avios / Marriott etc expiry rules where, as long as your account is active, the expiry rules don’t apply.

Don’t start building up a points pot for retirement because you will be in for a nasty surprise.

What are HSBC Premier credit card points worth?

We wrote a full article on what HSBC Premier credit card points are worth, which you can read here.

Airline miles are the most valuable option, well ahead of shopping vouchers or cases of wine. Those are your only options.

At 3 HSBC points per £1 spent, worth 1 airline mile, you are getting roughly 1.5% back on UK spending and 2% back on overseas spending.

Is this the best way of earning Avios from a Visa or Mastercard?

No.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two Avios-earning credit cards with big sign-up bonuses.

The free Barclaycard Avios Mastercard earns 1 Avios per £1 (apply here). This makes it hard to justify paying £290 to earn 1.5 Avios per £1 via the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard.

The £240 Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard earns 1.5 Avios per £1 (apply here) which is the same rate as the £290 HSBC Premier World Elite card.

More importantly, the two Barclaycard Avios Mastercard credit cards come with an annual British Airways upgrade voucher when you hit a spend target. The HSBC Premier cards offer no annual spend vouchers or bonuses.

The only reason to justify the HSBC Premier World Elite card over the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard is if you are willing to trade off a lower mileage earning rate in return for the flexibility to convert to multiple airline and hotel loyalty schemes, or if you value the Priority Pass for airport lounge access.

What is an Avios point worth?

This article outlines our view of what an Avios point is worth, based on your typical redemption patterns, should you be thinking of converting your HSBC points to Avios.

I typically work off a conservative 1p per point – this ensure that I never make a bad decision when deciding whether to take part in a promotion or not.

How does this compare to a cashback credit card?

The majority of UK credit cards offering ‘retail rewards’ – those from Marks & Spencer, Tesco, Sainsburys, John Lewis, Amazon etc – give you 0.1% to 0.25% back on what you spend.

For an average spender, the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard offers far more value as long as you believe that you can justify the £290 annual fee. This means that you need to place a lot of value on the Priority Pass airport lounge membership.

If your core interest is earning Avios, paying £290 to receive 1.5 Avios per £1 via HSBC Premier World Elite makes no sense when the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard has a lower fee, an annual upgrade voucher and the same earning rate.

Is this a good card to use when travelling?

Yes, to the extent that you receive double points for foreign spending.

However as HSBC adds a 2.99% foreign exchange fee, you might want to get a separate free credit card to use abroad.

Unfortunately there are no credit cards with 0% foreign exchange fees worldwide which earn airline or hotel points. (The Virgin Atlantic credit cards have 0% FX fees in the Eurozone.)  One option is to get a free card from Currensea. Currensea is a simple but clever idea. You pay abroad with your Currensea Mastercard debit card. Currensea translates the cost to Sterling with just a 0.5% fee (83% less than HSBC charges) and withdraws the money from your bank account. You can find out more by clicking here. Currensea is free so there is no risk in giving it a try.

How else can you earn miles from a UK card?

Here are three good alternatives to the HSBC Premier card for the airlines it covers.

The American Express Preferred Rewards Gold credit card offers 20,000 Membership Rewards points for signing up and is free for the first year.  As well as Avios, these convert 1:1 into Asia Miles, Etihad Guest, Finnair Plus, Flying Blue and Qantas Frequent Flyer. Transfers are 3:2 into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and 4:3 into Emirates Skywards.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on the ‘free for a year’ American Express Preferred Rewards Gold card is increased from 20,000 Membership Rewards points to 30,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (30,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The American Express Platinum credit card usually offers 50,000 Membership Rewards points for signing up.  As well as Avios, these convert 1:1 into Asia Miles, Etihad Guest, Finnair Plus, Flying Blue and Qantas Frequent Flyer. Transfers are 3:2 into Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and 4:3 into Emirates Skywards.  It has a £650 fee, refunded pro-rata if you cancel.

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 27th May 2025, the sign-up bonus on American Express Platinum is increased from 50,000 Membership Rewards points to a huge 80,000 points. Points convert 1:1 into Avios (80,000 Avios!) and many other programmes. Some people may see even higher personalised offers. Click here to apply.

The Marriott Bonvoy American Express credit card usually offers 20,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for signing up. These convert to 6,667 miles in 40+ different airlines including Avios. It has a £95 fee, refunded pro-rata if you cancel.

Conclusion

A sign-up bonus of 20,000 airline miles or hotel points – even with a £290 annual fee – deserves to be looked at closely.

Unless you are already a HSBC Premier customer, however, you need to weigh up whether you really want to move your banking over to HSBC.  I think most people would struggle to justify the £290 fee for the second and subsequent years unless making heavy use of the Priority Pass.

If your goal is to earn Avios from a Visa or Mastercard, you will get the same earning rate on UK spending from the Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard for a lower fee.

The application form for the HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard can be found here.

(Want to earn more miles and points from credit cards?  Click here to visit our dedicated airline and hotel travel credit cards page or use the ‘Credit Cards’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Disclaimer: Head for Points is a journalistic website. Nothing here should be construed as financial advice, and it is your own responsibility to ensure that any product is right for your circumstances. Recommendations are based primarily on the ability to earn miles and points. The site discusses products offered by lenders but is not a lender itself. Robert Burgess, trading as Head for Points, is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as an independent credit broker.