Axis Bank Reserve Credit Card Review

The Reserve credit card is a unique offering from Axis Bank. While it has decent rewards and benefits, it is also the card having the highest annual fee. At Rs 50000 plus taxes, it is close to the annual fee of the Amex Platinum Charge Card. But is it worth paying such a high charge for the Reserve? Here is a review of the Axis Bank Reserve credit card to help you decide.

Fees and Charges

Joining/Renewal Fee	Rs 50000 plus taxes ~Rs 59000
Welcome/Renewal Benefit	50000 EDGE Reward Points ~Rs 10000
Renewal Fee Waiver	Spend Rs 25 Lakhs in a membership year

The welcome/renewal benefit of 50K EDGE RP is less for a card that charges Rs 59000 as an annual fee including taxes. This should be raised to at least 1 Lakh EDGE RP which will give a value of Rs 20000. Or, Axis Bank can also opt to reduce the annual fee.

Rewards

u003cstrongu003eDomestic Spends: u003c/strongu003eu003cspan style=u0022text-indent: -0.9em; background-color: var(u002du002dhas-boxed, #ffffff); color: var(u002du002dcolor); font-family: var(u002du002dfontFamily); font-size: var(u002du002dfontSize); font-style: var(u002du002dfontStyle, inherit); font-weight: var(u002du002dfontWeight); letter-spacing: var(u002du002dletterSpacing); text-transform: var(u002du002dtextTransform);u0022u003e15 EDGE Reward Points/Rs 200u003c/spanu003e ~u003cstrongu003e1.5% Returnu003c/strongu003e
u003cspan style=u0022text-indent: -0.9em; background-color: var(u002du002dhas-boxed, #ffffff); color: var(u002du002dcolor); font-family: var(u002du002dfontFamily); font-size: var(u002du002dfontSize); font-style: var(u002du002dfontStyle, inherit); font-weight: var(u002du002dfontWeight); letter-spacing: var(u002du002dletterSpacing); text-transform: var(u002du002dtextTransform);u0022u003eu003cstrongu003eInternational Spends:u003c/strongu003e 30 EDGE Reward Points/Rs 200u003c/spanu003e u003cstrongu003e~3% Returnu003c/strongu003e

With the 1.77% markup(including GST), the effective return on international transactions is 1.23%. This is a good value if someone has high international spending.

Travel Benefits

While the rewards are on the lower side for a card with such a high annual fee, we do get good travel benefits. The luxury airport transfer services are the USP of this card. We can get the rest of the features with Magnus and Infinia.

u003cstrongu003eAirport Concierge Services:u003c/strongu003e 8 complimentary VIP assistance services/year
u003cstrongu003eLuxury Airport Transfers: u003c/strongu003e4 complimentary airport pickups/drops every year
u003cstrongu003eAirport Lounge Access:u003c/strongu003e Unlimited complimentary visits to domestic and international airport lounges for both primary and add-on cardholders. We get 12 complimentary visits for guests as well. Domestic access is via Visa/Mastercard and international access is with Priority Pass.

Lifestyle and Dining Benefits

These benefits are renewed every year as long as the Reserve is active. If you want to extract maximum benefit out of Reserve, these need to add value for you in your current lifestyle.

u003cstrongu003eClub ITC Culinaire Membershipu003c/strongu003e with 1 third night free stay, 1 room upgrade, 2 certificates for 20% savings on Fu0026amp;B bills, and u003ca href=u0022https://www.axisbank.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/itc_2.pdfu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003esome more certificatesu003c/au003e.
u003cstrongu003eAccor Plus Membershipu003c/strongu003e and u003ca href=u0022https://www.axisbank.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/rc_accorplus_reserve.pdf?sfvrsn=8da87b56_2u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eassociated benefitsu003c/au003e
u003cstrongu003eClub Marriott Asia Pacific Membershipu003c/strongu003e with u003ca href=u0022https://www.axisbank.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/rc_marriott_reserve.pdf?sfvrsn=b8a87b56_2u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003eFu0026amp;B and accommodation certificatesu003c/au003e.
Oberoi Hotels and Resorts offer to get u003ca href=u0022https://www.axisbank.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/rc_oberoi_reserve.pdf?sfvrsn=bba87b56_2u0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003e15% off best rates, 50% off on suites, and complimentary room upgradeu003c/au003e
15% savings at Postcard hotels on u003ca href=u0022https://www.axisbank.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/postcard_2.pdfu0022 target=u0022_blanku0022 rel=u0022noreferrer noopeneru0022u003ebest available ratesu003c/au003e.
u003cstrongu003eEazyDiner Prime membershipu003c/strongu003e
u003cstrongu003eBuy one and get one free till Rs 500 on BookMyShowu003c/strongu003e up to 5 times/month
This is the USP of this card if you missed the card image. 🙂 We get 50 complimentary golf rounds/year.

Rewards Redemption

The rewards can be redeemed from the Axis Bank EDGE Rewards Portal. Each EDGE Reward Point is worth Rs 20 paise for all redemption options. We have Amazon and Flipkart gift vouchers for redemption as well.

My View

You will have a hard time extracting value out of the Reserve card even if you are able to maximize all the benefits. For Reserve, it is almost like we have to use up all benefits to get value for the fees we pay.

Leaving the above statements aside, do consider the Reserve in one case. If all the benefits and features complement your current lifestyle, then take it. Check the card for the first year and take a call after that. Do a value check for the Rs 59000 in total that you will have to pay for the joining fees.

Frequently Asked Questions